Avatar Press has announced that it will be publishing the saga of one of the most acclaimed characters in indy comics with a series of mini-series featuring Billy Tucci's Shi. Shi launches at Avatar with Shi: Poisoned Paradise, a full color mini-series written by Tucci and featuring artwork by Karl Waller (X-Men Movie Wolverine Special, Wonder Woman).

"I've been friends with William Christensen for eight years now, and his devotion to the comics industry make this business venture an honor," says Shi creator Billy Tucci. "Avatar's absolute dedication to detail, shipping record and high production values will afford me the freedom to concentrate on the story and art aspects of Shi."

"Shi is arguably one of the greatest success stories in comics during the past decade," asserts Avatar Press editor in chief William Christensen. "A lofty claim, but consider that even high-profile successes like the Image guys paid their dues for years and years in the industry before breaking out big on their own. Billy came out of virtually nowhere and put out a book that was a hit from day one. There really aren't too many examples of that in recent comics history, and it shows the strength of Billy's vision and the strength of the character Shi. We are sparing no effort to continue the legend."

The debut mini-series Shi: Poisoned Paradise will be drawn by Karl Waller, an artist with string of high-profile credits to his name. Waller was penciller on the 1987 John Ostrander / Tim Truman mini-series Hotspur at Eclipse; he pencilled the D.G. Chichester-written Dark Horse series Motorhead, on which he was inked by Tim Bradstreet; he teamed with Christopher Priest on a Legends of the DC Universe arc; and worked with Jay Faerber for Marvel's X-Men the Movie: Wolverine special. Waller was also tapped for a couple months worth of Wonder Woman covers when Adam Hughes took a breather on that magnificent run recently, and has been a cover and pinup artist of note on the indy scene over the years. With Avatar Press, Waller has done dozens of covers for a wide range of Avatar titles, interior artwork for Threshold and Raw Media shorts, pencils and inks on the legendary 1997 Avatar one-shot Silhouette, and on the recent Robert Lugibihl-written Avengelyne/Shi #1.

Shi: Poisoned Paradise is a full-color mini-series written by Billy Tucci with art by Karl Waller, and color by Nimbus Studios. Avatar will preview the series in May and launch the mini-series in June 2002.