On January 27, 2004, tweens (defined as children age 6-12) and their parents will have the opportunity to experience the beginning of an innovative project from ForeFront Records. Mammoth City Messengers Volume I is the first CD in a series of comic books and albums that seeks to fill the void in the CBA marketplace between younger kids and teenage students.
Mammoth City Messengers is a series of multi-media adventures of five tween-aged students who thwart the attempts of a ruthless billionaire to control the minds of the city’s youth. The message for this biblically rooted, classic tale of good versus evil can be summarized in the tag line for the series, “Be A Messenger. No Cape Required.” In other words, you don’t have to be a super hero, wear a cape or a costume to change your world. The products, specifically designed for this technologically savvy and growing demographic, include the first of three albums that feature pop-oriented songs and dramatic scenes coupled with traditional comic books and graphic novels, an interactive website and a 15-episode radio series.
Mammoth City Messengers was conceived by Christian music veteran Matt Bronlewee (Jars of Clay, Rebecca St. James, dc talk and TAIT) and newcomer Jeremy Bose who co-produced the project. “Since conceptualizing Mammoth City Messengers over two years ago, we’ve tried to push the boundaries of music and storytelling into new territories,” says Bronlewee. “We were fortunate to have found a partner in ForeFront Records – a team with the vision and courage to take on a project of this magnitude,” added Bose.
ForeFront assembled a graphic arts collaboration that reads like a “who’s who” of the comic industry, accumulating credits that include Disney animation, VeggieTales and Superman the comic book. This veteran team includes: pencil artists Tom Bancroft and Rob Corley, ink artists Howard Shum and Rich Faber, color specialist Rob Schwager and lettering by Blambot.
The voices of the Mammoth City Messengers are brought to life through a group of talented tweens who also provide the vocals for the cutting-edge songs included on the CD as well as the radio series heard on Christian radio stations throughout the country in early 2004. The radio series follows The Messengers’ adventures in a 15-episode, weekly, ½ hour program. Each radio show contains a secret passcode that unlocks special access to the Mammoth City Messengers’ website, www.mammothcitymessengers.com. Listeners will be able to hear sneak peeks of future and previous radio episodes, check out downloads and exclusive previews of the forthcoming comics and listen to the streaming “song of the week” from the album.
“ForeFront has always strived to be an innovator in our industry. When the creators of the project brought us the idea, we recognized that it lived up to its name – Mammoth. We researched and found that the market for tweens is very under-served. In over a two and a half year process, we partnered with Matt and Jeremy to create this unique project that reaches students with the Gospel,” said ForeFront Records Vice President of Artist Development, Mark Adkison.
Today’s churched youth are looking for examples of how to live out the faith they’re learning from their parents and churches. Through Mammoth City Messengers, ForeFront Records will give this age group and their parents an entertaining and intelligent alternative to mainstream comics and music that communicates a message of hope through multiple characters they can identify with.
ForeFront Records is an EMI CMG label. Brentwood, Tennessee-based EMI CMG was founded in 1994. It is the world’s largest Christian music company, operating the Sparrow, ForeFront, Worship Together and EMI Gospel labels in addition to EMI CMG Publishing and Chordant Distribution Group.
