LOS ANGELES - (Business Wire) Platinum Studios, Inc. (OTCBB:PDOS), an entertainment company that controls an international library of more than 5,600 comic book characters which it adapts, produces and licenses for all forms of media and Vanguard Animation, the film production entity created by the producer of the Shrek franchise, announced the creation of a new comic book imprint called Vanguard Comics. Vanguard Animation is 30% owned by Starz Media, LLC, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation that is attributed to Liberty Capital Corp (NASDAQ:LCAPA)(NASDAQ:LCAPB).

This co-run imprint, which began life when Platinum Studios Chairman and CEO, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, invited Vanguard Animation Chairman, John H. Williams, to be a judge at last year’s Comic Book Challenge™ (www.ComicBookChallenge.com), enables Vanguard Animation to develop properties that can simultaneously launch as comic books or graphic novels and as feature films.

The venture has acquired its first property, “Illegal Aliens”, which was one of the Top 50 finalists in last year’s Comic Book Challenge™. The story concerns a skeptical tabloid news reporter sent down to a border town in Texas to investigate cattle mutilations. The reporter inadvertently taps into a myth that dates back to Mayan times: the terrifying, primeval Chupacabra monster.

A film version of the project is being developed simultaneously.

“When Scott asked me to be a part of The Comic Book Challenge™, I thought that it would be a great way to hear story concepts,” said Williams. “Scott and I both immediately agreed that ‘Illegal Aliens’, which is a full throttle horror thriller in the spirit of Aliens and Predator, had franchise potential.”

Added Vanguard’s Williams: “Out of that enthusiasm, was born Vanguard Comics, where fantastical worlds are grounded in great character based dramatic-action story telling."

“When I asked John to be a part of last year’s Comic Book Challenge™, I was hoping that something like this would come out of it,” said Platinum Studios’ Rosenberg.

‘Illegal Aliens’ was created by Kevin MacDougall, a freelance illustrator, who has done comic book work and commercial art for many companies over the past 12 years. He currently lives in Mooseheart, IL.

Submissions for The 2008 Comic Book Challenge™ close on June 14, 2008.