Urbz Comix

With nine different districts to explore, dozens of characters to meet, and an entirely different version of The Urbz hitting multiple handheld platforms, there's an awful lot of bases to cover to get oneself acquainted with The Urbz. To help players get a feel for the city, Electronic Arts provided readers with a crash-course, comic-book-style, on each of the nine districts they'd be visiting in the game, as well as an additional strip showcasing the version of The Urbz played on the Nintendo GBA and DS.
Urbz Comix takes Jayde, The Urbz postergal, on a journey through all the districts of the city, where she meets a few characters and probably stirs up some trouble like only she knows how!
You can read the Comix below in the order they were originally presented:
==The Foundry==
:Jayde's journeys take her to The Foundry, bastion of detached cool, where even simple greetings are fraught with added meaning.
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;About the Author
:James Kochalka is a cartoonist and a rock star. His comics have been published in 8 languages around the globe and have won numerous awards, and he recently signed a multi-album record deal with Rykodisc for his band, James Kochalka Superstar. You can browse more of his work at Top Shelf Comix.
==Neon East==
:Mazuiko's gotta find a way to balance the go-go Neon East lifestyle with the responsibilities of owning a business. Jayde to the rescue!
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;About the Author
:An entomologist by day, Dave Crosland spends his nights righting wrongs and drawing comics. While he's created artwork for several Image Comics stories, such as Bad Ideas, Heaven LLC and Puffed, Crosland's images have also graced the pages of Venus Magazine and Spin, along with album covers and concert posters worldwide. To see more of his brand of eye-candy, go to his website
==South Side Bridge==
:Jayde's big score blows up in her face when she tries to sell some sharp new duds back to their original tough-talking owner, South Side Bridge Boss Louie Bricks.
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;About the Author
:Steve Rolston was trained in classical animation and spent some time drawing animation storyboards before pursuing his real love: comic books. He made his first splash by illustrating the debut story arc of Greg Rucka's espionage series Queen & Country. That work won the Eisner Award for Best New Series and earned Rolston several other nominations including Most Promising Newcomer. Rolston went on to illustrate the punk rock black comedy Pounded with writer Brian Wood and Mek, a look into the mechanized future of cult culture with the mighty Warren Ellis. He then showed off his own writing skills with the release of his "slacker noir" graphic novel One Bad Day. Rolston lives in in Vancouver, BC, Canada and continues to work on future comic projects. You can see more of his work at his website.
==Gasoline Row==
:Jayde motors on down to the blustery bikers' domain - Gasoline Row, and finds that a little bravado goes a long way there.
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;About the Author
:Peter Bagge was born 12/11/57, and grew up in Peekskill, New York. Bagge also started his own comic book, Neat Stuff, for Fantagraphics Books, producing 15 issues from 1985 to '89. Buddy Bradley, the Bradleys' alienated and pessimistic teenage son, emerged as Neat Stuff's most engaging and fully-realized character. In 1990, Neat Stuff evolved into a new title, "Hate," which exclusively followed the foibles of the semi-autobiographical Buddy Bradley. Hate became the voice of the twenty-nothing slackers as well as being hailed by critics for its brilliant characterization in its complete chronicle of the 1990s. Hate continues to appear in print, albeit less frequently, under the title "Hate Annual."
:Bagge's distinctive in-your-face illustration style has also appeared on many record and CD covers, and his comics have been featured in political and social commentary magazines like REASON and the website Suck.com. Other comic work includes writing an all ages comic book for DC called "Yeah!" (drawn by Gilbert Hernandez), and more recently "Sweatshop," also for DC, which satirizes the comics industry. He also writes and draws a weekly comic strip about "Bat Boy" for THE WEEKLY WORLD NEWS.
:Peter Bagge currently lives in Seattle with his wife Joanne and daughter Hannah. You can learn more about Peter at his Twitter.
==Kick Tail Park==
:Jayde spends a little QT with some orange sherbet and sets a few skate-rat hearts a-flutter in the process. What next?!
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;About the Author
:Canadian cartoonist Jay Stephens is best known for his Emmy Award winning cartoon creation, TUTENSTEIN, seen on NBC Saturday mornings, and the Annie nominated JETCAT shorts from Nickelodeon's KaBlam!. He's spent a dozen years writing and drawing comic books and strips for a variety of publications, including his own JETCAT CLUBHOUSE, THE LAND OF NOD, and ATOMIC CITY TALES. Jays' full colour, weekly comic strip WELCOME TO... ODDVILLE! can be seen Thursdays in the Toronto Star's Brand New Planet section. You can find out more about Jay and his many creations at his archived website.
==Skyline Beach==
:Life's tough at the bottom for Jayde, who's catching static from the bouncer at her fave club. Will the Skyline Beach Crew be able to help a girl out?
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;About the Author
:Jim Mahfood is the indy cartoonist behind such books as Grrl Scouts, Stupid Comics, Bad Ideas, and 40oz Collected. He provided the art on Kevin Smith's Clerks comics and has worked on such mainstream characters as Spider-Man, Batman, and the Simpsons. His current projects include his brand new artbook, "Puttin' the Backbone Back" and "Wha Huh?!" at Marvel with Brian Bendis. You can see more of his work at his website.
:Jim also authored the Cozmo Street Comix.
==Diamond Heights==
:With a little help from Darius, Jayde should be able to fit in with the bling-centric Diamond Heights Crew. But will she be able to find a dress to fit in first?
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;About the Author
:Chynna Clugston is the creator of Scooter Girl and the multiple Eisner and Harvey award nominated comic book Blue Monday, both from Oni Press. If she hadn't been born and raised in California thinking it's the coolest place in the world, she'd probably be living it up in London at the moment. Well, living in poverty in London dreaming about living it up there. For now she's content to only visit. Chynna has also worked on projects such as Paul Dini's Jingle Belle, Mike Allred's It Girl, Ultimate Marvel Team-Up with Brian Michael Bendis and will be doing Teen Titans Go! with J. Torres next spring. Her next project, Queen Bee (Scholastic), will see the light of day September 2005. She's got more tricks up her sleeve this coming year, too. Keep informed at her Tumblr.
==Central Station==
:Find out how the villainous Urangoo McBain got his stripes, so to speak, in this ink-spattered tale of love, hate, manipulation and body modification!
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;About the Author
:Evan Dorkin is the Harvey, Eisner and Ignatz-award winning creator of MILK AND CHEESE, DORK, and HECTIC PLANET, published by Slave Labor Graphics. He’s also put in time at Marvel, Dark Horse and DC, among other comics publishers. His cartooning has also appeared in Esquire, Spin, The Onion, Mad, Disney Adventures, Penthouse Hot Talk and Nickelodeon magazine. Along with Sarah Dyer, he’s written for SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST, SUPERMAN and the BATMAN BEYOND animated series. He was the creator, writer, designer and executive producer of WELCOME TO ELTINGVILLE, which aired on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. He is currently working on another pilot for the Swim, as well as some more dumb comics.
:You can learn more about Evan Dorkin at his Twitter.
==Cozmo Street==
:When Jayde intrudes on the Couture Twins' efforts to cozy up to the Black Eyed Peas, the Twins get enraged! Will Jayde keep cool?
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;About the Author
:Jim Mahfood is the indy cartoonist behind such books as Grrl Scouts, Stupid Comics, Bad Ideas, and 40oz Collected. He provided the art on Kevin Smith's Clerks comics and has worked on such mainstream characters as Spider-Man, Batman, and the Simpsons. His current projects include his brand new artbook, "Puttin' the Backbone Back" and "Wha Huh?!" at Marvel with Brian Bendis. You can see more of his work at his website.
:Jim also authored the Skyline Beach Comix.
==Bonus: Handheld==
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;About the Author
;R Stevens
:R Stevens lives in a factory building with two cats. When he's not drawing his online comic strip Diesel Sweeties, he teaches graphic design part-time at the Hartford Art School. DieselSweeties & R Stevens have been seen featured in Salon, Suicide Girls, .net Magazine, Chicago Magazine, Magnet & the U.K. Sunday Times. He hopes one day to eat hot dogs until he passes out.
==External links==
*Urbz Comix (archived)
*Game Vortex The Urbz Hit the Comic Strip (reference)
*Sims Network Comix images partially sourced
Category:EA Games
Category:The Urbz