Press Release

This October, Oni Press is pleased to unveil the second KISSING CHAOS series. NONSTOP BEAUTY is the sequel to last year's award-nominated debut by Arthur Dela Cruz. It detailed three troubled teens' flight from the law, and Dela Cruz introduced clues of a larger story at work. Now, the conspiracy becomes even more clear, as readers meet Ashley, a member of an underground art collective devoted to sewing the seeds of anarchy. When her friend Angela sends her a top secret computer document via e-mail, Ashley suddenly discovers herself at the center of a very real and dangerous situation-something her art pals would never even dream really existed.

"KISSING CHAOS: NONSTOP BEAUTY cracks the world of this comic wide open," said Oni Press editor in chief Jamie S. Rich. "While the first series began as a very personal story, readers were treated to hints of a much bigger production throughout the journey. There were mysterious men in black, the much-sought-after laptop, and possibly hidden agendas on the parts of even our main characters. NONSTOP BEAUTY will start to unravel the strings to show us what it's all about. Though, of course, in typical KISSING CHAOS fashion, it will likely raise just as many questions as it does answers."

"I kind of tricked the Oni guys into taking on my large-scale action soap opera," Dela Cruz explained. "I had been planning KISSING CHAOS for years before the ash can that ultimately lead to me working with Oni, and the story became pretty huge. I was worried that they wouldn't go for that sort of thing, though, and so I didn't tell them what was up. Midway through the series, Jamie and Joe started to wonder about these things going on in the background, and it was time to 'fess up."

"Not a technique I would recommend attempting to replicate," Rich added, "but lucky for Arthur, rather than tossing him out on his ear, we were excited. For Oni, KISSING CHAOS was a real success story. Not only were we extremely pleased with the work itself, but the response of fans, retailers, and critics seemed to equal ours. We were engulfed in the tale Arthur was weaving, so we couldn't possibly say no to more."

"I hope readers are ready for the breadth this series will take," Oni publisher Joe Nozemack said. "While some of the original characters will return for the second go-around, we won't see most of them again for a while, if at all. But each one that comes along is a piece to a wonderful puzzle. It's constructed smartly, so that the individual parts can be enjoyed on their own, but then when it's all done, there's a much richer reward. Not unlike, say, STRAY BULLETS."

Though characters may not return, Arthur Dela Cruz's distinctive

combination of traditional and digital artwork will. "One of the greatest mysteries of KISSING CHAOS was how Arthur got his pages to look so cool," Rich said. "His skills have only improved. Doing finishes over Brian Hurtt for SKINWALKER has taught him more about his craft, and I think it will really start to show on the pages of NONSTOP BEAUTY. That alone was enough to get the series going again."

In addition to the good news of having his sequel greenlit and the first series collected, Arthur has also been nominated for an Eisner Award in the category of Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition. "My buddy J. Bone lost last year, so if I don't get it, it's all good," Dela Cruz laughed.

KISSING CHAOS: NONSTOP BEAUTY #1 (of 5) ships to comic book stores on October 16, 2002. It features 24 pages of black-and-white story and art, no ads, and a color cover-retailing for $2.95. It is presented in the same digest size as the original series (though with a longer page count), and is suggested for mature readers.

The KISSING CHAOS trade paperback is printed at the same 6" X 9" size as the miniseries. It clocks in at 176 pages and retails at $17.95. The ISBN # is 192999832. It's expected to hit shelves on September 18, 2002.