Amazon Studios tests more big-screen original content with the launch of Blackburn Burrow digital comic

Amazon Studios has announced yet another original content project, with an all-new digital comic book called Blackburn Burrow, a story set in Civil War America where supernatural horrors infest a small town in Northern Georgia.

Just to recap, Amazon Studios uses audience feedback to develop original entertainment, and since the division’s launch in November 2010, more than 10,000 movie scripts and 1,800 series pilots have been submitted. Amazon says that there are currently 17 film projects underway as a result of these submissions.

You may remember back in June, Amazon enlisted Hellraiser’s Clive Barker to bring Zombies vs. Gladiators a step closer to our screens, making it one of only a handful of projects to be developed past the script-submission stage.

Since then, Amazon Studios has gone head-to-head with Netflix after selecting its first four original TV projects for production, while it also optioned another two children’s series in its quest for original content.

Now, Amazon’s original content arm is introducing a digital comic book, after Blackburn Burrow first came to Amazon Studios in the form of a feature film screenplay back in 2010. With the digital comic book, this has essentially taken the concept one step closer to the big screen, as it will now be tested for viability as a fully fledged motion picture.

The comic looks and reads like a traditional book and is available for free through a variety of sites, including Graphicly, as well as AmazonStudios.com, Amazon Studios Facebook page and the Kindle Store.

“This is a very exciting new venture for Amazon Studios,” says Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. “Beyond entertaining lots of comic fans, we see value in digital comics as a new way to test screenplays and learn more about fan engagement. The 12 Gauge team has done beautiful work on the Blackburn Burrow digital comic and we are thrilled to share it with audiences to see how they react to the story of Blackburn Burrow.”

The whole Blackburn Burrow comic will be released over a period of four months with new issues arriving every four weeks. Each release will be accompanied by a poll related to content in that issue, to encourage feedback and comment.