Prince of Persia: Before the Sandstorm »

The universe of Prince of Persia began in 1989, with the creation of the first Prince of Persia game. In this platform game, a Persian prince must rescue his throne from the evil vizier who has usurped it. The game was a hit, and spawned eight sequels (plus a cell phone game entitled 'Prince of Persia Harem Adventures') over the next nineteen years, including the award-winning, best-selling 'Sands of Time' series. 'Sands of Time' is now being adapted into a major motion picture by Disney/Bruckheimer: it will be out in theaters in June 2009.

JORDAN MECHNER is the creator of the Prince of Persia games, the Prince of Persia graphic novel, and the author of the script for the Prince of Persia movie. After forsaking his early obsession with comics at age 12 for a new love – computers – Jordan started learning how to program, taking the first steps down the path to writing video games. But his love of comics and reading stayed with him – when he began creating games, he created narrative, story-driven games that had their roots in the comics and the books he loved.

He sold his first game while he was still an undergraduate at Yale, and then moved directly on to creating Prince of Persia. The games took off, and he's been involved in the programming, story development, and world-building for the Prince of Persia ever since.

Jordan now lives in southern California, where he’s working on the next Prince of Persia game and writing and directing award-winning documentaries, as well as working on his next commercial property – Solomon’s Thieves, which will be published by First Second.

Under various other misspellings, mistranslations, andmisrepresentations of his name, A.B.SINA has written for film, magazines, and journals in North America and around the world. Born in Iran, he now works between Montreal and wherever else he can manage. He has no heirs, though he hopes this project will at least give him some followers.

LEUYEN PHAM and ALEX PUVILLAND are happily married in art. They found time in their highly successful careers (one as a children's book illustrator, the other one as her husband) to give us Prince of Persia. LeUyen has produced several acclaimed picture books for children, including her self-authored Big Sister, Little Sister. Alex has worked as an a visual development artist for Dreamworks Feature Animation and on numerous films. They live in San Francisco with their son Leo.

Written by Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia, this gorgeously illustrated graphic anthology will appeal to fans of the video game franchise, fans of the movie, and fans of comics and graphic novels! Dive further into the world of the upcoming Walt Disney Film, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time with this book of six original stories, all highlighting the characters and the world of the film, with art by some of the best and brightest talents in comics!

Publishers Weekly

Video gamers should enjoy this byproduct of a popular franchise. As game creator Mechner explains in an afterword, the original Prince of Persia was widely played in the early 1990s and famed as one of the few video games that had a story line with literary merit. It's been upgraded several times with somewhat different versions of the hero, which Mechner justifies as reflecting the fluid, dreamlike nature of Eastern storytelling. Sina's script for this book lays out two stories simultaneously, echoing and overlapping each other. In the 9th- and again in the 13th-century Persian city of Marv, a rightful prince is denied the throne, a vizier lusts for power, a courageous damsel fights for her lover, etc. The characters can't be sure whether their knowledge of events comes from memory or prophecy, creating a multi-leveled narrative that reflects the game, although readers will need to keep track of which hero is performing on a given page. There's plenty of action, and the artwork by Pham and Puvilland is suitably vigorous and exotic; however, without the thrill of participating in the action on-screen, reader involvement is limited. (Sept.)

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