Cover: The Talisman #1 Variant

Newsarama posted the variant cover to The Talisman: The Road of Trials #1!

Here is the press release:

Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today Mike Krahulik, artist and half of the creative duo behind the hit gaming and geek culture-based webcomic Penny Arcade (www.penny-arcade.com) as the variant cover artist for Issue 1 of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Talisman, on sale in November.

“Penny Arcade is the online phenomenon which debuted in 1998 whose global readership generate over 50 million pageviews a month. Mike Krahulik is also known as Gabe, his online persona in the Penny Arcade comics. Krahulik has lent his distinctive art style to promotional comics for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Prince of Persia, Fallout 3, and other video games, as well as advertisements for the Entertainment Software Association.

“The epic saga of The Talisman debuts with Issue 0, a never-before-told prequel to the story, to be published by Del Rey Comics in October. The Talisman novel, originally published in 1984, is the story of a teen boy named Jack Sawyer, who can save his dying mother only by retrieving a magical talisman. To find it he must cross back and forth between our world and the frightening and dangerous landscape of its “twinner” counterpart. Issue 0 explores the separate lives of Jack’s father—in our world, and in the mysterious realm known as the Territories—and how evil scheming will forever change Jack’s peaceful life.

“The series is being adapted by Robin Furth and illustrated by Tony Shasteen, with regular cover art by Massimo Carnevale and coloring by Nei Ruffino. The Talisman Issue 0 will be available in comic book stores everywhere on October 21, 2009, and The Talisman Issue 1 will hit comics stands on November 18, 2009.