Spearheaded by huge names in the comic, game and music industries, the dangerous world of Croix-Noire will take the form of a 140-page graphic novel, a game hosted on the ROBLOX platform and a full-length music album. The graphic novel will be released in 7 monthly comic issues, starting in May, coinciding with the launch of the online ROBLOX game. Prior to the release of the album ‘Songs from Croix-Noire’ (on vinyl and digital), each issue of the comic will coincide with the release of one new track from the album with the first single ‘A Whole New Day’ welcoming the listener into the moral kaleidoscope of the streets and clubs of Croix-Noire.

A chance 2020 meeting between top singer-songwriter/producer Mike Batt and singer-songwriter/entrepreneur Jean-Charles Capelli led to a chain reaction in which EMMY-winning writer and novelist David Quantick, legendary Marvel/DC comic artist Mike Collins (Spiderman, Superman, Dr Who) and executives from leading online games corporation DUBIT (Disney, Brit Awards) created a dramatically interlinked world starring hypersensitive, reluctant protagonist Ace Hansel Jr.
“Ace Hansel Jr is a fictitious, B list, capeless superhero,” says Batt. “He lives in and looks after a dark and dangerous world based on a real French red light district familiar to Jean-Charles.” When the two met, Batt was struck by the unusual imagery in Capelli’s notebook and the duo used these pages as direct inspiration for the project.