Editing Comix Zone (section)

==Release==
''Comix Zone'' was released for the Genesis in North America in July 1995,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/eb4483b8-6d87-49ae-a54c-ea77e0b1ba09|title=Genesis ProReview: Comix Zone|magazine=[[GamePro]]|issue=73|publisher=[[International Data Group|IDG]]|date=August 1995|page=64}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Elrich |first=David J. |date=September 14, 1995 |title=ROAD TEST; 32-Bit Video Games: Newest Kid on the Block |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/14/archives/road-test-32bit-video-games-newest-kid-on-the-block.html |access-date=August 1, 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> in Japan on September 1, 1995,<ref name="Sega titles - Sega JP">{{cite web |title=Software List (Sega Release) |url=https://www.sega.jp/history/hard/megadrive/software.html |website=Sega Hard Encyclopedia |publisher=[[Sega|Sega Corporation]] |access-date=May 15, 2023 |language=ja}}</ref> and in Europe on September 1995.<ref name="ComixZone-SM21">{{cite web|title=Mega Drive Review - Comix Zone|url=https://archive.org/details/sega-21/page/19/mode/2up|magazine=[[Sega Saturn Magazine#History|Sega Magazine]]|publisher=[[EMAP]]|accessdate=9 March 2025|date=September 1995|pages=84-85}}</ref> The game received a small print run in Japan and became an expensive collector's item in the years following its release.<ref name="HG101" /> A [[porting|port]] for [[Windows]] was released in North America in November 1995 and in Europe in March 1996.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Sega+enters+PC+gaming+market+with+hit+titles,+key+partnerships.-a017424677|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401081536/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Sega+enters+PC+gaming+market+with+hit+titles%2c+key+partnerships.-a017424677|title=Sega enters PC gaming market with hit titles, key partnerships|website=[[Business Wire]]|archivedate=April 1, 2016|date=September 18, 1995|accessdate=August 11, 2021|via=[[The Free Dictionary]]|author=[[Sega of America]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Guise|1996|p=58}} The port, released when [[Microsoft]] was promoting [[Windows 95]] as a legitimate game platform, is largely identical to the Genesis version, though it features a [[MIDI]] rendition of the soundtrack.<ref name="HG101" /> Sales of ''Comix Zone'' were hampered by its late release in the Genesis' lifecycle, after the worldwide launch of [[Fifth generation of video game consoles|next-generation hardware]] like the Saturn and [[Sony Interactive Entertainment|Sony]]'s [[PlayStation (console)|PlayStation]]. According to Stephens, Hector said that ''Comix Zone'' failed to [[break even]],{{sfn|''GamesTM'' staff|2010|p=153}} which Morawiec attributed to the popularity of the PlayStation.<ref name="S16: Morawiec" />

To promote ''Comix Zone'' as "edgy and cool", Sega bundled ''Comix Zone'' with a CD featuring rock songs by popular bands such as [[Love and Rockets (band)|Love and Rockets]], [[Danzig (band)|Danzig]], and the [[Jesus and Mary Chain]].{{Sfn|Horowitz|2016|p=94-95}} STI originally planned for the bundled CD to contain several ''Comix Zone'' tracks performed by a grunge band that Drossin had formed in [[Los Angeles]], but Sega chose a different approach. Morawiec said that the team, particularly Drossin, was upset by the change, though their planned CD was still manufactured and distributed via a magazine, European and Windows copies, and Sega's short-lived Sega Tunes [[record label|label]].<ref name="S16: Morawiec" /><ref name="HG101" /> ''[[Hardcore Gaming 101]]'' described the rock CD as "a stunt that further drives the nineties-ness of [''Comix Zone''] as a time capsule for an era when game companies often released a lot of crazy promotional crap to sell their products".<ref name="HG101" />