ONCE UPON A TIME
THE
IN SAN FRANCISCO
BLACK HATCHET
INTERVIEWS, PRESS RELEASES, PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BRACE YOURSELF SAN FRANCISCO, IT’S NOT AN EARTHQUAKE!
San Francisco, CA. April 14, 2026 – It’s Once Upon A Time in San Francisco – The Black Hatchet free animated eComics.
In honor of the 120-year anniversary of the great quake and fire, the free, three, interactive animated eComics are now available to download as PDF’s.
This hero’s journey is based on real people, true stories and events.
In the spirit of The Crow, Gladiator, John Wick, The Revenant, Gangs of New York and Fist of Fury comes a brutal, mythic action-adventure-revenge-martial arts-historical-thriller set against one of America’s most dangerous and rarely explored underworlds. San Francisco. 1906. The Barbary Coast.
A ghost vigilante rises from the shadows – twin blades parched for justice, vengeance in his veins. When Hatchet Men sex traffickers abduct his sister, a scarred cowboy reborn as the Black Hatchet carves a savage path, racing against time to save her before she’s shipped to Shanghai – leaving alleys awash in blood and body parts.
The Black Hatchet creates a strong, high-stakes emotional, against-all-odds quest that descends into the darker shadowed corridors of the human psyche of guilt, grief, right versus wrong, redemption, survival, rebirth and legacy.
It fuses visceral action with moral issues and complexity exploring themes of murder, death, crime, justice versus vengeance, faith versus fury and the unbreakable bond between brother and sister featuring an epic third act spectacle: The 1906 earthquake and firestorm apocalypse.
To enhance the comic book reading experience, Augmented Reality (AR) allows us to project animations of the book’s covers, pages and panels on phones and tablets.
This AR application blends traditional storytelling with animations to create a multisensory, interactive experience, as videos explode from the book plus posters, T-shirts and sticker art.
To play the animations, acquire and open the free Artivive AR app, aim your lens at a printed or eComic cover, page and panel – or a poster, T-shirt design or sticker and watch it come to life!
Visit the proof-of-concept website to find the free eComics, app, logline, synopsis, comps, demos, animations, characters, backstories plus 1906 San Francisco art, history and more!
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CONTACT: Michael Trachiotis - Screenwriter, Producer, Director & Editor
EMAIL: michaelxsfnative@gmail.com
WEBSITE: onceuponatimeinsf.com
SOCIAL LINKS: On the Website
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE BLACK HATCHET WILL BE UNLEASHED AT SAN FRANCISCO FANEXPO!
Before The Phantom, Superman and Batman – there was The Black Hatchet!
San Francisco, CA. November 22, 2025 – Brace yourself San Francisco, it’s not an earthquake! It’s “Once Upon A Time in San Francisco – The Black Hatchet.”
The FREE film prevision, interactive, animated eComics will be turned loose at SF Fanfest Comic-Con, Moscone Center West, Artist Alley, A415, November 28-30, 2025.
Think “John Wick” with a “Fist of Fury” melded with “Gladiator” running amok with two razor sharp hatchets in “Gangs of New York" except it’s the outlaw 1906 Barbary Coast.
A ghost vigilante rises from the shadows – twin blades parched for justice, vengeance in his veins, on safari in the vicious Barbary Coast to punish the sex traffickers that took his sister. In a race against time to rescue her, he carves a savage path – one Hatchet Man dissection at a time – leaving alleys awash in blood and body parts.
To enhance the comic reading experience, Augmented Reality (AR) allows us to project animations of the book’s art on phones and tablets.
This exclusive AR application blends traditional storytelling with animations to create a multisensory, interactive experience, as animations explode from covers, panels, pages, posters, T-shirts, marketing materials and merchandise.
To play the animations, open the free Artivive Augmented Reality (AR) app, aim your lens at an eComic page with a hatchet logo in the corner and watch the art come to life.
Visit the film previsIon website to to acquire the FREE eComics, App, pitch deck, view animations, demos and learn about the history, script, characters and more!
# # #
CONTACT: Michael Trachiotis
EMAIL: michaelxsfnative@gmail.com
WEBSITE: onceuponatimeinsf.com