As I was pre-ordering a copy Absolute Sandman, Vol.2 by Neil Gaiman on Amazon.com, I ran across a list of popular pre-orders and lo and behold Christine Feehan and Berkley are going manga with Ms. Feehan’s popular Carpathian series with Dark Hunter hitting the bookshelves come October. Is this an adaptation or original work? I don’t know. Feehan will be in good company. Laurell K. Hamilton has already stepped into the arena of graphic novels with her Anita Blake series thereby tapping into a new audience of readers. I haven’t read the adapted version of the graphic novel (with no current plans to do so) and the artwork leaves much to be desired. Part of me was shrieking in protest at the artistic vision of Jean-Claude on paper.
Also, look for Stephen King to oversee the adaptation of his critically acclaimed and wildly popular Dark Tower series in the graphic novel format. Will this be a new trend for popular bestselling authors? Adding their authorial efforts to the recent graphic novel pandemic? According to Publishers Weekly, graphic novels sales reached 330 million in 2006. Don’t tell me you’re still not a fan yet? I own so many manga titles for various series that I find myself only keeping up with about half of them.
Highlighted titles and by no means a completed list:
- Bestselling novelist Peter Straub and actor/screenwriter Michael Easton signed with Vertigo to write The Green Woman, a psychological horror story. No release date at this time.
- The Gunslinger (Marvel Comics) by Stephen King is already available at Amazon.com and collects issues #1–7. I own the first book in the series.
- Alisa Kwitney, former editor at DC Comics slash contemporary novelist, is set to release her very first graphic novel with a Minx title in 2008, Token, about a “nice Jewish girl who gets busted for shoplifting” and finds love along the way. It’s set to release next summer.
- Singer/songwriter Neil Young is set to pen his first graphic novel based on his album, Greendale. No release date has been announced
In closing, I will leave you with Time Magazine’s All-Time Graphic Novels, a top 10 list of some of the best graphic novels available today. I own two of the titles listed: Blankets (2003) by Craig Thompson and The Dark Knight Returns (1986) by Frank Miller.
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Hey, that’s cool. I usually mention Hikaru No Go, and nobody has any idea what I’m talking about.
I’ll be happy when they finally get up to issue #16, which is where I left off. I think the series is only up to #6 in English. They are taking –so– long to publish the English versions.
Hey Billy, I am a newbie to comics and graphic novels, so you’re not alone. Hikaru No Go manga is a favorite of mine, too. Unlike you, I didn’t want to learn Go.
Wow. This graphic novel trend is getting serious.
I’m not really into graphic novels yet. I have Watchmen (which is on the Time Magazine list), and I thought it was pretty good.… I’ve also put some time into the Hikaru No Go manga, which got me interested in Go, and had me hooked until I ran out of issues to read (this was a few years ago, when they were only available in Japanese, and fans translated them on the internet. They are now available in America, but have not caught up to where I was). But those are my only real forays into graphic novels.
I may have to check out the Magician Apprentice graphic novel, however. I liked the book, so maybe I’ll also like the graphic novel. And I have Gaiman’s Sandman comics on my Christmas list, so maybe I’ll get hooked.
I’m all for trying Feehan’s Carpathian series in graphic novel form as I’ve never read the series and was never interested. Same can be said for Stephen King’s Gunslinger series. These works seem more approachable to (for lack of a better word) or more attractive in this format for me. Thanks for the info, Li, I appreciate it.
I read that Raymond Feist’s Magician series is also being issued in graphic novel form. And there was another one that caught my attention — have googled, it was Kinley MacGregor’s (a.k.a. Sherrilyn Kenyon) “Lords of Avalon” series.
Except they seem to be part of Dabel Brothers’ hook-up with Marvel, which has now been cancelled, so I’ve no idea whether it is still going ahead or not.
Okay, more googling:
Going forward, Marvel will continue to publish Anita Blake Vampire Hunter by Laurell K. Hamilton; the Hedge Knight series by George RR Martin; Tales of Alvin Maker and Wyrms by Orson Scott Card; Magician Apprentice by Raymond Feist; Lords of Avalon by Kinley MacGregor; and Highwayman by R.A. Salvatore.
Err… I didn’t mean for this comment to be an info-dump. What I meant to say was that it makes sense — all these best-selling authors mean that you have a ready-made market. While not all would go for graphic novels, you’re bound to have a proportion who would be delighted to see their favourite characters and stories come to life (sort of, anyway).