It's (late) Wednesday . . . that means graphic novel news!

ITEM! Little Brown goes graphic!

Rich Johnson, formerly in charge of DC's book trade business (DC being the home of Superman and Batman, and a division of Time-Warner) has been hired by Hachette Book Group USA to start up a graphic novel imprint at Little/Brown. According to Publisher's Weekly, Little/Brown, "has been looking for a creative way to be part of this exciting category," and Johnson "has been hired as a consultant to look into acquiring titles in a number of categories under the graphic umbrella including licensed manga, original manga, original American comics and graphic novels, webcomics, licensed adaptations and children's graphic novels."

I think that covers absolutely everything except for nurse mystery novels. So, hey - more comics! From Little/Brown!

Tell me more:
http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2006/09/27/johnson-to-hachette/


ITEM! Cartoon Network helps sell BLEACH

BLEACH, the anime series, debuted on the Cartoon Network on September 9th, and according to the BookScan numbers for the week ending September 17th - the first volume of BLEACH, the graphic novel, originally released in the US in June 2004 is suddenly at #7 on the list of graphic novels sold in bookstores. Vol. 2 rocketed to #20, continuing what some folks call "the Cartoon Network effect," first seen with NARUTO. There are now seven volumes of BLEACH in the BookScan top 50, with fourteen volumes total in the series.

All eleven volumes of NARUTO continue to live in the BookScan top 20, and only 8 of the top 50 titles were non-manga.

Tell me more:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/9359.html

ITEM! Marvel Super-Heroes Head to the Web

Marvel Comics announced this week that Cryptic Sudios, creators of the Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (that's MMORG to nerds) CITY OF HEROES will develop MARVEL UNIVERSE ONLINE.

Sez Marvel: "The mechanics of the new Marvel MMORG will differ substantially from those of City of Heroes where players basically build their own superheroes. The Marvel game will center around the heroes of the Marvel universe and will feature custom art and character designs created especially for the game."

I do not know what all of this means. Will there be multiple Spideys running around for players to play? Customizable Hulks? Hard to say, but when asked if the new character renditions will lead to new licensing streams, Marvel responded, "It's not out of the realm of possibility that this will influence other areas of our business."

Tell me more:
http://icv2.com/articles/home/9383.html