Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books division is launching Gallery 13, a graphic book line that will publish graphic novels and graphic nonfiction beginning in the spring. Gallery Books senior editors Ed Schlesinger and Adam Wilson will acquire and edit books for the new line.
Commenting on the new line, Gallery Books publisher Jennifer Bergstrom, said “Visual storytelling has become a major part of the entertainment market. By forming Gallery 13, we look to put our own stamp on this modern narrative trend.”
The first three graphic novels to be published will be Roughneck by Jeff Lemire, an original graphic novel about a former hockey player, his sister, and their struggle against depression and violence. The book will be published in April 2017. Set for next May is Alone by French comics artist Chabouté, a bestselling work originally published in France that examines the life of a lighthouse keeper who engages the world through his dictionary. And in July 2017, Gallery 13 will publish a reprint edition of Stephen King and artist Bernie Wrightson’s Creepshow, a 1982 adaptation of the cult horror film directed by George Romero.
The announcement of the new line comes on the eve of San Diego Comic-Con International, the mammoth pop culture festival that opens July 21. Both editors will attend the show and will be at the S&S booth (#1128), Wilson said, “to get the word out about our new venture.”
Schlesinger said the new graphic books line will “skew towards the adults side” rather than children’s or YA content. The line will eventually offer nonfiction, “but nothing we can announce just yet.” Both editors' backgrounds are in traditional publishing, but Schlesinger said that comics are “a lifelong passion—it’s what we buy, it’s what we love to read, it’s the section of the bookstore we go to first.”
“Our lives have been so closely aligned with a visual culture that’s just absolutely exploded over the past several years,” Schlesinger added. “We couldn’t be happier about adding graphic novels to our list.”
