In an effort to reach younger readers, Christian publishing house David C Cook acquired Corvus Comics, a graphic art studio based in Colorado Springs, Colo. Studio cofounders Christopher Wood and Q Wood are staying on as creative director at David C Cook and director of digital content production on the services and innovation team, respectively. Corvus Comics artist Luke McKinnon is also joining the David C Cook staff at the publisher’s headquarters in Colorado Springs.
Drawing on the Corvus teams’ expertise in areas of graphic design, gaming, animation, and graphic novels, David C Cook plans “to create art in-house that speaks to today’s generations at a scale not yet seen within the ministry,” the company said in a statement. Initially, the publisher is focusing on adapting and enhancing existing products through graphic art, and planning is underway for new publications as well as ways to incorporate the artists’ talents into the publishing program. There are no plans in place yet for new books from Corvus via David C Cook, nor is there a goal number of books to be published per year, according to Amy Konyndyk, v-p at David C Cook. "Our teams are in the exploratory process to determine how to maximize the acquisition and new capabilities," she tells PW.
David C Cook’s CEO John Aden says the company has a long history of recognizing “the importance of using high-quality, illustrated graphics to engage students and teach biblical truths,” he said in a statement. “We are thrilled to build upon that heritage through this acquisition.”
In a statement about David C Cook's acquisition of Corvus, Christopher Wood said he and the Corvus team are honored to bring the Bible to life through illustrated media. Corvus Comics was founded in 2019 and has published several faith-based graphic novels, including three titles in the Tuttle Twins series for kids and graphic novels tied to the made-for-television movie, The Chosen. The studio self-distributed all content to the trade market as a "full development one-stop-shop, handling everything from conceptual design to printed product in the client's hand," Wood tells PW. Corvus works with all artists, "but an openness to developing gospel-centric and ministry-minded art content was paramount when selecting contributing artists to our team," he tells PW.
He adds: "We are a ministry first, and a business second. This message has been true since our very first day together through our recent acquisition by David C Cook."
