Scholastic will enter the graphic novel market next spring with the launch of the Graphix imprint. Jean Feiwel, publisher and editor-in-chief of Scholastic, will direct the new imprint, along with Scholastic creative director David Saylor and with input from other editors. Feiwel said Graphix will likely do about two to four projects per year.
The imprint's first effort will be Bone, Jeff Smith's internationally acclaimed fantasy adventure story, which won the Eisner and Harvey Awards, the comics industry's highest prizes. Originally designed in black and white, the nine-volume series will be published in color (with new covers for each volume) in a 6"×9" trim size. Scholastic will release a new volume every six months. The series, which has been self-published by Smith's own Cartoon Books, has sold more than 400,000 copies since it first appeared in 1995.
Next summer, Graphix will publish Queen Bee, a manga-influenced look at middle-school girls and their social scene, starring a set of sisters with super powers, by Chynna Clubstone-Major, creator of the popular series Blue Monday and Scooter Girl for comics publisher Oni Press. And coming in the fall of 2005 is a graphic novel adaptation of Ann M. Martin's bestselling Baby-Sitters Club series by Raina Telgemeier, creator of her own self-published mini-comics series Take Out.
