While Scholastic’s Graphix imprint generally dominates the kids’ comics category, the big news around children’s graphic novels at Comic-Con International earlier this month came from the Big Two of traditional comics publishers: Marvel and DC Entertainment.
Marvel announced that it will hand over production of its middle grade comics and graphic novels to IDW Publishing, which already has a robust catalog of children’s properties. Working in partnership, Marvel and IDW plan to develop monthly comics and trade paperbacks featuring iconic Marvel characters, to be published by IDW. The line will kick off in November 2018 with a series featuring Spider-Man and both of his alter egos, Peter Parker and Miles Morales. An Avengers series will launch in December and Black Panther in January 2019.
DC Entertainment, meanwhile, added more titles and creators to its two previously announced imprints, DC Zoom (middle grade) and DC Ink (young adult). Award-winning authors Shannon and Dean Hale will write a Wonder Woman story, Diana, Princess of the Amazons, for the DC Zoom line, and the Japanese duo Gurihiru, who illustrated Gene Luen Yang’s Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novels, will team up with him again on Superman Smashes the Klan.
Newly announced titles in the DC Ink lineup include Oracle: Rising by Marieke Nijkamp (This Is Where It Ends), Shadow of the Batgirl by Sarah Kuhn (Heroine Complex), Truth or Consequences: A Jack Hyde Story by Alex Sanchez (Rainbow Boys), and Dick Grayson: Lost Carnival by Michael Moreci (Roche Limit). DC also announced that Leigh Bardugo’s prose novel Wonder Woman: Warbringer will be adapted into a graphic novel by Louise Simonson.
In addition to the Marvel deal, IDW announced a five-part comics series, Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle, which will run weekly in October, as well as a one-shot Team Sonic Racing comic that will be a prequel to the video game of the same name, which will be released later this year.
News from the IDW imprint Top Shelf, home of Rep. John Lewis’s graphic memoir March, included They Called Us Enemy, a graphic memoir by George Takei of his childhood in an internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II, and the second volume of Kim Dwinell’s lighthearted Surfside Girls middle grade mysteries.
Just before Comic-Con began, Dark Horse announced Disney Ralph Breaks the Internet—Click Start: Choose Your Own Internet Adventure, a choose-your-own-story graphic novel prequel to the upcoming film Ralph Breaks the Internet, which is due out in November. BOOM! Studios also broke some pre-Comic-Con news with its announcement that it will publish original graphic novels based on Cartoon Network’s Ben 10 animated series; the first book, Ben 10: The Truth Is Out There, is scheduled for March 2019.
While Scholastic’s Graphix imprint didn’t announce any new graphic novels, one of its upcoming books drew a lot of attention: Hey, Kiddo, Jarrett J. Krosoczka’s memoir of growing up in the care of his grandparents, while his mother, who was a heroin addict, was in jail or rehab for most of his childhood. Hey, Kiddo is intended for a young adult audience, which is a departure from the imprint’s usual middle grade fare.
