This fall, Abrams Children’s Group will launch a graphic novel imprint for young readers, called Abrams Fanfare. Senior v-p and publisher Andrew Smith and associate publisher Maggie Lehrman will head up the new imprint, which will include graphic novels for early, middle grade, and young adult readers. Abrams’ previously published children’s graphic novels, including the bestselling El Deafo by Cece Bell and Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, will be incorporated into it. The imprint will not include Amulet’s illustrated chapter books, such as Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and Tom Angleberger’s Origami Yoda books.
“Abrams has been publishing graphic novels for over 15 years as part of the Amulet imprint, which is our home for fiction and nonfiction early chapter books, middle grade, and YA,” Smith told PW. “Abrams Fanfare will now be our dedicated home and imprint for comics for kids and teens, so all of the graphic novels that had been part of Amulet backlist—and we have close to 200 titles on our graphic novel backlist—will be moving to Fanfare and forming the foundation for the new imprint.”
Abrams Fanfare will launch with two new titles and three new volumes in continuing series: Black Lives: Great Minds of Science, the first volume of a series of graphic biographies by writer Tonya Bolden and artist David Wilkerson (Aug.); The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien written and illustrated by John Hendrix, the story of the friendship between the two famous authors and how it affected their writing (Sept.); Adventuregame Comics: Samurai vs. Ninja, the third volume in Jason Shiga’s choose-your-path middle-grade graphic novel series (Aug.); A Mighty Marvel Team-Up Box Set, bundling three early middle grade Spider-Man titles by Mike Maihack: Spider-Man: Animals Assemble!, Spider-Man: Quantum Quest!, and Spider-Man: Cosmic Chaos! (Nov.); and Astrid & Stella: Comet Together!, the fourth volume in the early middle-grade series by sisters Eunice Moyle and Sabrina Moyle, founders of the Hello!Lucky design studio (Jan. 2025).
“We’re thrilled to have the launch of a new series on the debut list with Black Lives,” Smith said. “It’s really terrific to have a new middle-grade nonfiction launch on the debut list, since it’s a category I feel we’re known for at Abrams.”
Also in the works are a YA mystery by writer Mariko Tamaki (Roaming; Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me) and artist Nicole Goux (The Forest Hills Bootleg Society; Shadow of the Batgirl); a graphic novel adaptation of Tamora Pierce’s YA fantasy series Song of the Lioness; a middle-grade series by veteran Marvel writer Larry Hama (G.I. Joe; Daredevil); and a new early-reader graphic novel by Tom Angleberger (Two-Headed Chicken; Origami Yoda).
In addition to original graphic novels, Fanfare will partner with Marvel Comics, Paramount Consumer Products, and Mattel for more titles. “We’ll be introducing another Marvel hero into the mighty Marvel Team-Up series next year,” Smith said, with details yet to be announced. “We’ll also be continuing to build upon our strong partnership with Marvel in some new categories and with some popular and bestselling creators over the next few years.”
