Philadelphia based independent comics house Zenescope is teaming up with the Discovery Channel to release Top 10 Dealiest Sharks, a tie-in to the network’s popular Shark Week, written by Zenescope publisher Joe Brusha in collaboration with a number of artists. Released this month, it’s the first graphic novel tie-in for the Discovery Channel and the first of three nonfiction comics works Zenescope will produce for the cable network.
Top 10 Deadliest Sharks is released through Zenescope’s Silver Dragon imprint, the first releases from Zenescopes line of kids’ and teens’ graphic novels. Zenescope specializes in graphic novels based classic-but-twisted fairy tales, horror comics and "cheesecake" comics featuring cute girls in adventure stories. Jennifer Bermel, Zenescopes director of licensing and specialty sales, said the company was looking for an opportunity to reach the children’s comics market with book’s offering educational content. She said the deal with the Discovery Channel originated during the 2009 BookExpo. “Joe [Brusha] was just walking down the aisles noticed all the book tie-ins at the Discovery booth and saw an opportunity to reach the kids market with a graphic novel tied to a major brand,” she said. “Shark Week brings in millions of viewers.”
Bermel eventually made the pitch to the Discovery Channel, emphasizing the books would be released their Silver Dragon imprint to differentiate it from the house’s more adult content. “They really liked the project and everything came together quickly,” said Bermel, who visited the Discovery Channel headquarters in Maryland to finalize the deal. Brusha wrote the script and picked the sharks to be profiled from the Discovery Channel’s list. He worked closely with Andy Dehart, the Discovery Channel’s shark expert, who vetted the work for accuracy and wrote the foreword. The stories were all submitted to Dehart, who checked everything for accuracy. “But we had a lot of freedom to create the work,” Bermel said.
To promote the book, the Discovery Channel is sponsoring two signings in December: one at the National Acquarium in Washington D.C. and another at Barnes & Noble store near the Baltimore harbor. The network will also cross-promote the book on the Shark Week website and Bermel said, “we are talking about other ways to the promote the book.”
Elizabeth Backacs, v-p, licensing for the Discovery Channel, cheerfully acknowledged that this was the first graphic novel tie-in for the network and said it was a perfect fit for Shark Week, “one of the longest running feature franchises on the Discovery Channel.” She said the network was enthusiastic about the collaboration, “the graphic novel category has grown really fast in bookstores. Graphic novels have action, imagery and memorable stories; aspects that go to the core and the DNA of the Discovery Channel.”
The copublishing venture will release two more nonfiction graphic works, Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Predators and Animal Planet: The Worlds Most Dangerous Animals. Bakacs also said that the Discovery Channel was, “working with other publishers and with our on-air talent to create more graphic novels. We’re really excited about this category.
