At a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con Abrams ComicArts announced it will team with Peanuts Worldwide to publish The Art of Peanuts, a new hardcover collection of original art and never-before-published material, released to mark the 65th anniversary of Charles Schulz's classic comic strip. The publisher also announced plans to publish Trashed, a new book by Derf Backderf author of the acclaimed nonfiction work My Friend Dahmer.
The Art of Peanuts will be written and designed by designer, editor and comics expert Chip Kidd, with an introduction by Jeff Kinney, author of the bestselling Diary of A Wimpy Kid series, and photographs by Geoff Spear. Schulz’s widow Jeannie Schulz will provide additional text and commentary for the book. The 240 page hardcover book will be published in fall 2015 and be edited by Abrams ComicArts editorial director Charles Kochman. The book will also be published to coincide with the release of a new Peanuts animated film in fall 2015.
“I think it’s well established what a fan I am of Schulz’s art and his contribution to the popular culture of not only America, but of the entire world,” Kidd said. “My heartfelt thanks to Jeannie Schulz and everyone else involved for entrusting me with this project.”
Kochman also announced the new book from Backderf, author of My Friend Dahmer, a nonfiction account of going to high school with Jeffrey Dahner, the serial killer. My Friend Dahner was nominated for a Eisner, named one of Time magazine’s top five books of 2012 and received the Prix Révélation at the 2014 Angoulême International Comics Festival in France.
“We're excited to announce Derf Backderf's next book, Trashed, coming in Fall 2015. It's the story after My Friend Dahmer, and taking place the summer Derf graduated high school.” Kochman said, “the narrative is interspersed with nonfiction pages that detail the history of trash, the staggering volume of garbage we produce, the ins and outs of our waste disposal system, and what happens to trash after it is removed from our garbage cans.”
“Equal parts disgusting and hilarious, this graphic novel is inspired by Derf Backderf's own experiences as a garbageman, supported by years of research, and presented in a way that only Derf Backderf could conceive,” Kochman said.
Kochman also announced that Abrams ComicArts has signed a three-book deal with Eddie Pittman, creator of the Red’s Planet web comic, to create a graphic novel series out of the web comic. Red’s Planet is the story of a 10 year old girl, who runs away from her foster family and ends up abducted by aliens and marooned on a faraway planet with eccentric collection of castaway characters.
