Thursday, 21 February 2013

Vertigo Announces New Fables and Unwritten Graphic Novels

The Vertigo imprint became that much smaller yesterday as DC published the final issue of Hellblazer, by far the longest-running Vertigo series ever. With Vertigo in a bit of a transitional period right now, it remains to be seen what direction the imprint will take under new Executive Editor Shelly Bond. But one thing that won't be changing in the coming months is an emphasis on the Fables and Unwritten franchises. Today Vertigo revealed a new pair of Fables graphic novels and an Unwritten graphic novel.

USA Today had the scoop on the two Fables books. The first of these isn't actually a comic book, but more of a series bible. The Fables Encyclopedia is a detailed index of the many famous literary characters who have appeared in the various Fables titles. The book is written by comics scholar Jess Nevins and features commentary from creators Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham. The character biographies will compare the traditional source material to the Fables versions.

The other book, Fairest: In All the Land, is a spin-off of the Fairest ongoing series. It looks to follow in the footsteps of the original Fables graphic novel, 1001 Nights of Snowfall. It too features a number of short stories written by Willingham that are linked by a framing device (in this case the Magic Mirror). The lineup of artists collaborating with Willingham includes Adam Hughes, Chrissie Zullo, Mark Chiarello, and Karl Kerschl.

Meanwhile, MTV Geek revealed the Unwritten OGN, which will be titled The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Ship That Sank Twice. Creators Mike Carey and Peter Gross are both on board. Gross' layouts will be finished by Kurt Huggins and Zelda Devon. Regular cover artist Yuko Shimizu provided the cover for the OGN. Vertigo provided this plot summary:

Exploring the Tommy Taylor novels in a visceral and direct way, this hardcover provides a great entry point for new readers and fans of classic literature. We pull back the curtain on how Tommy’s father, Wilson Taylor, devised his subversive literary masterpiece and reveal the blueprint of how a father gives his son vast power in order to accomplish a wider scheme. Partly told through Wilson’s harsh, intoxicating journal entries and juxtaposed with Tommy’s swashbuckling deep sea adventures with his trusty companions Peter and Sue, the story is at once a prequel and a parallel story to the ongoing series.

Finally, the LA Times' Hero Complex debuted the cover for The Girl Who Played With Fire: Book 1. This release continues their adaptations of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Book 1 hit stores last fall (check out our review), and Book 2 is due out later this spring. As with the previous graphic novels, The Girl Who played With Fire is adapted by writer Denise Mina and drawn by Leonardo Manco and Andrea Mutti. Lee Bermejo illustrated the cover.

We expect all three of these books to show up in DC's solicitations soon for a late 2013 release.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.


Source : ign[dot]com

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