Del Rey Books is, sort of, getting into comic book publishing. Under the new Del Rey Comics imprint, they’re publishing a comic adaptation of The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub (first issue is scheduled to be out on 18 November). Agent Ralph Vicinanza handled the deal.
Del Rey plans to publish 24 issues of the comic: the first 18 will be the adaptation of the novel, and the last six will be “a new story set in the world of The Talisman,” according to Publishers Weekly.
Del Rey Editor Dallas Middaugh said they’ll be selling the comic through comic shops, enjoying the non-returnable nature of comics (versus the traditional returnable books the publisher is used to). “We had seen Stephen King work well with Marvel, and it did well in the comic book market where there is a demand for the material in this format. The biggest challenge [in shifting gears to comic book publishing] was production; we don’t do monthly publishing.” Diamond Comics Distributors, which handles Del Rey’s graphic novels and manga to the comic shops, will also be distributing The Talisman.
Tony Shasteen is the artist on the project, and covers will be by a variety of artists, including Massimo Carnevale (Vertigo’s Y the Last Man) and Mike Krahulik (who’s done a “rare variant cover” for the debut issue).
PW notes that, “while releasing a periodical comic gives a publisher the opportunity to amortize some of the costs of the series,” Middaugh also said “the monthly comic is a way to market the ultimate hardcover next summer, especially if it becomes a book people are looking forward to.”
King reminds readers that The Talisman was first published in 1984, “is the story of a teen boy named Jack Sawyer, who can save his dying mother only by retrieving a magical talisman. To find it he must cross back and forth between our world and the frightening and dangerous landscape of its ‘twinner’ counterpart.”