Publishing News
General News
August 15-31, 2005 Edition GENERAL NEWS Fantagraphics
To Publish Series
Of Dennis the Menace SEATTLE, WA/8/10/2005Comic book publisher Fantagraphics has announced it will publish the first book in a 25-volume series, Hank Ketchams Complete Dennis the Menace. The series will include almost 11,000 comic strips drawn by Ketcham over 44 years. The first volume will run 624 pages long, covering the years 1951-53. The popular cartoon strips portray a mischievous little boy who constantly causes trouble for parents and neighbors.
The company will also re-issue the Seattle natives autobiography with the release of the first volume. The artist died in 2001 at the age of 81.
Fantagraphics was on the brink of going broke just two years ago, when it released three best-selling “Peanuts” reprint editions. The first volume of The Complete Peanuts , published last year, has sold 110,000 copies. The fourth Peanuts volume will be published in October.
The company publishes about 50 soft cover books and 25 comics a year. Visit them on the web at: www.fantagraphics.com.
Literary agents
Killer Sentenced
To Life in Prison LONDON/8/8/2005A jury has found Usman Durrani, 20, guilty of killing literary agent Ron Hall, 53, who represented the writers of The Full Monty and Billy Elliot, it was reported by BBC News.
Durrani, a student, who had denied the murder, was convicted of repeatedly stabbing Hall, who was his partner, after chaining him up in his home in Southwark, south London in May 2004. Though he was given a life sentence, he is expected to serve a minimum of 12 years in prison.
Durrani had pleaded insanity and sought a lesser manslaughter charge, but the court refused. During the proceedings, the jury heard that Durrani wanted to end his relationship with Mr. Hall but persuaded him to take part in a final sex session. Witnesses said Durrani, who was secretly homosexual, was deeply disturbed. Read the full story on the BBC News website.
Online Pirates
Sell Illegal Copies
Of Harry Potter NEW YORK, NY/8/9/2005Harry Potter fans have been swapping illegal electronic versions of the latest tome on the Internet, providing a crystal ball for the burgeoning problem of online book piracy, writes Richard J. Dalton Jr., in an August 9 Newsday article.
Though online book piracy isn’t new, even for Harry Potter books, the free sharing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is one of the more large-scale distributions and involves a best-seller that drew worldwide media attention during its official launch in bookstores last month, selling 6.9 million copies the first day in just the United States and almost 9 million worldwide, the Newsday article says. Read the full story.
