BOOK DEALS
October 16 – October 23, 2008 Edition
Del Rey Acquires Rights
to King and Straub’s
Graphic Novel Talisman
NEW YORK, NY (Authorlink/10/16/08)–Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced this week the acquisition of the comic book and graphic novel rights to The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. The creative team on the project will be announced soon, and the first issue of the monthly comic is planned for late summer/early fall 2009.
Originally published in 1984, The Talisman is the story of a young teen 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. The hardcover edition, published by Viking, spent 12 weeks in the #1 slot on the New York Times list. Both The Talisman and its sequel, Black House, are in print with Ballantine Books. Television rights to The Talisman are under development by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy.
Illustrating The Talisman in the depth that it deserves will involve at least 24 issues of comics, probably more, said Del Rey Editor in Chief, Betsy Mitchell, who acquired the project from agent Ralph Vicinanza. Its a tremendously visual story, filled with images that burn in memory long after the book has been closed.
Kings Dark Tower comics consistently inhabit the top of the comic book sales charts, and his recent series, Dark Tower: Long Road Home was the top-selling comic book in North America in March 2008.
Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Peter Straub is the author of 17 novels which have been translated into more than 20 languages. He has won numerous awards for his work, including the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, for Koko.
Del Rey Books (http://www.delreybooks.com) was founded in 1977 as an imprint of Ballantine Books, a division of the Random House Publishing Group, under the guidance of the renowned Judy-Lynn del Rey and her husband, Lester del Rey. Del Rey publishes the best of modern fantasy, science fiction, and alternate history. No stranger to comics, Del Rey launched Del Rey Manga in 2004 in conjunction with Japanese publisher Kodansha, and quickly began to acquire original graphic novel projects as well. Current and upcoming projects include a four-color graphic novel developed with pop singer Avril Lavigne, Make 5 Wishes; the graphic novel In Odd We Trust, by Dean Koontz and Queenie Chan; the first-ever graphic novel set in the world of Terry Brooks’ Shannara universe, Dark Wraith of Shannara; original manga starring Marvel characters in X-Men: Misfits and Wolverine: Prodigal Son; and a four-color original graphic novel set in the Outlander universe, scripted by author Diana Gabaldon herself.
