Puffin Launches Classics Graphic Novel Series

by Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 10/11/2004

Taking note of the growing graphic novel market, Penguin's Puffin Books division is launching a series of graphic novels to be called Puffin Graphics that will combine comics illustration with classic works of literature.

Puffin is working with Byron Preiss Visual Publications—Preiss is a longtime publisher of graphic novels both as a packager and through his iBooks imprint—to produce the books. Puffin Graphics will launch with four titles in the summer of 2005 and offer four more in 2006.

The first books are Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, adapted by Gary Reed and illustrated by Frazer Irving; Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, illustrated by Wayne Vansant; Anna Sewell's Black Beauty, illustrated by June Brigman and Roy Richardson; and Shakespeare's Macbeth, adapted by Arthur Byron Cover and illustrated by Tony Leonard Tamai. In 2006, look for Puffin Graphics editions of Treasure Island, The Wizard of Oz, The Call of the Wild and Dracula.

Eileen Kreit, publisher of Puffin Books, called the new works "classics transformed. They're cool, fun and innovative." Kreit noted that Penguin is "known for the classics and quality material. So this is a marriage of the classics and the new format." Jen Bonnell, a Puffin editor who will be working with Puffin Graphics, told PW, "Graphic novels are more accepted by readers, teachers and libraries these days. Everyone around here loves them, so it's a good fit."