Short Takes

by Judith Rosen -- Publishers Weekly, 4/4/2005

The distribution business continues to be wracked with graphic shifts. Public Square Books will distribute a Spanish-language edition Frank Miller's seven-book Sin City series, which has long been a mainstay of Dark Horse's backlist in English. This follows close on the heels of the April 1 release of the film Sin City, which is directed by Miller and Hispanic filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, and is expected to have a strong Latino following in the U.S. In May, the first three graphic novels on which the film is based will be released in a Mexican dialect of Spanish: El Duro Adiós (The Hard Goodbye), La Gran Masacre (The Big Fat Kill) and Ese Cobarde Bastardo (That Yellow Bastard). The remaining four titles are due out in June.

In the U.S., Diamond Book Distributors continues to shine with even more clients, including two new publishers: year-old Infinity Studios, which specializes in manga from Korea and Japan, and newly established Best Sellers Illustrated, which will launch in May with a graphic novel based on H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds. Unadilla, N.Y.–based Sirius Entertainment also signed with Diamond, as did science fiction and fantasy publisher Wildside Press and its Prime Books, Cosmos Books, Borgo Press and Point Blank imprints. Diamond UK has two new additions: Abstract Studio's Strangers in Paradise series by Terry Moore and San Diego, Calif.–based Idea and Design Works.