Abrams Signs Wimpy Kid

Abrams has announced the signing of its second graphic novel taken from a Web comic, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.

by Heidi MacDonald, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 6/13/2006

Abrams has announced the signing of its second graphic novel taken from a Web comic, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. The story follows the daily travails of a kid named Greg Heffley as he tries to get through seventh grade, despite his brothers, classmates and parents. The strip has been running since 2004 on Funbrain.com, a children's site. Abrams has signed Kinney to a three-book deal, with the first expected to appear sometime in 2007 through its young adult imprint Amulet.

Acquiring editor Charles Kochman also oversaw Abram's first Web comic graphic novel, Brian Fies's Mom's Cancer. Kochman first became acquainted with the project when Kinney approached him at the New York Comic-con earlier this year. Kinney was showing around a spiral-bound version of the strip and Kochman was instantly hooked.

“This is the kind of book you dream about acquiring as an editor," says Kochman. "Not only is it smart, funny, and well drawn, but it comes with an already-established fan base online. Jeff perfectly captures childhood, and his ear for dialogue is uncanny, his art simple but not at all simplistic—his work instantly relatable to kids of all ages, bringing us back in time with a line of his pen and the turn of a phrase.

He sees the series as an opportunity for Abrams to expand upon the success the Amulet Books division has had with New York Times best-sellers like The Sisters Grimm, this time with a book that has great graphic appeal.”

Kinney already has some 1,000 pages of the story online. At Funbrain, Wimpy Kid has already had some 15 million unique readers. "It's a site that reaches tons of reluctant readers," says Kochman. "Kids look at it and teachers really get behind it, too."