Comics Go to War: Osprey's War Histories
By Laurel Maury -- Publishers Weekly, 6/27/2006
Osprey Publishing, a U.K.-based publisher specializing in military history, is launching Osprey Graphic History, a line of comics reference works initially focused on historical accounts of select Civil War and World War II battles. The line, slated to arrive in stores this fall, will be distributed by Random House.
The series was conceived by Douglas France, Osprey's v-p of sales and marketing, who previously worked in marketing at Random House and also at the automotive and military history publisher MBI. France heads up the New York City office of Osprey Publishing.
To translate the historical record of these great battles into comics reference works, France brought in Larry Hama, a Vietnam vet (and former bit-player on M*A*S*H) who wrote all 155 issues of G.I. Joe for Marvel. There's also veteran British comic writers Dan Abnett and Steve White, who have written titles for Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper and many other British comics. Matt Wagner (Mage) is illustrating many of the covers.
The series will launch in September with six 50-page trade paper titles, focused on three Civil War battles (Antietam, Shiloh and Bull Run) and three World War II battles (Pearl Harbor, Midway and Iwo Jima). Osprey will follow up these initial titles with six more books in spring 2007, among them the battle of Gettysburg and the Monitor vs. the Merrimac; and from WWII, the D-Day Invasion and the Battle of the Bulge.
Hama has finished the writing on Antietam, First Bull Run, Shiloh, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. To prepare, Hama read all of Fletcher Pratt's work on the Civil War and books by Bruce Caton, and worked with his friend Lee Russell, who is a military consultant for the military video game Tour of Duty.
"The real nastiness and brutality [of war] are not really that evident in the written records. People don't like to talk about it. You have a responsibility to show the really bad side, though. That it's not glory and trumpets," says Hama.
France says Osprey started the line to target the kids' market. He emphasized that Osprey plans to support the books with national advertising in trade and consumer magazines. There will also be in-store promotions with a 16-copy counter displays, along with posters and bookmarks. And look for additional promotion online, with features on the books and battles, author interviews, supplemental content and contests for readers.
France says the Random House sales reps have been enthusiastic about the books and they are getting a good feedback from retailers. "The response has been universally positive," says Frarnce. In fact, he says, other history publishers have told him, "Wow, why didn't I think of this?"
