DARK HORSE LAUNCHES TWO PROSE IMPRINTS

[MattBrady]

Having already made inroads with a few projects, Dark Horse will debut two new prose lines at next week’s Book Expo America: M Press and DH Press.

M Press’ debut book will be Ursula Bacon's Shanghai Diary, a non-fiction book about an 11 year old Jewish girl’s experiences in 1930s Shanghai as her family fled from the approaching Holocaust.

Slated for a September release, Shanghai Diary is also in development as a feature film penned by Frida screenwriter Clancy Sigal.

DH Press, in turn, will be the home to more pop-culture related titles. Initial releases from the imprint include Don Bluth's The Art of Storyboard in October. As Dark Horse describes it, the book is a “one-of-a-kind textbook by animation legend Don Bluth describing in detail the technical and artistic process involved in crafting storyboards for animated films.”

Following The Art of Storyboard, DH Press will release Kong: King of Skull Mountain in November. Dark Horse describes the novel as a “fully authorized, lavishly illustrated all new novel that acts as both sequel and prequel to the all-time classic film. Acclaimed fantasy artist Joe De Vito and top fantasy and science fiction writer Brad Strickland join forces to create an interactive visual-narrative storytelling experience.”

In November, DH Press will release PinUp: The Illegitimate Art by Jim Silke.

More on M Press can be found at www.mpressbooks.com , while more on DH Press can be found shortly at www.dhpressbooks.com .

[Lex]

Cool. I enjoy prose novelsso I might check this out.

[Warewolf]

Originally posted by MattBrady
and top fantasy and science fiction writer Brad Strickland

I'm a huge sci-fi/fantasy fan, but I've never heard of this guy. Who is he?

[mc (_(\/)_)achete]

Originally posted by MattBrady
DH Press, in turn, will be the home to more pop-culture related titles. Initial releases from the imprint include Don Bluth's The Art of Storyboard in October. As Dark Horse describes it, the book is a “one-of-a-kind textbook by animation legend Don Bluth describing in detail the technical and artistic process involved in crafting storyboards for animated films.”

cool. if the price is right, i'll be scoping this out.

[Christian A. Dumais]

This sounds great.

By the way, the link should be www.mpressbooks.com.

[Primate]

Interesting turn of events, indeed. As Marvel is turning exclusive creator-friendly with Icon, Dark Horse is making inroads into a totally new medium. On the one hand, one could say that DH is positioning itself as a purveyor of pop culture ephemera of multiple stripes. On the other, one could say that DH has jusy cast a no-confidence vote in the comics marketplce.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and some of these projects tickle my fancy. And on that note...

Originally posted by MattBrady

Following The Art of Storyboard, DH Press will release Kong: King of Skull Mountain in November. Dark Horse describes the novel as a “fully authorized, lavishly illustrated all new novel that acts as both sequel and prequel to the all-time classic film. Acclaimed fantasy artist Joe De Vito and top fantasy and science fiction writer Brad Strickland join forces to create an interactive visual-narrative storytelling experience.”

HECK. YEAH. BABY. This sounds truly cool and inspired. Predictably (see my screen name?), I absolutely adore the King Kong story/movies. I absolutely cannot wait for this!

[heeBGB]

Originally posted by Warewolf
I'm a huge sci-fi/fantasy fan, but I've never heard of this guy. Who is he?

Shit, Google's broken, again.

[Mark Thorson]

Sounds like they have some good stuff lined up. I'm assuming this stuff will be in the Previews catalog?

[Charlie Hustle]

there are a lot of stories, fiction or non-fiction that I would like to see about slavery. does everything have to be about the holocaust? I'll pass.

[eggman]

Yeah, I'm with Charlie Hustle. But I'd like to see more books about torture.

The holocaust is SO 1945...

But torture is HOT, HOT, HOT!

[Nat Gertler]

Originally posted by Primate
Dark Horse is making inroads into a totally new medium.

Not really, no. Dark Horse has published illustrated prose before.

On the other, one could say that DH has jusy cast a no-confidence vote in the comics marketplce.

Dark Horse has included things-that-aren't-comics amongst their production for a long, long time now. It's hard to see why adding a few more items suddenly means no confidence in the comics market.

[Royal Nonesuch]

Originally posted by Charlie Hustle
there are a lot of stories, fiction or non-fiction that I would like to see about slavery. does everything have to be about the holocaust? I'll pass.

What makes you think that "everything" is about the Holocaust? Also, what makes you think there aren't any stories about slavery?

Anyway, I think Shanghai Diary sounds interesting enough, so I think I'll pick that one up. Also, I think this is a great move by Dark Horse.

[ATKokmen]

Following The Art of Storyboard, DH Press will release Kong: King of Skull Mountain in November. Dark Horse describes the novel as a “fully authorized, lavishly illustrated all new novel that acts as both sequel and prequel to the all-time classic film. Acclaimed fantasy artist Joe De Vito and top fantasy and science fiction writer Brad Strickland join forces to create an interactive visual-narrative storytelling experience.”[/b]

For what it's worth, I think I heard a little bit about this project a while back when I was employed at a different illustrated book publisher. If this is the project I'm thinking of, it's going to be absolutely fantastic, and I'm absolutely thrilled that it's going to see print at last.