Monday, January 28, 2008

Briggs Signs With The Dabel Brothers

I had a wonderful writing weekend. It was cold and wet and foggy both mornings, which encouraged me to stay indoors and write.

I took a break to moderate the "Chatting With Joyfully Reviewed" Yahoo group from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM (CST) on Saturday. I always enjoy visiting that group, which is lively and a lot of fun.

Because the Dallas Cowboys lost two weeks ago, my poor brother--the sports columnist--ended up in Green Bay instead of in Dallas last weekend. His plan had been to bring me Dancer, my mother's overweight whippet, but the Dallas loss changed the plan. Following advice from readers of this blog, we're going to explore other options to keep Dancer with Mom.

But now, my dog hunger has been piqued. I dogsat Penny, the Lab from next door, over the weekend. Once it warmed up, I took her for long walks on both days. After spending time with her, I was seriously tempted to stop off at the local animal shelter. The thing that stops me is how little disposable time I have these days. It would be unfair to a dog.

I've written about Patricia Briggs on this blog before, first on August 18 here and later on January 12 here. I've now read three books and one short story in her Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series.

ICv2.com reported on Friday that the Dabel Brothers have signed Briggs to a contract for an original comic series featuring Mercy Thompson. The four-part miniseries will appear in the latter half of 2008. Del Ray will produce a hardcover collection of the series in 2009.

The Dabel Brothers are four brothers (Ernst, Les, David and Pascal) whose company is based in Atlanta. In the seven years they've been in operation, they've earned a reputation as a roving band that has moved from publisher to publisher while turning out high-quality graphic novels based on fantasy novels by famous authors as well as up-and-coming urban fantasy writers.

Since 2001, the Dabel Brothers have worked and then broken off from Image Comics, Devil's Due, Alias Enterprises, Red Eagle Entertainment and Marvel Publishing. A number of those breaks have been well-publicized and vitriolic, with some legal entanglements apparently still lingering.

Even while they've been wandering minstrels, the Dabels have signed deals with top writers to do graphic adaptations of their novels. Their first big client was George R.R. Martin. After the success of their six-book series for him, they signed Robert Silverberg, Raymond E. Feist, Tad Williams, Robert Jordan, and Orson Scott Card.

In 2006, the Dabel Brothers added Laurell K. Hamilton to their stable.

Last August, they announced an adaptation of best-selling author Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son, which will debut next month.

Jim Butcher's Dresden File novels will be released this year in twelve to sixteen monthly comics for each book.

Thanks to Dear Author here for bringing the ICv2 story to my attention.

2 comments:

poetica in silentium said...

I am anxiously waiting for the third and final part of the Frankenstein trilogy. Koontz promised it for several years back, but held off because it is set in New Orleans, and he felt the city should recover some more before he turned his monsters loose on the town. It's due later this year. The first two were very good.

Maya Reynolds said...

Hi, David: Good to see you.

I read the first of the trilogy, but haven't read the second.

I think it's a concept that will adapt nicely to a graphic novel.