First Second Acquires Hannah Blumenreich’s “Full-Court Crush”

Publishers Weekly reports First Second Books have acquired the publishing rights to Hannah Blumenreich’s graphic novel “Full-Court Crush,” and another untitled young adult graphic novel. “Full-Court Crush” tells the story of Marcy, a basketball player whose team is being shut down, and her bookish girlfriend Althea, who is living with her chronically depressed mother. “Together, they learn how to navigate the troubles of life and 11th grade.”

Originally a 16-page comic, “Full-Court Crush” won the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Online Comic at the Small Press Expo last year. The rights to the expanded version were won by First Second Assistant Editor Kiara Valdez following a 10-house auction. On Twitter, Blumenreich joked she can’t believe she has to make a whole book now, and thanked everyone who congratulated her while expressing hope that she’ll “make it out of this with my sanity relatively intact.” She also shared a gallery of the book’s main characters.

A freelance artist from Minneapolis, Blumenreich is perhaps best known for her “Spidey” fanzine, which led to her contributing stories to Marvel’s “Amazing Spider-Man” #25 and “Spider-Gwen” #23 in 2017. The following year, it was announced she would write the “Big Hero 6: The Series” comic for IDW, the first (and so far only) issue of which was delayed by over a year: in her Ignatz acceptance speech, she said her frustrations with editorial on the title led her to focus on personal projects like “Full-Court Crush” instead.

The full “Full-Court Crush” will be published in 2023. You can buy the original comic at Gumroad, and read an excerpt at Blumenreich’s website.