YA novelist Rainbow Rowell (“Eleanor & Park”, “Fangirl”) has signed a two-book deal with First Second Books (one of the best graphic novel houses around), and on her first one, she’s teaming up with MC fave artist Faith Erin Hicks. It’s quite the collaboration, as Rowell is both a critical and commercial success, Hicks is one of the hottest artists in the game (seriously, how many books does she have in some level of production at this point?!) and First Second is en fuego on the heels of a banner 2013 led by Paul Pope’s “Battling Boy”, and given the enthusiasm of both Rowell and Hicks (which is radiating off Twitter right now), it’s clearly something they’re pumped about.
Hicks opened up on her site about this announcement, including touching on what this means for her other work:
As it turned out, Rainbow wouldn’t be able to start writing the comic for a while, as she had another book to write first (awesome, more Rainbow Rowell books! She just sent me a Landline ARC in the mail!). So that gave me the opportunity to finish book 1 and possibly book 2 of The Nameless City, take a break from that to work with Rainbow, then return to book 3. This graphic novel Rainbow & I are doing is a ways down the road due to us being busy, but it’s coming! It’ll probably be here sooner than you think. 🙂
So! I will be drawing not three graphic novels for First Second in the coming years, but FOUR! My goodness. *_*
Four books! What did I tell you?! It’s all coming up Hicks in 2014, folks!
On First Second’s site, they have hosted a Q&A between Rowell and Hicks, and it’s a very amusing read that has me even more excited for the book, if only because in one question Rowell drops references to Doctor Who AND MST3K. This is great news, and it bodes well for some of our favorite people in comics. Looking forward to reading this, and we’ll get you more as it develops.
(Top image from Hicks’ site via First Second’s)
