Bestselling author Karin Slaughter and Oni Press are forming
a joint comic imprint called Slaughterhouse Graphic Novels. The imprint, which is the first of its kind, will feature a line of original comic books and graphic novels written by established prose authors.
Karin will pen the first release, The Recidivists, a graphic novel that will debut in April, 2009. From the official release:
In the tradition of science fiction with a social conscience as established by works like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and George Orwell's 1984, The Recidivistspeers into the society of tomorrow and warns us of the future we're building today. In this engaging and thoughtful collection of three overlapping narratives, Slaughter's crafting a graphic novel unlike anything the comic book industry has seen before, setting the stage for other prose writers to take the plunge into comics writing.
"This really is an area that we were one of the first publishers to focus on," explained OniPress publisher Joe Nozemack. "The last time we unleashed a novelist of this caliber on the comic book world, it was Greg Rucka (Patriot Acts, Whiteout). We've long wanted to build on that fine pedigree. Slaughter's enthusiasm for the medium melded perfectly with her skills as a writer and made this a project we were passionate to publish. The more we talked about the project, the more we all realized that this could be the first step in a newline to give established prose writers an outlet to break into the medium and to expand the potential for the types of stories they could do." Slaughter says.
"Graphic novels let you take risks that just wouldn't fly in the conventional book form. Visual story telling is at once immediate and subversive. I am thrilled to be partnering with Joe Nozemack and Oni Press, whose award-winning vision and success have already made them the preeminent graphic publishing house in the business." Slaughterhouse Graphic Novels will feature a wide-array of characters and genres, incorporating the diverse range of material which has consistently defined the identity of Oni Press. From science fiction to crime noir to humor-the only limitations on Slaughterhouse are that of the creator's imagination.
