Today Marvel has announced they will be launching a new line of prose novels. The idea of comic characters in actual novels isn't new. In fact, Marjorie Liu got her start in the world of comics by writing an X-Men novel. I own a few novels featuring Spider-Man, the X-Men, Hulk along with the novel adaptations of Kingdom Come and Knightfall. They're fun to read and obviously can give more detail than is allowed in the comic format.
Beginning June 2012, Marvel is releasing CIVIL WAR as a prose novel.
CIVIL WAR will be adapted by author Stuart Moore (WOLVERINE) and will tell the story that tore the Marvel Universe apart with the Superhuman Registration Act. David Gabriel, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marvel Entertainment released the following statement:
Releasing our most acclaimed graphic novels as prose fiction not only allows us to reach a different audience with these stories, but also gives us a chance to bring those readers back to the comics that started it all. CIVIL WAR is easily our best-selling graphic novel of the past decade and certainly one of the most influential in recent memory, so it was the perfect launch title for this new line. Not only will you get all the action that Mark Millar and Steve McNiven delivered in comic form but no fan will want to miss the new wrinkles we’ve added in this novel.
I'm all for more comic book novels. I'll admit I stopped reading them when I felt the quality started slipping and the stories were getting a little watered down. Let's hope with this new initiative, we'll get some great re-tellings along with some cool new adventures.
More information and upcoming prose novels will be announced soon.