Three More Koontz Graphic Novels Announced

Continuing from In Odd We Trust, the first Odd Thomas graphic novel, Del Rey Books is going to release three more.

Odd Thomas, a fry cook who can communicate with the dead, first appeared in four Dean Koontz novels. As part of their press release, Del Rey said that In Odd We Trust is in its sixth printing and “continues to sell strongly”.

Odd Is on Our Side will be the next graphic novel. It will be written by Fred Van Lente (Comic Book Comics, Action Philosophers, Hercules) and will be illustrated by Queenie Chan (The Dreaming), who drew the first one. It’s due out October 5.

All of these graphic novels are new stories with the character set before the time period of the novels. They’re based on “extensive outlines written by Dean Koontz”, which means that the best-selling author has found a way to franchise his character into another format. The next two will be out in 2011 and 2012.

Odd Is My Co-Pilot is written by James Kuhoric (who’s described as a “well-known comics writer” — apparently mostly on other licensed projects, including Battlestar Galactica and Army of Darkness) and illustrated by Queenie Chan. The fourth is a departure in the art style, being done by Ikari Studio (no person? they’re based in Barcelona and draw manga for videogames) and written by Landry Q. Walker (Little Gloomy, although he is “best known for translating film and television projects to the comic book medium”).

Strangely, Odd Is on Our Side is currently the 8th best-seller in the manga category on Amazon right now, I guess because of who the publisher is. This is yet another example, I fear, of Del Rey moving their focus from translated manga to franchised brand spin-offs in comic form. At least these books are new stories, not just adaptations thrown at the graphic novel market, even if they do put property over creator in their construction.