BOOM! Studios sends out a press release today on the previously announced The Godfather comic with a few more details on what they have planned; we’ll have to see if they announce the writer at their panel tomorrow in San Diego. From the press release:

BOOM! Studios is planning to publish a graphic novel and a series of mini-series based on the iconic Mario Puzo-penned novel and films beginning in Winter 2007. The series will be written by an as-yet-unannounced writer (“Jaws will drop,” says Richie) and the first arc will be illustrated by BOOM! veteran Greg Scott, whose previous BOOM! titles include X ISLE and ENIGMA CIPHER.

“Marvel Comics has recently set the bar really high with their Stephen King Dark Tower comics series,” says BOOM! co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Ross Richie. “Which brings a lot of new readers into the medium — a sort of ‘gateway comic book.’ But I think there’s terrific potential with the Godfather to read a mass audience that’s never read comics.”

“The thing about THE GODFATHER,” says Chip Mosher, BOOM! Studios’ Marketing and Sales Director, “is how recognizable it is. All around the world, people know the movie, they quote lines from it in every day. Who doesn’t recognize Marlon Brando as Don Corleone?”

That cultural awareness is what BOOM! is banking on. Expect to see Brando’s unmistakable visage throughout the new series.

“We’re able to use Brando’s likeness,” says Richie, “which means we can tell Young Vito stories, Old Vito stories … we’re really going to
flesh out and expand on the world of THE GODFATHER in a new and dynamic way that really hasn’t been done before, exploiting the visual
storytelling that comics can do in ways that TV, film, and novels can’t.”

BOOM! has gone through a growth spurt like no other publisher this past year. At the 2007 Book Expo in New York, BOOM! announced their
new mass market book distribution deal via Perseus, a unique relationship for a comic book publisher that positions BOOM! with one of the market leaders to book retailers. Perseus just recently acquired Publisher’s Group West out of bankruptcy and continues to grow and expand its market reach.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 26th, 2007 at 10:24 am and is filed under Comic Books, Independent, Movies, News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.