Nathan Fillion, Castle

Bummed that Castle's season is ending? This ought to brighten your summer.

Castle finale: Castle and Beckett put all their cards on the table



Marvel Entertainment and ABC Studios have teamed up to create a hardcover graphic novel inspired by the ABC's Castle, TVGuide.com has learned. Titled Richard Castle's Deadly Storm, it's the first partnership between Marvel and ABC since Disney, which owns ABC, acquired Marvel last year.



The book focuses on Derrick Storm, the protagonist of Richard Castle's most popular series of novels. Viewers may recall that Castle (Nathan Fillion) began following Beckett (Stana Katic) for inspiration for a new series of books after he made the decision to kill off Derrick Storm, with whom he'd become bored.



"We are incredibly excited to be partnering with Marvel to bring Richard Castle's early literary works to life," Castle creator and executive producer Andrew W. Marlowe said. "It's a great way to expand the Castle universe for all our fans."

Castle exclusive: ABC launches RichardCastle.net

The 112-page graphic novel will be written by Brian Michael Bendis (Avengers, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man) and Kelly Sue DeConnick (Captain America and The Secret Avengers). Lan Medina (Fables) will handle the interior art; Carlo Pagulayan (Planet Hulk) created the cover art, which can be seen below as well as in Monday's Season 3 finale of Castle (10/9c, ABC).This is the latest branding experiment ABC has tried with Castle. The network has already teamed with Hyperion Books to publish two novels — Heat Wave and Naked Heat — that parallel Castle's work with Beckett, the inspiration for the author's heroine Nikki Heat. A third book, Heat Rises, is due in the fall. ABC also launched RichardCastle.Net in April.Richard Castle's Deadly Storm will be available in stores in September 2011. Check out the cover art below. Will you read the book?