DC Looks to Tackle Politics in New Young Adult and Middle School – Focused Graphic Novels!

DC Looks to Tackle Politics in New Young Adult and Middle School – Focused Graphic Novels!

DC Entertainment will launch two brand new imprints focused on young adult and middle school age readers called DC Ink and DC Zoom. DC Ink will focus on young adult readers while DC Zoom will focus on the middle school age readers. Both imprints look to introduce readers to difficult and divisive political issues.

The new imprints will feature a number of DC Comics creators including Laurie Halse Anderson, Meg Cabot, Melissa de la Cruz, Shea Fontana, Kami Garcia, Minh Lê, Marie Lu, Lauren Myracle, Michael Northrop, Danielle Paige, Ridley Pearson, Mariko Tamaki, Gene Yang, and more!

They will tell stories focused on DC’s iconic characters including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Green Lantern, Catwoman, Mera, the Teen Titans, Harley Quinn, and more.

“Two of the recent areas of growth in publishing include graphic novels and books for young readers – we’re bringing those formats together with DC Ink and DC Zoom,” said DC Entertainment Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee. “We’ve already experienced tremendous success with our DC Super Hero Girls graphic novels. The new DC Ink and DC Zoom slate, paired with a stellar author line-up, presents a major business growth opportunity and we couldn’t be more excited – we’re going big.”

DC Ink will launch with Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki and artist Steve Pugh and Mera by Danielle Paige. DC Zoom will launch with DC Super Hero Girls: Search for Atlantis by Shea Fontana and artist Yancey Labat. All three of these titles are expected to go on sale in 2018.

DC Vice President and executive editor of both DC Ink and DC Zoom Bobbie Chase described the reasoning behind the new imprints, “We wanted to go back to what we used to have in comic books: story arcs for younger readers.”

Along with these three titles, DC already has 13 other titles lined up and expected to hit shelves in 2019.

The upcoming DC Ink titles include:

BATMAN: GOTHAM HIGH – Melissa de la Cruz (ALEX & ELIZA, BLUE BLOODS series, WITCHES OF EAST END series)

BATMAN: NIGHTWALKER – THE GRAPHIC NOVEL – Marie Lu (LEGEND series)

TEEN TITANS – Kami Garcia (BEAUTIFUL CREATURES series)

UNDER THE MOON: A CATWOMAN TALE – Lauren Myracle (INTERNET GIRLS series, KISSING KATE)

WONDER WOMAN: TEMPEST TOSSED – Laurie Halse Anderson (SPEAK and CHAINS)

DC Zoom titles include:

BATMAN TALES: ONCE UPON A CRIME – writer and artist: Derek Fridolfs, Dustin Nguyen (BATMAN: LI’L GOTHAM)

BATMAN: OVERDRIVE – Shea Fontana (DC SUPER HERO GIRLS series)

BLACK CANARY: IGNITE – Meg Cabot (THE PRINCESS DIARIES series)

DEAR JUSTICE LEAGUE – Michael Northrop (TOMBQUEST series)

GREEN LANTERN: LEGACY – Minh Lê (DRAWN TOGETHER)

SUPER SONS – Ridley Pearson (KINGDOM KEEPERS series)

SUPERMAN OF SMALLVILLE – writer and artist: Art Baltazar & Franco (TINY TITANS)

SUPERMAN SMASHES THE KLAN – Gene Yang (AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER series, NEW SUPER-MAN), will be released as periodicals first, then collected

Many of the books look to be focused on heroines and aimed at female readers. Michele Wells, the vice president for content strategy at DC explains, “If you look at readership in middle grade and Y.A. in general, you’ll see a swing on the side of female readers.”

The softcover DC Zoom graphic novels will retail at $9.99 for 128 pages. The DC Ink books will be a little pricier at $16.99 for 192 pages. The New York Times reveals all of the stories will be free from the current DC Universe continuity in the comic books.

Bobbie Chase describes them as “character studies, not necessarily superhero stories.” The New York Times explains the DC Zoom titles will tell stories about “characters who are figuring out the world around them, including dealing with parents and teachers.” They describe the DC Ink stories will focus “more on questions of personal identity, with budding heroes deciding what paths they will take.”

It appears a number of the titles will focus on political issues as well. The New York Times spoke to Ridley Pearson who will be working on the Super Sons graphic novel. He told them the book will “tackle climate change.”

The Gene Yang book also looks to have Superman take on the Ku Klux Klan. Michele Wells didn’t go into the book, but did say, “If anyone can make a bold statement with Superman, it is Gene Yang.”

Are there any titles that stand out to you?

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