by J.M. DeMatteis & Mike Ploog
This book marks Mike Ploog'’s first return to regular comics in years! Prepare for a wonderful all-ages story that features dozens of creatures and fantastical settings. If you like smart, literate, and lavishly drawn stories that can charm a nine year-old as well as adults, Abadazad will thrill you to no end!
Kate and her brother Matt are growing up in the big city, and life isn't always easy. They find refuge in the world of Abadazad - —a series of books written over 100 years ago by classic author Franklin O. Barrie. Kate and Matt spend hours reading the Abadazad books, and know every character. One day, Kate takes Matt to the fun fair. He steps onto a carousel, goes around once, twice - —and then disappears. Though Kate and her mother search for Matt for years, they never find him. Finally, Kate tells her mother they must give up looking - —but on that very day, Kate meets an old lady, Martha, who also loves the Abadazad books, and seems to know more about them than anyone. Martha tells her that Abadazad is a real place, but Kate doesn'’t believe her - —until a mysterious blue globe arrives at Kate'’s door, and Kate sees her brother trapped inside it. Now Kate knows what she has to do: she must go into the real Abadazad and find her lost brother, no matter what dangers it might hold.
Hardcover, 6x9, 144pgs, Full Colour $9.99 MAR063249 Hyperion Books
by J.M. DeMatteis & Mike Ploog
Fans of old-school children's fantasy from authors such as L. Frank Baum (The Wizard of Oz), C.S. Lewis (The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe) and Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach) will get a kick out of this latest installment of Abadazad!
Hardcover, 6x9, 160pgs, Full Colour $9.99 MAR063250 Hyperion Books
I'm not absolutely certain, but I think these are actually illustrated juvenile novels based on and going beyond the shortlived comic of a few years back. The comic looked really good, although a lot of the charm was Ploog's storytelling, so I might take a look at these, depending on how much Ploog art there actually is. Maybe see if my library picks up copies. DeMatteis can be pretty hit-or-miss with me, and I'm not sure how his prose will read (the prose passages in the original ABADAZAD comics were kind of strained, but they were meant to evoke a certain quaint style, which I don't imagine he'll use for the actual series). Pretty good price for a hardcover illustrated short novel, depending on how many illustrations there turn out to be. It'll be interesting to see how it does in the mainstream book market, as it's an odd mix of traditional and postmodern concepts.
Here's an interesting old interview with DeMatteis with a bunch of concept artwork by Ploog from before the comic series launched. I'd forgotten they'd originally planned to have another artist draw the "real world" segments.
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