Patterson-TutxMega bestselling author James Patterson will be writing comics for IDW, USA Today reports.

Patterson, creator of the Alex Cross and Women’s Murder Club series of novels, is entering a partnership to create comic books and graphic novels with IDW Publishing. The first titles will appear in May. The stories will include brand-new material, adaptations of his past novels and offshoots of existing work.

“Comics could reach a much larger audience than they do right now,” says Patterson, who often works with co-authors and whose thrillers are frequently at or near the top of USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list. “With all of the quality work and talent that’s out there, this industry could be so much bigger.”


Patterson’s Maximum Ride has already been a best seller for Yen Press so this looks like a natural. for IDW.

Dara Naraghi will develop his Witch and Wizard series into a five-part miniseries and Alexander Irvine will adapt Patterson’s The Murder of King Tut later in the year.

1 COMMENT

  1. What does this meean for Yen Press? I thought they were doing all his comics adaptations? Little Brown can’t be happy thay someone else is publishing him.

  2. Something to keep in mind re James Patterson is that he’s essentially a corporate author. He has a company, James Patterson Entertainment, and he’s relied heavily on co-authors in past years. Novelist Thomas Phillips on Patterson:

    What I discovered is that, while most successful authors have personal assistants, James Patterson has started his own firm. It is called, James Patterson Entertainment. In 2007, Patterson had six novels released. Six.

    When asked by USA Today (2007), why he uses so many co-authors, Patterson stated: “They can’t keep up with me.” In fact, he says, “I’m not a fast writer. I struggle through the writing. I’m not a craftsman. I’m OK. I can get it done. But I know it’s not my strength.”
    What is, he says, is his “amazing imagination.”

    Reading more into this article I learned that, Patterson has a huge folder of ideas. He then pumps out a detailed outline. And the co-author’s get to work fleshing out the ideas and writing chapters. They then submit the chapters to Patterson, who sends back marked up revisions.

    At least, this was the revealed formula for Step On A Crack, written with co-author Michael Ledwidge. The co-author is even quoted, saying that Patterson served less as an editor and more as a writing coach, or teacher.

    It’s great that a bestselling author such as Patterson is putting his name on comics, but ir remains to be seen how much writing he actually does.

    SRS