IDW and the Library of American Comics Announce L'il Abner
Tuesday, Jan 26th, 2010
First comprehensive collection of
groundbreaking comic series begins in April
San Diego, CA (January 26, 2010) - IDW Publishing and its imprint, the Library of American Comics, are proud to announce the upcoming series, The Complete L'il Abner, collecting Al Capp's comedy masterpiece as never before. Volume one of this new collection will feature both daily comics and previously unreprinted full-color Sunday pages from 1934 to 1936.
Debuted on August 13, 1934, L'il Abner became one of the most influential comic strips of all time during its 43-year run. Creator Al Capp developed the hillbilly character of L'il Abner, striking a nerve with Depression-era America through his social commentary, mock dialectics and hapless yet lovable Yokum family.
In The Complete L'il Abner, Volume One, the title character moves to New York to live with his rich aunt and has to dodge kidnappers and socialites, alike. Meanwhile, back home in Dogpatch, Marrying Sam works to get Abner and gorgeous Daisy Mae to the altar, while shiftless Hannibal Hoops schemes to split them apart! Then it's a classic case of mistaken identity when Abner's evil twin, the ruthless criminal Gat Garson, comes to town.
The Complete L'il Abner, Volume One is published by IDW under its Eisner award-winning imprint, the Library of American Comics. The Complete L'il Abner series is edited and designed by Dean Mullaney, with a biographical essay by Bruce Canwell, and an introduction by Denis Kitchen. Included in the introduction are the proto-Abner "Big Leviticus" strips that Capp created the year before Abner began when he ghosted Joe Palooka for Ham Fisher.
The Complete L'il Abner Volume One ($49.99; 288 pages; hardcover) will be available in stores in April. Diamond order code JAN10 1030; ISBN 978-1600106118.
Visit IDWPublishing.com to learn more about the company and its
top-selling books.
About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels
and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for
its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW
publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the
industry, including: Hasbro's The Transformers and G.I. JOE,
Paramount's Star Trek; Fox's Angel; the BBC's Doctor Who; and
television's #1 prime time series CBS' CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics
imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a
partnership with Yoe! Studios; and is the print publisher for
ComicMix.
IDW's original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.
About The Library of American Comics
The Library of American Comics, an imprint of IDW Publishing, was
established in 2007 to preserve the long and jubilantly creative
history of the American newspaper comic strip in archival,
hardcover editions. To date, every LoAC release has been nominated
for an Eisner or Harvey Award and the imprint's inaugural series,
Terry and the Pirates, won the Eisner in 2008. Creative and
Editorial Director Dean Mullaney has been an influential force in
the comics field since 1978, when he published the first graphic
novel for the comics specialty market (Sabre by Don McGregor and
Paul Gulacy). His pioneering efforts, as founder and publisher of
Eclipse Comics, brought about many milestones to the field,
including creator copyright ownership, the first line of Japanese
manga in English translation in 1988, and the first
digitally-colored comic book. More information about The Library of
American Comics can be found on IDW's website-
www.idwpublishing.com-and that of the imprint
itself-www.libraryofamericancomics.com.
