Dr. Seuss is returning to comics.
Well, comic books.
Oh, and they aren’t really done by Theodor Seuss Geisel.
By the first half of the1930s Dr. Seuss was already a very successful magazine cartoonist and ad man when William Randolph Hearst convinced him to create a Sunday comic strip.
Hejji ran for only three months in 1935. Dr. Seuss returned to cartooning – magazine and political. After World War II he became the very successful children’s book author. Some of those books, from The Lorax to Horton Hatches the Egg, could easily be seen as comic books. The first Horton book even encases the title in pseudo-word balloons.
Adapted to other media, surprisingly the characters never saw comic book or strip adaptation.
Popverse reports that that oversight is about to be rectified:
While there’s not been an official announcement yet, Random House Children’s Books and Dr. Seuss Enterprises are hosting a panel at New York Comic Con titled “Introducing… Dr. Seuss Graphic Novels!” which will feature two of the creators working on the new line: James Kochalka and Art Baltazar.
Both artists are known for their work on children’s characters, of course — Kochalka’s Johnny Boo series has run for more than a decade from Top Shelf, while Baltazar’s work for DC, Disney, and other publishers includes the Eisner Award-winning Tiny Titans, as well as Billy Watson and the Magic of Shazam, Superman Family Adventures, and Itty Bitty Hellboy.
Popverse continues quoting from the New York Comic Con panel description:
Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Random House Children’s Books is proud to present the creators of the first ever graphic novels starring everyone’s favorite Dr. Seuss characters: Cat in the Hat, the Grinch, Sam-I-Am, and more! Eisner and Harvey award-winner Art Baltazar and Eisner award-winner James Kochalka will discuss adapting generations’ worth of characters into brand new stories for a new age, all while honoring Dr. Seuss’s legacy.
No images from the new comic book (graphic novel) series yet.
Wow this website is annoying. First you annoy me with that cookie banner, than you nag me to subscribe – and I can’t even see the subscribe form properly because an ad is overlayed above it. Furthermore, the ad does not even load properly. And when I try to read your post, more ads keep flashing and distracting me. You should really consider changing this, if you actually want people to read the things you write.
Notice about plans for Dr. Suess Graphic Novels, why not graphic novels for these other kid aimed children’s book characters:
Arthur (Marc Brown’s aardvark, he had a cartoon series that was produced from 1996 to 2022).
Richard Scarry’s Busytown (Huckle and Lowly Worm and others)
I know there have been Geronimo Stilton graphic novels.
I was disappointed to learn that nobody is going to reprint HEJJI, which I’ve only seen in that opening page (on Wikipedia).
As far as I’m concerned, a Baltazar Seuss adaptation will be as dissatisfying as seeing his versions of DC heroes; I’ve seen his one-trick pony (and Kochalka looks as incapable of delivering anything in the Seuss style) and while kids may not mind, it ain’t Seuss if it’s not in his drawing style. (I reserve the right to be surprised.) But then, I’m not the target audience.