Degrassi Graphic Novels

If we can review Kevin Smith’s guest appearances, we
might as well let you know that there are new Degrassi
graphic novels on the way. The complete press release
is below.

MADISON TO PRODUCE DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION
GRAPHIC NOVELS

SIMON & SCHUSTER, FENN TO PUBLISH FIRST TWO VOLUMES IN
FALL 2006

Over the last five years, Degrassi: The Next
Generation has grown
into the highest-rated show on The N in the United
States. The
show’s Canadian audience, watching on the CTV Network,
is the largest
for any homegrown drama. Legions of fans have followed
Emma, Paige,
Craig, Jimmy, Ellie, Manny and their schoolmates
through five
exciting years of high school. Every week around the
world, teens see
themselves and their lives reflected in the dilemmas,
dramas, joys
and pains of the kids of Degrassi Community School.

But there’s so much more that never makes it to the
screen. What
happens during summer vacation? What about the
off-camera, after-
school lives of the Degrassi students? What are the
characters’ home
lives really like? What about the weeks that go by in
the Degrassi
world between one episode and the next? Surely, some
good stuff must
be going on — and the fans want to know!

Now, DEGRASSI: EXTRA CREDIT graphic novels fill in
those gaps! The
original storylines in each volume — written by
award-winning graphic
novel and comic book writer J. Torres in collaboration
with the
television show’s creative staff — pick up where the
show left off,
expanding on plot elements from Degrassi: The Next
Generation and
weaving new adventures, challenges and life
experiences seamlessly
into the DNG story. And the dynamic visuals created by
illustrator Ed
Northcott will grip readers from the first panel.

“We work tremendously hard to ensure that Degrassi
is relevant to
the lives of teens,” said Degrassi creator Linda
Schuyler, president
of Epitome Pictures. “That’s why being at the
forefront of the
English-language manga movement is incredibly exciting
— it’s an art
form that kids everywhere are embracing.” Adds
Christopher Jackson
of Madison Press Books, “DEGRASSI: EXTRA CREDIT titles
will be must-
haves, for fans of the show and fans of graphic
fiction alike. It’s
been fantastic to work with Ed, J. and Epitome’s DNG
writers and to
find out just how perfectly suited Degrassi is to this
brand of
visual storytelling.”

Look for the first two volumes of DEGRASSI: EXTRA
CREDIT in stores
across North America in October 2006, published by
Pocket Books/Simon
& Schuster in the United States and Fenn Publishing
Co. in Canada.

Toronto-based writer J. Torres is the author of the
immensely popular
Teen Titans Go monthly comic book for DC Comics. He
also writes the
quarterly graphic novel series Love as a Foreign
Language and
contributes to the cartoon Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi, seen
on the Cartoon
Network. His titles have earned nominations for the
prestigious
Eisner Award (Alison Dare, 2003) and Harvey Award
(Sidekicks, 2001),
among others. In 2004 he received two Shuster Award
nominations for
Outstanding Canadian Writer, and his graphic novella
Days Like This
was an American Library Association Selection.
Torres’s other credits
include writing for Batman, Black Panther, Rugrats and
X-Men comics,
for various children’s chapter books and activity
books, and for
magazines including Kayak, Nickelodeon and Whoa.

The talented and prolific Ed Northcott has made his
name creating
graphic art for countless role-playing games and their
book covers
and interiors, including Centauri Knights, Uresia,
GURPS and Silver
Age Sentinels. Northcott lives in Toronto.

MADISON PRESS BOOKS, a Toronto-based co-edition book
publisher, has
been creating bestselling books for the international
market since
1979, including the illustrated behind-the-scenes look
at the twenty-
five year history of the Degrassi franchise, Degrassi:
Generations
(2005).

EPITOME PICTURES and its affiliate companies have been
producing
quality television programming since 1976, including
the multi-award-
winning, internationally recognized Degrassi
franchise: The Kids of
Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi
High, all of which
still air throughout the world. Epitome Pictures also
produces the
hit drama Instant Star, seen on the CTV television
network in Canada
and on Nickelodeon’s The-N in the United States.