Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Agent, graphic novel, The Ill-Effects of Pickled Herring

The Ill-Effects of Pickled Herring, New MG OGN from Alex Schumacher

Alex Schumacher is pitching his middle-grade graphic novel The Ill-Effects of Pickled Herring, as Raina Telgemeier meets Jeff Kinney from a Jewish author-illustrator. It follows the tumultuous year-long preparation for introverted 12-year-old Micah Gadsky and his outgoing sister Alana's joint B'nai Mitzvah (Bar and Bat mitzvah), as they struggle to make sense of family changes and their identities.

Alex Schumacher has written for comic book websites such as Comicon, Comic Book yeti and Monkeys Fighting Robots, but also created his own comic book work with 215 Ink, Viper Comics, and also worked as a storyboard artist for DreamWorks TV. The Unemployment Adventures of Aqualung, was published in 2013 by Arcana Studios followed by a weekly webcomic Decades of (in)Experience in 2015 and the monthly online misadventures of Mr. Butterchips in 2016. A collection of the latter was released in July 2020 by Slave Labor, who last year relaunched the webcomic.

Olivia Ngai and Jennifer Newens at West Margin Press have acquired world English rights to The Ill-Effects of Pickled Herring, for publication in September 2023, Alex Chumacher's agent Allison Hellegers at Stimola Literary Studio negotiated the deal.

West Margin Press is a growing print and e-book publishing company based in Berkeley, California, who states that they are "dedicated to creating beautiful books and sharing unique voices and important stories. Our genres span many categories, including nature and travel, history and memoir, literary fiction, food and lifestyle, and an array of children's titles", And that "Our roots trace back to Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, founded in Portland, Oregon in 1967, which focused on luxe, full-color photography books showcasing beautiful places and striking vistas."

The expansion of children's graphic novels is fuelling all manner of publishers extending into the comics medium. Right now it seems like an infinite market that is being tapped into, and creating longstanding comic book readers for decades to come. It is not for nothing that kids graphic novels in bookstores are being referred to as the newsstand of the twenty-first century, and the future readers of the medium are being formed and created right here, right now.

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