Cartoon Books has announced that a complete edition of RASL by Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Jeff Smith (Bone, SHAZAM!) will be published in September 2013, with a major marketing campaign.  The 472-page full color hardcover will be oversized (7.5"x10") and retail for $39.95.

 

Originally published in black and white serialized format, RASL first appeared in 2007 (see "Jeff Smith to Preview 'RASL'").  Spread out over four years, the 15 issue run culminated in 2012.  To date, Smith has also released several collections of the series, including four trade paperbacks along with a smaller pocketbook version as well as a limited hardcover edition of Volume One. 

 

Cartoon Books is planning a major marketing campaign to promote the release.  Publicity efforts will include major newspaper outlets and blogs, radio, comic news sites, print and online magazines, genre publications, trade journals and library magazines, men’s magazines, and many more. 

 

Beginning in July and corresponding with San Diego Comic Con, Cartoon Books will begin offering free daily color pages from the new collection on its Website.  In addition to its Website, Cartoon will use all of its social media assets to distribute news about the release.

 

The new completed edition of RASL will also be advertised on comic, book, and science fiction sites.

 

And Smith will be conducting an author's tour with invited stops at various comic conventions and book festivals to support the release. 

 

Smith, whose Bone books are among the bestselling graphic novels of all time, and Cartoon Books are clearly pulling out all the stops behind this release. 

 

--Nathan Wilson