Thomas Nelson announced the launch of Vital Shift, its new graphic novel "initiative" for the Christian market, at New York Comic Con.  Vital Shift titles will be released by both Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, sister companies under the HarperCollins Christian Publishing umbrella. 
 
The first Vital Shift title, Messiah: Origin, was released on October 9th by Zondervan.  It was first announced as Firstborn: The Last Adam (see "Could 'Firstborn' Be Another Hit?"). 
 
Formed to "meet to the demands of the growing market for transmedia intellectual properties in the Christian marketplace," Vital Shift will focus on titles for consumers ages 18 -34.  The announcement came with a teaser that Messiah: Origin will be followed soon by the announcement of seven graphic novel series releasing "between now and 2019."
 
Messiah: Origin hopes to capture the surprise success of Zondervan’s The Book of Revelation (see "Early November Books and Graphic Novels You May Have Missed"), which spent a few months on Book Scan’s Top 20 list, including January and February this year (see "'Walking Dead' Loosens Hold in Bookstores" and "Manga Tops in Bookstores").  According to Thomas Nelson, The Book of Revelation sold 20,000 units in its first six weeks of release, outselling every other graphic novel on Amazon except Image Comic’s The Walking Dead.
 
"Four out of five Americans and one of every three people on earth are self-described Christians, all of whom have an inherent thirst for the Bible and Biblical stories," said Chip Brown, Senior Vice President and Publisher at HarperCollins Christian Publishing.  "The market’s recent and forthcoming print products, Bible feature films, television mini-series and even game shows are all aiming to quench that thirst."