First Second will publish Hawking, a graphic novel biography of famed physicist Stephen Hawking, by Jim Ottaviani and Leyland Myrick, the team that created First Second’s Feynman.  Release is planned for 2016.

Feynman, about Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman was a big hit for First Second, with multiple printings of the hardcover volume totaling 35,000 in the first few months after release in 2011 (see "First Second's Bestsellers").   Feynman ranked #9 in the ICv2 Top Ten Fiction and Reality Properties chart for 2011 (see "Top 10 Fiction and Reality Properties--2011").  A trade paperback edition was released earlier this year.

Hawking’s level of celebrity is considerably above that of Feynman’s, offering opportunity for Hawking sales to exceed those on Feynman.