At a New York Comic Con panel discussion, Hyperion showed off a graphic novel adaptation of Rick Riordan‘s Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. The Lightning Thief graphic novel launches today alongside the first book in the sequel series (The Lost Hero).

Robert Venditti wrote the graphic adaptation of The Lightning Thief. Venditti explained: “One of my own original creations, The Surrogates was recently adapted [into a film] so I wanted to see what it was like on the other side of the adaptation process.”

The original novel contains 375 pages, but the graphic novel clocks in at 125 pages. Editor Christian Trimmer revealed that The Sea of Monsters and The Titan’s Curse are currently in the works and are tentatively set for release dates in 2012. Trimmer said, “Children’s publishing is such a great place to be because you’ve got the library’s support and the school’s support and the parents’ support and these stories will just live on and on and on.”

Read more

New York Comic Con took place over the course of a 3-day weekend and was jam-packed with events, panels, and screenings. This GalleyCat correspondent perked her ears for bits of news throughout the convention:

1.  R&B artist Ne-Yo received the support of comic book legend Stan Lee for a comic he created and wrote entitled Libra Scale.

2. As we noted, The Archie series’ first gay character, Kevin Keller will have his own stand alone 4-book series. His debut appearance in Veronica issue #202 demanded for a re-printing and it was only released on September 1st 2010.

3. Melissa de la Cruz‘ Blue Bloods will be adapted into graphic novel format and published by Disney’s Hyperion. Editor Christian Trimmer jokingly said, “Blue Bloods is ‘Gossip Girl‘ meets ‘Twilight.’”

Read more