'Twilight' goes 'Graphic'

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The first volume in the graphic adaptation of author Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series will be released on March 16, 2010, according to Yen Press.

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“Twilight: The Graphic Novel” contains text from the original novel, complete with illustrations by Young Kim. It will be released for $19.99 in hardcover with a first printing of 350,000 copies.

Meyer was directly involved in every step of the process, and had input on every panel. The graphic artwork is in black and white and is designed to fuse Asian and Western comic techniques.

“I’ve enjoyed working on this new interpretation of “Twilight,” said Stephenie. “Young has done an incredible job transforming the words that I have written into beautiful images. The characters and settings are very close to what I was imagining while writing the series.”

The “Twilight” franchise has become a phenomenon with 85 million copies of the books sold internationally.

The third film installment of the series, “Eclipse,” hits the theaters June 30, 2010.