Naval Institute Press will publish a new graphic novel adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic antiwar novel, All Quiet On The Western Front in Spring 2019. The graphic novel will be adapted, illustrated, and colored by veteran graphic novel author Wayne Vansant and was packaged from start to finish by Grand Design Communications. Naval Institute Press will also publish Vansant’s epic graphic novel, Katusha, in 2019.
GDC teamed with New York University Press, the owners of the rights to the works of All Quiet author Erich Maria Remarque, to package an adaptation and sell the rights for a graphic novel adaptation. GDC brought in longtime client Wayne Vansant, one of the most accomplished graphic novelists covering military history and warfare in both fiction and non-fiction. Starting with his work on Marvel’s The Nam in the 1980s, Vansant has authored more than a dozen graphic novels covering the history of military conflicts and the people who fought them. This will be Vansant’s second adaptation of a novel; he previously adapted Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge Of Courage for Puffin Graphics in 2006.
“I am extremely proud of this project coming to fruition. It has been an honor working with NYU Press to adapt this historic novel. There are few graphic novelists so capable of capturing the period and accurately depicting military life in Germany during the first World War as Wayne Vansant.” said David Bernstein of GDC. “Vansant’s illustrations perfectly capture the raw brutality and ugliness of the battlefield and the bunker.”
ABOVE: One of Wayne Vansant’s original presentation pieces for the project. It depicts the protagonist, Paul Baumer, pinned down in a trench, having stabbed an enemy soldier. Paul is trapped all night with the soldier as he slowly dies. In the end Paul tries unsuccessfully to save him.