Five long stories by Nguyen Nhat Anh, a famous writer for teenagers, will be turned into graphic novels by Art Sign Corp.

A page in “Before the Final Round” cartoon.

The five stories are Truoc Vong Chung Ket (Before the Final Round), Bong Bong Len Troi (Bubbles Rise into the Sky), Bo Cau Khong Dua Thu (Homing Pigeon Doesn’t Carry Message), Nhung Chang Trai Xau Tinh (Bad Boys) and Nu Sinh (Schoolgirls).

Twenty-five artists of Art Sign are working hard so the five works can be released in mid-October 2009. Each will have 250 pages, with 10,000 copies each issued initially.

Art Sign’s director Vuong Quoc Thinh said Art Sign proposed turning Nguyen Nhat Anh’s works into graphic novels in late 2008. The firm’s young painters’ sketches of “Before the Final Round” convinced the writer and he agreed to Art Sign’s offer.

“Nguyen Nhat Anh’s language is easy to understand, simple and profound so it is both easy and difficult to transform his works into comics. We asked him to check our work before printing to make them more perfect,” said Thinh.

Art Sign is negotiating with the writer to transform another work, Cho Toi Xin Mot Ve Di Tuoi Tho (Give Me a Ticket Back to Childhood), into a graphic novel.

Thinh said the local market is short of locally-made comics and graphic novels so Art Sign is trying to produce more made-in-Vietnam comics to serve young Vietnamese readers.

VietNamNet/VNE