The first releases from Blizzard Publishing includes a World of Warcraft Adult Coloring Book plus manga and novel reissues.
Blizzard’s new publishing arm has been set up to develop and release new publications, as well as reissue out-of-print titles from the company’s Diablo, StarCraft and Warcraft franchises.
The first batch of releases is very much focused on earlier works and includes three Warcraft novels, released under the Legends banner, and two manga collections. The only original title announced so far is the World of Warcraft Adult Coloring Book, a volume containing over 80 pieces of concept art and sketches featuring characters and scenes from the world of Azeroth.
Lydia Bottegoni, senior vice president of story and franchise development at Blizzard Entertainment, said:
“Great stories and inspiring artwork have always been at the heart of everything we do. The creation of Blizzard Publishing gives us new opportunities to celebrate the art and stories of our games with Blizzard gamers as well as fantasy and sci-fi fans around the world.”
Many of the upcoming releases will also be published in audiobook and e-book formats, although probably not the colouring book. Each book is priced at £8,99 in the UK and available from gear.blizzard.com or Amazon. More titles are promised for release in 2017.
Blizzard Manga
- Warcraft Legends: Volume One, with stories by Richard A. Knaak, Dan Jolley, and Jae-Hwan Kim
- Warcraft Legends: Volume Two, with stories by Richard A. Knaak, Dan Jolley, and Aaron Sparrow
Blizzard Legends
- Warcraft: The Last Guardian by Jeff Grubb
- Warcraft: Lord of the Clans by Christie Golden
- World of Warcraft: Rise of the Horde by Christie Golden
Perhaps of more interest to Blizzard fans, than the colouring book at least, is a planned series of full-color coffee table art books. These will begin with Art of Hearthstone and Cinematic Art of StarCraft in 2017.
