Jill Thompson signs with HarperCollins for YA series

Comics artist and children's book illustrator Jill Thompson (The Dead Boy Detectives, Scary Godmother) has signed a four-book deal with HarperCollins to produce a series of graphic novels for young readers, PW Comics Week reports.

The 94-page, full-color books, featuring a young witch named Magic Trixie, will begin appearing in 2008. The first volume will be called Show & Spell.

Magic Trixie is a first-grade student at the Spectral Park Monstersorry School, and her friends are a sort of "monster Little Rascals," according to Thompson. The supporting cast includes a pair of vampire twins; Loupie Garou, a werewolf girl who excels at everything; Stitch Patch, the Frankenstein boy next door; Princess Nefi, a mummy who's the rich girl in the neighborhood; and Magic Trixie's little sister, Abby Cadabra. Their teacher is Ms. Spectre, a ghost who "haunts their brains with learning."

In an interview late last month with Metro Toronto, Thompson said she can't envision herself working on a monthly comic again.

"I don’t need to be in the most extreme version of the monthly comic grind," she said "I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with doing that, it’s just that I’ve moved to the point where I like to do black and white comics myself and I also like to paint my own comics so I just like to control everything."

She also mentioned that she's working with Evan Dorkin on another dog story for The Dark Horse Book of Monsters, which makes me very, very happy.

"I think it’s called 'The Dog And His Boy'," she told the newspaper. "It made me cry when I read it so now I’ll have to do my best to make everyone else cry."