Scholastic's Graphix Will Publish Three Webtoon Titles
Saphie the One-Eyed Cat, Float, and My Name is Benny will be available in print, coming in Spring and Summer 2025!
New York, NY – September 27, 2024 – Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, announced it will be publishing three series from WEBTOON Entertainment—a leading global entertainment company and home to some of the world's largest storytelling platforms with 170 million monthly active users—in a deal done with Wattpad WEBTOON Studios.
Starting in February 2025, the first volume of Saphie the One-Eyed Cat by JoHo will be published, followed by the first volume of Float by Kate Marchant and illustrated by CJ Joaquin in July 2025. And lastly, the first volume of My Name is Benny by Sokomin will be published in August 2025. All three titles will be published worldwide in all languages.
Saphie the One-Eyed Cat has over 151 million views on WEBTOON with its first chapter premiering in 2016. This completed series is all about a one-eyed, rambunctious cat named Saphie, who gets into mischief on a daily basis. It’s purrfect for cat-lovers and readers of all ages!
Float by Kate Marchant was first published by Wattpad Books in February 2022, then adapted into webcomic format on WEBTOON with illustrator CJ Joaquin joining the team in June 2023. Float has 11.6 million views on WEBTOON and 228K subscribers. Float was also released as a feature film from Lionsgate [February 2024] starring Robbie Amell and Andrea Bang. This completed WEBTOON series is a cute rom-com about summer romance, making new friends, and taking new risks. It’s perfect for young adults and older.
My Name is Benny by Sokomin was first published on WEBTOON in 2018 and has over 39 million views with over 268 thousand subscribers. This completed series is a fun, slice-of-life tale about a group of misfits and their adventures. It’s perfect for middle grade readers and up.
“Partnering with Wattpad WEBTOON Studios marks an exciting new chapter in our commitment to innovative storytelling. We are thrilled to collaborate with them and bring captivating, high-quality content to young readers, combining our rich publishing heritage with their cutting-edge digital platform. Together, we aim to inspire imagination and foster a love of reading in a new and dynamic way,” says Debra Dorfman, VP & Publisher Global Licensing Brands & Media at Scholastic.
“Finding the right home for our content and our creators is the north star for our Global Publishing business,” says Tina McIntyre, SVP & Head of Global Publishing at Wattpad WEBTOON Studios. “With Scholastic, we know that these innovative, thoughtful, and charming series are in the best of hands. We can't wait to see readers embracing these fan-favorite titles in print format.”
About SAPHIE THE ONE-EYED CAT
What exactly does a one-eyed cat do all day? Well, there's running, knocking things over, scratching things you're not supposed to, terrorizing your brothers, messing with your owner, stealing food, and generally causing mayhem left, right, and center! Saphie the One-Eyed Cat is a hilarious look at the life of a cat that knows what she wants—and what she wants is to mess around!
About Joanna Ho (JoHo)
Joanna Ho, hailing from a lineage of cat butlers, earned her BFA from George Mason University. Her artistry and lineage showcased in "Saphie: The One-Eyed Cat," captures hearts by melding her profound feline connection with illustration. She is also the artist of an action rom-com comic called “Love On Target” on WEBTOON. Through her artistry, she aims to use her creations to infuse joy to all who come across her work.
About FLOAT
Amidst the chaos of her parents’ bitter divorce, Alaskan teenager Waverly Lyons trades in her textbooks and parka for a summer of suntans and short-shorts with her aunt in Florida. A fish out of water even back in the snow, Waverly is determined to be everything she isn’t back home: cool, fun, dare she even say part of a group? There’s just one problem. She doesn’t know how to swim. Enter Blake—the super-tan, super-hot, super-arrogant boy next door who seems to hate her guts. When he discovers her secret, Waverly is positive that her perfect summer is perfectly over. But then Blake does the unthinkable. He offers to teach her.
About Kate Marchant
Kate Marchant is the author of Float and Whistleblower. Born and raised in Oakland, California, she began writing on Wattpad when she was just fifteen. She now lives and writes in San Francisco. A film adaptation of Float was released in February 2024 and stars Robbie Amell and Andrea Bang.
About CJ Joaquin
There's isn't much to know about CJ except the love of her life is drawing and she even draws in her dreams. She also loves to exercise a lot in her free time, but sometimes too much. CJ is based in the Philippines.
About MY NAME IS BENNY
My Name is Benny follows the hijinks of happy-go-lucky Benny, known for her signature black bow and gas mask, which she constantly sports. Benny finds adventure in everything from tying her shoes to bug extermination, but her greatest joy is annoying her serious (and patient!) best friend Timothy.
About Sokomin
Sokomin is an artist who draws inspiration from simple, silly, everyday moments with friends and family. Born in South Korea, Sokomin moved to America at a young age, and her journey as an artist began with creating four-panel comics of stick figures for her little brother, her only reader at the time. She keeps a folder of notes for every idea that comes to her (which happens mostly when she's falling asleep). 20% of these have made it into comics. She's not lazy; she's just waiting for them to mature (she likes to call it "fermenting").
ABOUT GRAPHIX
Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic, is committed to publishing creator-driven graphic novels for early, middle grade and young adult readers. Graphix launched in 2005 with the publication of Jeff Smith’s acclaimed epic series, BONE. Graphix titles have become bestsellers around the globe and continue to receive awards and critical acclaim including multiple Eisner Award wins and nominations, a National Book Award Longlist selection (Hey, Kiddo), a Stonewall Book Award Honor (Drama), a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor (Smile), an Edgar Allan Poe nomination (The Lost Boy), and more than twenty-five New York Times bestsellers to date. The list now features the Dog Man series by Dav Pilkey, Raina Telgemeier’s books, the Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi, the Sunny books by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm, Twins by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright, Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter, the Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman, and the graphic novel adaptations of The Baby-sitters Club and Wings of Fire series.
ABOUT WEBTOON ENTERTAINMENT
WEBTOON Entertainment is a leading global entertainment company and home to some of the world's largest storytelling platforms. As the global leader and pioneer of the mobile webcomic format, WEBTOON Entertainment has transformed comics and visual storytelling for fans and creators. With its CANVAS UGC platform empowering anyone to become a creator, and a growing roster of superstar WEBTOON Originals creators and series, WEBTOON Entertainment’s passionate fandoms are the new face of pop culture. WEBTOON adaptations are available on Netflix, Prime Video, Crunchyroll, and other screens around the world, and the company’s content partners include Discord, HYBE and DC Comics, among many others. With approximately 170 million monthly active users (as of the quarter ended March 31, 2024), WEBTOON Entertainment’s IP & Creator Ecosystem of aligned companies include WEBTOON, Wattpad—the world’s leading webnovel platform—Wattpad WEBTOON Studios, Studio N, Studio LICO, WEBTOON Unscrolled, LINE MANGA, and eBookJapan, among others.
For more information, please contact: Mandy Earles, Publicist, Scholastic
mearles@scholastic.com
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