Dark Horse announced that it plans on adapting a short story by Neil Gaiman, "How to Talk to Girls at Parties," into a graphic novel with artwork by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá.
The story originally appeared in a collection of short stories by Gaiman, Fragile Things: Short Fiction and Wonders, and went on to win the 2007 Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Short Story.
The science fiction story, set in the 1970s, follows two teen boys who go to a party to meet girls, but they realize that the girls they're meeting aren't exactly what they seem: they're literally from out of this world.
Now, Dark Horse is taking that story and adding artwork from two award-winning artists. Moon, best known for his work on Casanova, was part of the team that won Eisner Awards for 5 and De: Tales. Bá, Moon's twin brother, is known for his work on the award-winning The Umbrella Academy, Casanova and Daytripper.
"They have a storytelling aesthetic where [depicting] body language is everything," said Neil Gaiman in an interview with Publishers Weekly. "The story is all about what's in the narrators' heads, so it can be very hard to do that in comics. It's incredibly enjoyable to write a story and see them make it real."
The graphic novel adaptation of "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" marks the first time that Gaiman has worked with Moon and Bá.
Dark Horse also plans to release an adaptation of another Gaiman short story, "Troll Bridge," first published in the Smoke and Mirrors collection of stories. That story is a retelling of the Billy Goats Gruff fairy tale. Artwork for that graphic novel is by longtime Gaiman collaborator Colleen Doran.
"She showed me an unusual style [done with color pencils] that isn't like classic comics. Her pencils are wonderful, layered full-color drawings," said Gaiman. "They're subversive, more like children's book illustrations from 50 years ago."
Dark Horse releases How to Talk to Girls at Parties on June 15, with Troll Bridge arriving later next year.
Meanwhile, a movie adaptation for "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" is already filming, with actors Elle Fanning, Nicole Kidman, Matt Lucas and Ruth Wilson starring, and John Cameron Mitchell directing. That film should release sometime in 2016.
