American graphic novelist Brad Meltzer to launch book on Gandhi

Brad Meltzer, who is known for his "Justice League of America" comic book series, is all set to present his new graphic novel titled "I Am Gandhi: A Graphic Biography of a Hero".

The novel, published by Dial Books, will release in May 2018, has been written by Meltzer and illustrated by about two-dozen top artists.

Meltzer had been working on his children's book "I Am Gandhi," which was published in October, to help students learn about the Indian human-rights icon.

"I gave the script of it to my 15-year-old son. I just wanted him to hear the message. As he was reading, I was reading over his shoulder. And then it hit me: I needed Gandhi's lessons as much as he did," Meltzer told The Washington Post.

Right then, he knew he needed to make it a graphic novel, so he reached out to artists Gene Ha, Rags Morales and Bryan Hitch, with whom he'd worked on DC comic books.

He also found support from such industry figures as Dan DiDio, Brian Michael Bendis, Marc Andreyko and Tom Brevoort. The artists donating their talent at no cost include n luminaries such as Amanda Conner, Siddharth Kotian and David Marquez, as well as "March's" Nate Powell.

The top artistic slate also includes Art Adams, John Cassaday, Carlos D'Anda, Michael Gaydos, Stephanie Hans, Phil Jimenez, David LaFuente, David Mack, Alex Maleev, Francis Manapul, Steve McNiven, Saumin Patel, Stephane Roux, Marco Rudy, Kamome Shirahama, Bill Sienkiewicz and Abhishek Singh.

"We get to put Gandhi's message into the world. As I told my son that first night: 'No one wins in a fight.' Right now, the world needs to hear that. We need more love in the world and less hate," he added.

All royalties from the book will go to Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit group that seeks to cultivate future global leaders.

--IANS

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