Archaia’s ‘Tumor’ Hits Kindle Before Print

Despite the industry norm of translating printed comics to digital formats, Archaia Comics is experimenting with a digital-to-print model with its debut of the new "Tumor" graphic novel by Joshua Fialkov ("Elk's Run") and Noel Tuazon ("Graphic Classics").

The specially formatted original graphic novel will arrive on Amazon's Kindle before any ink is put to paper. The "Mouse Guard" and upcoming "Fraggle Rock" publisher's first foray onto the Amazon 2 follows fellow indie publisher Top Shelf's "Owly" release onto the device, which currently renders the titles in grayscale.

"Tumor" tells the story of a washed-up private eye with a terminal brain tumor who starts uncovering clues to his wife's murder from 20 years before during a job to find a missing mob boss' daughter.

No official release date has been announced for the digital or print edition of the title, but Publisher's Weekly indicates Archaia will announce that info, along with three other Kindle-to-print comics at this week's San Diego Comic-Con.