Marvel and Dabel Brothers Productions say shifting Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter from August to October (see 'Marvel Schedules First Dabel Brothers Books') should bolster enthusiasm rather than erode momentum for the promising new series (see ''Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter'').

In response to a question posed by ICv2 about the possible loss of momentum due to the delay in release of the first issue, Jim McCann, Asst. Manager of Sales Communication for Marvel, said, 'We have a greater reach, so we're able to take the fantastic product they have given us and market it the way we would any major launch.  We're rekindling that fire rather than any loss of momentum and hoping that it grows even further.'

DBPro Editor-in Chief Sean Jordan added, 'We have been working with Marvel for several months as we were getting ready for this deal.  Marvel wanted to release Anita Blake #1 at or around Halloween, which we thought was an excellent idea.  Unfortunately, we had already solicited the book for August, but we decided it would be smarter to announce that it was delayed rather than to cause any suspicion about the deal.  We're excited to have the book come out at a time of year where vampires are a very good topic.'

To help keep fans interested in the product, DB Pro put out a preview book in August, 'to appease the hardest of hard-core fans,' says Jordan. 'What wound up happening is that the people got even more excited because what we released was just the pencils-only version featuring Brett Booth's artwork.  People who read the book were giving us all kinds of great feedback.  And a lot of the people who just had to have it are still going to be buying the regular edition because they're so excited about it.'

DB Pro took pains to assure retailers and fans that the series is ready to launch with three issues completed and scripts developed through issue #5.  'We're just going to put out our books on time and make sure we bring a bunch of new faces to the comic book stores,' said Les Dabel.

Courting female readers wasn't on the radar when Laurell K. Hamilton's agent approached DB Productions.  Dabel said, 'When Laurell's agent told me about the project, my response to her was, 'Women don't buy comics.'  And her response was, 'Well, we're about to change that.'  And I was more than happy to give it a try and it was the best move I could have made.'

McCann added that, 'We hope to reach new comic readers by reaching out to these best-selling authors' existing fan bases and hopefully converting some of the comic readers to these authors' works as well.'

When asked if the trade paperbacks will be shelved with the fiction novels, McCann said, 'Yes, we'll definitely have a lot of cross-pollenization with the novels.'

There will also be advertisements in the back of the paperback versions of Hamilton's books for the comics, and the comic graphic novels will have ads for Hamilton's novels (see 'Dabel Brothers Will Cross-Promote Licensed Comics').