Bloomsbury swipes new middle-grade graphic novel series by Dempsey

Bloomsbury Children’s Books is expanding its graphic novel publishing with a series by Irish author and illustrator Sheena Dempsey. 

Pablo and Splash is labelled as a "fantastically funny, full-colour middle-grade graphic novel about time-travelling penguins", perfect for fans of Dog Man or Bumble and Snug.

Zoe Griffiths (who has since left Bloomsbury Children’s Books) acquired world rights for three books from Sallyanne Sweeney at MMB Creative. The first in the series will publish in January 2024, with book two to follow in November 2024 and book three in 2025. The first book features an adventure in the dinosaur era, with further time-travel exploits including set in the Ice Age and Ancient Rome in books two and three. Each title will include end-matter with historical facts and how-to-draw guides for budding graphic novelists.

The synopsis reads: “Dempsey’s book tells the story of Antarctic penguins Pablo and Splash, who are polar opposites. Although Pablo is a carefully organised home-bird and Splash is an adventure-seeking extrovert, these two cuddly characters are best friends. When Splash gets bored and decides they both deserve a holiday, Pablo is reluctantly pulled into an adventure that is far from the intended luxury beach vacation. The pair end up in a time-travel machine that takes them back to the age of the dinosaurs. Suddenly their icy homeland doesn’t seem so dull.”

Alex Antscherl, editorial director for fiction at Bloomsbury Children’s Books, said: “Pablo and Splash have charmed everyone here with their opposites-attract friendship, banter and time-travelling adventures. I’m so thrilled to get to work on this as one of my first projects at Bloomsbury. Sheena Dempsey has created a vivid, funny and page-turning graphic novel that perfectly taps into the appetite for this format among young readers. Sheena’s already widely admired for her brilliant illustrations, which work perfectly in this new format. We’re looking forward to flipping through time with Sheena and the penguins for many years to come.”

Dempsey added: “I’m utterly thrilled that the team at Bloomsbury are going to publish my graphic novel series. It all began as a diary webcomic project (#IsolationPenguin) whose purpose was to amuse myself and my Instagram followers during lockdown, so I could never have imagined this outcome in my wildest dreams. Because the characters are partly based on my husband and me, it’s a project that’s very close to my heart.”

Pablo and Splash publishes on 18th January 2024 in paperback. The Bloomsbury Children’s rights and international sales teams will be showcasing the manuscript and early artwork at this year’s Bologna Book Fair.