Norton acquires Eisner backlist

Publishers Weekly (subscription required) notes that W.W. Norton, which will release Will Eisner's The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in May, has acquired most of his graphic novel backlist from DC Comics.

The deal, struck shortly before Eisner's death, leaves the rights to The Spirit collections with DC. Norton will rerelease the 14 graphic novels it acquired in hardcover and paperback over the next three years. The publisher also plans to package three of the graphic novels into The Contract with God Trilogy, set for November.