Harper Lee's perennial favorite To Kill a Mockingbirdhas been turned into a stage play, a musical, and, most famously, a 1962 movie starring Gregory Peck.

But the multi-award-winning book has never been translated into comic book form -- until now.

SEE ALSO:'Go Set a Watchman': Might Harper Lee actually be trolling us all?

Lee's estate has licensed a graphic novel version of Mockingbird, HarperCollins announced Tuesday. The publisher also released a single pane of artwork from London author-illustrator Fred Fordham, who will draw and adapt the book, showing Scout in her tire swing:

Credit: harpercollins

Fordham seems fully aware of the heavy burden on his shoulders. "Adapting a story that means so much to so many -– and finding the appropriate art style to give it life in a long-form visual medium –- is a great honor and responsibility," he said in a statement, "and, mercifully, also a great pleasure."

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The book will be released in November 2018, HarperCollins said.

As for the question of why an adaptation took so long? There's no official word, but the famously reclusive Lee was known to be wary of alternate editions of Mockingbirdduring her lifetime. Indeed, she didn't even authorize an e-book version until 2014.

Controversy still buzzes around the release of Go Set a Watchman, which is in many ways an early draft of Mockingbirdand shows an adult Scout becoming disillusioned with her racist father. Lee's lawyer revealed the existence of the book to a stunned world in 2015. Lee died in February 2016.

Mercifully, there are no plans to adapt Watchmanin any format.

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