Comic relief: A new approach to reviving Carnegie's wisdom

Although Napoleon Hill has been dead for more than 40 years, his popular wealth-building book has found a hip new outlet. A comic book version of “Think & Grow Rich,” a widely read text on how to cultivate a fortune through money-making secrets inspired by Andrew Carnegie, will be released in October. It's already available digitally at SmarterComics.com. Mr. Hill's book was first published in 1937 and has sold 30 million copies, which is thought to be more than any other wealth management text. The book's 235 pages have been “translated” into a comic book that takes about an hour to read, publisher SmarterComics LLC said. “There are four or five really classic books on how to be successful; this is one of them, even though it was published almost 80 years ago,” said SmarterComics founder and chief executive Franco Arda. The new 80-page comic book version focuses on the key points and isn't meant to replace the original book, he said. It is a faster read though, and he said the visual power of comics helps people learn faster and retain information. “Processing pictures is natural to humans and we started learning through pictures at a young age,” Mr. Arda said. “Why not embrace that for business purposes?” Mr. Arda created SmarterComics, which also sells several other financial texts as vibrantly illustrated comics, after being disappointed by the text version of the book he wrote to inspire his 2-year-old daughter financially. With help from a comic book artist, Mr. Arda turned his own “Fortune Favors the Bold,” into what he describes as the first in a series of business books “that ban boredom.” Swiss-born, Mr. Arda worked in derivatives sales for Deutsche Bank AG in London, Zurich and Hong Kong until spring 2008, when he exited the financial industry to pursue writing and publishing. Other SmarterComics titles include: “The Long Tail,” “The Art of War,” “How to Master the Art of Selling,” “The 80/20 Principle,” “Shut Up, Stop Whining & Get a Life,” and “Eat the Frog!”