Graphic Novels Roundup - April 2020

The world continues to be in lock down and there's turmoil in the direct market for comics. It seems a bit odd to be ordering books and graphic novels when the library is closed but that's exactly what we're doing.

This month's highlights include, Dancing at the Party by Tyler Feder, Grafity's Wall by Ram V and Anand Radhaskrishnan, My Video Game at My Homework by Dustin Hansen and We Are the Danger by Fabian Lelay and Claudia Aguirre. We also want to highlight Trace Balla's new book, Landing With Wings. Trace Balla is a creator from Castlemaine and her books are an absolute delight to read. Landing With Wings is her latest and every library should have it.

For Adult General books, again, there's a wide range of books. The highlights include, Batman: Last Knight on Earth by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, Bix by Sott Chantler and Portrait of a Drunk by Florent Ruppert, Jerome Mulot and Olivier Schrawen.

The world continues to be in lock down and there's turmoil in the direct market for comics. It seems a bit odd to be ordering books and graphic novels when the library is closed but that's exactly what we're doing.

This month's highlights include, Dancing at the Party by Tyler Feder, Grafity's Wall by Ram V and Anand Radhaskrishnan, My Video Game at My Homework by Dustin Hansen and We Are the Danger by Fabian Lelay and Claudia Aguirre. We also want to highlight Trace Balla's new book, Landing With Wings. Trace Balla is a creator from Castlemaine and her books are an absolute delight to read. Landing With Wings is her latest and every library should have it.

For Adult General books, again, there's a wide range of books. The highlights include, Batman: Last Knight on Earth by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, Bix by Sott Chantler and Portrait of a Drunk by Florent Ruppert, Jerome Mulot and Olivier Schrawen. 

Junior and YA

Anti/Hero - Kate Karyus Quinn, Demitria Lunnetta, Maca Gil (DC Comics)

Check, Please! Book 2: Sticks and Stones - Ngozi Ukazu (First Second)

Dancing at the party: a dead mom graphic memoir - Tyler Feder (Dial Books)

Gotham High - Melissa de la Cruz, Thomas Pitilli (DC Comics)

Grafity’s Wall - Ram V, Anand Radhaskrishnan (Dark Horse)

Landing With Wings - Trace Balla (Allen & Unwin)

Ms Marvel Vol. 2 - Stormranger - Saladin Ahmed, Minkyu Jung, Joey Vazquez (Marvel Comics)

My Video Game Ate My Homework - Dustin Hansen (DC Comics)

Nat Enough - Maria Scrivan (Graphix)

Sonic the Hedgehog: Tangle & Whisper - Ian Flynn, Jon Gray, Jennifer Hernandez, Jack Lawrence (IDW)

Super Sons: Escape to Landis - Ridley Pearson, Ileana Gonzalez (DC Comics)

We Are the Danger - Fabian Lelay, Claudia Aguirre (Black Mask Comics)

General

Altitude - Jean Marc Rochette, Olivier Bocquet (Self Made Hero) 

Batman: Last Knight on Earth - Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo (DC Comics)

Bix - Scott Chantler (Gallery 13)

Black Hammer/Justice League: Hammer of Justice! - Jeff Lemire, Michael Walsh (Dark Horse)

Coffin Bound Volume 1: Happy Ashes - Dan Watters, Dani (Image Comics)

Fire Power Volume 1: Prelude - Robert Kirkman, Matthew Wilson, Chris Samnee

Justice League of America: A Celebration of 60 Years - Various creators (DC Comics)

Portrait of a Drunk - Florent Ruppert, Jerome Mulot, Olivier Schrawen (Fantagraphics)

Reaver Volume 1 - Justin Jordan, Rebekah Isaacs, Alex Guimaraes (Image Comics)

Web of Black Widow - Jody Houser, Stephen Mooney (Marvel Comics)

Wonder Woman Volume 2: Love is a Battlefield - G. Willow Wilson, Cary Nord, Xermanico (DC Comics)

Creator Chat: A Conversation with Stephen Kok

We're very proud to present our third creator chat. This week we're in conversation with Stephen Kok.

Stephen has published a few comics already. His first book was Tabby, a Romeo and Juliet story with cats. His latest is Terralympus Volume 2, which is currently being funded on Kickstarter. In this conversation, we talk about getting comics to libraries, how to get some money from libraries adding your book to the catalogue, Kickstarter, etc.

Watch, enjoy and comment. Let us know how we're doing.

Our next conversation will be Leonee Ariel Derr, where we talk youth services, how to engage young adults at the library and, of course, comics and graphic novels.

GNCRT / ALIA Graphic Crossover Event: Comics Librarians Talk Shop Across the World

The first Crossover Event between the ALA's Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable and ALIA's Graphic Novels and Comics group was a success. We had lots of people joining the webinar live and now you can access the recording on the American Library Association's YouTube page.

"Join librarians around the world as they discuss comic books/graphic novels and what they mean for libraries. We will talk shop about collection development, the impact of comics across different types of libraries, and the brand new reading lists being created by the Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table as well as monthly round up lists created by ALIA Graphic. 

We will also talk about - with physical libraries being closed - how each of us and our libraries are continuing to serve our communities during a time of crisis - how we each are ‘finding our place at the library’ virtually and through our #LibcomixOnline communities. For more information on GNCRT and our #LibcomixOnline initiatives, please visit: http://www.ala.org/rt/gncrt/libcomix-online

Creator Chat 2: A conversation with Ryan K. Lindsay

We're very proud to present our second video in our Creator Chat series.

Ryan K. Lindsay is a teacher by day and a comic book writer by night. We recently had a great conversation with him during the school holidays. He took a break to talk to us about remote learning, parents and kids knowing about his comics, what it's like to review comics, his own comics and Kickstarter adventures, among many other things. 

Ryan also shares with us three books he's recently read and really enjoyed. Watch, enjoy, let us know what you think and support Ryan's work if you can.

ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics now on YouTube!

The world's on lock down. We're stuck at home and all the conventions and author talks have been cancelled for the foreseeable future. It's also hard to connect with people, so we thought we'd have conversations with comic book creators as well as librarians working with graphic novels and champions of the medium in general.

That's why we've opened a YouTube page, and are planning a series of videos. We have the first two videos up (watch them below), where we're still finding our feet and there are many more to come. 

Here's the schedule: 

April 9: Creator Chat: Christian Carnouche.

April 14: ALIA Graphic Introduction with James Baker and Iurgi Urrutia.

April 21: Creator Chat: Ryan K. Lindsay

April 28: Creator Chat: Stephen Kok.

TBA: Leonee Ariel Derr (Graphic novels, comics collections and comics advocacy)

TBA: Karen Dwarte and Queenie Chan (Comics at Libraries)

TBA: Darren Close (Killeroo and Australia Burns bushfire relief comics anthology)

Our first video (which was improvised in the spur of the moment at the end of a meeting), where we talk about how ALIA Graphic came to be and some of what we plan to do.

Our first Creator Chat, where we talk with Australian creator Christian Carnouche about his first graphic novel The Resurrected, a sci-fi thriller that deals with issues of identity and how we face and confront death and loss.

Libraries are closed but you can still read comics

The library is closed but you still need some comics to read right now? No worries.

We've put together a selection of Australian webcomics, some links to digital platforms that different libraries may use where you can read digital comics with your library cards and a couple of links to the US Library of Congress webcomic archive and Webtoons.

All in all, tonnes of comics that you can read on your computer, tablet or mobile device for free.

Australia and New Zealand Webcomics

These webcomics are free to read online. Many of the creators have a Patreon, Kickstarter or Donate button on their blogs and websites. Please consider supporting them if you can.

Advice Comics by Various Authors (Australia and International)

Belonging (Post Villawood) by Safdar Ahmed (Australia)

Cabramatta by Matt Huynh (Australia)

Circuits and Veins by Jem Yoshioka

Extra Ordinary by Li Chen (NZ)

Fatherhood by Ryan K Lindsay (Australia)

Free Money Please by David Blumenstein (Australia)

The Grot by Pat Grant (Australia)

Healing Alone by Isabel Hanson, Safdar Ahmed (Australia)

Heart of Millyera by Jess Cate, Jana Hoffman (Australia)

Inverloch by Sarah Ellerton (Australia)

James Flamestar by Shane W. Smith (Australia)

Let Me Be Frank by Sarah Laing (New Zealand)

Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe (New Zealand)

No_Sun by Alexander Smith (Australia)

Ownaindi Comic Sampler Volume 1 by Various Authors (Australia)

The Phoenix Requiem by Sarah Ellerton (Australia)

Super Lonely Mutant Girl by Charlotte Rose Hamlyn

System Earth by Tom Garden (New Zealand)

The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O'Neill (New Zealand)

Torture: The Aussie Way by Safdar Ahmed (Australia)

Villawood: Notes From an Immigration Detention Centre by Safdar Ahmed (Australia)

Why Los Angeles is Scientology's Perfect City - an illustrated guide by David Blumenstein (Australia)

Witchy by Ariel Slamet Ries (Australia)

Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than (Australia)


Reading Comics for Free on Digital Platforms

Physical libraries are closed but you can still access digital platforms to read comics on your devices through the library. Please note that not all libraries use these platforms and the size of the collection may vary from library to library. If you can't find any digital graphic novels on your library's catalogue contact your library.

Comics Plus 

Overdrive

RB Digital

Other Free Digital Sources

The North American Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable has put together a great list of resources that includes a great of fan favourite webcomics.

Webcomics Web Archive by the Library of Congress

Webtoons


Have we missed a current webcomic from Australia or New Zealand, or something else that we should add to the list? Let us know and we'll get our crew to assess it. Thanks!