July has been a pretty interesting month. Sexual misconduct stories have surfaced in the comics industry. Women have opened up and the stories are pretty shocking. DC’s graphic novels for kids and teens have done really well and Marvel has finally made a move towards kid friendly graphic novels of their properties signing a deal with Scholastic. The move away from the traditional serialised comics and to bookshop friendly graphic novels continues.
In fact, Comichron and ICv2’s yearly report of U.S. sales has come out this month and it shows that for the first time in U.S. history sales of comics and graphic novels in the book channel (that’s bookstores) were higher than in the comics channel (comic stores). The trend is set to continue this year and the Eisner Awards are further evidence of this seismic change. Both Marvel and DC have received no Eisner Awards this year and the winners for the main categories were female creators publishing original graphic novels. The biggest winner was Mariko Tamaki, who won Eisner for Best Teen Publication and Best Writer. Her Supergirl book is published this month which should be pretty popular.
This month we've expanded our roundups with a podcast version. To listen to Iurgi, James and Gabby, talk about some of the news this month and highlight their picks from this month's new releases, please subscribe to the ALIA Graphic podcast; episode 11 ALIA Graphic July Roundup is now live.
News
Gutternaut has published a great article about Australian comics. You can read the article here.
Indigenous Australians in Comics: In 2015, the National Library of Australia published a great article looking at how Indigenous Australians have been depicted in comics throughout history. We thought this was a good time to share the article again. You can find the article here.
Sexual misconduct stories have hit some creators in the comic book industry the last few months and The Daily Beast has published an excellent article: Inside the comic book industry’s sexual misconduct crisis and the ugly exploitative history that got it here.
With Netflix’s new Baby Sitters Club TV series there’s renewed interest in this franchise. Games Radar has republished an interview with Raina Telgemeier discussing the Babysitters Club from 2009 and it’s worth a read.
Marvel and Scholastic will be launching a new line of original graphic novels for young readers. The first title will be Miles Morales: Shock Waves by Justin A. Reynolds and Pablo Leon and will be released Spring, 2021.
Far Side creator Gary Larson publishes first new cartoons in 25 years. After coming out of retirement, the cartoonist says digital technology has allowed him to rediscover the fun of drawing.
Keanu Reeves' can do no wrong. Audiences across so many genres love him for his awesome action films and sweet self-deprecating manner. He runs a charitable foundation to help fund cancer research for children, tells audiences they’re breathtaking, stars in action films, comedy films, video games and now, he also writes comic books.
The 2019 Aurealis Awards were announced on July 25. Congratulations to Greg Rucka & Nicola Scott (Image Comics) for winning the Best Graphic Novel / Illustrated Work for Black Magick.
The Eisner Awards were announced last weekend. You can find more information on our blog post.
Collections and PD
ALA Booklist: This month, Booklist has offered two free webinars on graphic novels. They can be found on their archive. ALA Booklist Magazine also had a special focus on graphic novels this month and at the moment access is free: July 2020: Guide To Graphic Novels In Libraries.
School Library Journal: From Superheroes to Supergeeks, 13 Middle Grade Graphic Novels | Summer Reading 2020.
School Library Journal: 7 Graphic Novels That Offer Powerful Mirrors & Windows for Teens | Summer Reading 2020
Comichron and ICv2 publish a yearly report of comic book sales in the U.S. The 2019 is out and for the first time in U.S. history sales of comics and graphic novels in the book channel were bigger than sales in the comic store channel. The report is really interesting and you can find a great summary of it on The Beat.
Videos and Podcasts
Did you want to practise some Manga drawing and learn how to draw Saitama from One Punch Man? Australian artist Dean Rankine, takes you through it in his Bad-ime videos.
Comic-Con@Home ALIA Graphic has put together a playlist of some of our favourite talks and panels from SDCC this year, all available on YouTube here
The Believer has put together a great archive of comics workshops perfect for beginners and zinesters. Workshops range from: Comics as resistance, comics journal, draw your lockdown life and more. You can find all the workshops here.
The More to Come Podcast episode 429 is an extended interview with Joe Sacco about his new book Paying the Land. You can find the podcast on your preferred podcast service or on the Publishers Weekly website.
NoveList hosted a webinar breaking down the best graphic novels have to offer to readers and they’ve made it available on YouTube: Crash Course in Graphic Novels by NoveList.
New releases
Junior and YA
Act - Kayla Miller (Houghton Mifflin Books)
Baby-Sitters Little Sister Vol. 2: Karen's Roller Skates - Ann M. Martin, Katy Farina (Scholastic)
Cuphead Volume 1: Comic Capers & Curios - Zack Keller (Dark Horse)
Eat and Love Yourself - Sweeney Boo (Boom!)
Faith: Taking Flight - Julie Murphy (Balzer + Bray)
The Montague Twins : The Witch’s Hand - Nathan Page, Drew Shannon (Alfred A. Knopf)
Ms Marvel Volume 2: Stormranger - Saladin Ahmed, Joey Vazquez (Marvel Comics)
One Year at Ellsmere - Faith Erin Hicks (First Second)
Rose and Dahlia - Various authors (Cameron Davis)
Stranger Things: Into the Fire - Jody Houser, Ryan Kelly, Le Beau Underwood (Dark Horse)
Supergirl: Being Super - Mariko Tamaki, Joelle Jones (DC Comics)
Super Hero Girls: Weird Science - Amanda Deibert, Erich Owen, Yancy Labat (DC Comics)
General Adult
The Adventure Zone: Petals To The Metal (#3) - Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Justin McElroy, Carey Pietsch (First Second)
The Cloven: Book One - Matthew Southworth, Garth Stein (Fantagraphics)
Eight Lane Runaways - Henry McCausland (Fantagraphics)
Fire Power Volume 1 - Robert Kirkman, Chris Samnee (Image Comics)
From Hell, Master Edition - Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell (Top Shelf Productions)
The Grot - Pat Grant (Top Shelf)
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Cartoonist - Adrian Tomine (Faber & Faber)
Paying The Land - Joe Sacco (Metropolitan Books)
Thoreau and Me - Cedric Taling (SelfMadeHero)
Wine: A Graphic Story - Benoist Simmat, Daniel Casanave (SelfMadeHero)
