ALIA Graphic October 2020 Roundup

 Greetings readers, writers, and others! 

The good news is – there are only two more months of 2020 left, so things will surely improve around the world soon….right? Also, there is only a week until we find out the results of the election in the United States of America that has the rest of the world waiting with bated breath.

Closer to home, Victoria has made the rest of the country proud with getting their Covid 19 numbers down to 0 new cases. Well done guys! Unfortunately, the news is not so great for the rest of the world – but we are here to talk all thing comics and graphic novels. So, for a few minutes, forget about your worries and check out some of the awesome news, media, new releases, and professional development we have collected for you this month.

We’ve got some really interesting articles to check out this month, including the exciting news that Lumberjanes is going to be made into an animated series. The Reading Graphic webinar by ALA looks like an excellent way to get some insight into the rapidly expanding medium of graphic novels, and for a quick shopping list check out the compilation by The Beat for 68 of the most anticipated graphic novels coming out later this year.

Pssst… Don’t feel like reading through our October Round-up? You can listen to our team chat about all of the month’s news and new releases and some of their favourite comic picks on our ALIA Graphic Podcast. While you're there, why not subscribe for some excellent Creator Chats with Australian creators. Our latest Creator Chat was with Shaun Keenan, you can listen to it as a podcast or watch it on our YouTube channel.  

News

• Critical media skills, literacy and comics. The Conversation published a great article by Erin Steuter discussing how comics can be useful for media literacy purposes and helping readers to develop critical reading skills.
• Noelle Stevenson will adapt Lumberjanes for HBO Max to the excitement of everyone, everywhere. The greenlight has been given for an animated series and will be launched with an hour-long special, written and directed by Stevenson. Read more about it here: HBO MAX LANDS BESTSELLING BOOM! STUDIOS' “LUMBERJANES” AS AN ANIMATED SERIES. Need a Lumberjane fix now? BOOM! Studios will release Encyclopedia Lumberjanica: An illustrated guide to the Hardcore Lady-Types of Lumberjanes from writer Susan Coiner-Collier and artists Kaiti Infante, Alexia Khodanian, Julia Madrigal, and Kanesha C. Bryant. This illustrated look at famous and incredible women throughout history will be released October 2020.
• Comics and health education: Matthew Noe published ‘Mapping the Use of Comics in Health Education: A Scoping Review of the Graphic Medicine Literature’ recently. A very comprehensive bit of research worth looking at.
• New webcomic by Safdar Ahmed. Limilal Magazine has published a piece on his two iterations of ‘Taste’ titled Between the Yes and No.
• Maus 40 years later. Check out this fascinating article about graphic artist Art Spiegelman where he discusses his Pulitzer prize winning graphic novel Maus, how respect for comics has changed over the years, and his only foray into political cartooning, In the Shadow of No Towers.
• Tea Dragon Tapestry is postponed. Oni Press has announced that the release of Katie O’Neill’s highly anticipated Tea Dragon Tapestry has been postponed to June 2021. We will have to wait longer but the wait will be worthy in what is meant to be the series finale.
• New comic series for beginner readers. HarperCollins are launching an exciting new series of I Can Read! next June in comic format aimed at children aged 4-8 and broken into reading levels. 

 Collections and PD

• The ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable celebrated banned books week with five awesome webinars and they are all available in this handy YouTube playlist they put together. 
• Reading Graphic Webinar. The ALA’s Booklist also has an upcoming webinar Tuesday 3 November dedicated to graphic novels. Registration for Reading Graphic is free and as usual, the archived version will be available a day or two after the event so you don’t have to get up in the middle of the night.
• Library Journal and School Library Journal have partnered up for a day long Library Con. This is a great event, completely online, that in previous years they have archived and made available for access after the event. So don’t worry about the time difference, register and enjoy the event later if you can’t make it live.
• The Beat has compiled a handy list of 68 of the most anticipated graphic novels for the northern hemisphere’s autumn. 

 Media and resources

• Reading and Discussion Guide: Diamond Bookshelf has published a great reading and discussion guide for Mister Invincible, a middle grade graphic novel with a super hero that can bend and break the rules of comics. His extraordinary super power makes Mister Invincible a great graphic novel to explore the conventions of the medium.  
• Jarrett J. Krosoczka continues his Origins video series with Gene Luen Yang, an excellent conversation really worth a watch. 
• Booklist’s Shelf Care podcast had a graphic novel dedicated episode with Aliza Layne, creator of Beetle & the Hollowbones, and Gabby Rivera, author of Juliet Takes a Breath.

New Releases

Junior and YA

• Animorphs Graphic Novel: The Invasion Vol. 1 - K.A. Applegate, Michael Grant, Chris Grine (Scholastic - Graphix)
• Avatar: The Last Airbender: Katara and the Pirate’s Silver - Faith Erin Hicks, Peter Wartman, Adele Matera (Dark Horse)
• Class Act - Jerry Craft (Harper Collins)
• Fangirl, Volume 1: The Manga - Sam Maggs, Gabi Nam, Rainbow Rowell (Viz) 
• The Flower of the Witch - Enrico Orlandi (Dark Horse)
• Just Beyond: Welcome to Beast Island - R.L Stine, Kelly Matthews, Nichole Matthews (Boom! Studios)
• Lightfall: The Girl and the Galdurian - Tim Probert (Harper Collins)
• Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel - Jason Reynolds, Danica Novgorodoff (Atheneum Books)
• Sherlock Bones and the Sea Creature Feature - Renee Treml (Allen & Unwin)
• Swamp Thing - Maggie Stiefvater, Morgan Beem (DC Comics)
• The Magic Fish - Trung Le Nguyen (Random House)
• Twins - Varian Johnson & Shannon Wright (Scholastic)

 

Adult General

• Book Tour - Andi Watson (Top Shelf)
• Dune Volume 1 Book 1 - Frank Herbert et al. (Abrams Comics)
• Ginseng Roots: Part One - Craig Thompson (Uncivilized Books)
• The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott - Zoe Thorogood (Avery Hill Publishing)
• Lon Chaney Speaks - Pat Dorian (Pantheon Books)
• Maids - Katie Skelly (Fantagraphics)
• Paul at Home - Michel Rabagliati (Drawn and Quarterly)
• The Sacrifice of Darkness - Roxanne Gay, Tracy Lynne Oliver, Rebecca Kirby (Archaia)
• Streets of Paris, Streets of Murder: Volume 2 - Jacques Tardi, Jean-Patrick Machette (Fantagraphics)
• The Times I Knew I Was Gay - Eleanor Crewes (Scribner Book Company)
• Under Earth - Chris Gooch (Top Shelf)
• Zatopek - Jan Novak, Jaromir Svedjik (SelfMadeHero)