ALIA Graphic March 2021 Roundup

 

Hi everyone and welcome back to another ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics monthly roundup of all the latest news, professional development and resources collated by our fabulous ALIA Graphic Team.

This month in news we have two huge musical sensations from the 70’s making their comic book debut with Blondie and The Doors becoming the latest superstars to cross over. In other news, despite only having released one issue to date – Keanu Reeve’s BRZRKR already has film and anime adaptations in the works.

We also have an exciting list of new releases this month including a new Great Gatsby adaptation, The Orville Season 2.5 for those waiting impatiently for Seth McFarlane to make Season 3 for TV. Not forgetting the younger readers, Waluk: The Great Journey is a beautiful story of two polar bears trying to survive a changing environmental landscape due to global warming.

This month we have two new podcasts. Iurgi chats with US secondary teacher Tim Smyth about using comics and graphic novels as teaching tools. You can view the full chat on YouTube or listen via Apple podcasts where our latest roundup podcast is available with James and Melody discussing some of the latest news and new releases. 

In case you missed it, as part of our commitment to raising the profile of Australian creators we have also compiled our 2020 Notable Australian Graphic Novels list.

Don’t forget you can also check out ozcomicsdb.com for a list of great Australian Comics and Graphic novels hand-picked by our team to be great additions to any library collection.

 News

●     Boom Studios has announced that it will publish a new comic by novelist Victor LaValle (Big Machine, The Changeling, and The Devil in Silver) and artist Jo Mi-Gyeong.

●     Blondie Announce New Graphic Novel Against the Odd - a collaboration with Z2 Comics about the band's iconic rise in the New York art and fashion world.

●     It's a big time for Avatar: The Last Airbender news. Avatar: The Last Airbender is becoming a chibi comic for young readers.

●     The Doors are breaking on through to the comics side with the new OGN Morrison Hotel.

●     Free Comic Book Day 2021 has been announced: 14 August @ 09:00 - 17:00.

●     Marvel Comics is introducing the very first LGBTQ-identifying person to pick up the mantle of Captain America.

●     Keanu Reeves’s comic with BOOM! Studios, BRZRKR, is officially getting not only a film, but an anime series as well with Netflix.

●     The direct market upheaval continues. Marvel is ditching Diamond and has signed a worldwide distribution deal with Random House.

Collections and PD

●     Massachusetts State University held their Comics Forum recently and they’ve made their roundtables and keynotes available online. We’ve put a handy playlist together with all the great talks.

●     The rise of comic communicators: Research shows growing demand for the skills of cartoonists, illustrators and comics-makers. A new report from UTS researchers has revealed an increase in demand for the skills of cartoonists, illustrators and comics-makers across a diverse range of industries.

Media and resources

●     The Australia Council for the Arts has released a report called Graphic Storytellers at Work which is available here: https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/graphic-storytellers-at-work/

●     New York Times article: The Black Nerds Redefining the Culture: By pushing back against centuries-old stereotypes, a historically overlooked community is claiming space it was long denied.

●     A Beginner’s guide to Seinen Manga - Exactly what is it? This article explores the confusing world of Manga.

●     This year's WonderCon@Home took place the last weekend of March and you can find plenty of interesting panels at the ComicCon YouTube Channel.

New Releases March 2021

Junior and YA

● Chef Yasmina & The Potato Panic - Wauter Mannaert (Roaring Brook Press)

● Delicates - Brenna Thummler (Oni Press)

● Gert and the Sacred Stones - Marco Rocchi, Francesca Carita (Dark Horse)

● Let’s Talk About It - Erika Moen, Matthew Nolan (Random House)

● Martian Ghost Centaur - Mat Heagerty (Oni Press)

● My Last Summer With Cass - Mark Crilley (Hachette)

● Waluk: The Great Journey - Ana Miralles, Emilio Ruiz (Magnetic Press)

General Adult

● Count - Ibrahim Moustafa, Brad Simpson (Humanoids)

● The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald, K. Woodman-Maynard (Walker Books)

● In Love & Pajamas: A Collection Of Comics About Being Yourself Together - Catana Chetwynd (Andrews McMeel)

● Noir: A collection of crime comics - Paul Grist (Dark Horse)

● Post York - James Romberger (Dark Horse)

● Rogue Planet - Cullen Bunn, Andy MacDonald, Nick Filardi (Oni Press)

● The Orville Season 2.5: Launch Day (Dark Horse)

● The Doors - Morrison Hotel ( Z2 Comics ) 

Teaching With Comics, with Tim Smyth

In this episode we chat with Tim Smyth, a Social Studies secondary school teacher from the east coast of the US, our first international guest, who's been using comics and graphic novels as teaching tools for years. 

We discuss how he got into comics, what made him start using them in the classroom, the great benefits of comics in teaching literacy and Tim gives us some of his top tips for teachers who are thinking of starting to use comics in the classroom.

You can find out more about Tim and his teaching resources, which he makes freely available online, on his website: http://www.historycomics.net​ 

If you like what we're doing, hit the subscribe button on our YouTube channel to stay up to date with our chats. 

You can also follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIAGraphic​.

ALIA Graphic's 2020 Notable Australian Graphic Novels

As part of our commitment to raising the profile of Australian creators ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics has compiled the 2020 Notable Australian Graphic Novels list.

This is our first year, of many to come. The list is divided in two. The shortlist includes the books deemed of highest interest for libraries. The long list includes other titles the ALIA Graphic team considers of high interest for libraries. 

The long list below includes the shortlisted titles in bold plus additional titles that are all worth purchasing and adding to library catalogues.

Junior and YA

• Action Tank 2 - Mike Barry (Mike Barry Was Here)
• The Bad Guys: Dawn of the Underlord - Aaron Blabey (Scholastic)
• The Bad Guys: The One?! - Aaron Blabey (Scholastic)
• Bunnygirl - Holly Jayne (Berbay)
• Chickensaurus - James Foley (Fremantle Press)
• Fence: Rivals - C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad (Boom! Box)
• Five Seconds: Volume 3 - Stephen Kok, P.R. Dedelis (TL Creative)
• Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Volume 2: Hostile Takeovers - Tom Taylor, Juann Cabal, Ken Lashley (Marvel Comics)
• Home Time Book 2 - Campbell Whyte (Top Shelf)
• Landing With Wings - Trace Balla (Allen & Unwin)
• The Odds - Matt Stanton (ABC Books)
• Rose and Dahlia: Third Course - Various authors (Cameron Davis)
• Sherlock Bones and the Sea Creature Feature - Renee Treml (Allen & Unwin)
• Super Sidekicks 3: Trial of Heroes - Gavin Aung Than (Penguin)
• Women Who Were Kings Book 3: Elizabeth I - Queenie Chan (Bento Comics) 
• Word Smith Vol 2: The Competition - Stephen Kok, P.R. Dedelis (TL Creative)

General Adult

• DCeased: The Unkillables - Tom Taylor, Karl Mostert (DC Comics)
• The Grot - Pat Grant (Top Shelf)
• Terralympus Vol 2 - Stephen Kok, Von Randall, Shaun Keenan (TL Creative)
• Transhuman: Rivka’s Story - Stephen Kok, Allen Sands (TL Creative)
• Under Earth - Chris Gooch (Top Shelf)

All these titles are widely available for purchase and are available through library suppliers.

ALIA Graphic January-February 2021 Roundup

Happy new year and happy one-year anniversary of ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics!

February 20th, we celebrated our first year anniversary - we’ve graduated from baby to toddler and can now proudly stand on two feet. We want to thank all the creators who so kindly joined us for creator chats last year, the people from ALIA Groups who were so supportive of us right from the start, and everyone else who has given us feedback and suggestions.

As always, we aim to promote and showcase Australian comics because we have excellent creators and comics in this country that deserve our special attention. Our creator chats this year will feature so many great creators, including: Bruce Mutard (out now!), Nicola Scott, Safdar Ahmed, Lee Lai, Mandy Ord, Mirranda Burton and many more. Here's to another year of graphic novels and comics exciting us, enlivening us, and being a light in the dark whenever we need it most.

This year we plan to continue raising the profile of comics and graphic novels in libraries and education because a day without reading a comic is a day not lived. We will be expanding our tools and resources and offering webinars all for free so everyone can benefit: libraries, librarians, educators, students and library patrons at large. 

News

• 
  Nominations are now open for the 2021 Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List compiled by the American Library Association’s Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table.
• Oz Comic Con Pop Up 2021 is going ahead on March 6-7 at Sydney Showground featuring guest speakers including Queenie Chan and Artist Alley. Adelaide and Brisbane are scheduled for later in the year with Melbourne TBA https://ozcomiccon.com/
• As comic conventions start to come back in 2021, here is a list and links to all of the currently confirmed events compiled by GamesRadar+. Fingers crossed they actually go ahead!
• An animated adaptation of ‘This Was Our Pact’ by Ryan Andrews is in the works with Peter Dinklage to produce the feature and voice one of the characters the boys encounter along their journey. 
• Fans of Alice Oseman’s popular webcomic-turned-graphic novel series ‘Heartstopper’ will be excited to hear that it has been commissioned by Netflix as a new live-action miniseries. Oseman will be writing the screen adaptation and Doctor Who’s Euros Lyn is set to direct.
• A rare Tintin cover illustrated by Hergé has set a new world record for the most expensive comic book artwork, selling for an incredible €3.2m ($4.9m AUD) at auction. The previous record was held by a copy of Action Comics #1, which was the first comic to feature the character of Superman and sold on eBay for $3.2m USD ($4m AUD).

Collections and PD

• If you are a member of Artshub, you may enjoy this insightful article about Australia and its representation in graphic novels: The many Australias in our graphic novels.
• Teaching (Practically Anything) With Comics (free online webinar): A slideshow presentation and discussion on non-fiction comics as a teaching tool, featuring cartoonists working in the fields of science, politics, art and more. This event is part of Will Eisner Week, and Eisner’s own educational and instructional comics are the inspiration for this panel. Featuring Malaka Gharib, Scott McCloud, Whit Taylor, and Kriota Willberg, moderated by R. Sikoryak.
• The Sacrifice of Darkness creators panel: Produced by the BOOM! and ALA’s GNCRT, join moderator Crystal Chen and creators Roxane Gay, Tracy Lynne Oliver, and Rebecca Kirby for a conversation about their recent graphic novel adaptation of Gay's New York Times bestselling short story, "The Sacrifice of Darkness." The graphic novel expands on the original short story about a world where the sun no longer shines.
• Visit the Booklist Webinar Archive for two recent webinars showcasing upcoming graphic novels for young readers, YA and adults as part of their #ReadGraphic series. 
• The ALA’s GNCRT has published their first Best Graphic Novels for Adults List. It’s a great selection put together by a committee of librarians.
• The American Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) have announced a list of what they consider to be the top ten YA graphic novels released in 2020 for young people between the ages of 12 and 18.

Media and resources

• The Oxford Comics Network has published a great introduction to comics studies in the form of a comic. This is a perfect resource for teachers at secondary college, lecturers in tertiary education and book club coordinators considering introducing graphic novels to their book club. Best of all, they’ve shared the resource for free.

Podcasts

If you want to start the year listening to some podcasts, you can listen to our very own ALIA Graphic Podcast series, but there are also other great podcasts worth listening to. Here’s a run down of some favourites:

• AIPT Comics Podcast: A weekly podcast that covers news and reviews the best new releases with some creator interviews thrown in for good measure.
• Graphic Nature Podcast: An excellent podcast series where Zoran has long interviews with Australian comics creators about their process and experience in making comics.
• Radioactive Lounge Comics Podcast: A long running podcast about all things comics and pop culture hosted by Lucas Testro and Larry Boxshall from All Star Comics in Melbourne.
• I Read Comic Books Podcast: A long running podcast with a great roster of regular guests. They usually discuss the comics they’ve read, make recommendations and then have a longer discussion about a set topic.
• More to Come Podcast: If you want to keep up with news of the comics industry in the US this is an excellent podcast hosted by Heidi MacDonald (The Beat), Calvin Reid(Publishers Weekly Magazine and PW Comics World) and Kate Fitzsimons.
• Support a Sydney institution by listening in to Serious Issues: A Comic Book Podcast: a great podcast series hosted by Andrew Levins and Siobhan Coombs at Kings Comics in Sydney where they review new releases and current favourites.

New Releases - January and February 2021

Junior and YA

• Avatar: The Last Airbender: Toph Beifong's Metalbending Academy - Faith Erin Hicks, Peter Wartman, Adele Matera (Dark Horse)
• Beak & Ally: Unlikely Friends - Norm Feuti (Harper Collins)
• Brightly Woven - Alexandra Bracken, Leigh Dragoon, Kit Seator (Hachette)
• Frozen II: The Manga - Arina Tanemura (VIZ Media)
• Girl Haven - Lilah Sturges, Meaghan Carter (Oni Press)
• Teens Titans: Beast Boy Loves Raven - Kami Garcia, Gabriel Picolo (DC Comics)
• Flash Facts - Mayim Bialik (DC Comics)
• Hakume & Mikochi Vol 8: Tiny Little Life in the Woods - Takuto Kashiki (Yen Press)
• House of El: Book One - Claudia Gray, Eric Zawadzki (DC Comics)
• Usagi Yojimbo Origins: Volume 1: Samurai - Stan Sakai (IDW)
• Victor and Nora: A Gotham Love Story - Lauren Myracle, Isaac Goodhart (DC Comics)

 

Adult General

• Afterlift - Chip Zdarsky, Jason Loo (Dark Horse)
• Aster Of Pan - Merwan (Magnetic Press)
• Black Magick Volume 3: Ascension - Greg Rucka, Nicola Scott (Image Comics)
• The Book Tour - Andi Watson (IDW)
• Monster - Barry Windsor Smith (Fantagraphics)
• The Adoption - Zidou, Arno Monin (Magnetic Press)
• After The Rain - Nnedi Okorafor, David Brame, John Jennings (Abrams)
• The Black Panther Party: A Graphic History - David Walker (Ten Speed Press)
• Drawing Lines: An Anthology of Women Cartoonists - Various Authors (Dark Horse)
• Dryad, Volume 1 - Kurtis Wiebe, Justin Osterling (Oni Press)
• Parenthesis  - Elodie Durand (Top Shelf)
• The Seeds - Ann Nocenti, David Aja (Dark Horse)