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)