Welcome back to ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics monthly roundup of all the latest and greatest comics’ news for the library industry.
This month we held our second Librarians' Graphic Book Club where we discussed graphic novel adaptations. Join us next month on the 26th of September when we'll be discussing women and comics and looking at: Lumberjanes: Beware the Kitten Holy (Boom! Box) by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, and Brooklyn Allen; X-23: Family Album (Marvel) by Mariko Tamaki, Juann Cabal, and Nolan Woodard; and Esther: A True Story (Write and Wrong) by Sarah Broman.
Also this month we have a much shorter list of new releases for you to pick through, but to make up for it we have included not one, but two excellent creator chats to keep you entertained until next time. So until then, please stay safe out there, or stick with the preferable alternative and curl up at home with a great comic. Later!
News
- The ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable talks about the what the GNCRT is doing and plans for the future in a great interview published by Diamond Bookshelf.
- Shannon Sandford has published an article on The Conversation about graphic medicine and how comic creators are changing our understanding of illness.
- One of the comic industry's oldest and most prestigious awards, the Harvey Awards which have been around since 1988 released their list of nominees this month recognising outstanding achievement in multiple categories. You can find the whole list of nominees here. Australian Lee Lai, now living in Montreal, has been nominated for the Book of the Year category for Stone Fruit. Australian Simon Hanselmann now living in Seattle, has been nominated for Digital Book of the Year for Crisis Zone. You can read an interview with Simon Hanselmann published on Comics Beat talking about Crisis Zone here.
- Digital comics, particularly of the Webtoons endless scrolling type are incredibly popular. DC Comics is now partnering with Webtoons to offer some original DC content on their platform. More on this on Publishers Weekly.
- If you want to support indie Australian comic creators you can check the projects that are now live on Kickstarter and seeking funding right here.
Collections & PD
- This well-regarded website, No Flying No Tights, is packed with resources for librarians involved with graphic novel collections in the Comics 101 tab https://www.noflyingnotights.com/
- The ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable has a handy archive of webinars and panels with lots of content if you want to catch up and have some free PD.
- Catch up with what’s happening in the world of Manga with free chapters at Shonen Jump https://www.viz.com/shonenjump
- Access the Reading Graphic: Part One (July 2021) and Part Two (August, 2021) from the Booklist webinar archives. https://www.booklistonline.com/webinars-archive
- Have a look at the Digital Review Copies from Diamond Book Distributors https://diamondbookdistributors.org/
- The yearly report that Comics Beat publishes looking at graphic novels sales for the previous year is finally out (later than usual). This is a report with US book sales data that includes 80% of bookstores and some comic stores who use the Bookscan system. It shows higher sales than ever. It’s quite an extensive report with lots of data crunching well worth a read, including top titles and top authors.
Media & Resources
- The Comics Beat Graphic Novel Club talks to Alison Bechdel about the recently published The Secret to Superhuman Strength. A great conversation worth checking out.
- We have published two creator chats this month. We talked to Mirranda Burton about her new graphic novel Underground that explores the Vietnam War and the conscription protests in Australia. We also talked to three young Indigenous creators who have published three exciting graphic novels with Stick Mob Studio. You can find all our podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts.
- Graphic Nature has a long chat with Campbell Whyte of Home Time. Listen to the podcast on your preferred podcast distributor or right here.
New Releases for August 2021
Junior
- Avatar The Last Airbender - Suki,Alone - Faith Erin Hicks (Dark Horse Books)
- Big Apple Diaries - Alyssa Bermudez (Macmillan)
- The Smurfs Tales - Peyo (Papercutz)
- The Super Adventures of Ollie & Bea: It’s Owl Good - Renee Treml (Allen & Unwin)
- The Super Adventures of Ollie & Bea: Squeals on Wheels - Renee Treml (Allen & Unwin)
YA
- The Witcher Volume 5: Fading Memories (16+) - Bartosz Sztybor(Dark Horse Books)
- Sailor Moon 1 (Naoko Takeuchi Collection) - Naoko Taekuchi (Kodansha Comics)
- Sweet Tooth: The Return - Jeff Lemire (DC Comics)
Adult General
- 1984 - George Orwell, Fido Nesti (Houghton Mifflin)
- Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? - Eric Powell, Harold Schecter (Albatross Funnybooks)
- Dune: House of Atreides - Kevin J. Anderson, Brian Herbert, Dev Pramanik (BOOM! Studios)
- Eve - Una (Virago Press)
- Run Book 1 - John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, L. Fury, Nate Powell (Abrams)
- Sensor - Junji Ito (VIZ Media)
- Underground: Marsupial Outlaws and Other Rebels of Australia's War in Vietnam - Mirranda Burton (Allen & Unwin)
- X-Men Vol 3 - Jonathan Hickman, Various artists (Marvel Comics)
