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Tuesday, 27 September 2022

September Roundup

Another month and another Australian comic creator gets an award. We’re so happy that Reimena Yee, who’s publishing a new graphic novel this month, has received the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Artist for Alexander, the Servant and the Water of Life, a retelling of the life of Alexander the Great. 


This month we published two great podcasts. We had a Creator Chat with Jon Sommariva, who’s co-created with Tom Taylor and recently published Neverlanders. An excellent graphic novel we highly recommend. 


As you may be aware, September includes Banned Books Week. On that topic, we had a chat with some library professionals about bans and challenges. A very hot issue in the U.S. right now. Our North American counterparts, the American Library Association’s Graphic Novel and Comic Round Table, have an Addressing Comic Book Bans and Challenges committee. We had a very important in depth discussion with them. The episode notes also include quite a few links and resources worth exploring and we are very grateful to the four committee members for their time and for sharing their experiences.


Our most recent graphic novel club had challenged and banned books for discussion and next month we’re discussing horror! Remember, our graphic novel club sessions are all free and on Zoom. You can register here and you can find the full schedule, suggested readings and all the info here.


While we can’t announce all the details yet, watch this space for future announcements about a webinar we will be doing in November. We have two confirmed speakers already, Gabby Cundy (one of our team members) will be speaking and our main guest will be Jillian Rudes, the creator and driving force behind the Manga in Libraries webinar series.


Of course, as always, this month we also have lots of great graphic novels that we believe will be a great addition to libraries. Some big titles are coming out this month. For example, Svetlana Chmakova’s Enemies, Reimena Yee’s My Aunt Is a Monster, Alex Ross’ Fantastic Four: Full Circle, and Kate Beaton’s Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands.  Check them out!


News

  • The Ignatz Awards have been announced. As always it’s worth checking out the winners but we’re especially proud that Reimena Yee has won the Outstanding Artist award. Congratulations to Reimena! You can find all the winners here.

  • Gender Queer has probably been the most challenged graphic novel in the last couple of years and the lawsuit against it in Virginia for obscenity has been dismissed. At least for now. Read more about it on Popverse.

  • Will Eisner’s legendary graphic novel A Contract With God is going to Broadway and becoming a musical! Read more about it on Popverse.

  • Penguin Random House continues its expansion and will now be distributing Dark Horse periodicals too. Read more about it on The Beat.

  • Seismic Press has a very relatable new character in the form of an accidental superhero, for a series debuting in October. Read more about it on CBR.


Collections


Podcasts/Webinars

  • You can listen to the Jon Sommariva creator chat on our ALIA Graphic Podcast blog or wherever you listen to podcasts.

  • You can listen to the Comic Book Challenges and Bans discussion on our ALIA Graphic Podcast blog or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

  • The Manga in Libraries webinar series has continued across the year and their most recent session was: Disability Visibility in Manga. You can access their archive here. Don’t forget to watch this space, for information about our upcoming webinar. Jillian Rudes, the creator and driving force behind Manga in Libraries will be our guest speaker!



NEW RELEASE TITLES

Junior & YA

  • Adventuregame Comics: Leviathan by Jason Shiga (Amulet Books)

  • Doughnuts and Doom by Balazs Lorinczi (Top Shelf)

  • Enemies by Svetlana Chmakova (JY for Kids)

  • Everyday Hero Machine Boy by Irma Kniivila, Tri Vuong (Image Comics)

  • Garlic and the Witch by Bree Paulsen (Quill Tree Books)

  • Investigators: Heist and Seek by John Patrick Green (First Second)

  • My Aunt Is a Monster by Reimena Yee (Penguin Random House) [Australian creator]

  • My Buddy Killer Croc by Sara Farizan, Nicoletta Baldari (DC Comics)

  • Speak Up! by Rebecca Burgess (Quill Tree Books)

  • Star Wars: Crimson Reign by Charles Soule, Steven Cummings (Marvel Comics)

  • Supper Club by Jackie Morrow (Image Comics)

  • Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe by Hirohiko Araki (Viz)

  • Two Headed Chicken by Tom Angleberger (Waller Books)


Adult

  • Banksy: A Graphic Novel by Francesco Matteuzzi, Marco Maraggi (Prestel)

  • Crazy Food Truck volume 2 by Rokurou Ogaki (Viz Media)

  • Dune Book 2: Muad D’ib by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, Raul Allen, Patricia Martin (Abrams Comic Arts)

  • Fantastic Four: Full Circle by Alex Ross (Abrams Comic Arts)

  • Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton (Drawn & Quarterly)

  • Everything is Okay by Debbie Tung (Andrews McMeel)

  • It Won’t Always Be Like This by Malaka Gharib (Ten Speed Press)

  • Look Back by Tatsuki Fujimoto (Viz Media)

  • My Body Created a Human: A Love Story by Emma Ahlqvist (Princeton Architectural Press)

  • Mythology Class by Arnold Arre (Tuttle Publishing)

  • The Philosopher, The Dog and The Wedding by Barbara Stok (SelfMadeHero)

  • Poe Clan Vol 2 by Moto Hagio (Fantagraphics)

  • Regarding the Matter of Oswald’s Body by Christopher Cantwell, Luca Casalanguida, Marchisio (Boom! Studios)

  • The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror: Ominous Omnibus Vol 1 by Various Artists (Abrams Comic Arts)

  • Slash Them All by Antoine Maillard (Fantagraphics)






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Monday, 19 September 2022

Let's talk comic book bans and challenges


Unfortunately we have to talk about challenges, bans and censorship of comics and graphic novels. This is not something we'd like to talk about but it's an important conversation and there are some uncomfortable truths we must face.

In this special podcast episode, we discuss challenges and bans to books and specifically to comics in libraries across the United States of America. 

Looking from a distance, the current wave of challenges and bans the US is going through seems alien to us. We are concerned about what’s going on. We are concerned that teachers and librarians are being targeted and intimidated. 

We are concerned that comics, graphic novels, and books are being pulled off the shelves. Even titles that have won awards, have received world wide recognition and have been part of the curriculum for years. 

We’ve been concerned for months and we have shared our support and solidarity with our American colleagues. But, of course, to be concerned from a distance is not enough. 

While we may feel that what’s happening has nothing to do with us in Australia, we know that very often these kind of actions get exported to other countries. It could happen in Australia and we should not be complacent.

We’re also aware that while we don’t suffer the kind of challenges that we’re seeing in the US, there are still issues in Australia. Teachers and librarians who are prejudiced against comics. Parents who question their kids and insist that they read a 'real' book.

But reading is reading and reading comics we use multiple literacies, we use more parts of our brain. 

We wanted to reach out to our friends in the American Library Association’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable. Specifically, we wanted to talk with members of the Addressing Comic Book Bans & Challenges Committee. We had a great discussion with Amie Wright chair of the committee, together with Kara Baker, Shawn Norton and Julia Lanter.

Iurgi Urrutia from Kingston Libraries in Victoria and James Baker from the Athenaeum Library in Melbourne hosted this wide ranging, and we believe, very relevant conversation.

You can listen to this really special podcast episode on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts, right now. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave us a glowing review, every review helps and it will also leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling - totally guaranteed!

Finally, don't forget that our Graphic Novel Club session this month is all about challenged and banned comics. As always, the Graphic Novel Club session will be on Zoom and it's totally free. A great way to have a great discussion about comics and do some PD at the same time. All the details including the Zoom registration link are here. Please note, you don't need to read all three comics to join the discussion. They're just recommendations. 



Episode Notes: 

No Flying No Tights: Ask the Comics Librarians series of articles: https://noflyingnotights.com/browse-our-ask-the-comics-librarians-columns/ 

‘Divisive Concepts Law’ New Hampshire - op-ed piece on the impact of the law in classrooms and on teachers https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2021/08/10/commentary-new-hampshires-divisive-concepts-law-and-the-big-chill/ 

History of Comics Censorship in the United States via CBLDF https://cbldf.org/resources/history-of-comics-censorship/ 

History of Comics Censorship in Canada via Ryerson University 1950s - “Crisis of Innocence: Comic Books and Children’s Culture, 1940-1954” https://crisisofinnocence.library.ryerson.ca/exhibits/show/a-crisis-of-innocence


Fobazi Ettarh, "Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves." In the Library with the Lead Pipe. January 10, 2018. www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/ 


ACLU American Civil Liberties Union - advocacy on fighting book bans https://www.aclu.org/issues/free-speech/artistic-expression/banned-books 

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