We’re coming close to the end of the year and we’re ending it on a very high note. This month sees the publication of Tommi Parrish’s second graphic novel, Men I Trust. Queenie Chan has announced the updated and expanded reprint of The Dreaming, and Superman Son of Kal El’s second volume is out, which is written by Tom Taylor. All in all, a really great month for Australian comics!
There are also some other great news below, including updates on eComics on Borrow Box and Comics Plus. The podcast version of our roundup is already out on our ALIA Graphic Podcast blog, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
On our part, we’re very excited about the upcoming webinar. Which is happening this Wednesday at 12:00 AEDT. Registration for the webinar is free and you can find all the details, including the registration link here. It's going to be a great discussion. Join us live to ask questions, or register and access the recording at a later time.
Let us know how we’re doing. Let us know what you thought about the webinar. We'd love to hear from you.
News
The Guardian published a comprehensive article about Tommi Parrish’s new graphic novel Men I Trust, now published by Scribe. It’s great to see The Guardian covering a graphic novel by an Australian creator this way.
It’s been announced and we’re so excited to hear that Queenie Chan’s The Dreaming is being reprinted in an updated and expanded edition. The manga mixes a very familiar set up inspired by Picnic at Hanging Rock with Lovecraft horror elements. It’s a very Australian manga and we look forward to it’s publication. For more information and the full announcement visit the IPI Comics website here.
The Superman Son of Kal El series written by Tom Taylor is soon coming to an end but it will be continued with a new mini-series Adventures of Superman starring Jon Kent and also written by Tom Taylor. Popverse had a great article discussing the significance of Jon Kent coming out as bisexual to his dad and why this series has been so well received by so many.
Love and Rockets is celebrating 40 years and Publishers Weekly caught up with the Hernandez brothers to hear their thoughts on 40 years of this highly influential series. And if you prefer to see and hear them, Popverse interviewed them on the floor of the San Diego Comic Con. You can watch the video here.
In a balance of happy and sad, 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers with special issues of Ranger Academy and other MMPR series, but ends 2022 mourning the death of Jason David Frank, the actor who played the original Green/White Ranger.
Vault has launched a new imprint called Headshell to publish new graphic novels created by iconic music bands and artists. Headshell will help recording artists and bands tell stories in comics form. The Beat covers the announcement here. A really interesting initiative.
Collections
Publishers Weekly has published a pretty interesting article looking at the new graphic medicine titles.
The use of eComics at libraries keeps steadily growing. Borrow Box has rolled reading eComics on their app. Their model is similar to Libby. A licence needs to be acquired for each title. Licence costs and limits vary widely. It’s still early days but great to see Borrow Box coming on board with comics.
Comics Plus has rolled out an update to their app and it’s also working on fully integrating Comics Plus to the CloudLibrary app with an expected full integration some time next year. Best of all, they have added Image Comics and Fantagraphics titles to their catalogue as they announced on their website.
Webinars/Podcasts/Videos
The ComX team had a great conversation with Elizabeth Marruffo and Campbell Whyte (who were both guests at our recent webinar too). This is a great conversation and well worth a watch and you can watch it here.
Library Pass organised a great discussion about Manga during the recent Library Con. If you missed How Manga Took Over the World with Deb Aoki, Frederick Jones and Kae Winters, you can watch it now on the Library Pass website. They’ve also included some handy resources.
NEW RELEASE TITLES
Junior & YA
Berserk Vol 41 by Kentaro Miura (Viz Media)
Blue Box volume 1 by Kouji Miura (Viz Media)
Colorless volume 1 by Kent (Seven Seas)
Diana and Nubia: Princesses of the Amazons by Victoria Ying (DC Comics)
Doodleville 2: Art Attacks by Chad Sel (Random House)
Ex-Yakuza and Stray Kitten volume 1 by Riddle Kamimura (Seven Seas)
Futari Escape Vol 1 by Shouichi Taguchi (Seven Seas Entertainment)
Green Lantern: Alliance by Minh Le, Andie Tong (DC Comics)
Joe Hill’s Rain by Joe Hill, David M. Booher, Zoe Thorogood (Image Comics)
Miles Morales Book 2: Stranger Tides by Justin A. Reynolds, Pablo Leon (Scholastic)
The Remarried Empress Vol 1 by Alphatart, Sumpul, Herelee (Ize Press)
Rooster Fighter volume 2 by Shu Sakuratani (Viz Media)
Sea Serpent’s Heir Book 1: Pirate’s Daughter by Mairghread Scott, Pablo Tunica (Image Comics)
Shuna’s Journey by Hayao Miyazaki (St Martin’s Press)
Sunburn by Andi Watson, Simon Gane (Image Comics)
Superman Son of Kal El Vol 2 by Tom Taylor, John Timms (DC Comics) [Australian creator]
Sweet Valley Twins: Best Friends by Francine Pascal, Nicole Andelfinger, Claudia Aguirre (Random House)
Temudjin by Antoine Ozanam, Antoine Carrion (Magnetic Press)
Tower of God Volume 1 by S I U (Webtoon Unscrolled)
Twig by Skottie Young, Kyle Strahm (Image Comics)
Adult
I’m a Terminal Cancer Patient, but I’m Fine by Hilnama (Seven Seas)
It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood (Image Comics)
Last Man: Volume 1 by Balak, Michael Sanlaville, Bastien Vives (Image - Skybound)
Men I Trust by Tommi Parrish (Scribe) [Australian Creator]
Mother Nature by Jamie Lee Curtis, Russell Goldman, Karl Stevens (Titan Comics)
Saga Volume 10 by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
Salamandre by I.N.J. Culbard (Dark Horse - Berger Books)
The Titan’s Bride by ITKZ (Seven Seas)
