The Eisner Award nominations have also been announced and, unfortunately, there has also been some controversy around the awards. Australians have a presence among the nominees. Tom Taylor is nominated along with Bruno Redondo for Nightwing for Best Continuing Series. The Nib is nominated for Best Anthology and it’s worth mentioning here as Eleri Harris and a few other Australian creators are heavily involved with The Nib, which has just recently, very sadly, announced it will stop publication soon.
In terms of PD, we recommend Kelsey Bogan’s excellent articles on collections(particularly her really comprehensive collections guide for comics) and the two webinars below. The GNCRT webinars on how to be prepared for book challenges are free to access and highly recommended. We also have an upcoming webinar from ALIA looking at the Australian Classification Board and what libraries need to know that will include ALIA Graphic convenor Iurgi Urrutia as one of the speakers. This webinar is highly recommended and it’s free for all ALIA members.
Don’t forget to check out the list of new graphic novels that have attracted our attention and you can listen to our podcast podcast with James and Iurgi discussing all the latest on our Podcast Blog or wherever you listen to podcasts.
News
Arts Hub published an excellent interview with Australian Indigenous creator Brenton McKenna, Ubby’s Underdogs and the recently published junior graphic novels Hairy Holes. You can read the full interview here. And, of course, we recently published a video and podcast with Brenton McKenna in conversation with James Foley. If you missed it, check out our YouTube page or podcast feed.
Popverse caught up with Maia Kobabe to talk about eir process making comics, influences, a new graphic novel on the works and, of course, Gender Queer and recent controversies. It’s a really comprehensive interview, really worth a read. The full interview is here.
Popverse published an article covering the discussion between Mike Curato, Cathay G. Johnson and Maia Kobabe at MoCCA Fest around challenges to comics and attempts at banning them. It’s a wide ranging and really interesting conversation that you can read here.
The Eisner Nominations have been announced. You can find all the nominations on the Eisner Awards website here.
Tim Smyth is one of the biggest advocates of teaching with comics in the world and his book Teaching With Comics has received a well deserved Eisner Award nomination. No Flying No Tights has published a great interview with him. You can find the interview here.
Fans of Aziraphale and Crowley may soon be rejoicing: a graphic novel adaptation of Good Omens has been announced, with a Kickstarter campaign starting in the next few months.
Mackin Community has published a great interview with Amy and Kazu Kibuishi discussing their comics making process, The Rema Chronicles and, of course, Amulet. With fans of Amulet eagerly waiting for Amulet’s final volume, which now has a release date of February 6, 2024. You can read the full interview here.
The Beat has published an interview to Jarrett Krosoczka discussing his new graphic novel Sunshine which explores themes of life and death during the time when he was a counsellor for kids at camp. The full interview is here.
Popverse has published an interesting article where writer Graeme McMillan discusses how how meta Dav Pilkey’s series Dog Man series of graphic novels are and compares them to Grant Morrison, who’s comics often tread highly meta territory. The article is here.
Collections
Librarian Kelsey Bogan, publishing on the Don't Shush Me! blog, has published two really comprehensive and excellent guides/resources for collection development:
Developing & Organizing Comics, Manga, & Graphic Novel Collections Pt.1
The Practical Guide to Comic Book Collection Development
PD
ALIA has organised a webinar: The Australian Classification Board: What Libraries Need to Know. The webinar will examine the basics – what gets classified and what does not and what the process is - as well as what it means to have unclassified or classified materials in your collection. We examine recent changes which improve our situation (such as access to LOTE videos) as well as the area of censorship and materials “likely to cause offence,” including disproportionately targeted collections such as graphic novels. The speakers are, Trish Hepworth, Director of Policy and Education for the Australian Library and Information Association; Helen Kwaka, Manager, Collections & Content at Public Library Services South Australia; and Iurgi Urrutia, Librarian for Kingston Libraries, Victoria, and the ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics Convenor. All the details and registration here.
The ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable has an upcoming webinar for graphic novel lovers and newbies alike. Join representatives from the Texas Library Association's Maverick Reading List Selection Committee for information on selection, acquisition and programming that honours graphic formats. The Maverick List includes manga and graphic novel recommendations for 6th-12th grade students. All members of the selection committee work directly with youth in those grades. The webinar is on June 14, 11am AEST. Registration is free and you can register here.
The ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable has had a webinar series focusing on being prepared for book challenges. While some of the language, policies and principles around book challenges are not exactly the same, this is a really interesting webinar series worth a watch and we thank the GNCRT for making this webinar series freely available. You can watch the whole series here.
Podcasts
The I Read Comic Books Podcast is always one of our favourites and we highly recommend listening to Episode 373 with guest Amie Wright, chair of the GNCRT’s Preparing For and Addressing Challenges to Comics in the Library Committee. You can listen to the episode here on the IRCB Podcast site or wherever you listen to podcasts.
NEW RELEASE TITLES
Junior
Everyday by David Levithan, Dion Mbd (Random House)
Peter Parker and Miles Morales: Spider-men Double Trouble by Mariko Tamaki, Gurihiru, Vita Ayala (Marvel Comics)
Crankosaurus: A Cranky Chicken Book by Katherine Battersby (Simon & Schuster)
Clementine Fox and the Great Island Adventure: Clementine Fox by Leigh Luna (Graphix)
Super Turbo and the Fountain of Doom: Super Turbo by Edgar Powers & Glass House Graphics (Little Simon)
The Treacherous Hope: House of El by Claudia Gray (Random House US)
The Dog Knight by Jeremy Whitley & Bre Indigo (St Martins Press)
Total Splash Down: Inflatables by Beth Garrod, Jess HItchman & Chris Danger (Scholastic)
The Ancient Underworld City: Peculiar Wood by Andres J. Colmenares (Andrews McMeel Publishing)
Bruce Wayne: Not Super by Stuart Gibbs (Random House US)
Tiger Trouble: Tig and Lily Book by Dan Thompson (Random House US)
The Evil Secret Society of Cats by Pandania (Random House US)
Written and Drawn by Henrietta by Liniers (Random House US)
A Germ’s Journey: A Fight Against Resistance by J.W. Glover, Katie Laird, Sarah Younie & Abbie Law (Medina Publishing)
Monsters Support Group: The Werewolf’s Tale by Laura Suarez (Flying Eye Books)
YA
B.b. Free by Gabby Rivera & Royal Dunlap (Boom! Studios)
Constellations by Kate Glasheen (Random House US)
Daughters of Snow and Cinders by Nuria Tamarit (Fantagraphics)
Deadendia: The Broken Halo by Hamish Steele (Sterling)
Deadendia: The Watcher’s Test by Hamish Steele (Sterling)
Do Call It Mystery by Yumi Tamura (Seven Seas)
Fairest of All: A Villains Graphic Novel by Serena Valentino, Fiona Marchbank (Disney Hyperion)
Hitomi by HS Tak and Isabella Mazzanti (Image)
Magical Girl Incident by Zero Akabane (Yen)
Me and My Beast Boss by Shiroinu (Yen)
The Monkey King: The Complete Odyssey by Chaiko Tsai (Magnetic Press)
Paper Planes by Jennie Wood, Dozerdraws (Mad Cave Studios)
Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon Vol 1 by Hirukuma, Kunieda, and Hagure Yuuki (Yen)
Record of Lodoss War: The Crown of the Covenant Vol 1 by Ryo Mizuno, Atsushi Suzumi (Udon Entertainment)
Soloist in a Cage by Shiro Moriya (Seven Seas)
Tsugumi Project by Ippatu (Kodansha)
The Yakuza’s Bias by Teki Yatsuda (Kodansha)
Adult
20 KM/H bu Woshibai (Drawn & Quarterly)
Black & White: The Rise and Fall of Bobby Fischer by Julian Voloj, Wagner William (Abrams Comic Arts)
Blood of the Virgin by Sammy Harkham (Random House)
Dark Spaces: Wildfire by Scott Snyder, Hayden Sherman, Ronda Pattison (IDW)
Drafted by Rick Parker (Abrams Comic Arts)
Everything is Fine Vol 1 by Mike Birchall (Webtoon Unscrolled)
Elixir by Frank Barbiere, Ricky Mammone, Victor Santon (Dark Horse)
The Gods on Sunday Morning by Kurt Busiek, Brent Eric Anderson, Alex Ross, Alex Sinclair (Image Comics)
Haunthology by Jeremy Haun (Image Comics)
Light Carries On by Ray Nadine (Dark Horse)
Lovecraft: Unknown Kadath by H.P. Lovecraft, Florentino Florez, Guillermo Sanna, Jacques Salomon (Ablaze)
The Man in the McIntosh Suit by Rina Ayuyang (Drawn & Quarterly)
Memento Mori by Tiitu Takalo (Oni Press)
