Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo won an Eisner for Best Continuing Series with Nightwing and that’s something we want to celebrate too. It’s great to see Tom’s success with DC and, at San Diego Comic Con, DC announced a big event that Tom will be writing. More on this below.
Of course, the Perth Comic Arts Festival is this weekend and if you’re in Perth that’s the place to be. Our convenor, will be there covering the festival on Twitter and speaking at a panel Saturday morning with Eleri Harris and Josh Santospirito. We’re told they’ll discuss comics work behind the scenes. Iurgi will talk about advocating for comics in libraries, promoting and raising the profile of Australian creators and titles, and defending the freedom to read, now that comics seem to be under attack.
We’ve got some exciting creator chats coming up that you definitely don’t want to miss. We will have Remy Lai and Jason Pamment together for a chat. Jason published Ember and the Island of Lost Creatures just recently and Remy Lai is publishing Ghost Book August 5.
We will also be having a chat with Mat Groom, the Sydney based writer of Inferno Girl Red, recently published through Image Comics.
We will be announcing more creator chats as they come but there are two in the pipeline that we can't announce yet (we don't want to jinx them) but we’re really excited about. Watch this space!
And we're really excited that we have three new Australian titles this month, including a new volume from the Eisner winning Nightwing series.
News
The Eisner Awards were announced at the San Diego Comic Con. As always, it’s worth going through all the nominees and winners to add titles to you collection. We also want to highlight, The Nib received the Best Anthology Award. Quite a bunch of Australians were involved with The Nib, particularly, Eleri Harris, and this is a great recognition as The Nib ceases publication this year. And Melbournian Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo’s Nightwing series won the Best Continuing Series award. A big recognition and award for this excellent title! You can see all the nominees and winners in this handy list by Popverse. The winners of each category are highlighted in bold letters.
The Ringo Awards have been announced and we're so happy to see a bunch of Australians nominated. Congratulations to all nominees and especially to Nicola Scott for Best Artist/Penciller and to the COMICS2MOVIES team (Shaun, Stephen, Dan, everyone involved) for Best series with Fractured Shards. Here’s a post on The Beat with all the nominees.
Last month Ian McGinty died and Twitter was flooded with #ComicsBrokeMe tweets. Popverse has published a really interesting article really worth a read. It’s time to have an honest talk about the comic book industry.
Deb Aoki (from Mangasplaining) and friends discussed the best and worst manga of 2023. The panel includes our previous webinar guest and manga librarian Jillian Rudes. Check out the titles they discussed on The Beat.
The ever busy Tom Taylor is working on a big DC event that was announced at San Diego Comic Con hours before he won the Eisner Award Best Continuing Series for Nightwing. It looks like earth will be under attack by The Necrostar and everyone’s powerless to stop the end of the world, except Beast Boy. For more info The Beat has you covered here.
Collections
Booklist put together a list of the Top 10 Middle Grade graphic novels of 2023 so far. Of course, every list is always debatable. It’s part of the beauty. But we’re really happy to see Reimena Yee’s My Aunt Is a Monster in this excellent list. You can check out the list here.
Podcasts/Webinars
This wonderful upcoming event, Promoting Graphic Novels as Critical Texts, from the ALA Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table is on August 2 at 7am AEST for us. Early, but doable! You can register here.
Call Number with American Libraries Podcast released an episode talking about the colourful world of comics.
NEW TITLES
Junior
Bunny vs Monkey: Machine Mayhem by Jamie Smart (David Fickling Books)
Buzzing by Samuel Sattin & Rye Hickman (Hachette Children’s Books)
Dear Rosie by Meghan Boehman & Rachael Briner (Random House)
Disney A Twisted Tale: Part of Your World by Liz Braswell, Nichole Matthews & Kelly Matthews (Scholastic Australia)
Don’t Trust the Car by Kristen Tracy (Chronicle Books)
Doom Breaker by Blue-Deep (Webtoon Unscrolled)
Eerie Tales from the School of Screams by Graham Annable (St Martin’s Press)
Far Side of the Moon: The Story of Apollo 11’s Third Man by Alex Irvine & Ben Bishop (Tilbury House)
Fart Club: Silent but Deadly by Adam Wallace & James Hart (Scholastic Australia) [Australian creator]
The Magma Cup: Sort of Super by Eric Gapstur & Dearbhla Kelly (Aladdin)
Molang: Fun and Friend by Joshua Werner & Thom Zahler (Source Point Press)
Myths, Mummies & Mayhem in Ancient Egypt by Stephen Davies & Nuria Tamarit (Bonnier)
Pearl of the Sea by Anthony Silverton, Raffaella Delle Donne & Willem Samuel (Catalyst Press)
Peculiar Woods: The Ancient Underwater City by Andres J. Colmenares (Andrews McMeel Publishing)
Tangletree Mysteries: Peggy and Stu Investigate by Joel Stewart & Steve Roberts (Welbeck)
Underground by JR De Bard (Saturday AM)
What Happens Next?: Talent Show Troubles by Jess Smart Smiley (St Martin's Press)
YA
Centaurs by Ryo Sumiyoshi (Ablaze)
Family Style by Thien Pham (First Second)
Frontera by Julio Anta & Jacoby Salcedo (HarperCollins Publishers)
In Limbo by Deb JJ Lee (St Martins Press)
Judge Dredd: The Darkest Judge by Kenneth Niemand, Dan Abnett & Henry Flint.
Nightwing Vol 3: The Battle for Bludhaven's Heart by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo (DC Comics) [Australian creator]
The Sea in You by Jessi Sheron (Iron Circus Comics)
Adult
The Bomb: The Weapon That Changed the World by Didier Alcante, Laurent-Frédéric Bollée, Denis Rodier (Abrams Comic Arts)
A Boy Named Rose by Gaëlle Geniller (Fairsquare Comics)
Dictatorship: It’s Easier Than You Think by Sarah Kendzior, Andrea Chalupa & Kasia Babis (First Second)
Flic by Valentin Gendrot, Thierry Chavant (Scribe Press)
The Great Snake’s Bride by Totsuida Musume (Seven Seas)
Homicide: The Graphic Novel Part 1 by David Simon, Philippe Squarzoni (First Second)
Juliette by Camille Jourdy (Drawn & Quarterly)
New York City Glow by Rachel Coad (Black Inc) [Australian creator]
Royal City Compendium One by Jeff Lemire (Image Comics)
Social Fiction by Chantal Montellier (New York Review of Books)
Two Graves Vol 1: Wish You Were Here by Genevieve Valentine (Image Comics)
