As usual, we have a good variety of news and resources here but we’d like to highlight the Library Journal's excellent survey on comics at libraries, The Beat’s roundup of 80 anticipated YA and Adult graphic novels, the upcoming Library Con! organised by Library Journal and, our very own upcoming, Let’s Get Practical: Answering Your Questions webinar.
We’ve all been at a webinar where we were keen to ask a question but the Q&A at the end was cut short. So we thought we would try building a webinar around your questions. We are asking you to send the questions in advance so we can build a whole webinar around the issues you’re facing and your interests. You can submit the questions here right now and you can also register for the free webinar right here.
We hope to see you there, but if you can’t make it, don’t worry, the event will be recorded and a recording will be made available after the event.
News
The School Library Journal has published the results of a survey on comics, graphic novels and manga. The results are really interesting and we believe that the results would be similar in Australia. Have a read right here.
The Harvey Awards have been announced at New York Comic Con. Here’s the list with all the nominees and winners.
As the junior graphic novels boom continues comic book adaptations of Dr Seuss’ books have been announced. Here’s the lowdown on Popverse and here on CBR.
Some Marvel Comics are being compiled and published as Penguin Classics. This is significant and Publishers Weekly published a great article discussing why it matters.
Is Scholastic - Graphix starting to publish manga? They’re definitely going to publish UNICO, an adaptation of an Osamu Tezuka manga next year. If you’re interested, the School Library Journal has more info here. We predict this will fly off the shelves.
CBR published an article by Thomas Panter exploring some of the greatest things about comics beyond the classic black panel. Some interesting thoughts here worth exploring. You can read Why More Comics Need to Move Beyond The Panel here.
In unexpected and surprise news, IZE Press is releasing a series of comics based on K-Pop bands. If this is your thing and want to know more, Publishers Weekly has you covered here.
A new Raina Telgemeier YA graphic novel will be out in January 2025 and it’s her longest one yet according to Popverse. We don’t know much more though.
Collections
There are lots of great comics, graphic novels and manga being published all the time and we do our best to pick our favourites for our monthly roundups but if you want to look for even more here are two other roundups. The Beat has a great roundup of 80 anticipated YA and Adult graphic novels that you can find here. CBR has a roundup of best graphic novels here and best indie comics currently in print here.
Webinars/Podcasts
Our annual ALIA Graphic webinar is coming up! Registrations are now open and we’re also asking you to send questions because the theme of the webinar this year is Let’s Get Practical: Answering Your Questions. We want to build the webinar around your questions, the things you want to know. Make sure you register for the event here and please send us your questions right now here.
LibraryCon Live! 2023 is upon us. Organised by Library Journal, this is a day-long celebration of fandom, spotlighting genre fiction for adults and teens with panels devoted to comics and graphic novels, horror, sf/fantasy, and more. In addition to panels and keynotes, they’re also offering fast-track learning sessions hosted by librarians and studio spotlights focusing on visual artists. For more info visit the website here.
The Due Knowledge podcast is all about school and libraries. In their latest episode they feature Tim Smyth as a guest, a tireless advocate for comics in education. You can listen to the episode Rearranging views towards graphic novels, manga and comics on Spotify here, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
NEW RELEASE TITLES
Junior
The Baby-Sitters Club: Stacey's Mistake by Ellen T Crenshaw (Graphix)
The Bad Guys 18: Look Who’s Talking by Aaron Blabey (Scholastic Australia) [Australian creator]
City of Dragons Book 2: Rise of the Shadowfire by Jaimal Yogis, Vivian Truong (Scholastic)
Courage to Dream: Tales of Hope in the Holocaust by Neal Shusterman, Andres Vera Martinez (Scholastic)
Drawn to Change the World: 16 Youth Climate Activists, 16 Artists by Various writers and artists (Harper Alley)
Ellie in First Position by Brian Freschi, Eelan Triolo & Nanette McGuinness (Marble Press)
Enlighten Me by Minh Le, Chan Chau (Little Brown Ink)
Friendly Bee and Friends: Woe is Worm by Sean E Avery (Walker Books Australia) [Australian creator]
Huda F Cares? by Huda Fahmy (Dial Books)
The Little Kid With the Big Green Hand by Matthew Gray Gubler (Amulet Books)
Marvel Super Stories (anthology) by various creators (Abrams)
Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir Vol 2 by Koma Warita (Kodansha)
Officer Clawsome by Brian “Smitty” Smith & Chris Giarrusso (HarperCollins)
Rover & Speck: Splash Down by Jonathan Roth (Kids Can Press)
Shang Chi and the Quest for Immortality by Victoria Ying (Scholastic)
Watership Down: The Graphic Novel by Richard Adams, James Sturm & Joe Sutphin (Ten Speed Press)
The Witch’s Wing and Other Terrifying Tales by Tehlor Kay Mejia, Alexis Hernandez, Junyi Wu, Justin Hernandez & Kaylee Rowena (ABRAMS)
YA
Avatar the Last Airbender: Azula in the Spirit Temple by Faith Erin Hicks, Peter Wartman, Adele Matera (Dark Horse Comics)
Be That Way by Hope Larson (Margaret Ferguson Books)
Betwixt: A Horror Manga Anthology by Various creators (Viz Media)
Blade of the Moon Princess Vol 1 by Tatsuya Endo (Viz Media)
The Bodyguard Unit: Edith Garrud, Women’s Suffrage and Jujitsu by Clement Xavier, Lisa Lugrin, Albertine Ralenti (Humanoids)
Brooms by Jasmine Walls, Teo Duvall (Levine Querido)
Clementine Book 2 by Tillie Walden (Image Comics)
Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy by Faith Erin Hicks (First Second)
Illegal Cargo by Augusto Mora (Black Panel Press)
One in a Million by Claire Lordon (Candlewick Press)
Sea Serpent’s Heir: Black Wave by Mairghread Scott, Pablo Tunica (Image Comics)
Smash the Patriarchy by Martha Breen, Jenny Jordahl (Helvetiq)
Where is Anne Frank? by Ari Folman, Lena Guberman (Pantheon Books)
Whisper of the Woods by Ennun Ana Iurov (Maverick / Mad Cave Studios)
Zatanna & The Ripper by Sarah Dealy (DC Comics)
Adult
Al Capone by Swann Meralli, Pierre Fracois Radi (Black Panel Press)
Asterios: The Minotaur by Serge Le Tendre, Frédéric Peynet (Cinebook)
Bad Karma by Alex de Campi, Ryan Howe, Dee Cunnife (Image Comics)
The Darwin Incident Vol 1 by Shun Umezawa (Vertical Inc)
Diaries of War: Two Visual Accounts from Ukraine and Russia by Nora Krug (Ten Speed Press)
#DRCL Midnight Children Vol. 1 by Shin’ichi Sakamoto (Viz Media)
Eventually Everything Connects by Sarah Firth (Allen & Unwin) [Australian creator]
The Great Beyond by Lea Murawiec (Drawn & Quarterly)
Hans Vogel Is Dead Vol 1 by Sierra Barnes (Dark Horse)
Haruki Murakami Manga Stories Vol 1 by Various creators (Tuttle Publishing)
I must Be Dreaming by Roz Chast (Bloomsbury)
Kafka by Nishioka Kyodai (Pushkin Press)
Monica by Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics)
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, Chiara Lagani, Lara Cerri (Europa Editions)
The Mysteries by Bill Watterson, John Kascht (Andrews McMeel)
The Night Eaters Book 2: Her Little Reapers by Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda (Abrams Comicarts)
Pill Hill by Nicholas Breutzman (Uncivilized Books)
The Super Hero’s Journey by Patrick McDonnell (Abrams Comicarts)
Tales of the Orishas by Hugo Canuto (Abrams Comicarts)
Totem by Laura Perez (Fantagraphics)
The Unlikely Story of Felix Macabber by Juni Ba, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Dark Horse)
Vanni: Based on Firsthand Accounts of the Sri Lankan Conflict by Benjamin Dix, Lindsay Pollock (Graphic Mundi)
We Are Not Strangers by Josh Tuininga (Abrams Comicarts)
