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

• Publishers Weekly has published a comprehensive roundup of graphic novels being published in the next few months that’s really worth checking out. 

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)

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: 

GNCRT Toolkit: https://www.ala.org/rt/gncrt/preparing-and-addressing-challenges-comics-library-committee

GNCRT Checklist: https://www.ala.org/rt/sites/ala.org.rt/files/content/GNCRT/ComicsChallenges/GNCRT%20Be%20Prepared%20Postcard_PRINT.pdf 

GNCRT Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScY2TYLrurWP6sT9ifMSsne-98AEYJylUTDUgBvWB3n1RJtJA/viewform 

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

Jason Reynolds When I was the Greatest https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/When-I-Was-the-Greatest/Jason-Reynolds/9781442459496 

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/ 

American Academy of Pediatrics and Gender Affirming Care: https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/19021/AAP-continues-to-support-care-of-transgender?autologincheck=redirected?nfToken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 

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

August Roundup

August has been an excellent month for comics in general and for Australian comics in particular. We started the month at the Perth Comic Arts Festival, where a bunch of our ALIA Graphic team members gathered. The Academy Day on Saturday had lots of great panel talks and workshops. Sunday was the Market Day with more than 80 different creators and publishers presenting and selling their comics. 

On Saturday, as part of PCAF, the Comic Arts Awards of Australia were also presented. We congratulate all the winners and we also encourage everyone to check out the shortlist. It was a wonderful event and we look forward to see how both PCAF and the CAAA continue to grow. 

On top of all this, Still Alive by Safdar Ahmed which won the Gold Award at the Comic Arts Awards of Australia, also won the CBCA’s Eve Pownall Award for non-fiction.

This month we also have two graphic novels by Australian creators that are a must and we predict they’ll be very successful at libraries. Neverlanders by Tom Taylor and Sommariva, and Sunny the Shark by Remy Lai, the third book in the Surviving the Wild series. 

We also recommend listening to the Graphic Nature Podcast. This month they’ve published two new episodes, a chat with Dillon Naylor and a chat with Queenie Chan. Both highly recommended.

For those who follow our podcast, the roundup episode will be out in the next day or two and watch out for a creator chat with Jon Sommariva, where we talk about how he got into comics, his favourite characters and, of course, Neverlanders. 

Without further ado, here’s our roundup of news and new titles. 

News

• The Comic Arts Awards of Australia held their award ceremony at the start of August. We had some team members there and we were so excited that we were live tweeting all through the event. We congratulate all the winners which you can find on the CAAA website here, and we also encourage everyone to check out the shortlisted titles that were announced earlier in the year.

• Safdar Ahmed’s Still Alive continues to win awards. This time it’s the CBCA’s Eve Pownall Award for non-fiction. A timely recognition in the lead to its publication in the US by Fantagraphics. The Comics Beat had a nice feature covering the news.

• Neverlanders is a reimagining of Peter Pan in more modern times written by Tom Taylor with Art by Jon Sommariva. It’s officially for ages 12+ but unofficially for anyone that is “young at heart”. It’s out August 30 and Screen Rant has the lowdown. Our creator chat with Jon Sommariva will be out soon!

• A comic made during World War I by a German prisoner while detained in an Australian internment camp has been rediscovered and is also being considered the first autobiographical graphic novel. Read all about it here.

• The Harvey Awards nominees have been announced. You can find the whole list in the Harvey Awards website here.

• DC has announced a Wildstorm revival. The line of comics created by Jim Lee in the early Image Comics era is coming back. Popverse has all the details.

• Dragon Ball continues to be a very popular franchise and just in case you get asked where and how the new movie fits in the overall story, Popverse has a great feature article that covers all the basics without spoiling the movie.

• Popverse has also published a very interesting article written by Graeme McMillan about the Comics Code Authority, the comics panic of the 1950s in the U.S. and how it contributed to relaunching superhero comics.

Collections

• The ever awesome Ashley Hawkins, otherwise known as @Manga_Librarian has put together an excellent list of All Ages Manga perfect for Primary School libraries and Junior collections. 

Podcasts

• Graphic Nature Podcast published two great episodes this month, one with Dillon Naylor and the other with Queenie Chan. You can find the episodes on the Graphic Nature Podcast site here or through your favourite podcast service.

• PW’s More To Come podcast published a great episode with Rachel Smythe of Lore Olympus and comics creator, professor and comics scholar John Jennings. You can listen to the episode here. There’s also a great interview with Rachel Smythe on The Beat, which you can find here.

NEW RELEASE TITLES

Junior & YA

• Batman’s Mystery Casebook by Sholly Fisch, Christopher A. Uminga (DC Comics)

• Bunnicula: The Graphic Novel by James Howe, Andrew Donkin, Stephen Gilpin (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)

• A Diary in the Life of A Caveman, A Queen, and Everything In Between: History As You’ve Never Seen It Before by Mike Barfield, Jess Bradley (Buster Books)

• Frankie’s World: A Graphic Novel by Aoife Dooley (Scholastic - Graphix)

• Invisible by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, Gabriela Epstein (Scholastic - Graphix)

• In the Shadow of the Throne by Kate Sheridan, Gaia Cardinalli (Mad Cave Studios)

• Mamo by Sas Milledge (Boom! Studios)

• Neverlanders by Tom Taylor, Jon Sommariva (Penguin Young Readers) [Australian creators]

• Nico Bravo and the Trial of Vulcan by Mike Cavallaro (First Second)

• Order of the Nightjay: The Forest Beckons by Jonathan Schnapp (Top Shelf)

• Over My Dead Body by Sweeney Boo (HarperAlley)

• The Pathfinder’s Society: The Legend of the Lost Boy by Francesco Sedita, Prescott Seraydarian, Steve Hamaker (Viking Books for Young Readers)

• Ride On by Faith Erin Hicks (First Second)

• Step by Bloody Step by Simon Spurrier, Matias Bergara, Matheus Lopes (Image Comics)

• Surviving the Wild Book 3: Sunny the Shark by Remy Lai (Allen & Unwin)

• Wynd: Book 2: The Secret of the Wings by James Tynion IV, Michael Dyalinas (Boom! Box)

Adult

• Acting Class by Nick Drnaso (Drawn & Quarterly)

• Always Never by Jordi Lafebre (Dark Horse)

• Bolero by Wyatt Kennedy, Luana Vecchio (Image Comics)

• Cold Bodies by Magdalene Visaggio, Andrea Mutti (Dark Horse)

• Dune Book 2: Muad’Dib by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, Raul Allen, Patricia Martin (Abrams ComicArts)

• Last Annihilation by Al Ewing and Various Artists (Marvel Comics)

• Robin and Batman by Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen (DC Comics)

• Shifting Earth by Cecil Castellucci, Flavia Biondi, Fabiana Mascolo (Dark Horse)

• Tiki: A Very Ruff Year by David Azencot, Frederic Leclerc (Humanoids - Life Drawn)

• The Vertical Sea by Brian Freschi, Ilaria Urbinati (Dark Horse)

• World Record Holders by Guy Delisle (Drawn & Quarterly)