Notable Australian Graphic Novels of 2022 - The Long List

 

2022 was another great year for Australian comics and we're very happy to share the Notable Australian Graphic Novels from 2022 long list. 

The list recognises the best graphic novels by Australian creators selected by the ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics team. To be eligible, all these titles were published in 2022 and are widely available in stores and library suppliers. 

We note that Allen & Unwin continues to publish a big number of titles and we welcome new publishers to our list. 

It's clear that Junior titles are the biggest selling titles but we'd like to highlight the increasing output for the YA and adult markets. If there was an award for hardest working, most prolific creator, it'd be a very tough competition between Tom Taylor, Remy Lai and Stephen Kok. 

Most of the creators are known names with previous titles but welcome new creators. We recommend all these titles for libraries and wish them all the best for the short list, which will be published in March.

Junior

• The Bad Guys: Episode 15: Open Wide and Say Arrrgh! By Aaron Blabey (Scholastic)
• The Bad Guys: Episode 16: The Others?! By Aaron Blabey (Scholastic)
• Bunnygirl: Treehouse Friends by Holly Jayne (Berbay Books)
• My Aunt is a Monster by Reimena Yee(Penguin Random House)
• Ollie and Bea Book 3: Wise Quackers by Renee Treml (Allen & Unwin)
• Ollie and Bea Book 4: Bats What Friends Are For by Renee Treml (Allen & Unwin)
• Pip and Pete’s Antarctic Adventures by Damian Castellini, Martine Allars (Australian Geographic)
• Surviving the Wild Book 1: Rainbow the Koala by Remy Lai (Allen & Unwin) 
• Surviving the Wild Book 2: Star the Elephant by Remy Lai (Allen & Unwin)
• Surviving the Wild Book 3: Sunny the Shark by Remy Lai (Allen & Unwin)

Young Adult

• Fence Volume 5: Rise by C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad (Boom! Studios)
• The Greatest Thing by Sarah Winifred Searle (Allen & Unwin)
• Infernal Regions by Rebecca Stewart (Rebecca Stewart)
• Mamo by Sad Milledge (Boom! Box)
• Neverlanders by Tom Taylor, Jon Sommariva (Penguin Australia)
• Nightwing: Fear State by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo (DC Comics)
• Seven Secrets Volume 2 by Tom Taylor, Daniele Di Nicuolo (BOOM! Studios)
• Superman: Son of Kal El Volume 1 and 2 by Tom Taylor, John Timms (DC Comics)
• Terralympus Vol. 3 by Stephen Kok, Von Randal (TL Creative)
• Witchy Vol 2 by Ariel Slamet Ries (Oni Press)
• Wolf Cubs Vol 1: The Lich by Stephen Kok, Chris Pitcairn (TL Creative)

Adult

• Fractured Shards Vol 1 and Vol 2 by Dan Feuerriegel, Shaun Keenan, Stephen Kok, Ricador Faccini (Comics2Movies) 
• Men I Trust by Tommi Parrish (Scribe)
• Our Members Be Unlimited by Sam Wallman (Scribe)
• Speed Republic Vol 1 by Ryan K. Lindsay, Emanuele Parascandolo (Mad Cave Studios)
• Talgard Tome 2 by Gary Proudley and various artists (Gestalt Comics)
• White Faced Lies by Eric Flanagan, Sam Voutas, Timothy McEvenue (Writing Rooster Media)

December 2022 - January 2023 Roundup

Welcome to 2023! 

We start the year off with a massive roundup of news, collection development resources and a whole host of new titles from the last two months. We ended last year with our annual podcast where we discussed our top titles and the comic news or events that really stuck with us. To listen to that episode and our whole back catalogue head on over to the Podcast page of our blog. You can also access them on any platform where you listen to your podcasts.

Our Graphic Novel Club is back for another year. This is a wonderful tool for those who wish to feel more confident when speaking about and recommending graphic novels to customers. It is also a place for those who love comics and wish to connect with other library staff from around the country. All the sessions are free over Zoom and you can register via our blog.

Over the Christmas/New Year break team leader Iurgi has been back in his hometown where he was interviewed by the local paper! Even halfway around the world he is still promoting all things comics and graphic novels. If you’re reading this on a desktop you can translate the article. 

We are a small team of librarians who publish all of this content free for the benefit of all libraries and library workers because we love graphic novels and want to see them in all libraries. If you’re a library worker and you’d like to join our group, please contact us. The more people we have involved the better our resources and lists will be and the more we can do. Our contact details can be found on our About Page on our blog and our DMs are always open on Twitter. 

We have some big things coming in the next few months! Keep an eye out for our annual Notable Australian Comics List.

News

• The Justice League has disbanded…get ready for the new reign of the Titans! Australia’s own Tom Taylor and Nicola Scott are teaming up to bring this new series to life. Read about how this came to be and what they have in stall for the future of the Titans. We're very excited for this one!

• DC is going to have a big 2023 with a main focus on rebuilding. Have a look at how they plan to do this with both DC Studios and DC Comics.

• This new year will also have an impact on Marvel. Marvel Entertainment moves into Phase 5, Marvel Entertainment continues to focus on what they have done for years by publishing comics that wholly focus on moving from title to title. 

• Publishers Weekly has announced their Critics Poll winners. Kate Beaton’s ‘Ducks’ has topped the Graphic Novel list by a significant margin. You can see the whole list of titles here. 

• Adult Graphic Novels sales rose 4.6% in 2022. Graphic Novels were the third largest category in units after general fiction and romance, selling 35 million units!

• Nick Drnaso has made the PEN/Jean Stein Literary Award longlist for his most recent graphic novel Acting Class. 

• Alison Bechdel, Catherine Meurisse, and Riad Sattouf are in the running for Angoulême International Comic Art Festival’s prestigious Grand Prix 2023 career achievement award.

Collections 

• The ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable has released their Best Graphic Novel Reading Lists for both adults and children. The adult lists feature both fiction and nonfiction selections while the children's lists are broken down by age groups. You can access their past lists for even more suggestions. 

• YSLSA has announced their Top 10 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. The full list contains 131 titles and can also be accessed through their blog. 

• No Flying No Tights have put together some lists of staff picks titles. The first is their Staff Picks: Top Comics for 2022 and the second Staff Picks: A Passion for the Arts focus on graphic novels where art plays a significant role in the story.

• Comic Beat has a number of lists they have published for the start of the year. Have a look below at the 143 titles across that cover junior, adult, nonfiction and Manga! 

• 60 Anticipated Graphic Novels for Winter 2023

• 33 Anticipated Elementary and Middle Grade

• France’s Top 50 Bestselling Books

Webinars 

• Booklist's Graphic Novels for Adults and Young Adults will be held on February 7. Register now and if you can not attend at the time you will be able to access the recording and the resources after the date. 

NEW RELEASE TITLES

  

Junior & YA

• Batman: Killing Time by Tom King, David Marquez (DC Comics)

• Cool Code by Deirdre Langeland, Sarah Mai (Clarion Books)

• Hollow by Shannon Watters, Branden Boyer-White, Nelle Berenice (Boom! Box)

• Infernal Regions by Rebecca Stewart (Rebecca Stewart) [Australian Creator]

• Nubia: Queen of the Amazons by Stephanie Williams, Vita Ayala, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales (DC Comics)

• Cat Kid Comic Club: Collaborations by Dav Pilkey (Scholastic)

• Wings of Fire: Moon Rising by Tui T. Sutherland (Scholastic)

• The Cool Code by Deirdre Langeland & Sarah Mai (HarperCollins)

• Hollow by Shannon Watters, Branden Boyer-White & Berenice Nelle (Boom! Studios)

• InvestiGators: Braver and Boulder by John Patrick Green (Pan Macmillan)

• Super Sidekicks: No Adults Allowed - Now in Full Colour by Gavin Aung Than (Penguin Australia) [Australian Creator] 

• The Evil Secret Society of Cats Vol.1 by PANDANIA (Random House)

• Magic Treehouse: Pirates Past Noon by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House)

• Stick and Stone Explore and More by Beth Ferry & Kristen Cella (HarperCollins)

• Who Owns the Clouds? By Mario Brassard (Random House)

• Haylee and Comet: Over the Moon by Deborah Marcero (St Martins Press)

• Sparks! Double Dog Dare by Ian Boothby & Nina Matsumoto (Scholastic)

• Captain America: The Ghost Army by Alan Gratz (Scholastic)

• Agent Moose: Operation Owl by Mo O’Hara & Jess Bradley (Scholastic)

• Neurocomic: A Comic about the Brain by Matteo Farinella & Hana Roš (Walker Books Australia)

• Beak & Ally: Snow Birds by Norm Feuti (HarperCollins)

• Officer Clawsome: Lobster Cop by Brian Smith & Chris Giarrusso (HarperCollins)

• Pizza & Taco: Rock Out! By Stephen Shaskan (Random House)

• Now Let Me Fly: A Portrait of Eugene Bullard by Ronald Wimberly & Brahm Revel (St Martins Press)

• Breath of the Giant by Tom Aureille & Fabrice Sapolsky (FairSquare Comics) 

• Santiago! Santiago Ramon y Cajal!Artist, Scientist, Troublemaker by Jay Hosler (Random House)

• Baby-Sitters Little Sister: Karen’s Birthday by Ann M. Martin & Katy Farina (Scholastic)

• Bunny vs Monkey: Multiverse Mix-up! By Jamie Smart (David Fickling Books)

• Killer Underwear Invasion: How to Spot Fake News, Disinformation & Conspiracy Theories by Elise Gravel (Chronicle Books)

• Bug Scouts: Out in the Wild! By Mike Lowery (Scholastic)

Adult

• Catwoman: Lonely City by Cliff Chiang (DC Comics)

• Down to the Bone: A Leukemia Story by Catherine Pioli (Graphic Mundi)

• I’m Still Alive by Roberto Saviano, Asaf Hanuka (Archaia Studios Press)

• Sensory: Life On The Spectrum: An Autistic Comics Anthology by Various Authors, edited by Bex Ollerton (Andrews McMeel)

• Aquaman: Andromeda by Ram V, Christian Ward (DC Comics) 

• Esther’s Notebooks by Riad Sattouf (Pantheon)

Webinar: Nurturing and inspiring reading and creativity using graphic novels and manga now online

Wednesday, last week, we gathered for our second ALIA Graphic webinar and we want to thank our awesome four speakers and everyone else that was able to meet us live.

We are excited we had four amazing speakers to talk about all things comics and manga. In this webinar we focused on Junior and YA comics as well as manga and explored how they inspire reading and creativity. The four awesome speakers were:

Gabby Cundy, librarian specialising in Children's and Youth literature and comics. Elizabeth Marruffo and Campbell Whyte, comic book creators, artists and directors of Milktooth Arts Space, where they nurture and inspire kids to make art, including comics. Jillian Rudes, librarian and creator of the wildly successful and amazing Manga in Libraries webinar series which, you can find, together with many other resources, on her website here. The Manga in Libraries book is coming out early 2023. 

If you could not attend the event live, and in the spirit of the group of always making our resources freely available to everyone, we are now publishing the webinar in full. You can watch the YouTube video below, or if you prefer to just listen we have also published an audio only version on our podcast feed. 

Let us know what you think of the webinar and we would love to hear any ideas you may have for a webinar next year.

November Roundup

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)

October Roundup

We’re coming close to the end of the year. In a way we’re starting to wrap up, but on the other hand we’ve just announced our second webinar and we’re thrilled!

For this webinar we have managed to gather four really amazing speakers who will be discussing how comics and manga nurture and inspire reading and creativity. It may be wrong for us to say it, but this is definitely a webinar you don’t want to miss. All the information about the webinar and the free registration details are here. Make sure you register and we look forward to seeing you there.

November will also be the last session for this year’s Graphic Novel Club. We invite you all to attend with some tasty food at hand, after all, we’re discussing graphic novels that centre on food. As always, we have three suggested graphic novels to read but we look forward to hear what other graphic novels that centre on food you recommend. All the Graphic Novel Club information and the free registration details are here.

News

• The Harvey Awards were announced at New York Comic Con. You can check out all the winners and watch the whole ceremony here. Two Australian creators were among the nominees, Lee Lai for Stone Fruit and Simon Hanselmann for Crisis Zone.

• Popverse has been covering the NYCC quite extensively. Here’s an article on how comics are under attack in the US presented by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and a great interview with Denis Kitchen discussing comics history and censorship.

• Mobile webcomics are exploding in growth. Publishers Weekly looks into it and libraries should stay up to date as a lot of these titles also find their way to digital comics platforms and print.

• Miracleman is a legendary comic but one with a very troubled history. If you’re excited about Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham finally returning to finish what they and Alan Moore before them started, Popverse has published a great article that explains the troubled history and why this is such a big deal that has many comic fans excited. 

• Peach Momoko is publishing Demon Wars a manga that expands the Marvel Universe, mixed with Japanese folklore. This looks like a really interesting proposition. Read the news on CBR.

Collections

• Librarian Sara Smith has published a really handy blog post compiling all the major awards of 2022 in the U.S., with nominees and winners.

• Star Wars comics and books continue to be popular and the High Republic books that are being published are no exception. The problem is that they’re being churned out pretty rapidly and it’s easy to get lost. The good news is that The Beat has published a handy guide to what’s being published so if you want to make sure you’re getting all the High Republic action, this is a good place to start.

Webinars/Podcasts/Videos

• Melbourne’s Reading book shop has a podcast series and they’ve recently published the first (of we hope many) episodes focusing on comics hosted by one of Australia’s greatest champions of the medium, Bernard Caleo. In this first episode of The Comics Question, Bernard interviews Mirranda Burton, who has just been awarded the Readings 2022 Young Adult Award for Underground. 

• Love & Rockets is one of the greatest comic book series to come out of the U.S. and now there’s a whole documentary dedicated to it free to watch on YouTube. You can watch it here. 

NEW RELEASE TITLES

Junior & YA

• Awaken Volume 1 by Koti Saavedra (Seven Seas)

• The Big Adventures of Babymouse: Once Upon a Messy Whisker by jennifer Holm, Matthew Holm (Random House)

• Buddy Gator - Glad to See You by Chow Hon Lam (Basheen Graphics Singapore)

• Candy & Cigarettes volume 1 by Tomonori Inoue (Seven Seas)

• The Dragon Prince: Bloodmoon Huntress by Nicole Andelfinger, Felia Hanakata (Scholastic)

• The Evil Secret Society of Cats volume 1 by Pandania (Seven Seas) 

• Freestyle by Gale Galligan (Graphix - Scholastic)

• Iyanu Child of Wonder Book 2 by Iyanu Okupe (Dark Horse)

• The Last Mechanical Monster by Brian Fies (Abrams ComicArts)

• Leon the Extraordinary by Jamar Nicholas (Scholastic)

• Lore Olympus volume 3 by Rachel Smythe (Del Rey Books)

• Marvels Vol 2: The Undiscovered Country by Kurt Busiek (Marvel Comics)

• Max Meow 4: Taco Time Machine by John Gallagher (Random House)

• She Hulk Vol 1: Jen Again by Rainbow Rowell, Roge Antonio, Luca Maresca, Rico Renzi (Marvel Comics)

• Side Effects by Ted Anderson, Tara O’Connor (Aftershock Comics)

• Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaardner, Vincent Zabus, Nicoby (SelfMadeHero)

• Thieves by Lucie Bryon (Nobrow)

Adult

• Batman: One Dark Knight by Jock (DC Comics)

• Be Very Afraid of Inuki Kanako by Inuki Kanako (Kodansha Comics)

• Black Water Lilies by Frederic Duval, Michel Bussi, Didier Cassegrain (Magnetic Press)

• Dancing on the Volcano by Floor De Goede (Oni Press)

• A Fade of Light by Nate Fakes (West Margin Press)

• First There Was Chaos by Joel Priddy (Uncivilized Books)

• Hakim’s Odyssey Book 3 by Fabien Toulme (Graphic Mundi)

• The Human Target Book 1 by Tom King, Greg Smallwood (DC Comics)

• Invisible Wounds by Jess Roliffson (Fantagraphics)

• The Journey of Marcel Grob by Philippe Colin, Sebastien Goethals (Naval Institute Press)

• Look Back by Tatsuki Fujimoto (VIZ Media)

• Lucy by Tanino Liberatore (Heavy Metal)

• Movements and Moments by Anthology by various authors (Drawn & Quarterly)

• No Kidding by Madeleine Martin, Vero Cazot (Fairsquare Comics)

• Open Bar by Eduardo Medeiros (Oni Press)