ALIA Graphic January-February 2021 Roundup

by admin | Mar 1, 2021 | monthly roundup | 0 comments

Happy new year and
happy one-year anniversary of ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics!

February 20th, we
celebrated our first year anniversary – we’ve graduated from baby to toddler
and can now proudly stand on two feet. We want to thank all the creators who so
kindly joined us for creator chats last year, the people from ALIA Groups who
were so supportive of us right from the start, and everyone else who
has given us feedback and suggestions.

As always, we aim to promote and showcase Australian comics because we have excellent
creators and comics in this country that deserve our special attention. Our
creator chats this year will feature so many great creators, including: Bruce
Mutard (out now!), Nicola Scott, Safdar Ahmed, Lee Lai, Mandy Ord,
Mirranda Burton and many more. Here’s to another year of graphic novels and
comics exciting us, enlivening us, and being a light in the dark whenever we
need it most.

This year we plan to
continue raising the profile of comics and graphic novels in libraries and
education because a day without reading a comic is a day not lived. We will be expanding our tools and resources and offering webinars all for free so everyone can benefit: libraries, librarians, educators, students and library patrons at large.

News

Nominations
are now open for the 2021 Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List
compiled by the American Library Association’s
Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table.
Oz Comic Con Pop Up 2021 is going
ahead on March 6-7 at Sydney Showground featuring guest speakers including
Queenie Chan and Artist Alley. Adelaide and Brisbane are scheduled for later in the year with
Melbourne TBA https://ozcomiccon.com/
As comic conventions start
to come back in 2021, here is a list and links to all of the currently
confirmed events compiled by GamesRadar+. Fingers crossed they
actually go ahead!
An animated adaptation of
‘This Was Our Pact’ by Ryan Andrews is in the works with Peter Dinklage
to produce the feature and voice one of the characters the boys
encounter along their journey.
Fans of Alice Oseman’s
popular webcomic-turned-graphic novel series ‘Heartstopper’ will be
excited to hear that it has been commissioned by Netflix as a new
live-action miniseries. Oseman will be writing the screen
adaptation and Doctor Who’s Euros Lyn is set to direct.
A rare Tintin cover
illustrated by Hergé has set a new world record for the most expensive comic
book artwork, selling for an incredible €3.2m ($4.9m AUD) at
auction. The previous record was held by a copy of Action Comics #1, which
was the first comic to feature the character of Superman and sold on eBay
for $3.2m USD ($4m AUD).

Collections and PD

If you are a member of Artshub, you may enjoy this insightful
article about Australia and its representation in graphic novels: The many
Australias in our graphic novels.
Teaching
(Practically Anything) With Comics (free online webinar): A
slideshow presentation and discussion on non-fiction comics as a teaching
tool, featuring cartoonists working in the fields of science, politics,
art and more. This event is part of Will Eisner Week, and Eisner’s own
educational and instructional comics are the inspiration for this
panel. Featuring Malaka Gharib, Scott McCloud, Whit Taylor, and Kriota
Willberg, moderated by R. Sikoryak.
The Sacrifice
of Darkness creators panel: Produced by the BOOM! and ALA’s
GNCRT, join moderator Crystal Chen and creators Roxane Gay, Tracy Lynne
Oliver, and Rebecca Kirby for a conversation about their recent graphic
novel adaptation of Gay’s New York Times bestselling short story,
“The Sacrifice of Darkness.” The graphic novel expands on the
original short story about a world where the sun no longer shines.
Visit the
Booklist Webinar Archive for two recent webinars showcasing
upcoming graphic novels for young readers, YA and adults as part of their
#ReadGraphic series.
The ALA’s GNCRT
has published their first Best Graphic Novels for Adults List. It’s
a great selection put together by a committee of librarians.
The American Young Adult
Library Services Association (YALSA) have announced a list of what they
consider to be the top ten YA graphic novels released in 2020
for young people between the ages of 12 and 18.

Media and resources

The Oxford
Comics Network has published a
great introduction to comics studies in the form of a comic. This is a
perfect resource for teachers at secondary college, lecturers in tertiary
education and book club coordinators considering introducing graphic
novels to their book club. Best of all, they’ve shared the resource for
free.

Podcasts

If you want to start the year listening
to some podcasts, you can listen to our very own ALIA
Graphic Podcast series, but there are also other great
podcasts worth listening to. Here’s a run down of some favourites:

AIPT Comics
Podcast: A weekly podcast that covers news and reviews the best
new releases with some creator interviews thrown in for good measure.
Graphic Nature
Podcast: An excellent podcast series where Zoran has long
interviews with Australian comics creators about their process and
experience in making comics.
Radioactive
Lounge Comics Podcast: A long running podcast about all things
comics and pop culture hosted by Lucas Testro and Larry Boxshall from All
Star Comics in Melbourne.
I Read Comic
Books Podcast: A long running podcast with a great roster of
regular guests. They usually discuss the comics they’ve read, make
recommendations and then have a longer discussion about a set topic.
More to Come Podcast: If you
want to keep up with news of the comics industry in the US this is an
excellent podcast hosted by Heidi MacDonald (The Beat), Calvin
Reid(Publishers Weekly Magazine and PW Comics World) and Kate Fitzsimons.
Support a Sydney institution
by listening in to Serious Issues: A Comic Book Podcast: a
great podcast series hosted by Andrew Levins and Siobhan Coombs at Kings
Comics in Sydney where they review new releases and current favourites.

New Releases – January and February
2021

Junior and YA

Avatar: The Last Airbender:
Toph Beifong’s Metalbending Academy – Faith Erin Hicks, Peter Wartman,
Adele Matera (Dark Horse)
Beak & Ally: Unlikely
Friends – Norm Feuti (Harper Collins)
Brightly Woven – Alexandra
Bracken, Leigh Dragoon, Kit Seator (Hachette)
Frozen II: The Manga – Arina
Tanemura (VIZ Media)
Girl Haven – Lilah Sturges,
Meaghan Carter (Oni Press)
Teens Titans: Beast Boy
Loves Raven – Kami Garcia, Gabriel Picolo (DC Comics)
Flash Facts – Mayim Bialik
(DC Comics)
Hakume & Mikochi Vol 8:
Tiny Little Life in the Woods – Takuto Kashiki (Yen Press)
House of El: Book One –
Claudia Gray, Eric Zawadzki (DC Comics)
Usagi Yojimbo Origins:
Volume 1: Samurai – Stan Sakai (IDW)
Victor and Nora: A Gotham
Love Story – Lauren Myracle, Isaac Goodhart (DC Comics)