ALIA Graphic September 2020 Roundup

Lumberjanes series coming to an end, new Dog Man book becomes instant
North American bestseller, announcement of 2020 Harvey Award Nominations, and Australian
Creators win top Ignatz awards.

We’re saying goodbye
to old favourites and hello to exciting new releases this month in the
September edition of our ALIA Graphic Roundup. While the Lumberjanes series may
be coming to an end in its current form, it’s not the last we’ll see of our
favourite Hardcore Lady Types with publisher Boom! Studios hinting at new
adventures on the horizon.

You can be sure to
anticipate plenty of reserves on the latest Dog Man book by Dav Pilkey, which recently
became the bestselling book throughout North America for its first few
weeks, surpassing even the new Stephanie Meyer novel. If you can stand the wait,
pop your name down to be one of the first people to read a book with a first print of 5 million
copies(!)

Two Australian
creators have received some international renown in the comic book world
recently. Ariel Ries from Melbourne picked up two awards for Cry Wolf Girl and
online comic Witchy, and Eleri Harris from Tasmania won for editorship in
Be Gay, Do Comics as part of The Nib. Well done to these outstanding Australian
creators, we’re so proud of you and your work.

And don’t forget, our September Roundup podcast is out now on Apple Podcasts where you can listen to Iurgi, Tara and Sarah discuss the latest news and their picks from this month’s releases. Have a listen here and subscribe for creator chats and conversations about comics and literacy.

News

• The 2020
  Harvey Awards Nominations have been announced and it’s really worth checking the list of nominees.
  The awards will be livestreamed during the New York Comic Con, October
  8-11. You can subscribe to the NY Comic Con YouTube Channel in
  preparation.
• The Ignatz Awards are a celebration of
  outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning. The winners were announced recently.
  Melbourne creator Ariel Ries won two awards, Best Comic for Cry Wolf Girl
  and Outstanding Online Comic for Witchy. Tasmanian Eleri Harris was one of
  the editors for The Nib’s Be Gay, Do Comics winning the Best Anthology
  award. 
• RH Graphic is becoming a
  powerhouse in
  graphic novels publishing and here’s a good rundown of some of the exciting titles
  they have coming up.
• Lumberjanes is coming to an
  end
  (but not really end). The ongoing series will end at the end of this year
  but don’t worry there will be more Lumberjanes for a while. You can read more on The Beat.
• Polygon published a great article with some
  of the biggest names in comics discussing what defined the comics of the
  last 20 years and what’s next.
  

Collections and PD

• LibraryCon is upon us again, a whole day, free online
  con organised by Library Journal and School Library Journal. Follow the link and register now for
  a November 5 event. The event is usually recorded and an
  archived version made accessible after the event.
• U.S. comics and graphic
  novels sales charts: Dav Pilkey has published a new Dog Man book and, no surprise to
  anyone, it was immediately the bestselling book with just
  under 240,000 books sold in the first week! And if you want to
  check out the bestselling graphic novels in the US in August here are the
  charts: Top 20 Kids, Top 20 Adult, Top 20 Graphic Novels, Top 20 Author, Manga and Superhero.  

Media

• Jarret J. Krosoczka is
  really active on YouTube and well worth following. He’s started a new
  series called Origin Stories interviewing different creators and the first
  episode is with Raina Telgemeier.
• The Australian Kapow YouTube Channel partnered with Half
  Cut to Help Save the Daintree Forest for a virtual comic con. You can find a playlist with 7 excellent panel talks
  here that include excellent panels on making comics for kids,
  underground comix, crowdfunding during a crisis, and a cartooning workshop
  with absolute legend Dean Rankine.
• Two Australian creators
  Shaun Keenan and Stephen Kok host a chat every Sunday night on the Comics2Movies YouTube channel. Their
  discussion about Christopher Reeves’ Superman
  movie with Darren Close, followed by a discussion of Australian comics is great viewing.
• When Stars Are Scattered by
  Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed is a great graphic novel for discussion
  with kids and particularly good to use with students that deals with the
  everyday lives of refugees. Comix Experience had a great chat
  with Victoria about it that you can access on their
  YouTube Channel.
• The Creator Talks podcast interviewed Chris Gooch.
  If you listened to our Creator Chat this month and want more Gooch,
  this is a great interview. 

New Releases

Junior and YA

• Bunnygirl – Holly Jayne (Berbay) [Australian creator]

• Chickensaurus – James Foley (Fremantle Press) [Australian creator]

• Dog Man: Grime and Punishment – Dav Pilkey (Scholastic – Graphix)

• The Flower of the Witch – Enrico Orlandi (Dark Horse)

• Forget Me Nat (Nat Enough Book 2) – Maria Scrivank (Scholastic – Graphix)

• Karen’s Roller Skates (Baby-Sitters Little Sister Book 2) – Ann M Martin, Katy Farina (Graphix)

• Kodi Book 1 – Jared Cullum (Top Shelf)

• The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire – Michael Dante Di Martino, Michelle Wong (Dark Horse)

• A Map To the Sun – Sloane Leong (First Second)

• Squidding Around – Kevin Sherry (Scholastic – Graphix)

• Stranger Things: The Bully – Greg Pak, Valeria Favoccia (Dark Horse)

• Teen Titans: Beast Boy – Kami Garcia, Gabriel Picolo (DC Comics)

• Witches of Brooklyn – Sophie Escabasse (Random House Graphic)

General Adult

• Authorised Happiness Volume 2 – Jean Van Hamme, Griffo (Cinebook)

• Batman: Curse of the White Knight – Sean Murphy, Klaus Janson (DC Comics)

• Chasin’ the Bird: Charlie Parker in California – David Chisholm (Z2)

• The Contradictions – Sophie Yanow (Drawn & Quarterly)

• Fangs – Sarah Andersen (Andrews McMeel Publishing)

• Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Bernie Wrightson (Simon & Schuster)

• Nineteen – Ancco (Drawn and Quarterly)

• The Old Guard, Book Two: Force Multiplied – Greg Rucka, Leandro Fernandez (Image Comics)

• Reaver Volume 2: The Grim After – Justin Jordan, Niko Henrichon (Image Comics)

• Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut, Ryan North, Albert Monteys (Archaia Studios Press)

• Solutions and Other Problems – Allie Brosh (Gallery Books)

• Teaching Artfully – Meghan Parker (Clover Press)