2024 is well under way with graphic novel and comic news and plenty of new releases to go around this month! We hope you’re as excited as we are about the announcement of a new graphic novel by Maia Kobabe who has been fighting the good fight against the censorship of graphic novels, as well as the release of the hotly anticipated conclusion to the Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi in ‘Waverider’, in amongst many other updates in the world of graphic novel collections. Speaking of collections, we will shortly be publishing our longlist of Notable Australian Graphic Novels of 2023 which will be followed by a shortlist of titles selected by us at the ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics team in mid-March. There have been so many incredible Australian graphic novels and comics published last year and we’re looking forward to acknowledging the high quality works of Australian graphic novel and comic creators with you soon.
As you continue to read through this Roundup, you will notice our New Releases section may look a little different this month. In an effort to save time finding tricky titles, we have handily included ISBNs for all of this month’s new releases further below. Please give us a shoutout via aliagraphicinfo@gmail.com or feel free to tag us on socials if this is helpful or not in getting more information on a particular title or (better yet) adding these titles to your library collections.
NEWS
- Is France the biggest market for comics outside of Japan? It sure sounds like it. It may sound incredible but one in four of any books sold in France is a comic. After the prestigious Angouleme Festival, The Guardian has published a great article exploring France’s enduring love of comics.
- Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo’s Nightwing run has been highly praised and loved and is now coming to an end according to an announcement by Bruno Redondo. You can read more about it on Popverse.
- Maia Kobabe has collaborated with University of Michigan professor Dr. Sarah Peitzmeier for a new graphic novel coming out in May called Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding. Definitely one of the most important graphic novels coming out this year. The Beat has all the info.
- Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus is a best-selling phenomenon and Random House is building an imprint around it. Read all about it in this excellent article in Popverse.
- The State Library of Victoria is running a series of writing bootcamps and we’re so glad to see they’re including some sessions on making comics with Ariel Slamet Ries. For anyone in Victoria and around Melbourne, this is an excellent opportunity to learn comics making. All the info is here.
Collections
- The ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable has announced their Best Graphic Novels for Adults Reading List. The list includes their Top 10 and a long list as selected by a panel of librarians. Check out the Top 10 and full list here.
- The ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable has also announced their Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List, once again, selected by a committee of librarians. Check out the Top 10 and full list here.
- Similarly, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has published their Top 10 and full list of the best graphic novels for young adults. You can find the Top 10 and full list here.
- Booklist have released their archive of the Graphic Novels for Adults and Young Adults Webinar.
- Universal Pictures have announced an adaptation of the Dog Man comics, set to come out 2025.
- We publish monthly roundups of new titles for libraries but if that’s not enough for you, Publishers Weekly has published a series of roundups of upcoming graphic novels. You can access all the lists here:
Podcast
- The Off Panel podcast (a good one to follow) has a long interview with Kazu Kibuishi discussing the making the Amulet series and Book 9: Waverider. Warning: There are some spoilers so if you really care about that read Waverider first. You can listen to the episode here or wherever you prefer to listen to podcasts.
New Releases
Junior
- Adventures of Invisible Boy by Doogie Horner (Scholastic Australia) [9781760268671]
- Amulet Book 9: Waverider by Kazu Kibuishi (Scholastic) [9781761520754]
- Art Club by Rashad Doucet (Hachette Children’s) [9780759556393]
- Barkham Asylum by Yehudi Mercado [9781779505002]
- Big Little Blue: Double Dippers by Raymond McGrath (Scholastic NZ)
[9781775438366] - Brobots by J. Torres, Sean Dove (Oni Press) [9781637152751]
- Curlfriends by Sharee Miller (Hachette Children’s) [9780316591454]
- Ellie Campbell Wins Their Weekend by Ben Khan (Scholastic) [9781338815306]
- Eowulf: Of Monsters and Middle School by Mike Cavallaro (Pan Macmillan) [9781035041329]
- A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat (First Second) [9781250851048]
- Ham Helsing: Raising the Stakes by Rich Moyer (Scholastic Australia) [9781760268664]
- Investigators: All Tide Up by John Patrick Green (Pan Mcmillan) [9781035015429]
- Kitten Ninja by Colleen AF Venable, Marcie Colleen & Ellen Stubbings (Andrews McMeel Publishing) [9781524888190]
- PI Butterfly: Disappearing Daisy by Karen Kilpatrick & Germain Blanco (Kayppin Media) [9781938447747]
- Pizza and Taco: Best Party Ever by Stephen Shaskan (Scholastic Australia) [9781760269845]
- The Racc Pack by Stephanie Cooke, Whitney Gardner (Simon & Schuster) [9781665914932]
- Rose Wolves by Natalie Warner (Random House) [9781603095310]
- The Rune Thief by April C. James & Helder Oliveira (Maverick Arts Publishing) [9781835110096]
- Sunny Makes Her Case by Jennifer Holm, Matthew Holm (Scholastic) [9781761523960]
- Wildful by Kengo Kurimoto (Groundwood Books) [9781773068626]
- Wombats: Go to Wizard Wharf by Maddie Frost (Hardie Grant) [9780593465424]
YA
- Bunt! By Ngozi Ukazu & Mad Rupert (St Martins Press) [9781250193513]
- Call me Iggy by Jorge Aguirre & Rafael Rosado (First Second) [9781250204134]
- A Cat From Our World and the Forgotten Witch Vol 1 by Hiro Kashiwaba (Seven Seas) [9798888432594]
- Conquest: Julius Caesar’s Gallic War by Tarek Ben Yakhlef, Vincent Pompetti (Black Panel Press) [9781775101543]
- Cross My Heart and Never Lie by Nora Dåsnes (Harper Collins) [9780008653750]
- The Dreaming by Queenie Chan (ifwg Publishing International) [9781922856395] [Australian creator]
- Fence: Redemption by C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, Joana Lafuente (Boom! Studios) [9781608861378] [Australian creator]
- I Run To Make My Heart Beat by Rachel Khan, Aude Massot (Fairsquare) [9781960171054]
- Kalevala by Sami Makkonen (Ablaze) [9781684972289]
- King Cheer by Molly Horton Booth & Stephanie Kate Strohm (Random House) [9781368081115]
- Nigthwing Vol 4: The Leap by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo (DC Comics) [9781779520869] [Australian creator]
- The Quarry by Mike Salisbury, Marvin Luna & Andrea Lorenzo Molinari (Scout Comic) [9781639691890]
- Tolkien: Lighting Up the Dark by Willy Duraffourg, Giancarlo Caracuzzo (Ablaze) [9781684971879]
Adult
- Aya: Claws Come Out by Marguerite Abouet, Clément Oubrerie (Drawn & Quarterly) [9781770467019]
- Barking by Lucy Sullivan (Avery Hill Press) [9781910395769]
- Fall Through by Nate Powell (Abrams Comic Arts) [9781419760822]
- Fatcop by Johnny Ryan (Fantagraphics) [9781683969228]
- Firebugs by Nino Bulling (Drawn & Quarterly) [9781770467057]
- A Firehose of Falsehood by Teri Kanefield, Pat Dorian (First Second) [9781250790439]
- Harry Dickson Vol 1: Mysterion by Jean Ray, Luana Vergari, Doug Headline, Onofrio Catacchio (Cinebook) [9781800441279]
- Hound by Sam Romesburg, Sam Freeman, Rodrigo Vazquez (Mad Cave) [9781952303784]
- Hypericum by Manuele Fior (Fantagraphics) [9781683969259]
- I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together by Maurice Vellekoop (Pantheon Books) [9780307908735]
- Left Turns by Joshua Ross (Source Point Press) [9798888760024]
- Mary Tyler Moorehawk by Dave Baker (Top Shelf) [9781603095365]
- My Name Is Shingo Vol 1 by Kazuo Umezz (Viz Media) [9781974742721]
- Peacemaker Tries Hard! By Kyle Starks, Steve Pugh (DC Comics) [9781779524324]
- Return to Eden by Paco Roca (Fantagraphics) [9781683969310]
- Sunshine Patriots by Howard Chaykin (Fairsquare Comics) [9781960171061]
- Tezucomi Vol 1 of 2 by Osamu Tezuka and various creators (Magnetic Press) [9781951719883]
- Where the Body Was by Ed Brubaker, Sean Philips (Image Comics) [9781534398269]
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