January 2024 Roundup

Another year begins and we’re back after our usual summer break. 

This is quite a big roundup. We, especially, have a lot of new titles in the roundup because we’re compiling titles from December and January. 

One of the hot topics of last year was whether comics (here referring specifically to ‘American comics’) are dying or not. There are lots of opinions and Heidi MacDonald from The Beat, published a very balanced and thoughtful article exploring the issue. In our view, from what we can see in libraries, comics are not dying but readership and the market in general are changing. We’re thinking of a webinar or podcast episode on this topic. So watch this space. In the meantime, here’s Heidi’s excellent article.

It was great to see graphic novels at the top of the charts recently. Heartstopper Volume 5 was published and it broke all UK records. The new volume of the Wings of Fire graphic novel was number in the book charts in the U.S. and, for a third consecutive year, a comic was the best selling book in France in 2023. Even better, two French comics took the first two spots. 

The other big news is that Posy Simmonds has won the Angouleme Grand Prix. The most prestigious award for comics in the world. A well deserved win. 

Of course, we have a compilation of best graphic novels of the years lists from different sources. 

And, finally, this month sees the publication of In Utero, the new graphic novel by Melbournian Chris Gooch. It’s a coming of age, YA, monster, horror tinged graphic novel and it’s an absolute beauty. We highly recommend it. Watch out for the upcoming creator chat with Chris, which should be out early February on our YouTube channel and podcast feed.

News

• David Simon is one of the most renowned screenwriters in the world with series like The Wire and Treme. He’s also known for his non-fiction books. When french cartoonist Philippe Squarzoni approached him for a graphic novel adaptation of Homicide, it was an opportunity he had to take. The second and final volume has just been published and Popverse has a great interview with David and Phlippe that you can read here.
• We know Pilkey’s books are popular. We know kids love them. And here are 5 reasons why Cat Kid Comic Club is a must for every comic book lover from Avery Kaplan on The Beat. Also, Cat Kid Comic Club is a perfect series to get kids not only reading but, more importantly, making comics. A perfect series for libraries looking into starting a comics making club.
• Do you want to know what the top 10 best selling manga in Japan were in 2023? Blue Lock came right at the top. If you want to know the others The Beat has you covered.
• A junior DC graphic novel is selling more than Watchmen and Batman. Hopefully you have Primer in your library collection, but if you don’t we highly recommend this hit graphic novel from DC. More about this on Popverse here.

Collections

• Angoulême International Comics Festival is quite simply the most prestigious comics festival in the world and they announced the 2024 nominees of their awards. Check out the full list here on Popverse. The winner of the Angoueleme Grand Prix was announced just days ago and the winner was Posy Simmonds. A well deserved win (though any of the nominees were worthy winners too). Since Posy was a cartoonist at The Guardian for a long time, here’s the news of her win as covered by The Guardian.
• Best comics of 2023 lists are out. Here are the best comics of 2023 as selected by the No Flying No Tights staff, the best comics of 2023 as selected by Popverse, the best graphic novels of 2023 selected by The Guardian and the best webtoons of 2023 as selected by The Beat. Finally, we have the top graphic novels of 2023 critics poll from Publishers Weekly, which you can find here.
• The Beat has published a couple of really handy lists. Here’s a list of the 45 best manga of the end of 2023 and here’s a list of 55 highly anticipated children and middle grade graphic novels of the end of 2023.
• No Flying No Tights has published a handy list of graphic novels now in print that started as webcomics. You can find all the titles here.
• 2024 ALA Youth Media Awards were announced at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference. You find the list of Graphic Novels that garnered attention here.

NEW TITLES

DECEMBER 2023 & JANUARY 2024

Junior

• The Adventures of Invisible Boy by Doogie Horner (Putnam Young Readers)
• Alterations by Ray Xu (Union Square & Co)
• The Babysitters Club: Claudia and the Bad Joke by Arley Nopa & Ann M. Martin (Scholastic)
• Atana and the Firebird by Vivian Zhou (Harper Alley)
• Bad Kitty Makes a Movie by Nick Bruel (St Martin’s Press)
• Cat Kid Comic Club: Influences by Dav Pilkey (Scholastic) 
• Click: Break by Kayla Miller (Clarion Books)
• Escape from Mr Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein & Douglas Holgate (Penguin Australia) [Australian Creator]
• The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival by Estelle Nadel, Bethany Strout, Sammy Savos (Hachette Children’s Books)
• Nell of Gumbling by Emma Steinkellner (Random House)
• I Am a Dinosaur: Super Magic Boy by Jarod Rosello (Random House)
• Mayor Good Boy Turns Bad by Miranda Harmon (Random House)
• Pablo and Splash by Sheena Dempsey (Bloomsbury Publishing)
• Peanut, Butter & Crackers: Doggy School by Paige Braddock (Nosy Crow)
• The O.D.D Squad: Rise of Invisidog by Stuart Heritage (Penguin)
• Oliver’s Great Big Universe by Jorge Cham (Simon & Schuster)
• Rocket and Groot: Hunt fo Star-Lord by Amanda Deibert, Cam Kendell (Scholastic)
• Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi & Shazleen Khan (St Martins Press)
• The Secret of the Ravens by Joanna Cacao (Harper Alley)
• Sniff & Scratch: Save the Duck! By Vicky Fang & Luisa Leal (Scholastic)
• Spider-Ham: A Pig in Time by Steve Foxe, Shadia Amin (Scholastic)
• Super Dweeb and the Snack Attack by Jess Bradley (Arcturus Publishing)
• Super Mega Mission: Magic Faces by Esi Merleh & Abeeha Tariq (Jolly Fish Press)
• Sweet Valley Twins: Choosing Sides by Francine Pascal, Claudia Aguiree & Nicole Andelfinger (RH Graphic)
• Teen Titans Go! To the Library! by Franco, Art Baltazar (DC Comics)
• Things in the Basement by Ben Hatke (St Martins Press)
• Wings of Fire: Winter Turning by Tui T. Sutherland (Scholastic)
• Winx Club by Rainbow Spa (Papercutz)
• You Wish by Jeff Victor (Random House)

YA

• Amy’s Big Brother by BonHyung Jeong (Yen Press)
• Black Solstice by Travon Free, Martin Desmond Roe, and Aremo Massa (Dark Horse)
• Cursed Princess Club by Lambcat (Wattpad Books)
• The Darkness We Brought Back by Alex Segura, Rex Ogle & Mike Marts (Aftershock Comics)
• Elle(s) by Kid Toussaint & Aveline Stokart (Ablaze)
• Ghost Roast by Shawnee Gibbs & Emily Cannon (HarperCollins Publishing)
• Giant Days Volume 5 Library Edition by JOhn Allison, Max Sarin & Julia Madrigdal (Boom! Sudios)
• Heartstopper Volume 5 by Alice Oseman (Hachette Children’s UK, Scholastic US)
• I Am Hexed Volume 1 by Kirsten Thompson (Rocketship Entertainment)
• In Utero by Chris Gooch (Top Shelf) [Australian creator] 
• Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang, Leuyen Pham (First Second)
• The Quarry by Mike Salisbury (Scout Comics)
• Rainbow! By Sunny & Gloom (Scholastic)
• The Secret of Friendship by Kazune Kawahara, Aiji Yamakawa (Seven Seas)
• Shakespeare Manga Theater by Osamu Tezuka (Ablaze)
• Team Phoenix Vol 2 by Osamu Tezuka, Kenny Ruiz (Udon Entertainment)

Adult

• The Armadillo Prophecy by Zerocalcare (Ablaze)
• Barnstormers: A Ballad of Love and Murder by Scott Snyder, Tula Lotay (Dark Horse)
• Death Strikes by Dave Maas, Patrick Lay (Dark Horse)
• Gannibal Vol 1 by Masaki Ninomiya (Ablaze)
• Good Comics for Bad People by Zach M. Stafford (Image Comics)
• The Great British Bump Off by John Allison, Max Sarin (Dark Horse Comics)
• Homicide: The Graphic Novel Part II by David Simon, Philippe Squarzoni (First Second)
• The Horror to cby Lars Jacobson, Eduardo Francisco (Dark Horse)
• Immortal Sergeant by Joe Kelly, Ken Niimura (Image Comics)
• King in Limbo by Ai Tanaka (Viz Media)
• Pete Townshend’s Life House by Pete Townshend, James Harvey, David Hine, Max Prentis, Dean Paris (Image Comics)
• Portrait of a Body by Julie Delporte (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Silence, Full Stop by Karina Shor (Street Noise Books)
• The Tribute by Benjamin Legrand, Jean Marc Rochette (Titan Comics)
• Whistleblowers: Four Who Fought to Expose the Holocaust to America by Rafael Medoff, Dean Motter (Dark Horse)
• Zodiac: A Graphic Memoir by Ai Weiwei, Elettra Stamboulis & Gianluca Costantini (Tundra Books / Random House)