Apparently November is the month for comics festivals! We have so much incredible comic festival information and other news to share…
Firstly, we hope you enjoyed our latest webinar, ‘Comics in Libraries: the pros and the comic cons’! Thanks to everyone for joining us for this insightful panel discussion featuring five speakers from four library services that have run comic con events. If you missed it, fear not, it will be published on our YouTube channel and podcast feed about mid-December.
Have you noticed how non-fiction comics are becoming incredibly popular? In fact, they’re among the most borrowed graphic novels in libraries, particularly in the adults category. So it’s great to see that The Non-Fiction Comics Festival, a new free comics festival held in Fletcher Free Library in Burlington, Vermont, is dedicated exclusively to non-fiction comics and will feature guests such as the legendary Eddie Campbell.
While not directly related to libraries, we’re excited to share that the first-ever Sydney Comics Art Market Place (SCAMP) took place in Sydney this month and we have heard it was a resounding success. Research shows that “comic con attendees are overwhelmingly library patrons” and for this reason we are thrilled to hear about these new comic art events for the local and international community.
NEWS
- Speaking of comic festivals, Thought Bubble Comic Art Festival took place in Yorkshire, United Kingdom this month where library staff have been handing out almost 1,000 free comics and graphic novels! Read more about the festival and this amazing initiative here.
- It’s great to see the growing body of study and research on comics and multimodality. Neil Cohn’s research explores the structure and cognition of drawings and visual narratives. The TINTIN Project is analysing 1,030 annotated comics from 144 countries and territories to answer big questions about visual narratives as a window into language and cognition. You can read all about it here.
- Following the recent trend and similar moves from other publishers, Random House is launching a new imprint dedicated to manga, manwha and printed webtoons. Here’s the rundown by Brigid Alverson on the School Library Journal.
- DC’s Compact Comics line has been a big hit and DC is expanding the line. Compact Comics compile some of DC’s best graphic novels in a smaller trim size and very affordable price. For all the new titles see the article on Publishers Weekly here.
- Scholastic’s Graphix imprint had a 20th year anniversary party and panel at New York Comic Con with lots of great guests. Jeremy Fuscaldo of The Beat was there and has published a great article about the event which you can read here.
- Danica Davidson, writing for How To Love Comics, has a great interview with Dr Rafael Medoff discussing his new books, Cartoonists Against Racism: The Secret Jewish War on Bigotry (with Craig Yoe) and Whistleblowers: Four Who Fought to Expose the Holocaust to America (with Dean Motter). The interview covers how comics can be used to teach serious subjects, and how he did his research. You can read their discussion here.
COLLECTIONS
- The European and International Booksellers Federation released a report and it shows that, across 19 countries in the study, comics made up 10% of all book sales. Australia is included in the report but comics sales are not reported for Australia as they’re not in the top 5. Two countries in the report have comics in their top 5 and we have a lot of work to do to catch up with Italy 20% and France 22%, where comics are the third biggest category after fiction 68% and lifestyle 23%. The full report is here.
- Do you want more manga? The School Library Journal has published a roundup of reviews of 10 New Manga Titles for Kids and Teens as well as The School Library Journal’s Best Graphic Novels 2024 | SLJ Best Books list.
PODCASTS
- While we don’t want to give too much away, the latest podcast from Criminal titled ‘For the Sake of American Youth’ covers fascinating comic-related crime in 1950s America. Check it out for some surprising stories.
- The ALIA Graphic Podcast: As always, you can listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts.
NEW TITLES
Junior
- The First Cat in Space and the Wrath of the Paperclip by Mac Barnett, Shawn Harris (Harper Alley) [9780063315280]
- Frozen Olaf’s Complete Comics Collection by Joe Caramagna, Valentina Cambi, Tea Orsi (Papercutz) [9781545811498]
- Hilda and Twig: Hide From the Rain by Luke Pearson (Flying Eye Books) [9781838741563]
- Leon: Worst Friends Forever by Jamar Nicholas (Scholastic – Graphix) [9781338744200]
- The Other Side of Tomorrow by Tina Cho, Deb JJ Lee (Harper Alley) [9780063011076]
- Primer: Clashing Colors by Jennifer Muro, Thomas Krajewski, Gretel Lusky (DC Comics) [9781779525389]
- Sidekicks by Dan Santat (Scholastic Inc) [9781761640261]
- The Squad by Soontornvat, Christina (Scholastic Inc) [9781761640971]
- Stand Up! by Tori Sharp (Little Brown & Company) [9780316538930]
YA
- Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent by Tom Taylor, Clayton Henry, Jordie Bellaire (DC Comics) [9781779527189] [Australian creator]
- Aristotle: A Graphic Biography by Tassos Apostolidis & Alecos Papadatos (Abrams Comic Arts) [9781419777011]
- Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri, Paul Brizzi, Gaetan Brizzi (Abrams ComicArts) [9781419776755]
- Harvey Kurtzman’s Marley’s Ghost by Harvey Kurtzman, Charles Dickens, Josh O’Neill, Shannon Wheeler & Gideon Kendall (Ablaze) [9781684973538]
- Kagurabachi Volume One by Takeru Hokazono (VIZ Media) [9781974747245]
- Marley’s Ghost by Charles Dickens, Gideon Kendall, adapted by Harvey Kurtzman, Josh O’Neill, Shannon Wheeler (Ablaze) [9781684973538]
- Orchard of the Tame by Marlo Meekins, Nick Cross (Pegamoose Press) [9781999256838]
- Teen Titans: Starfire by Kami Garcia, Gabriel Picolo (DC Comics) [9781779517999]
- Teleportation and Other Luxuries by Archie Bongiovanni, Mary Verhoeven (Mad Cave Studios) [9781545812242]
- We Called Them Giants by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, Clayton Cowles (Image Comics) [9781534387072]
Adult
- The Adventures of Munich in Marcel Duchamp by Roman Muradov (Uncivilized Books) [9781941250662]
- All Princesses Die Before Dawn by Quentin Zuttion (Abrams ComicArts) [9781419776649]
- Anzuelo by Emma Rios (Image Comics) [9798368809267]
- Backflash by Mat Johnson, Steve Lieber & Lee Loughbridge (Dark Horse / Berger Books) [9781506745107]
- Edifice by Andrzej Klimowski (SelfMadeHero) [9781914224256]
- Heretic by Robbie Morrison, Charlie Adlard (Image Comics) [9781534340466]
- Manhole Vol. 1 (of 3) by Tetsuya Tsutsui (Abrams-Kana) [9781419777707]
- Pandora Book 1 by Frank Miller, Emma Kubert, Anthony Maranville, Chris Silvestri (Abrams ComicArts) [9781419777233]
- Ronin Rising by Frank Miller, Philip Tan, Daniel Hernriques (Abrams ComicArts) [9781419776625]
- Torpedo 1972 by Enrique Sánchez Abulí & Eduardo Risso (Ablaze) [9781684973026]
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