The end of year is fast approaching and this committee has been busy. We hope you listened to the special 100th podcast episode. We never thought we would make it to 100 but we did. It was lovely to get messages from ALIA Deputy CEO Trish Hepworth and four Australian comic book creators talking about the Australian comics community and what they love about libraries. Thank you to them all and to all the guests we’ve had in the first 100 episodes! You can listen to the podcast here. And you can read a blog post from our convenor reflecting on the 100th episode and comics librarianship in his blog here.
This month we have the publication of two new graphic novels by Australian creators. For junior, we have Anh Do’s graphic novel debut with Kung Fu Roo Book 1: Enter the Roo with art by Jeremy Ley. For YA readers we have the publication of The Sweetness Between Us by Sarah Winifred Searle. We highly recommend both of them!
We also had a creator chat with Laura J Carroll, on her debut graphic novel Making the Shrine, which tells the story of how the Shrine of Remembrance in Victoria was made. Watch out for the next creator chat, where Dean Rankine talks about his comics workshops in libraries, what he loves about them and how he works with libraries. It should be out early November.
Our second webinar of the year is fast approaching. We’ve noticed more libraries holding comics festivals and cons. Are you thinking of hosting a comics related event at your library? Join us as we hear from those who have run these programs before and what tips and tricks to look out for. Register for Comics & Libraries: the Pros and the Comic Cons, Thursday November 14, 2pm to 3pm. The webinar is free for all ALIA members (if you’re not a personal member, check if your employer is an institutional member and register through them).
And we’re about to start preparing a judging panel for the Notable Australian Graphic Novels of 2024 list. Thank you to everyone who has submitted an expression of interest. This is the first year that we’re opening the judging panel to library workers outside of our committee and we’re really excited to form an awesome panel.
The roundup podcast episode is out now with Mia and Jade discussing their recent reads, news and favourite picks of the month, on our podcast feed here, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
News
- A comprehensive guide to graphic novel publishing has been produced by the 2023-24 Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellow, Sophie Splatt. Featuring recommendations to grow the local market, her report ‘Graphic novels: Can we grow them at home? You can find the whole report here or the executive summary here.
- We’re so happy to hear that Hardie Grant, the publisher of the incredibly successful Real Pigeons (among many others), is creating a new imprint called Figment dedicated to graphic novels. Their first two graphic novels, Inked by Karen Wasson and Jake A Minton and Creature Clinic by Gavin Aung Than, will be out in April and May 2025. Here’s the full announcement on their website.
- The Harvey Awards Hall of Fame 2024 inductees have been announced and they are a worthy group led by Akira Toriyama, Arthur Adams, Larry Hama, Sergio Aragonés and John Buscema. Read the announcement here. The Harvey Award winners have also been announced. Mariko and Jillian Tamaki won Best YA Book and Book of the Year. To see the full list of nominees and winners go to Graphic Policy here.
- Comics librarianship is growing and a perfect example of that is the presence of comics librarians in various panels at New York Comic Con. We’re really happy to see members of the ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable there. Read a report of the panel at AIPT. And, we’re also happy to hear that Amie Wright, who moderated the panel and who was the first president of the Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable, has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the Toronto Comics Festival. Here’s the announcement from the festival.
- Scholastic UK celebrated its first graphic novels awards on October 7. The shortlist was selected by a panel of judges but the winners of the awards were decided by children and teenagers’ votes. For the winners and the complete lowdown go to Publishers Weekly here.
- DC launched a collection of some of their most celebrated graphic novels in a smaller, more readable format and now it’s Marvel’s turn with the recently announced Premier Collection. These titles are smaller in format and cheaper. They could be a great fit for libraries. Read all about it on Publishers Weekly here.
- Publishers Weekly has a great interview with Alan Moore, the writer, the wizard, the legend, about the new graphic novels The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic. Which is all about magic. You can read it here.
- Over on The Conversation, Professor Andrew Deman has published a great article about iyashikei manga and it’s soothing, healing powers. Read his delightful article here.
Collections
- Milton Griepp delivered his yearly address at New York Comic Con presenting data and discussing how sales of comics are going in the U.S. This year shows that sales have softened but they’re still 67% above where they were in 2019. The majority of sales continue to be in the book market (61%) and data also shows a big increase in crowdfunded comics. For all the analysis check this article on Publishers Weekly.
- Sara Smith at The Graphic Library has a great list of manga recommendations for the end of the year. Check out her recommendations here.
- The awesome team at No Flying No Tights have published a list of suggested cat manga titles. If you need more cat manga in your life here’s the list.
Webinars
- Scholastic’s Graphix imprint hosted a great webinar celebrating the educational power of comics and graphic novels. The webinar discusses “Leon: Worst Friends Ever” by Jamar Nicholas, “The Cartoonists Club” by Raina Telgemeier & Scott McCloud, and “Fresh Start” by Gale Galligan. Hosted by Jarrett Krosoczka, author of “Hey, Kiddo” and “Hello, Sunshine”. You can watch it on YouTube here.
- The ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable has published a webinar on YouTube presented by Mara Thacker (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) and Matthew Murray (University of Colorado, Boulder) on why libraries should consider purchasing crowdfunded comics, the barriers libraries face when purchasing crowdfunded and self-published works, and possible solutions that libraries have used to overcome these barriers. You can watch it on YouTube here.
Podcasts
- The Readings podcast has published an episode with the book launch of non-fiction, science graphic novel Follow Your Gut. This Australian graphic novel tells an epic adventure set over the first three years of a new life, exploring one of the most important relationships you will ever have – the one with your gut microbiome. Listen to the team of scientists, writers and artists in the book launch on the Readings Podcast here or wherever you listen to podcasts.
- The Mangasplaining podcast (which is always a good listen) had a really interesting episode recently where they discussed Frank Miller and Davi Mazzuchelli’s Born Again. Yes. We realise that’s not a manga, the know it too. It was a really interesting discussion and we recommend it. You can listen to it in their official feed here or wherever you listen to podcasts.
NEW TITLES
Junior
- Disney Fairies 4 in 1 Vol 1 by Various Authors (Papercutz) [9781545807767]
- Dogmatix and the Indomitables Vol 1 by M. Choquet, Y. Coulon, J. Erbin, J. Bastide, P. Fenech (Papercutz) [9781545815380]
- Kung Fu Roo Book 1: Enter the Roo by Anh Do, Jeremy Ley (Allen & Unwin) [9781761069918] [Australian creators]
- The Night Mother Vol 1 by Jeremy Lambert, Alexa Sharpe (Oni Press) [9781637154946]
- Noodle & Bao by Shaina Lu (HarperCollins) [9780063283404]
- This Land is Our Land by Julio Anta, Jacoby Salcedo, Francesco Segala (DC Comics) [9781779522825]
- The Weirn Books Vol 2: The Ghost and the Stolen Dragon by Svetlana Chmakova (Yen Press) [9781975311278]
YA
- Charles M. Schulz: The Creator of Snoopy and Peanuts by Yuzuru Kuki, Chi-ko (Udon Entertainment) [ 9781772943443]
- Crystal Cadets by Anne Toole, K. O’Neill (Oni Press) [9781637154878]
- Ditching Saskia by John Moore & Neetols (Flying Eye Books) [9781838741556]
- The Firelight Apprentice by Bree Paulsen (HarperCollins) [9780063266582]
- Lost Letter by Jim Bishop (Magnetic Press) [9781962413084]
- No Rules Tonight by Kim Hyun Sook & Ryan Estrada (Penguin Workshop) [9780593521304]
- The Pirate Princess by Luca Frigerio, Lorenza Pigliamosche (Mad Cave Studios) [9781952303593]
- The Sweetness Between Us by Sarah Winifred Searle (Allen & Unwin) [9781761181245] [Australian creator]
Adult
- Adieu Birkenau: Ginette Kolinka’s Story of Survival by Ginette Kolinka, Jean-David Morvan, Victor Matet, Ricard Efa & Cesc F. Dalmases (SelfMadeHero) [9781914224232]
- Capital & Ideology: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Thomas Piketty, Claire Alet & Benjamin Adam (Abrams Comic Arts) [9781419777059]
- Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, adapted by Paul Peart-Smith (Beacon Press) [9780807012680]
- Kids Are Still Weird and More Observations from Parenthood by Jeffrey Brown (NBM) [9781681123448]
- Killtopia by Dave Cook, Clark Bint, Craig Paton (Titan Comics) [9781787744189]
- The Last Mermaid Vol 1 by Derek Kirk Kim (Image Comics) [9781534359215]
- My Time Machine by Carol Lay (Fantagraphics) [9781683969983]
- Naked City by Eric Drooker (Dark Horse Comics) [9781506743509]
- Past Tense: Facing Family Secrets and Finding Myself in Therapy by Sacha Mardou (Avery) [9780593541364]
- Shrink: Story of a Fat Girl by Rachel M. Thomas (Graphic Mundi) [9781637790793]
- The Three Body Problem: The Comic Edition Vol 1 by Cixin Liu, XuDong Cai (Yen Press) [9798855401325]
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