How to use this Page

  Rounding up the news aout of Emerald City Comic Con which certainly seems to have become the spring news drop. In addition to the fine-looking new Tarzan/Planet of the Apes book we told you of earlier, Dark Horse had many announcements, including:   § Biggest news of alll, details on the Mouebius LIbrary were released. As […]

To celebrate First Second Books and the rise of graphic novels, we thought it would be fun to have graphic novelist veteran, Leland Myrick, who has been with First Second from the beginning, and Andy Hirsch, a 2016 debut graphic novelist, interview each other.

Mulching, blunders and barbarian action. Groo is eternal and Groo is back with Groo: Friends and Foes, a year long series by Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragones, Stan Sakai and Tom Luth, the same team that’s been turning out this book since the 80s. In the first issues, Groo meets Captain Ahax, the seaman with the world record for most ships sunk. It’s a safe asumption that all hell will break loose from that point on.

Groo: Friends and Foes #1 is on sale January 21, 2015.

Stan Sakai's much-admired comic book "Usagi Yojimbo" is being developed as a feature film.

Nursery Rhyme Comics
Edited by Chris Duffy
Introduction by Leonard S. Marcus
$18.99
ISBN: 978-1-59643-600-8
Ages 9-12
On shelves October 11, 2011

Nursery rhymes. What’s up with that? (I feel like a stand up comedian when I put it that way). They’re ubiquitous but nonsensical. Culturally relevant but often of unknown origins. Children’s literary scholar Leonard Marcus ponders the amazing shelf life of nursery rhymes himself and comes up with some answers. Why is it that they last as long as they do in the public consciousness? Marcus speculates that “the old-chestnut rhymes that beguile in part by sounding so emphatically clear about themselves while in fact leaving almost everything to our imagination” leave themselves open to interpretation. And who better to do a little interpreting than cartoonists? Including as many variegated styles as could be conceivably collected in a single 128-page book, editor Chris Duffy plucks from the cream of the children’s graphic novel crop (and beyond!) to create a collection so packed with detail and delight that you’ll find yourself flipping to the beginning to read it all over again after you’re done. Mind you, I wouldn’t go handing this to a three-year-old any time soon, but for a certain kind of child, this crazy little concoction is going to just the right bit of weirdness they require.

Fifty artists are handed a nursery rhyme apiece. The goal? Illustrate said poem. Give it a bit of flair. Put in a plot if you have to. So it is that a breed of all new comics, those of the nursery ilk, fill this book. Here at last you can see David Macaulay bring his architectural genius to “London Bridge is Falling Down” or Roz Chast give “There Was a Crooked Man” a positive spin. Leonard Marcus offers an introduction giving credence to this all new coming together of text and image while in the back of the book editor Chris Duffy discusses the rhymes’ history and meaning. And as he says in the end, “We’re just letting history take its course.”

In the interest of public scrutiny, the complete list of artists on this book consists of Nick Abadzis, Andrew Arnold, Kate Beaton, Vera Brosgol, Nick Bruel, Scott Campbell, Lilli Carre, Roz Chast, JP Coovert, Jordan Crane, Rebecca Dart, Eleanor Davis, Vanessa Davis, Theo Ellsworth, Matt Forsythe, Jules Feiffer, Bob Flynn, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Ben Hatke, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Lucy Knisley, David Macaulay, Mark Martin, Patrick McDonnell, Mike Mignola, Tony Millionaire, Tao Nyeu, George O’Connor, Mo Oh, Eric Orchard, Laura Park, Cyril Pedrosa, Lark Pien, Aaron Renier, Dave Roman, Marc Rosenthal, Stan Sakai, Richard Sala, Mark Siegel, James Sturm, Raina Telgemeier, Craig Thompson, Richard Thompson, Sara Varon, Jen Wang, Drew Weing, Gahan Wilson, Gene Luen Yang, and Stephanie Yue (whew!). And as with any collection, some of the inclusions are going to be stronger than others. Generally speaking if fifty people do something, some of them are going to have a better grasp on the process than others. That said, only a few of these versions didn’t do it for me. At worst the versions were mediocre. At best they went in a new direction with their mat

While in other places the indie periodical comic has languished, Stan Sakai and Usagi Yojimbo do not question, they just do. After five publishers and 26 years, this story of a wandering rabbit samurai in Edo period Japan has become one of the longest-running and best loved independent comics of all time. With a loyal home at Dark Horse since 1996 and 24 collections published, the Usagi saga has become a continuing epic of heroism, betrayal and romance, with a large cast of character who weave in and out of Usagi’s life. It’s comics world building at its purest, and all-ages in the best way.

A new issue is out this month that serves as a jumping on point (although truthfully, Sakai is such a strong storyteller that you can always catch up just by jumping on — check out how the first page of the preview set up the situation so you can just keep on going.)

More info:

Usagi Yojimbo #133
These issues form both halves of “Taiko,” a special double-issue story line. A group of drought-stricken farmers commission an enormous taiko drum to show their devotion to the gods, and pray for rain. But the bloodthirsty Red Scorpion Gang threatens to destroy the drum unless the farmers pay up, so the farmers must turn to rabbit ronin Usagi to protect the drum, lest they face starvation from drought! When the Red Scorpion Gang burns down the farmers’ temple and the drum is in jeopardy, Usagi must figure out how to rescue it and fight the Red Scorpions at the same time, or all is lost!

Publication Date: November 24, 2010
Format: B&W, 24 pages
Price: $3.50