Ms Marvel & Squirrel Girl! But are they friend or foe? Guess you have to read the Avengers Annual to find out! pic.twitter.com/haMU15eeeE — Faith Erin Hicks (@FaithErinHicks) June 23, 2016 The All-New, All-Different Avengers Annual #1 comes out in August and was announced with an all-star cast of creators including Mark Waid, G. Willow […]
Ms Marvel & Squirrel Girl! But are they friend or foe? Guess you have to read the Avengers Annual to find out! pic.twitter.com/haMU15eeeE — Faith Erin Hicks (@FaithErinHicks) June 23, 2016 The All-New, All-Different Avengers Annual #1 comes out in August and was announced with an all-star cast of creators including Mark Waid, G. Willow […]
1. The Astounding Broccoli Boy by Frank Cottrell Boyce was sooo good. But the author's note at the end was almost as good as the book!
Rory Rooney has been thrown off the bus by Tommy-Lee ever day. Still, when Tommy-Lee has an extreme allergic reaction from eating Rory's lunch - without Rory's permission, I might add - and Tommy-Lee is taken away in an ambulance, everyone blames Rory!!! Tommy-Lee's friends throw Rory into a stream and when he stands up, Rory is completely green. Now, it's his turn to be carried off to the hospital.
But Rory is prepared. His favorite bedtime story is his mother's book, Don't Be Scared. Be Prepared. Rory's mom is all about being prepared.
Rory is in the isolation ward at the hospital. But he's not alone. Oh, no.... he and his roommate are in for astounding adventures of the superhero-ish sort. As London squirms in the grasp of the Killer Kitten virus, two - or is it more? - green children prepare to Save The World.
Need a break from whatever ails you? This book will help.
2. For another look at lunacy, we have Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky.
Four Fans of the Ruperts - a boy band - somehow end up with one of the Ruperts, tied up in their hotel room. Fangirl fantasy come true!! Squeeee, or whatever. His phone alone is a treasure trove of awesomely...oh no, what's this?? And when the narrator comes clean about the whole event, who will pay the price of the long night's misadventures?
The lunacy in Moldavsky's book is creepy. I ended up skimming the book because:
1. The teens are unbelievably shallow, narcissistic and cruel.
2. It's a little too mean to be funny, I think.
That said, I am NOT a teenage girl. It is way too long since I screamed over a boy band. Back then, social media was a phone with a long cord and my Mom's kitchen timer. So, what do I know? Right? Definitely for teens. And the fans on Goodreads like it a lot. Dark humor, they say.
3. The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks. In a medieval city in the Orient, Kaidu is learning to fight. The city has changed hands so often, that its natives call it the Nameless City. Kaidu is part of the conqueror's army. When he ventures into the city, he meets a girl who calls herself Rat. They don't trust each other but Rat shows Kaidu things about the City that he can't learn behind the fort's walls. When a threat comes from inside the fort walls, Kaidu and Rat must work together as a team.
This graphic novel moves so seamlessly that I didn't notice the lack of words. Actually, as I type this, I realize that since reading this book, action scenes in text books take so long. No wonder graphic novels are so hot. Thanks, Faith Erin Hicks, for furthering my understanding of this genre.
4. An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet. This book had to be read, word for word. The struggle between Halfrida and her sister, Marthe, and their fight to keep their farm needs to be explained. An artist might be able to show the pain, anger, stubbornness and pride on each young woman's face but Bobet's words made this stew of emotions all too real to me. Insert these women into a war ravaged countryside, with a missing husband, and strange unearthly beings and you get a fantasy that speaks volumes about how people do and do not get along.
There is the mystery soldier who asks for somewhere to stay; the unearthly creatures; the aftermath of a war against the Wicked God; the search for a missing hero; Marthe's pining for her husband; Hallie's secret-keeping and her fear. Also a fledgling romance and three cheers for scientific method and investigation. (Sentence fragment, I know. Deal.) There's some heavy stuff going on in this book. I liked it!
The press isn’t allowed at ComicsPRO, but who needs reporters when you have social media? Faith Eein Hicks made a moving speech about Strange Adventures, her local comics shop, and Fight Cub 2 author Chuck Palahniuk charmed people by fighting with them. Here’s a twitter snapshot of what else has been going on, mixed with […]
Short answer: no. Faith Erin Hicks has a far more informative and entertaining longer version, which includes anecdotes and concrete evidence of how she broke in while living in relatively remote, Halifax, NS. A few years ago I was at a dinner with a bunch of people I knew casually. They all worked in the […]
The winners of the 2014 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards have been announced. Follow the links below for free samples of books by some of the winners.
Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples won the prize for “Best Continuing Series” for Saga. Vivek J. Tiwary, Andrew C. Robinson, and Kyle Baker came out on top in the “Best Reality-Based Work” category for The Fifth Beatle. Matthew Inman took home the “Best Digital Comic” award for The Oatmeal.
Here’s more from the press release: “Named for acclaimed comics creator the Will Eisner, the awards are celebrating their 26th year of highlighting the best publications and creators in comics and graphic novels. The 2014 Eisner Awards judging panel consists of comics retailer Kathy Bottarini (Comic Book Box, Rhonert Park, CA), author/educator William H. Foster (Untold Stories of Black Comics), reviewer Christian Lipski (Portland, OR Examiner), Comic-Con International board member Lee Oeth, library curator Jenny Robb (Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum), and Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist/critic James Romberger (Post York, 7 Miles a Second).”
(more…)
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
In 1991, artist Jeff Smith founded Cartoon Books to self-publish his comic book work, releasing his critically acclaimed series Bone.
Cartoon Books published a hardcover graphic novel of his Rasl story this week, a book following an ex-military engineer who uses the journals of Nikola Tesla to pull of mind-bending capers. We caught up with Smith to find out how comic book self publishing has evolved over the last 20 years. Smith explained:
Self-publishing has been a badge of honor in the comics community for two decades now, since the early 1990s. The Self-publishing Movement was a loosely affiliated group of like-minded writer-artists, who believed that the cartoonist was an author who’s work should be controlled by him or her, and should be read by the widest possible audience. We were on a quest for equal shelf space, equal critical reviews, the ability to sell our work beyond the confines of the comic book retail shops, and perhaps most important, the ability to print our own work and to keep it in print.
continued…
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Sometimes a book comes out that I’m so ridiculously excited about I get paranoid that I’m going to be disappointed in some way. And then it arrives and turns out to be even better than I hoped for. It becomes the book I take everywhere with me to thrust in people’s faces and say, “READ”. That book is this book.
The Adventures of Superhero Girl is a strip you may have heard of already. It’s a webcomic by the fantastically proficient cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks, who has a whole host of graphic novels to her name (Friends with Boys, Brain Camp, Zombies Calling and the upcoming Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong). I say webcomic, but although it is all available to read online for free, it was actually created for a local newspaper. And it is fabulous.
We follow the adventures of our protagonist, Superhero Girl (obv), as she struggles to find her place in the world as a fully fledged superhero. Constantly thwarted by Canada’s low crime rate and the imbalance of her personal and public lives, Superhero Girl faces monsters, ninjas, and her nemesis, Skeptical Guy. It sounds a bit like a superhero parody and in some respects it perhaps is, but really Hicks is taking the genre of superheroes and using it to tell the story of a girl and her friends and family, with fun and bonus ninja fights. Superhero Girl’s recurring frustration with people who can’t accept that she doesn’t have a tragic past to fuel her superheroics is definitely a poke at the grim and gritty world of capes and parent murderers, but her insecurity around her mega-successful superhero brother, Kevin, is something that many non-powered readers can certainly relate to.
And who hasn’t been halfway on the road to fighting a monster when realising they left their cape at home? I know right?! The fact that superheroics are just part of our hero’s daily life is really refreshing to read, and her interactions with the public – from students to grannies – seems much more likely than the doom and gloom of many superhero comics. Or perhaps that’s just Canada for ya.
I genuinely don’t want to give too much away about the content of the stories because nothing beats reading them for yourself without my longwinded (yet remarkably wise) comments on meta, panel deconstruction, trope busting and kittens.
However, this of course is the collected edition and while one might assume that means it is merely a book that collects the strips available online, that ain’t the half of it. Dark Horse have produced a gorgeous 
luxury hardback edition, in landscape format, and the previously black and white strips have been fully coloured by the fantastic Cris Peter. Cris is a colourist that many Marvel fans will be familiar with, and her work is wonderfully suited to Hick’s style. There’s actually a lot of lovely halftone work which gives the strips a retro newspaper feel and is a great contrast with the modern artwork. Very poptastic!
As if that wasn’t enough, there are pages of original sketches at the back and a glowing introduction from Kurt Busiek at the front, praising Hicks for delivering not only good comics, but comics that can be read by all his family. D’aww.
So let’s look at the facts: brilliant and funny comic with great characters; starring a woman superhero (whoot!); ninjas!; accessible without any prior comics knowledge; equally enjoyable with said knowledge; kitties!; lovely physical book with extra features and great colouring; suitable for all ages!
Also there is a bear with a monocle and a cat-octopus monster. GO READ.
The Adventures of Superhero Girl
Writer: Faith Erin Hicks
Artist: Faith Erin Hicks
Colourist: Cris Peter
Cover Artist: Faith Erin Hicks
Letters: Faith Erin Hicks
Editor: Rachel Edidin
Publisher: Dark Horse
The fabulous Colleen Mondor and Jackie Parker-Robinson have come up with a clever notion. Kidlitcon, the yearly conference for bloggers of child and teen literature, fast approacheth and this year, things are getting a bit switched. As Colleen says on her blog, “What we decided was to shift things just a bit, both by moving away from publisher donated ARCs as raffle prizes and also toward a long term partnership with one organization. Ultimately what we came up with made sense in so many ways that in retrospect it was one of the easiest things we decided. I am delighted to announce that KidLit Con is now entering into a partnership with Reading Is Fundamental which we hope will extend for many years into the future and make a powerful difference in the lives of many.” There’s more information to be found here, including info on how to donate to RIF yourself. So far the fund has reached $1,056, which is fantastic though more is needed. And a cheer is going out to Carol Rasco for her mention of me in a recent thank you.
- And now let’s raise a glass and toast my profession. Isn’t it nice to have a profession that can, without so much as a stray drop of guilt, be toasted? Lucky that. In any case, the I Love My Librarian awards are starting up again and that means you need to get out there and vote for your beloved holders of MLIS degrees. You may nominate a school, public, and academic librarian if you like. Doesn’t cost you a thing and maybe your one true library love will get the credit they so richly deserve. Stranger things have happened, no?
- Speaking of honoring folks, the Eric Carle Museum Honors have been announced. Each year four categories are filled with folks who have done some good in the name of children’s literature. This year the recipients include:
Lois Ehlert ▪ Artist
Jeanne Steig ▪ Angel
Michael di Capua ▪ Mentor
Karen Nelson Hoyle ▪ Bridge
On Thursday, September 22nd the Honors will be at Guastavino’s here in town. The usual auction that takes place at that time is seeing a bit of a shake-up as well. According to the website, “Our fourth annual art auction will feature original works of art donated by some of the industry’s most celebrated artists. This year also offers the opportunity to bid on ‘experiences’ with authors and artists.” If one of those “experiences” can include a chance to go pubbing with Tomi Ungerer I am in! At last year’s event I discovered that I was pregnant mere hours before attending. This year will have to top that, right?
The press isn’t allowed at ComicsPRO, but who needs reporters when you have social media? Faith Eein Hicks made a moving speech about Strange Adventures, her local comics shop, and Fight Cub 2 author Chuck Palahniuk charmed people by fighting with them. Here’s a twitter snapshot of what else has been going on, mixed with […]
Die besten Fotos hatten diesmal Klaus (1.), Harald (2.) und Wolfgang T.
(3.) auf den Tisch gelegt und damit gezeigt, dass es
sich lohnt im Alltag die Augen offen zu halten.