How are graphic novels viewed in libraries across the country today? While attitudes toward graphic novels and manga are changing, and librarians were among the first to change them, we wanted to learn more about how the formats are received and perceived today. So we asked some librarians to share their experiences. Their responses were fascinating.

Read more »

While I was watching the Academy Awards, one thing struck me: Comics movies were definitely conspicuous in their absence. Not that they were totally absent: The show’s host was Wolverine, for one thing, and he made sure to promote his upcoming movie. But Hugh Jackman’s opening song-and-dance number also gave a nice nod to The Dark Knight and Iron Man and rightfully asked why such huge movies aren’t properly represented in more awards categories.

Read more »

I doubt anyone was waiting for my recommendation, but let me add my voice to the chorus of people giving praise to Coraline, the new 3-D animated movie based on Neil Gaiman's book. The animators did such a fine job with this (loved the effects used on the tunnel between the two worlds in particular), and there's an added bonus for French & Saunders fans: Both ladies are in there and do a hilarious off-color song that will probably go over the heads of most young viewers. (The 3-D is fun, too, not to mention far removed from the flimsy paper red-and-blue glasses of my youth. You actually get sturdy plastic ones now.) Also, the opening title sequence is so creepy and delightful that it's mesmerizing. I loved the film all the way through.

Read more »

How are graphic novels viewed in libraries across the country today? While attitudes toward graphic novels and manga are changing, and librarians were among the first to change them, we wanted to learn more about how the formats are received and perceived today. So we asked some librarians to share their experiences. Their responses were fascinating.

Read more »

Congratulations to Toon Books for winning the coveted Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor from the American Library Association. Toon Books was founded by Françoise Mouly, who is the art editor for The New Yorker, and Art Spiegelman (legendary creator of Maus) to supply age-appropriate graphic novels for kids four and older. They won the award for the book Stinky by Eleanor Davis.

Read more »

New York Comic-Con was last weekend. This is an event that has been going on since 2006 and growing steadily every year. It’s a crowded, joyful, exuberant, energy-filled weekend where fans, creators, and about 75,000 other people associated with the industry can meet up. It’s beyond fun.

Read more »

I meant to blog about this days ago, but time got away from me. Just wanted to say congratulations to the folks who put on the Graphica in Education conference at Fordham University this past weekend. That includes Diamond Book Distributors, Random House Academic Marketing, and ViziPress, as well as all the speakers, panelists, and presenters. I particularly enjoyed the session “Sequential Art, Writing, and Self: From Image to Text and Back Again.” It was held by Michael Gianfrancesco, a high-school English teacher in Rhode Island, and Jenn Cook, a professor at Rhode Island College. It was fascinating to see how comics were not only gaining acceptance from teachers (something that would have been unfathomable when I was in school) but also being successfully used as a great tool for education.

Read more »

Do you remember your first comic book or graphic novel? If so, what was it?

Read more »

I went back to my hometown over the holidays, and it was wonderful seeing my family back there: my parents, my brother and his family, my aunt, my cousins, my comic books…

Read more »

I make a point to try to go to every comics-related movie (I’m supportive like that), and one of the things that struck me while watching The Spirit was my embarrassment that I had absolutely no frame of reference to compare it to. In all my time reading comics, I’d never read any of Will Eisner’s Spirit comics. Oh, I knew of it, had seen artwork from it, was a little familiar with what other people had said about it, but I never sought it out myself. That’s no way to treat a classic.

Read more »