The List:

APE ENTERTAINMENT
Richie Rich Valentines Special 2012 (One Shot), $3.99

ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS
Archie Double Digest #226, $3.99
Betty And Veronica Double Digest #198, $3.99
Kevin Keller #1 (Dan Parent Regular Cover), $2.99
Kevin Keller #1 (Dan Parent Variant Cover), $2.99
Kevin Keller Volume 1 HC, $19.99
Mega Man #10, $2.99

BOOM! STUDIOS
Adventure Time #1 (Cover A Shelli Paroline & Braden Lamb), $3.99 ^^AA Pick^^
Adventure Time #1 (Cover B Chris Houghton), $3.99
Peanuts #2 (Of 4)(Charles Schultz Regular Cover), $3.99

CAMPFIRE
Jungle Book GN (Campfire Graphic Novels), $12.99
Leonardo Da Vinci The Renaissance Man GN (Campfire Graphic Novels), $9.99
Perseus Destiny’s Call GN (Campfire Graphic Novels), $11.99

DC COMICS
All-New Batman The Brave And The Bold #16 (Final Issue), $2.99 ^^AA Pick^^

GRAPHIX
Bone Quest For The Spark Novel Volume 2 HC, $22.99
Bone Quest For The Spark Novel Volume 2 SC, $10.99

KODANSHA COMICS
Deltora Quest Volume 4 GN, $10.99
Gon Volume 3 GN (Kodansha Edition), $10.99
Shugo Chara Chan Volume 2 GN, $10.99

PAPERCUTZ
Ernest And Rebecca Volume 2 Sam The Repulsive HC, $11.99

The Picks:

Adventure Time #1 – Boom! Studios scores a new phenomenon. Finn the Human, a 13-year-old boy, and Jake the Dog, a 28-year-old dog with stretching powers, live together in a treehouse in the Land of Ooo. They are always on the lookout for adventure as they fight the evil Ice King and protect the bubblegum/human hybrid, Princess Bubblegum. This series is based on the wildly popular Cartoon Network TV show, but the stories feature all new adventures. Kids love the strange, random characters and landscape. At least, my kids do. This is a series both boys and girls will enjoy, and it would fit in a library from elementary on up to high school.

All-new Batman: The Brave and The Bold #16 – We say goodbye (again) to a beloved all ages title from DC. Here’s a subject you wouldn’t expect to see in a Batman series: Valentine’s Day! Love is in the air, but so is a whole of sheer magical insanity, because Batgirl has a not-so-secret admirer: Bat-Mite! The biggest problem with comics that are based on animated properties is that, no matter how good the comic is, when the animated show ends, so does the comic. At least, that seems to be the way DC Comics does things. Batman: The Brave and the Bold was unlike any other Batman series currently running at DC, and one of the very few that younger readers could enjoy. Let’s hope that whatever takes its place (assuming a new series does) will be just as accessible.

Images © Boom! Studios and DC Comics respectively.

Friends With Boys, by Faith Erin Hicks

You see, I’ve been following Friends With Boys, Faith’s newest graphic novel, online. She and her publisher First Second have been posting pages daily, and as I write this, the story is just about to reach its climax. It’s really good! And possibly her best work to date. The print edition of Friends With Boys will be released on February 28th. First read this interview, then take a look at the webcomic, then rush, RUSH, to preorder a copy of the book for your library. You won’t be sorry.

Friends With Boys opens on Maggie’s first day in a regular high school after years of being homeschooled by her mother. Her three older brothers offer support, but for the most part, Maggie is left to figure things out for herself. You were homeschooled until you started high school, too. How much of Maggie’s experience those first few days of school is autobiographical?

A lot of Maggie’s terror at being in public school for the first time is autobiographical. After being homeschooled, I had no idea how to act in a school full of other teenagers. My school had this big open locker bay, which was were most of the lockers were, as well as administration offices, and I was terrified of it. It was huge and open and full of teenagers all of whom had eyes and could possibly notice me! It’s weird thinking back on it and remembering how terrified I was.

You’ve said that being homeschooled is what helped develop in you a love of stories and storytelling that otherwise might not have emerged. Can you elaborate on that a little bit?

As weird as it sounds, being bored can be great for creativity. I had a lot of time on my hands as a homeschooler (didn’t have to commute, didn’t have much in the way of homework, didn’t have a TV or a Nintendo), and liked making up stories to entertain myself. I had a whole book series planned out when I was 11. It was about an alien world and a girl fighting an evil force with the help of a flying unicorn and flying puppies … no idea why everything had to fly, but for some reason it did. Anyway, I didn’t have a TV and had a lot of free time, so I did a lot of reading. Reading was my entertainment. Since I read a lot, I started thinking, “Hey, this looks easy! I can write stories too! Now I’m going to write the stories that I want to read.” Which apparently involved a lot of flying unicorns and puppies.

All of the stories you write have an element of fantasy to them; zombies, unicorns, ghosts, and even superheroes. What is it about stories like these that appeal to you? Were there books you read as a child that inspired you to write stories with a bit of a supernatural twist?

I absolutely loved science fiction and fantasy when I was a kid. I would go comb the library shelves for the books with a little Saturn symbol on their spine, because they were the science fiction and fantasy books and they were my favourite. I can’t really put my finger on why I was drawn to that genre, but it probably had to do with those books usually being focused on world-building, mystery and adventure, and less on … well, romance and relationships. I was vehemently anti-romance as a kid. Romance was gross. Now that I’m a cartoonist, I’m still drawn to stories that have that genre twist. I love the idea of there being more to the world than what we can see and touch. And romance is still gross (just kidding).

War at Ellsmere, by Faith Erin Hicks

My favourite authors growing up were Lloyd Alexander (I loved him so much I named characters in Friends With Boys after him), Zilpha Keatley Synder, Diana Wynne Jones, and Jane Yolan. I was also madly in love with a science fiction book by Pamela F. Service called Under Alien Stars (I think I read it 50 times, but never read anything else by her, oddly enough), and the Birth of the Firebringer trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce. That one was all unicorns, so it was a big deal for 11 year old me.

Frequently on Twitter you’ve mentioned that drawing is hard for you and you often don’t like the way your finished art looks on the page. What keeps you motivated to create new graphic novels when the process is such a struggle?

I started doing online comics years and years ago, and even though comics are really hard to create, I fell in love with making them. With comics you have to learn how to draw everything really well. It’s not just drawing people, comics are backgrounds and props and cars and animals and learning to draw these things from all angles and in a style that is appealing and fresh. It’s a constant struggle to update and improve my skills. But even though it’s a struggle, it’s something I really love to do. A well made comic is my favourite thing in the world, and I want to someday be the person who makes that comic and gives a reader enjoyment.  It’s like that completely annoying saying: Nothing worth doing is easy to do. Besides, someone has to make comics about flying unicorns and puppies … (Disclaimer: I have not made this graphic novel yet and probably never will. Apologies to 11 year old me.)

All of the graphic novels you’ve had published easily fit into the Young Adult category. I know you’re a big reader of graphic novels (and a huge fan of Fullmetal Alchemist). Do you also read YA prose? What are you reading now that you can recommend? Which webcomics do read that you really hope find an offline publisher?

I’ve been getting into YA recently, and I really like it. There seems to be a lot of stories about characters that appeal to me, boys and girls who strike out on their own and kick butt, often with crazy supernatural stuff going on.  I read Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan a few weeks ago and totally did NOT get all sniffly at the end (lies. I cried). I liked Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld a lot, because I love the whole ‘girl disguises herself as a boy, does awesome things’ genre. I read the Hunger Games trilogy, and loved the beginning but didn’t think much of the ending (I still recommend it, though). The Chaos Walking trilogy was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating. I have The Scorpio Races on hold at the library right now, and am really looking forward to reading it. Apparently it has killer ponies. Mostly I browse around various YA blogs and see what people are excited about, and if it sounds interesting, I head to my local library to check it out.

As for webcomics, all the ones I read either already have publishers, or are part of vast self publishing empires, so I’ve no idea.

**********
Many thanks to Faith and to Gina Gagliano at First Second for making this interview possible.

Mystic: The Tenth Apprentice
Written by G. Willow Wilson; Illustrated by Daniel Lopez
Age Rating: T+
Marvel Comics, January 2012, ISBN 978-0-7851-5608-6
96 pages, $14.99

Mystic is the revival of an older series by the same name. That title was written by Ron Marz and illustrated by Brandon Peterson and John Dell and was published by CrossGen in the early 2000s. All of the CrossGen titles were designed to interconnect, but with this reboot, Marvel has done away with that, making all of the series (so far Marvel has also re-worked and re-released Sigil and Ruse) easier for readers to follow without feeling like they needed to read all of the books in all of the series in order to understand the overarching plot.

Overall, Wilson and Lopez’s story has good bones. Giselle and Genevieve are realistically frustrated young women. Readers will ache along with them as they suffer injustice after injustice. The glaring gap between rich and poor in the land of Hyperion is just the sort of situation designed to foster trouble and to inspire readers to root for the underdog heroes. The magical elements have the right amount of mystical strangeness to be appealing to fantasy readers. Lopez does an excellent job of adding fantastical and steampunk elements to the art, from larger details to small touches in the background. His characters are old enough to attract even older teen readers, but while the tale has violence, nothing is outside of the level appropriate for a middle school crowd. Nathan Fairbairn’s colors are a particularly nice touch. He uses a number of shimmering greens and purples that play up the magical aether used by Hyperion’s residents for all manner of purposes. The colors feel like a Disney animation all grown-up, which should make the book appeal to budding animators as well as graphic novel readers.

Unfortunately, though, Mystic: The Tenth Apprentice suffers from an unrealistic page count and a seeming rush to tell a “complete” story in only four issues, resulting in a graphic novel that is too thin to be truly enjoyable. Readers are never given a chance to get to know the characters or even time to catch their breath between dramatic scenes. In many respects it feels as if this graphic novel was cut and pasted together from a longer, more well-rounded work. I found myself wishing that Wilson and Lopez had been given more time, more pages, more issues to tell their tale, so that I would have time to immerse myself in their world. I have a feeling they would be able to do amazing things if they’d only been allowed. So, despite the strong attempt by the creators, the result is only so-so and recommended only for collections desperate for more fantasy graphic novels.

This review is based on a complimentary copy supplied by the publisher. All images copyright © Marvel Comics.

Have you encountered such concerns before? If you do collect graphic novel biographies in your professional capacity, is the presence of fictionalized dialogue a factor you consider when making purchase decisions? And do you know of any review guidelines for biographical graphic novels?
- a public librarian in the U.S.

This question prompted an discussion of how we librarians think of biographies, nonfiction, and format. I had my own ideas about how to consider graphic biographies, but I also invited my colleagues at Good Comics for Kids to chime in with their thoughts on the question so we’d have a multitude of perspectives.

My instinct is that fictionalized dialogue is not enough (in most cases) to invalidate a graphic novel biography. Every biographer makes decisions about what they portray, and how they show their subject’s state of mind, and while they may or may not construct dialog, they do write description and narrative that affects what the readers understand to be true. What they choose to include or leave out affects the book’s tone. I feel like any biographer’s narrative and point of view would have as much potential to skew the truth as using constructed dialog to tell a nonfiction story. Similarly, in memoirs writers recreate scenes and dialog (and may well be debated by the other participants of their lives), so I personally do not see this as a barrier to considering graphic novel biographies as valid biographies.

When I asked my colleagues here what they thought, Scott added, “…I think there’s ultimately an element of ‘fictionalization’ in any biography. I wonder if [we] would consider a biopic to be not a true biography, also. It’s pretty much the same thing as a graphic novel with dialogue.”

Eva chimed in with a Children’s librarian perspective: “…I’m used to seeing non-fiction that has been condensed, squished to fit, or where the author has fit him/herself into the narrative. So some dialog that has been worked to fit mood, intent, etc., wouldn’t phase me a bit. There aren’t many non-fiction graphic novelists out there who can make a story work with no dialog. I think Rick Geary is the exception to the rule.”  Geary, in his Treasury of Victorian Murder and Treasury of Twentieth Century Murder series, uses very little dialog and instead depends on short prose sections per panel to report on the true crimes he covers.

As graphic novels are made up of images (in place of a lot of prose description) and dialog, I can see why someone might be concerned about the validity of dialog. I’ve also known people to be concerned about the content of images, as with George O’Connor’s Journey into Mohawk Country. In that case, the text is word for word a complete primary source (a diary of a 1634 Dutch trader) but the images add to the story, not always strictly narrating what the diary includes. So is it a primary source? Or not?

Our own editor Brigid also brings up graphic biographies that take a different tack in depicting their subject. “I have seen a couple of graphic novel biographies that approach the subject sort of sideways by showing them through the eyes of a fictional third party, like Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow and Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean. In that case the fictionalization is explicit.”

I do think it very much depends on the book. There are some graphic novelists who are meticulous in adding notes to their books to make sure readers know the source of their information — Jim Ottaviani is most exhaustive about this. Check out his notes for the book Fallout, his history and biography of Robert Oppenheimer.

Brigid agrees that notes and references vital to a good graphic novel biography: “Every writer has to pick and choose what they are going to include, as well as the sequence in which they set out the facts. What is kept in and what is left out can strongly influence the tone of the finished book. In the case of graphic novel bios, you really have to have dialogue—otherwise the book will be dull—but the author should clarify somewhere whether the dialogue is documented or reconstructed, as they often do in prose books.”

Scott also thinks the limitation of the format should be recognized. “In terms of review guidelines – I would assume that strong research would be essential and even better with lots of notes and references. I think of something like Zach Worton’s The Klondike in which he admits the areas of the book where he had to piece together a scene based on historical facts in order for it to work. I think admitting the limitations of the form is also essential for a work to be taken seriously.”

Esther also commented, “I don’t believe I’ve ever read a biography that actually uses fictionalized dialogue, but I don’t know that it has to exclude it from the biography section. That said, a compromise might be to just put in the proper dewey section. i.e. something about George Washington can be in 973.7, etc.” This could be a solution for librarians who feel a title isn’t quite a biography but still allows readers to discover more general information.

The majority of the graphic novel biography writers do exhaustive research, and I trust them not to invent dialog untrue to the circumstances or history they’re presenting. In terms of getting a reader interested in someone’s life, I think graphic novels have a strong place in engaging readers.

I would, however, leave it up to teachers to judge a particular graphic novel biography as a strong enough source for a paper, again depending on the notes and research in evidence. I would also trust biographies with further notes and obvious research more than I would a book that doesn’t cite it’s sources or discuss the limits of the format.

What do you think, dear readers? Have you pondered what makes a graphic nonfiction title nonfiction? Where do you draw lines?

The Good Comics for Kids Question Tuesday column is here to do one thing: answer your questions! To send in your questions for the next Question Tuesday, please go to our form here or send out a tweet to me at @nfntrobin or to all of us at @goodcomics4kids. We will endeavor to answer as many questions as possible in our weekly column. All questions are due in by Friday at midnight so we’ll have a chance to write up the answers for the next week.

Following on the heels of Kevin Keller’s wedding, Archie Comics announced that Archie will marry Valerie Smith (star of Josie and the Pussycats) in issue #633 of Archie.

VIZ unveiled Shonen Jump Alpha this week, replacing the monthly print magazine with a weekly digital version. John Jakala took it for a test drive and pronounced the new magazine “not quite ready for prime time.”

English teacher and Sequential Tart contributor Olwynn Supeene shares her experiences teaching Macbeth using The Shakespeare Project’s graphic novel adaptation.

In case you missed it: DC Comics teamed up with Aardman Studios (Creature Comforts, Chicken Run, The Wrong Trousers) to produce a cute promotional video for the DC Nation programming block on Cartoon Network.

Reviews: At Comics Worth Reading, Ed Sizemore and his ten-year-old nephew compare notes on Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom. Drew McCabe dedicates his latest From Friendly Ghosts to Gamma Rays column to Ninjango, a comic based on a hot Lego property, and volume two of Ted Naifeh’s Polly and the Pirates.

Young Readers (Ages 4-8)
Tanya on Mega Mash-Ups (books4yourkids)
Nic on vols. 1-2 of Pokemon Adventures: Diamond and Pearl Platinum (No Flying No Tights)

Pre-Teens (Ages 9-12)
Katherine Dacey on The Art of The Secret World of Arrietty (The Manga Critic)
Tanya on Bad Island (books4yourkids)
Adrian Neibauer on Lewis & Clark (The Graphic Classroom)
Rob McMonigal on My Mommy Is in America, and She Met Buffalo Bill (Panel Patter)
Whitney on The Unsinkable Walker Bean (No Flying No Tights)
Greg McElhatton on Usagi Yojimbo #143 (Read About Comics)
Jonathan Liu on Wormwood Saga (Wired)

Teens (13+)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 3 of Animal Land (Sequential Tart)
Sterg Botzakis on Essex County Vol. 2: Ghost Stories (Graphic Novel Resources)
John Hogan on Friends with Boys (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Tanya on Friends with Boys (books4yourkids)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of Genkaku Picasso (Manga Xanadu)
Anna on vol. 1 of Hana Kimi 3-in-1 Edition (Manga Report)
Matt on vols. 1-7 of Kurozakuro (No Flying No Tights)
Alexander Hoffman on vol. 1 of Mardock Scramble (Manga Widget)
Sheli on vol. 1 of Monster Hunter Orage (No Flying No Tights)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 3 of Negima! Omnibus (Sequential Tart)
Holly von Winckel on Political Power #1: Mitt Romney (Sequential Tart)
Tanya on Same Difference (books4yourkids)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Wandering Son (A Case Suitable for Treatment)

The List:

APE ENTERTAINMENT
Richie Rich Gems Winter Special (One Shot), $3.99

ARCHIE COMICS
Sonic Super Special Magazine #2, $9.99
Sonic The Hedgehog #233, $2.99
World Of Archie Double Digest #14, $3.99

BONGO COMICS
Futurama Comics #59, $2.99
Sergio Aragones Funnies #7, $3.50
Simpsons Illustrated #1, $3.99

BOOM! STUDIOS
Ice Age Iced In (One Shot)(was ‘Ice Age A Mammoth Christmas’), $3.99 ^^AA Pick^^

DC COMICS
Scooby-Doo Where Are You #18, $2.99

GRAPHIX
Pandemonium Volume 1 HC, $22.99
Pandemonium Volume 1 SC, $12.99 ^^AA Pick^^

PAPERCUTZ
Dance Class Volume 1 So You Think You Can Hip Hop HC, $9.99
Garfield And Co Volume 5 A Game Of Cat And Mouse HC, $7.99

The Picks:

Pandemonium Volume 1 SC – Careful what you wish for… Seifer Tombchewer is the envy of his peers. He’s fast, strong, and captain of the local skullball team. But Seifer dreams of leaving his tiny, remote village for a new life beyond the mountains—until the day it comes true! Seifer is abducted and taken to the royal palace. The Prince, Talon Pandemonium has gone missing, and Seifer is a dead ringer for him. So now it’s Seifer’s duty to replace the missing prince in his roles of diplomat, warrior and Lord Defender of the Realm. In over his head, he might be able to fool Talon’s sisters, or Talon’s army. But his enemies…? This new fantasy-adventure graphic novel from acclaimed author Chris Wooding takes a classic tale of doubles and mistaken identity and turns it into a fun adventure set in the original world of the Darkling Realm. Tween and middle school students will no doubt enjoy this series.

Ice Age Iced In – Boom Studios digs into another property with a series of one-shots for KaBoom! Manny the Wooly Mammoth, Sid the Sloth, Diego the Smilodon and Scrat the “Saber-toothed” squirrel reunite for an all new adventure. Scrat’s eternal quest for his acorn spells trouble for the boys as they are trapped together in an ice cave and must figure out how to survive. With a fourth movie scheduled for release later this year, this book is perfect for getting back into the paleolithic mood. The memorable characters and funny situations make this a great treat for kids. It would make a great addition to any elementary or young reader library. Check out the preview here at GCFK!

Images © Graphix and Boom! Studios

Wandering Son, vol. 2
by Shimura Takako
Ages 13+
Fantagraphics, October 2011, ISBN 978-1-60699-456-6
228 pages, $19.99

Readers who fell for the first volume of Takako’s quietly gripping tale of trangenderism (reviewed here by me this past summer) will be thrilled with where she takes the story in volume two, even though it is clear that she is still only at the beginning of her series. Shuichi and Yoshino are beginning to become young teens, dealing with issues of puberty that only reinforce that they are not in the bodies they desire. But they draw strength from knowing each other’s secret and, as they begin to make friends who also know, those friends are an additional source of comfort.

Takako’s art is still as gentle and comforting as it was in volume one, but this volume does up the ante some in terms of content. Nothing is inappropriate or done simply for shock value, but there is some use of the term “faggot” and discussions of the physical changes of puberty. But it is those touches of realism that make the story as believable as it is. Teens, even young ones, will understand the emotions swirling in the characters’ heads, from Shuichi’s overly dramatic sister to Yoshino’s frustration at getting her period to Shuichi’s embarrassment and terror at being bullied on a school trip.

Translator Matt Thorn again offers a short, but extremely thought-provoking essay at the end of the book. In volume one, he discussed the difficulties of translating and explaining honorifics to a Western audience (something that is particularly tricky in a book about transgendered characters). In this volume he explains the way Japanese society views gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people and how the Western world often misinterprets this view. It’s an intriguing bit of scholarship which helps not only bring to life the world that Takako has created, but also leaves readers anxious about and worried for Yoshino and Shuichi. Whatever happens with them over the course of the series—which is currently at 12 volumes in Japan—this reader will definitely be there. This is not a series to miss.

This review is based on a complimentary copy supplied by the publisher. All images copyright © Fantagraphics.

DC Comics just unveiled the publication schedule for The New 52 collections. Best-selling titles like Wonder Woman, Action Comics, and Justice League will be released in both hardcover and trade paperback, while other titles — including the six that DC recently canceled — will be released in TPB only.

David Robertson discusses his forthcoming graphic novel, Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story, which explores a dark chapter in Canada’s history: the warehousing and abuse of Native American children at government-run boarding schools.

In case you missed it: YALSA unveiled its annual Great Graphic Novels for Teens list earlier this week.

Curious about the Sailor Moon phenomenon? Erin Elizabeth Fraser offers an in-depth look at this beloved shojo manga, which is back in print again thanks to Kodansha Comics.

Reviews: Wondering what graphic novels to buy for your library’s collection? Johanna Draper Carlson tackles 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die: The Ultimate Guide to Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and Manga. Across the pond, Forbidden Planet International examines the latest issue The Phoenix, a new all-ages comics magazine.

Young Readers (Ages 4-8)
Kevin Hodgson on How Do We Stay on Earth: A Gravity Mystery (The Graphic Classroom)
Snow Wildsmith on Leo Geo and His Miraculous Journey through the Center of the Earth (ICv2)
Danica Davidson on Luz Sees the Light (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Bill on Rick & Rack and the Great Outdoors (No Flying No Tights)
Bill on Stinky (No Flying No Tights)

Pre-Teens (Ages 9-12)
John Hogan on The Adventures of Simone & Ajax (Graphic Novel Reporter)
John Hogan on Amazing True Stories: Ellis Island (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Emma on Atlas (No Flying No Tights)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1-2 of Princess Knight (ICv2)
Anna on vols. 6-7 of Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura (Manga Report)

Teens (13+)
Greg McElhatton on Blue (Read About Comics)
Nick Smith on vol. 1 of Dawn of the Arcana (ICv2)
Allen on Don Quixote, Part II (No Flying No Tights)
Nathan Wilson on Flashpoint (Graphic Novel Reporter)
John Hogan on Friends with Boys (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Sheli on vol. 1 of I Am Here! (No Flying No Tights)
Kevin Hodgson on I See The Promised Land (The Graphic Classroom)
Corinna Lawson on Marvel Firsts: The 1970s (Wired)
Snow Wildsmith on Mush! Sled Dogs with Issues (ICv2)
Emma on Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics (No Flying No Tights)
Sheli on Spider-Man: Torment (No Flying No Tights)
Jenny on vols. 1-4 of The Story of Saiunkoku (No Flying No Tights)