How Graphic Novels Became the Hottest Section in the Library

News How Graphic Novels Became the Hottest Section in the Library According to old stereotypes, it shouldn't work—serious librarians should want nothing to do with the raucous, pulp world of comics—and for a long time it didn't. But over the past decade, the graphic novel genre has become one of the fastest-growing at libraries of all kinds, as a new generation of librarians adopts the category as a means to energize collections and boost circulation and patronage. more Abrams ComicArts to Publish Adaptation of Octavia Butler's 'Kindred' In an unusual announcement, Abrams ComicArts plans to publish a comics adaptation of renowned science-fiction author Octavia Butler's acclaimed novel, Kindred, and noted that the book will be edited by newly hired senior editor Carol Burrell, who was originally chosen to adapt and draw the adaptation herself for another publisher back in 2009. more Fantagraphics Books Grows, Looks to Digital Seattle-based Fantagraphics Books has grown from publishing only The Comics Journal, an often controversial monthly publication focused on news of the comics industry and criticism of the comics medium, into one of the foremost publishers of comics, graphic novels and related works in the world. more Control Freak: The Prickly, Hostile World of Michael DeForge Michael DeForge is one of the most striking and popular talents in alternative comics, as evidenced by his two Eisner nominations this year; in conversation with James Romberger, he reveals the secrets of his intense personal world. more Bob Fingerman Talks to Robert Kirkman about 'Maximum Minimum Wage' Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman talks with Bob Fingerman about Minimum Wage, his semi-autobiographical comic about the lives of Sylvia and Rob in an ultra-realistic New York City, now republished, in all its hilariously demented glory, in an oversized edition called Maximum Mininum Wage, just out from Image Comics. more Today's Job Media Connect is seeking a Digital Publicity Manager. Maybe it's you! For more about this and other jobs, visit PW JobZone. To post a new job, click here. Artists Alley is the Winner at C2E2 Although crowds came out in force for this year's C2E2, they had a better time than the publishers who attended. Attendance was up significantly—53,000 compared to last year's 40,000—but most attendees were not in a buying mood. Business was better, however, in the show's Artists Alley. more DC Publishes Guide to Its Graphic Novel Backlist Looking to provide info to retailers, librarians, and consumers interested in its book-format comics, DC Comics is publishing the DC Entertainment Essential Graphic Novels and Chronology 2013, a 121-page reading guide and index to the publisher's extensive backlist of collected and original graphic novels. The guide will be released this month to stores in print and digital versions and will be available via the DC Comics Web site. more Dublin's James Joyce Center Licenses Web Rights to 'Ulysses Seen' In what may be the beginnings of a new business model—at least for libraries and academic institutions—for supporting long-form serious comics narratives, Rob Berry, creator of Ulysses Seen, the online graphic adaptation of James Joyce's literary masterpiece, has licensed the graphic work to the James Joyce Center in Dublin, Ireland, for online display, in addition to selling the center the original artwork in a separate deal. more Corsetto Goes Long Form with 'Adventure Time' Popular webcomic creator Danielle Corsetto talks about adapting to the world of graphic novels with Adventure Time: Playing With Fire. more Chris Ware, Fantagraphics Top 2013 Eisner Award Nominees The 2013 Eisner Award nominations were highlighted by Chris Ware's Building Stories, nominated in five categories including Best New Graphic Novel, and Fantagraphics Books, which led all publishers with 24 nominations. The Eisner Comic Industry Awards honor the best in comics and graphic novel publishing and are presented each year at the San Diego Comic-con International. more 'My Little Pony' Leads Kids' Comics Charge Kids' comics were a vital piece of the comics industry's nearly 15% overall sales increase in 2012. IDW's My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #1 stampeded the periodical comics sales charts with an astonishing 90,100 in pre-orders last fall. According to Diamond's Year-End Sales and Market Share Report for 2012, in spite of its late-in-the-year release, the Hasbro-licensed title came in at #90 in terms of total units sold and #61 in total dollar sales. IDW's v-p of marketing, Dirk Wood, said that, while exact sell-through numbers to consumers are difficult to determine, My Little Pony "with multiple printings, went well over 100,000 in total unit sales for the first issue." more Comics Specialty Market Continues to Grow The comics specialty market was up 29% over last year in the first quarter, according to figures released at the 2013 Diamond Retailer Summit in Chicago. The figures surprised most all in attendance, who attributed the gain to general interest in "nerd culture." more New from Akashic: 'Simon's Cat,' Uglytown's 'By the Balls' Looking for a repeat of its surprise picture book bestseller, Go the F**k to Sleep, Akashic publisher Johnny Temple is touting two new books with strong graphic components. Just out from the house is a book by Simon Tofield, Simon's Cat in Kitten Chaos, a collection of cat cartoons that tie in with his wildly popular animated cartoons on YouTube; plus a 15th anniversary edition of By The Balls: The Complete Edition, the acclaimed hardboiled crime novel written and published by Jim Pascoe and Tom Fassbender, with illustrations by comics artist Paul Pope. more Dark Horse Digital Store Marks 2 Years; Adds Dynamite Digital Comics Marking its second anniversary, Dark Horse Digital, Dark Horse Comics' standalone online comics store and reader-app, announced plans to add Dynamite Entertainment titls to its inventory, the first non-Dark Horse titles to be offered through the retail site. more Sammy Harkham Wins L.A. Times Graphic Novel Award Sammy Harkham's Everything Together: Collected Stories (PictureBox) has been awarded the L.A Times Book Prize for Graphic Novels. more How H.P. Lovecraft Was Made Into a Graphic Novel The story behind one of Lovecraft's great stories, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward." more 'Miss Peregrine's Home' Goes Graphic Published in June 2011, Ransom Riggs's YA novel Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children captured the attention of readers with its use of found and manipulated old photographs of children with impossible powers. Next up, an adaption from Yen Press, which specializes in transforming existing books into graphic novels. Bookshelf spoke with Yen's publisher and Miss Peregrine's illustrator about what makes a property ripe for adaption, and what's involved in the process. more More To Come: The PW Comics World Podcast More To Come 49: Comics Alliance Closes In this week's podcast the More to Come Crew - Heidi "The Beat" MacDonald, Calvin Reid and Kate Fitzsimons - discuss Free Comic Book Day, comics in libraries, C2E2, the closing of Comics Alliance, the Outhouse DC Comics blacklist controversy and much more on PWCW's More to Come. More More To Come 48: 2013 Eisner Nominees In this week's podcast the More to Come Crew – Heidi "The Beat" MacDonald, Calvin Reid and Kate Fitzsimons – discuss this year's excellent Eisner slate, Marvel marketing and Marvel Now's falling sales numbers, Saga censored... or was it and much more on PWCW's More to Come. More Reviews Crater XV Kevin Cannon. Top Shelf, $19.95 (496p) ISBN 978-1-60309-100-8 In Cannon's second full-length Army Shanks adventure, Shanks is a scarred man following the events of Far Arden. Struggling with loss and heartbreak, he is ready to buy a one-way ticket to Antarctica when developments on Devon Island change his plans: Shanks befriends a teenage girl named Wendy who is intent on raising money to join a space program in Europe, and a mysterious Siberian oil tanker called the Lunayev anchors in Canadian waters, claiming it is launching a rocket to the moon. more Punk Rock Jesus Sean Murphy. DC/Vertigo, $16.99 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-4012-3768-4 \t This bracing tale of the Second Coming uses contemporary social issues to explore a familiar "what if?" scenario—namely, what would happen if Jesus showed up and was confronted with the corrupt, consumerist culture in which we live? In Murphy's version of this oft-posed query, a power-hungry producer of a reality television show plays a key role: he has Jesus's DNA, extracted from the Shroud of Turin, injected into an anonymous teenager whom he "casts" as the new virgin. In tracing the maturation of the new Jesus (named Chris here), the action is fast and the plotting is thick. more Sunny Taiyo Matsumoto. Viz Media, $22.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-4215-5525-6 Eisner Award–winner Matsumoto's (Tekkon Kinkreet) newest work is a touching but sad story of the lost souls in the Star Kids children's home. When new kid Sei is dropped off by his parents, he believes they'll return for him soon. But he discovers that the other kids at the home once believed they, too, would quickly return to their parents. The home is populated with problem kids like Junsuke, a kleptomaniac; Haruo, a rebellious preteen whose devil-may-care attitude hides a soft heart; Kenji, who needs his absentee alcoholic father's permission to drop out of middle school; sensitive Megumu, who fears dying alone; and Kiko, a girl trying too hard to become a woman. more The Property Rutu Modan. Drawn and Quarterly, $14.99 (232p) ISBN 978-1-77046-1-154 Modan (Exit Wounds) has proven to be one of the most accessible of graphic novelists, with a cinematic presentation and the ability to capture the complexity of larger human experience within smaller family dramas. Her latest work takes readers on a trip to Warsaw with Mica and her grandmother, Regina, both from Israel. Their purpose in Poland is to check on some long lost property that Regina's father owned prior to the Holocaust; she fled during the war, thus becoming the only family member to survive. The understanding that families were fractured and lives rerouted after WWII is nothing new, but the particulars provide the story here—family secrets and the measure of shame, historical and current attitudes between Poles and Jews, the changing views of cross-culture collusion when a hint of romance is involved, and the ways in which we don't so much reinvent ourselves as repurpose. more Graphic Preview Panel Mania: New School From Dash Shaw, the author of Bodyworld and Bottomless Belly Button, New School follows Danny, a young boy who moves to an exotic land and becomes infatuated with the unfamiliar culture, which changes to disillusionment. Danny's older brother, Luke, teaches English on a remote island at a new amusement park, Clockwork, which recreates historical events. After Luke doesn't return for two years, Danny travels to Clockwork to bring him back, but Luke has created a new life and personality for himself, unrecognizable to his brother. New School will be released by Fantagraphics in July. more	Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Comics Events Upcoming Comics Events 5/11 Kids Comic Con, Bronx, NY 5/11-5/12 Toronto Comics Arts Festival in Toronto, Canada 5/11 Comics From Tahrir Square, NY, NY more On Sale Calendar Freaks Amour (Dark Horse) Batman Incorporated Vol 1 Demon Star (DC) Prophecy (Image) Avengers Arena Vol 1 Kill Or Die T (Marvel) Mumbai Confidential Book 1 Good Cop Bad Cop (Archaia) Red Handed The Fine Art Of Strange Crimes (First Second) We Can Fix It A Time Travel Memoir (Top Shelf) Bakuman Vo.. 16 (Viz Media)

PW Comics World editors: Calvin Reid and Heidi MacDonald Assistant Editor: Matt White Panel Mania editor: Ada Price Podcast Producer and Comics Events editor: Kate Fitzsimons Follow us on Twitter at @PWComicsWeek and on Facebook. Send advertising questions about this eNewsletter to: cbryerman@publishersweekly.com For additional assistance, contact us by email or at the address below. Publishers Weekly, 71 West 23 St. #1608 New York, NY 10010 Phone 212-377-5500 Copyright 2013, PWxyz LLC Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to a Publishers Weekly e-newsletter. To unsubscribe, click the link below.

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