Category: Graphic Novels

Second ‘Clementine’ graphic novel will shamble into stores in October

Tillie Walden continues the story of the popular Walking Dead video game character this fall.

With the first volume of the graphic novel Clementine hitting stores today, Skybound has announced that the second volume will arrive from Image Comics in October.

Released under the new Skybound Comet banner — an imprint for young adult and middle grade graphic novels — Clementine features the character made popular in the Telltale Walking Dead games, in new stories written and drawn by On a Sunbeam creator Tillie Walden.

“We couldn’t be more proud of the work Tillie did on Clementine Book One,” said Alex Antone, Senior Editor at Skybound, “And in Book Two, Tillie takes Clementine’s story to even greater heights with a new heart-pounding and heart-wrenching adventure about finding family, embracing love and growing up in the darkest of times.” 

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Duchovny + Sevy team for the science fiction story ‘Kepler’

Dark Horse will release the graphic novel co-written by ‘The X-Files’ star later this year.

Actor and author David Duchovny will work with co-writer and artist Phillip Sevy on a new science fiction graphic novel, coming from Dark Horse later this year.

Kepler is not only the title but also the world where the story takes place. It’s a world where homo sapiens went extinct and other hominid species thrived, and focuses on a Neanderthal girl, West, and the Benadem, a group of “benevolent space gods.”

“What if we, humans got another chance with a fresh new world we hadn’t depleted and polluted?” Duchovny told Forbes. “What if we entered into a new phase of colonization, space colonization — would we have learned from our genocidal colonial past? And what if, instead of indigenous peoples we were displacing and decimating, we came upon other types of hominids from our distant earth past? Neanderthals, Denisovans and other intelligent evolving primates native to Kepler. Would we treat them as the evolutionary brothers and sisters they are? Or would we play God and try to remake them and this planet in our own image? I guess this graphic novel is my working out the answer to those questions.”

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DC announces three young adult graphic novels for next year

New stories featuring Lois Lane, Harley Quinn and Static arrive next year.

DC has announced three new graphic novels aimed at the young adult market that will arrive next spring featuring new takes on Lois Lane, Harley Quinn and Static.

Coming in April of next year is Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story by Sarah Kuhn and Arielle Jovellanos, set before Lois was the journalist we know today. She’s “an ambitious small town girl tackling summer in the big city with gusto,” according to the description. “Lois is excited about her internship, her cosmopolitan apartment, and the future she sees unfolding before her, only to find that things rarely go according to plan.”

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Weird Al’s songs come to comics, courtesy of Z2

Songs by the legendary singer will be adapted into comics by Peter Bagge, Michael Kupperman, Ryan Dunlavey, Bob Fingerman and more.

Weird Al Yankovic, the legendary parody/humor songwriter known for such classics as “Eat It” and “Amish Paradise,” will have his songs adapted into comics by some of the industry’s best talent.

Z2 Comics will release The Illustrated Al: The Songs of “Weird Al” Yankovic as a softcover and hardcover, featuring cover art by Drew Friedman and Mike & Laura Allred.

“It’s such an incredible honor to see my song lyrics brought to life by some of my all-time favorite cartoonists and illustrators,” Yankovic said. “I’ve actually been playing the long game—the only reason I spent four decades in the music business is so that one day I could have my very own graphic novel.”

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Scholastic to publish ‘Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game’ graphic novel

Kaepernick will work with co-writer Eve L. Ewing and artist Orlando Caicedo on the project.

Following the release earlier this year of the children’s book I Color Myself Different, athlete/advocate Colin Kaepernick and Scholastic have announced the upcoming publication of Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game, a graphic novel memoir detailing his high school years before he entered the spotlight of professional sports.

The graphic novel will be co-written by Kaepernick and Eve L. Ewing, who wrote Ironheart for Marvel, and illustrated by Orlando Caicedo. It’s also the latest project from Kaepernick Publishing, which also has another graphic novel, Dreamer, set to be released in February.

“I’m excited to continue to grow and expand Kaepernick Publishing’s relationship with Scholastic,” said Colin Kaepernick. “Change the Game is the true story of my high school years–a period punctuated by the trials and triumphs of adolescence. It was during this time that I began to grow unapologetically into my own identity, into my own sense of self. I hope this graphic novel encourages readers to nurture their own evolution and to trust their power—in a phrase—to change the game.”

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Graphic Mundi announces four new graphic novels for later this year

Look for new work by Fabien Toulmé, Catherine Pioli, Kathleen Founds and Maureen Burdock in the fall.

Graphic Mundi, the graphic novel imprint of Penn State University Press, has announced four new graphic novels they’ll publish later this year.

The line-up includes a third Hakim’s Odyssey book from Fabien Toulmé (who was nominated for an Eisner earlier today), plus new works by Catherine Pioli, Kathleen Founds and Maureen Burdock.

The Graphic Mundi imprint, which was announced at the end of 2020, spun out of PSU Press’s Graphic Medicine line. But it’s featuring graphic novels on a broader set of topics, including health and human rights, politics, the environment, science and technology. And despite only being around for a short time, they’ve already picked up two Eisner nominations.

Here’s a rundown of the four new books:

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Dark Horse to publish S. Craig Zahler’s ‘Organisms from an Ancient Cosmos’

The novelist, musician and director of ‘Bone Tomahawk’ writes and draws his second graphic novel.

Dark Horse has announced plans to publish a graphic novel by S. Craig Zahler, the director of the movies Bone Tomahawk and Dragged Across Concrete, as well as the creator of the graphic novel Forbidden Surgeries Of The Hideous Dr. Divinus.

He’s also a novelist and the drummer for the metal band Charnel Valley, and he’s working to bring one of his novels, Hug Chickenpenny: The Panegyric of an Anomalous Child, to the screen with the help of The Jim Henson Company. So he has a lot going on creatively, but he still found time to write and draw Organisms from an Ancient Cosmos, his new graphic novel.

“My first artistic interest was illustration, and after writing eight novels, recording nine albums, and directing three movies, it was a pleasure to draw once more. In this graphic novel, which is my second, I explore morally complex characters, intimate human drama, large-scale world building, and speculative science,” Zahler said. “I began working on the piece at the very beginning of lockdown and finished more than a year later when I received my first vaccine. Creating ‘Organisms from an Ancient Cosmos’ was an incredibly gratifying experience, and I’m thrilled to have it published by Dark Horse Comics, whose books I’ve read since the eighties.”

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‘Gender Queer’ tops the ALA’s ‘Most Challenged Books of 2021’ list

Half the books on 2021’s top 10 list were targeted for including LGBTQIA+ content.

In a year that saw the highest number of book challenges in libraries and schools since the ALA began compiling data on the topic, the graphic novel Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe topped the American Library Association’s list of most challenged books for 2021.

More than 700 book challenges — which are reported attempts by citizens and parents to have books removed from their public library or a school library — were recorded by the ALA, a record number since they began sharing data and making this list in 2000. This resulted in almost 1,600 individual book challenges or removals, as some challenges were against multiple titles.

“The 729 challenges tracked by ALA represent the highest number of attempted book bans since we began compiling these lists 20 years ago,” said ALA President Patricia “Patty” Wong. “We support individual parents’ choices concerning their child’s reading and believe that parents should not have those choices dictated by others. Young people need to have access to a variety of books from which they can learn about different perspectives. So, despite this organized effort to ban books, libraries remain ready to do what we always have: make knowledge and ideas available so people are free to choose what to read.”

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Florida school district removes Telgemeier’s ‘Drama,’ 15 other books from shelves

‘Drama’ is once again at the center of school drama as the often-banned book is targeted by a conservative political group; this comes a few weeks after ‘Maus’ was banned in Tennessee.

Raina Telgemeier’s Drama, one of the most challenged books of the last decade, has been “quarantined” by a school district after a conservative political group complained it contained “obscene material.”

Polk County Public Schools removed 16 books from shelves and placed them in “quarantine” — that’s actually how they referred to it; I hope they gave it a mask — after County Citizens Defending Freedom complained that they violated two Florida statutes related to distributing obscene or harmful materials to children.

“While it is not the role of my office to approve/evaluate instructional or resource materials at that level, I do have an obligation to review any allegation that a crime is being or has been committed,” Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Frederick Heid wrote in the email to the Ledger. “It is also my obligation to provide safeguards to protect our employees. The district will be taking the following steps to ensure that we address this issue honestly, fairly, and transparently.” 

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Alex Ross will write and draw large-format ‘Fantastic Four: Full Circle’ graphic novel

Marvel teams with Abrams ComicArt for a unique project from the renowned artist.

Marvel and Abrams ComicArt will team up to present a unique project from artist/painter Alex Ross — Fantastic Four: Full Circle, a large-format hardcover graphic novel featuring Marvel’s first family.

The book will be presented in a format that mirrors the Marvel Graphic Novel line from the 1980s. It also ill include a full-color foldout poster featuring the fully painted origin of the Fantastic Four. According to Marvel, this publication also marks the launch of MarvelArts, a graphic novel collaboration between Marvel Comics and Abrams ComicArts.

“This is the Fantastic Four story I have been wanting to tell for years, and visually it is one of the greatest artistic experiments I have attempted,” Ross told Marvel.com. “I’m excited to share this work with everyone, as it unites the two great publishing forces of Marvel and Abrams ComicArts in a bold new collaboration.”

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Cornell + Yeowell combine fantasy with rom com in ‘Three Little Wishes’

Legendary Comics announces a new project about fairies, wishes and winning back your ex.

Legendary Comics revealed a new graphic novel during a panel at C2E2 today — Three Little Wishes, by writer Paul Cornell (who also revealed the news on his blog) and artist Steven Yeowell. They’ll be joined by Pippa Bowland on colors and Simon Bowland on letters.

According to the description, the fantasy rom com original graphic novel, scheduled to arrive next summer, “follows a contract lawyer, who upon discovering a fairy that grants three wishes, attempts to fix the world.”

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A third ‘Cat Kid Comic Club’ graphic novel will arrive in April

‘Cat Kid Comic Club: On Purpose,’ the third graphic novel in Dav Pilkey’s popular series, hits stores April 5.

Dav Pilkey’s Cat Kid Comic Club: Perspectives arrived in stores this week and currently sits at #6 on Amazon’s best-selling books list, but Pilkey isn’t resting on his laurels. Scholastic has announced that the third volume in the series, Cat Kid Comic Club: On Purpose, will arrive in stores next April.

The series spins out of the popular Dog Man series and features Li’l Petey, aka Cat Kid, as he teaches readers — and a bunch of baby frogs, — about making comics.

“With the Cat Kid Comic Club series, my hope is that kids find joy in reading, appreciate different ways of thinking, and find their purpose as they dream up their own stories,” Pilkey said in a press release.

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