Tag: graphic novels

D + Q to publish Rumi Hara’s ‘Nori’

The Ignatz Award-nominated story about a girl and her grandmother gets the graphic novel treatment in 2020.

Drawn and Quarterly has announced plans to publish Nori, the the debut graphic novel from Rumi Hara, in the spring of 2020.

“Nori is quietly enchanting, drawing you into the adventures of this little girl,” Drawn & Quarterly Publisher and acquiring editor Peggy Burns said. “At times it’s surreal and haunting yet simultaneously a light-hearted depiction of childhood and friendship. Rumi’s draftsmanship is gorgeous and she draws in many folkloric elements in the standalone stories.”

Nori’s story began in a series of minicomics. “It started as a minicomic first printed in 2016 about a little girl and her grandma’s encounter with an army of bats,” Hara said on her website. “I couldn’t stop thinking about this little sassy girl, and now there are 3 minicomics completed in the series.”

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Titan to bring ‘The Prisoner: Shattered Visage’ back into print

Motter and Askwith’s comic book sequel to The Prisoner returns to print for the first time in decades.

Back in the late 1980s Dean Motter and Mark Askwith created a comic book sequel to the cult classic TV show The Prisoner, which was published by DC Comics. In San Diego this week, Titan Comics announced that they will republish the long out-of-print story, The Prisoner: Shattered Visage, with Motter’s character sketches and notes.

“When I was approached to do a series based on The Prisoner, I leapt at the chance. It was one of my favorite TV shows when it first aired. My thinking turned to doing it as a post-modernist fable – one that took place in the current era, but that would re-open the questions from the original saga,” Motter said in a press release. “However, doing the research was going to take more resources than I had – so I drafted my friend and colleague Mark Askwith to help me with that aspect of the project. It became a collaboration almost instantly. I am honored to see it re-presented as part of Titan’s ongoing celebration of The Prisoner‘s ongoing 50th anniversary.”

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Top Shelf announces ‘Surfside Girls’ sequel

Sam and Jade solve mysteries once again in a new volume from Kim Dwinell.

Top Shelf has announced a sequel to one of last year’s “perfect summer reads,” as our own Brigid Alverson called it. Surfside Girls (Book Two): The Mystery at the Old Rancho, finds best friends Sam and Jade tackling a two-hundred-year-old mystery to help one of the local ghosts.

“I’ve had so much fun this last year watching readers of all ages discover Sam and Jade’s world,” says author Kim Dwinell. “I packed Surfside Girls with Southern California sunshine, and I hope everyone enjoys spending time with it as much as I do. I’m absolutely stoked to show you what the girls get up to in Book Two!”

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Smash Pages Q&A: M.S. Harkness on ‘Tinderella’

Minnesota-based artist M.S. Harkness has been making comics and minicomics for a few years now, like Prizefighter, Normal Girl and A Savage Journey to the Heart of an Anime Convention. Kilgore Books just released her debut graphic novel, Tinderella.

The autobiographical tale is about dating, as the title makes clear, and it’s funny, living up to the title’s promise. It’s also a sharp and thoughtful look at life in one’s 20s — or a nightmarish and horrifying reminder of life in one’s 20s, depending on the reader. The book was excerpted in The Comics Journal before it was published, and I reached out to M.S. to ask about the book and how she works.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Gabrielle Lyon on ‘No Small Plans’

The Vice President of Education and Experiences at the Chicago Architecture Foundation discusses her organization’s mission and why they chose to create a graphic novel to help celebrate its 50th anniversary.

One of the most striking and interesting graphic novels of 2017 was No Small Plans, and the book came from an unexpected source – The Chicago Architecture Foundation. In three stories set in three different periods of time, teenagers explore the city of Chicago, confront segregation, development and reconsider not just they think about their city – but how. The story of cities and how they are built and function is very much the story of how we relate to one another, both as individual human beings and through institutions. No Small Plans is a call for teenagers to engage with the city and with government. More than just a call to engagement and action, the book wants people to ask questions, and understand the history of these issues.

Gabrielle Lyon is the Vice President of Education and Experiences at the Chicago Architecture Foundation and the writer and editor of No Small Plans, which she made with Devin Mawdsley, Kayce Bayer, Chris Lin and Deon Reed, members of the Eyes of the Cat Illustration Studio. Lyon is an activist, a comics fan, and she talked about the unlikely origins of the book and their ambitions for it.

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DC Comics reveals creative teams for their young readers lines

Both DC Ink and DC Zoom will debut next April with graphic novels featuring Batman, Raven, Black Canary, Mera and more.

Back in February DC Comics announced plans for two new graphic novel imprints aimed at younger readers — DC Zoom, aimed at middle grade readers (8-12 years) and DC Ink, aimed at young adult readers (13 and older). Today they’ve revealed the creative teams for the first four titles for each imprint.

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‘Monstress,’ ‘My Favorite Thing is Monsters’ win NCS Divisional Awards

Glen Keane honored with the Reuben as 2017’s ‘Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year,’ while John Allison and Gemma Correll win in the webcomics categories.

My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris and Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda continued their winning streaks this weekend, as the National Cartoonists Society honored both with divisional awards. Ferris’ work won for “Best Graphic Novel” while Monstress won for “Best Comic Book.”

In addition, John Allison was honored for his work on Bad Machinery in the “Online Comics – Long Form” category, while Gemma Correll won in the “Online Comics – Short Form” category.

The Daily Cartoonist reports that Academy Award-winning animator and Disney Legend Glen Keane won the 2017 Reuben Award, presented to the NCS’s pick for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.”

The Reuben Awards ceremony took place Saturday at the National Cartoonists Society’s annual get-together in Philadelphia. The complete list of nominees, with the winners in bold, can be found below:

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Marian Churchland’s blog goblins get a print collection in September

Churchland’s delightful creations jump from the web to print in ‘The Hchom Book’ from Image Comics.

While she’s probably better known for comics like Beast, Elephantmen and her various contributions to the 8HOUSE shared universe, my favorite Marian Churchland work has always been her blog. For years she’s posted images of her own want lists, Dragon Age fan art, and these cool little goblins and the world she envisions they live in. Like this guy:

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Smash Pages Q&A: Jason McNamara on ‘Sucker’

McNamara discusses his latest collaboration with artist Tony Talbert, an original graphic novel about vampires, the pharmaceutical industry and immortality.

A vampire stockbroker from the 1980s reemerges in the present day to find that a pharmaceutical industry wants to sink their teeth into him — and steal his immortality. Writer Jason McNamara (The Rattler) teams with longtime collaborator Tony Talbert (Continuity, First Moon, Less Than Hero) to bring this “mature readers” adventure to life. They’re joined by inker John Heebink and colorist Paul Little.

Using Kickstarter, the team hopes you’ll help them see their vision become a reality. We ran a preview of the new book last week, and I caught up with Jason to learn more about the new book, Kickstarter and more.

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Comics Lowdown: ‘XIII’ creator William Vance passes away

Plus: Police investigate Mangamura, the world’s largest comics collection and more.

Passings: The Belgian artist William Vance, creator of the French-language series XIII, has died at the age of 82 from Parkinson’s disease. Born William van Cutsem in Belgium in 1935, Vance served a year in the military and then studied for four years at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He began working for Tintin magazine (not the eponymous series, as stated in one obituary) in 1962, drawing four-page stories, and then launched the his first series, Howard Flynn (written by Yves Duval). He also was the artist for Bruno Brazil, and then he took over as the artist of Bob Morane, a series that had been started by Dino Attanasio. In 1984, he and Jean van Hamme launched XIII, a complex series partially inspired by Robert Ludlum’s Bourne character. Vance illustrated 18 volumes of XIII, which sold over 14 million volumes and was adapted into a television series. In 2010 he announced his retirement due to Parkinson’s disease.

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Sink your teeth into a preview of ‘Sucker’

Jason McNamara and Tony Talbert team up to kickstart a new ‘grind house vampire adventure.’

The Rattler co-creator Jason McNamara has returned to Kickstarter with his longtime collaborator Tony Talbert for a new vampire tale called Sucker.

McNamara and Talbert have worked together on several projects in the past, including Continuity, First Moon and Less Than Hero. This time around they’re creating “a grind house vampire adventure” geared toward mature readers. John Heebink and Paul Little round out the creative team.

And we’ve got a 10-page preview you can check out below.

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IDW to publish graphic novel biography of James Brown

Xavier Fauthoux to write and draw a graphic novel about the Godfather of Soul.

IDW Publishing has announced plans for a graphic novel based on the life of the Godfather of Soul. Written and illustrated by Xavier Fauthoux, James Brown: Black and Proud will be available in stores in October.

“Tracing the life of this cultural juggernaut, Black and Proud, paints a rich portrait of a true larger-than-life American personality,” said Justin Eisinger, Editorial Director of Graphic Novels and Collections at IDW, in a press release. “Even readers more than casually familiar with Mr. Brown’s career and achievements will find plenty of new revelations and details that add a deep complexity to a celebrated cultural icon. And that’s something so powerful about the contemporary non-fiction movement in graphic storytelling.”

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