Posts tagged with graphic-novels
Little Lulu: Vol. 1, by John Stanley and Irving Tripp
The character of Little Lulu was created in 1935 by Marjorie Henderson Buell, beginning life as the subject of a series of gag panels in The Saturday Evening Post and eventually becoming the star of an ongoing comic strip. In 1945, she graduated to her own comic book series, written by John Stanley and illustrated by Irving Tripp. In 2004, Dark Horse Books picked up the rights to reprint the Little Lulu stories, making Lulu's adventures available to a new generation of readers...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Chasing Shadows, by Swati Avasthi
This week's Book Giveaway title is Swati Avasthi's novel Chasing Shadows. Featuring graphic novel-style illustrations by Craig Phillips, this book uses elements of Hindu myth to "create a gripping portrait of two girls teetering on the edge of grief and insanity." Admittedly, gripping portraits of grief and insanity are usually something I do my best to avoid, but the reviews for this sucker glow like a 100-watt bulb, so I've decided to give it a shot...
Hand-Drying in America, by Ben Katchor
For one brief, glorious moment, I thought Ben Katchor's Hand-Drying in America was actually a nonfiction graphic novel about the development of electric hand dryers, like an American version of this. Little known fact: I am obsessed with hand dryers, and have long dreamt of having one installed in my bathroom, so I was ridiculously excited at the idea. Sadly...
Dirt Candy, by Amanda Cohen and Ryan Dunlavey
My brother recently handed me a copy of Dirt Candy, a collection of recipes from Amanda Cohen's NYC vegetarian restaurant of the same name. The book is an unusual blend of cookbook, memoir, and graphic novel, and while I won't be leaping to make one of Cohen's fantastically elaborate recipes any time soon, it does make for an unexpectedly satisfying reading experience...
The Rabbi's Cat (film review), by Joann Sfar
I was recently sent a DVD screener of The Rabbi’s Cat, a 2011 animated film adaptation of Joann Sfar's graphic novel of the same name. I'm no film critic, and my previous experience with Sfar's work is limited to reading his sword-and-sorcery-on-drugs series Dungeon (which he co-created with Lewis Trondheim, and I have always found more exasperating than amusing), but I'll try anything once...
Uglies: Cutters, by Scott Westerfeld and Devin Grayson
When I reviewed Scott Westerfeld's Uglies: Shay's Story last spring, I wondered if Westerfeld's original series (which had already expanded from a trilogy to a quartet) really merited a graphic novel tie-in. I still have my doubts, frankly, but Shay's Story obviously sold well enough to justify a sequel, because Westerfeld has just released Uglies: Cutters...
Blood Crime, by Kim Harrison
I have never read one of Kim Harrison's books, so when I received a copy of her upcoming graphic novel Blood Crime I had some background research to do. Thanks to Wikipedia, I now fully intend to hunt down the earlier installments in Harrison's "Hollows" urban fantasy series...
Fever Moon, by Karen Marie Moning
First, a word of warning: Fever Moon is the only Karen Marie Moning book that I have ever read, so while I'm finally capable of evaluating a graphic novel without a boatload of preconceived notions about how everyone should look and behave, I'm flying blind when it comes to the series' larger story arc...
Flogging a dead horse
Wow: apparently there was a bidding war for Zenescope's ultra-classy-looking Wonderland graphic novels, and THR informs me that Lionsgate TV won. I haven't read this series (although I've made some snide comments about Zenescope's projects in the past)...
Seriously abridged
If you're a fan of the Classics Illustrated series or the children's comics anthology Little Lit, you might want to check out the recently-released collection The Graphic Canon, Vol. 1. The trilogy will feature nearly 200 gorgeously-illustrated literary adaptions, ranging from the early epics...
Uglies: Shay's Story, by Scott Westerfeld and Devon Grayson
Uglies: Shay's Story is a graphic novel tie-in to Scott Westerfeld's popular Uglies books. It provides a backstory for Shay, one of the series' more interesting characters, and another trip into Westerfeld's dystopian world. Bored and rebellious, 15-year-old Shay is eagerly awaiting her next birthday and the socially mandated surgery that will transform her into a Pretty—a physically idealized version of herself...
The Sons of Liberty, by Joseph and Alexander Lagos
Alexander and Joseph Lagos's graphic novel series The Sons of Liberty has a lot going for it: unusual protagonists, wonderfully vivid artwork, and an action-packed historical setting. It's the story of two runaway slave children, Brody and Graham, who escape from an abusive plantation only to find themselves in even greater danger—they're captured by William Franklin (Benjamin Franklin's illegitimate son), who uses them as unwilling lab rats in an bizarre science experiment...
Whoa.
Two thoughts went through my brain upon seeing this:
- Holy cats, there's going to be a A Wrinkle in Time graphic novel? About time!
and...
Hark! A Vagrant, by Kate Beaton
We rarely recommend buying something that can be enjoyed for free, but Kate Beaton's book Hark! A Vagrant is well worth your hard-earned $19.95—and not just because we want Ms. Beaton to earn...
Interview with the Vampire goes graphic
Yen Press and Anne Rice are planning a single-volume graphic novel adaptation of Rice's 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire, due out in fall 2012. Rather to my surprise, I really like this firs...
That man cannot catch a break.
How did I miss this? There's a graphic novel adaptation of Jonathan Stroud's The Amulet of Samarkand, one of my favorite YA novels ever, and the cover art is (once again) terrible. Seriously, I'...
Flight: Vol. 7, edited by Kazu Kibuishi
The seventh volume of Flight is another solid installment in Villard Books' series of lavishly illustrated graphic novel anthologies. These sixteen short stories—edited by contributor and art dir...
The Knight Life: Chivalry Ain't Dead, by Keith Knight
Keith Knight's The Knight Life: Chivalry Ain't Dead is a low-key but consistently entertaining comic strip centered around Knight, an African-American cartoonist and musician living...
Goats: Showcase Showdown, by Jonathan Rosenberg
According to the Infinite Monkey Theorem, an immortal monkey hitting a keyboard at random for an infinite amount of time will eventually replicate the complete works of Shakespeare...
Big Clay Pot, by Scott Mills
Scott Mills's delicately illustrated graphic novel Big Clay Pot is the story of Sun Kim, a preadolescent Korean orphan who ends up in a small fishing community in ancient Japan. Sun Kim's klutziness gets her kicked out of camp after camp, until she meets Kokoro...
Code: Breaker Vol. 1, by Akimine Kamijyo
Volume one of Akimine Kamijyo's series Code: Breaker is not for the faint of heart. And as the first few pages indicated the story was going to be an all-ages-friendly shounen mang...
Odd Is On Our Side, by Dean Koontz and Fred Van Lente
Odd Is On Our Side is the second graphic novel to feature Odd Thomas, a twenty-year-old fry cook living in the fictional Californian town of Pico Mundo. Odd—a character first intro...
Stone Rabbit #5: Ninja Slice, by Eric Craddock
Eric Craddock's Stone Rabbit #5: Ninja Slice is a boisterous, colorful read aimed squarely at reluctant male readers ages 7-10. The plot (what little there is of it) is simple: whe...
A happy combination
If you're interested in Janet Evanovich's upcoming graphic novel Troublemaker (a continuation of her Alex Barnaby series), you should check out the—mildly NSFW!—Etsy Shop of Joëlle Jones, the illu...
The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11½ Anniversary Edition, by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins
Penny Arcade is a great comic strip. I've laughed at the punchlines, I give series creators Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins major props for their charitable endeavors, and I'm told their PAX shin...
The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia, by Phil Jimenez and John Wells
Normally, I wince at a sight of a $30 paperback, no matter how well-written or attractively packaged, but such was not the case for The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia. If you are part of the...
Cirque du Freak: Trials of Death (Yen Press Extravaganza Part VIII), by Darren Shan
Aaaand we're done! (At least for a while.) When a spider-obsessed boy named Darren Shan sneaks out with his best friend Steve to see the infamous Cirque Du Freak, things get even scarier than they'd bargained for. The inhabitants of the freak show aren't just strange, they're downright otherworldly, and...
Nightschool: The Weirn Books (Yen Press Extravaganza Part VII), by Svetlana Chmakova
The Nightschool is a magical place that allows vampires, werewolves, and weirns (a special type of witch) to learn everything from scrying...
Hero Tales (Yen Press Extravaganza Part VI), by Jin Zhou Huang
Hero Tales is the story of Taitou, a powerful young warrior with a legendary sword and a hot temper. When his sword is stolen and he discovers he is one of the seven heroes prophesied to save the world, Taitou sets out with his little sister Laila and his friend Ryuukou on a quest to hone his powers—with the ultimate goal of defeating the evil general who controls the nation's child emperor...