All Ages

Canadian publishers get on the graphic novel field

2005-11-10T13:16:00.000-05:00

Picked up off of my Publisher's Weekly Childrens Bookshelf newsletter:

Patsy Aldana at Groundwood Books has purchased Skim, a YA graphic novel by Toronto playwright Mariko Tamaki, with artwork by her cousin, New York-based illustrator Jillian Tamaki. Set in 1992 suburban Toronto and written in the form of a diary, Skim was originally a 24-page, one-shot comic collaboration riffing on goth-girl angst. The Tamakis will expand it to a 96-page graphic novel that's pegged as "a dark romance about rebellion, friendship, and bittersweet first love for Goth private school girls." While Groundwood has already published graphic fiction of sorts, such as Nicolas Debon's award-winning Four Pictures by Emily Carr, this is the publisher's first foray into full-length graphic fiction for young adults. The book is scheduled for spring 2008.

Considering what I've heard about BONE's success in Canada, as well as the widespread critical acclaim and of Drawn and Quarterly's LOUIS RIEL, it's no surprise to see smaller Canadian publishers making the effort to acquire graphic novels to their lists. Are Canadians just more open to the format? Who knows... Penguin Canada has also already made the jump into the adult graphic novel field with their book DRAGONSLIPPERS, but this is the first foray into the YA market.

I'm just wondering if 96 pages is meaty enough to really stand out on a shelf.

YALSA makes it happen!

2005-11-07T14:26:00.000-05:00

The Young Adult Library Services Association has released its list of nominations in their newest book list category. The Great Graphic Novels for Teens list will be released in sometime in midwinter 2007. This is the first acclaimed list associated with libraries and dedicated solely to the format. While librarians have embraced graphic novels as a way to excite kids and teens to read for years, this is definitely an indication that the support is now out there in pushing them as a valid and growing form of literacy. Both YALSA and ALA are organizations with strong voices in the children's book community and any kind of official list is a step in the right direction.

According to the YALSA website, the final list will be compiled using the following criteria:
- appropriateness for young adults aged 12-18
- how well image and word are integrated
- clarity of the panel's flow on the page
- ability of the images to convey the necessary meaning
- quality of the artwork's reproduction.

The committee making the choices for the final list are all librarians (both school and public, very important here) and included are Dawn Rutherford, a very well-known YA librarian who dyed her hair in order to get kids to read more and Robin Elizabeth Brenner who runs the excellent website, No Flying No Tights. The rest of the committee can be found here. What I'm most curious about is who is actually nominating these books. The list is quite ecclectic with a mix of manga, superhero and alt indie titles, but surprisingly no books from Marvel Comics.

Some commentary below on the nominees:

Burns, Charles. Black Hole. Random House/ Pantheon Graphic Novels, 2005. 24.95. (0-375-42380-X).
A very very dark book about the isolation and grotesqueness of being an adolescent - totally belongs here.

Clugston, Chynna. Queen Bee. Scholastic/ Graphix, 2005. 16.99. (0-439-71572-5).
Yay! Pat Scholastic on the back...

Crane, Jordan. The Clouds Above. Fantagraphics Books, 2005. 18.95. (1-56097-627-6).
I love this book but it's almost too much of a fetish object to be here.

Holm, Jennifer L. Babymouse: Our Hero. Random House/ Books for Young Readers, 2005. 5.95. (0-375-83230-0).
Definitely not for the 12-18 set. This is Random House's first graphic novel squarely aimed at ages 7-10. A review will come later.

Katayama, Kyoichi. Socrates in Love: Volume One. VIZ Media/ Shojo Beat Manga, 2005. 8.99. (1-4215-0199-6).
Takanashi, Mitsuba. Crimson Hero. VIZ Media/ Shojo Beat Manga, 2005. 8.99. (1-4215-0140-6).
Yazawa, Ai. Nana. VIZ Media, 2005. 8.99 . (1-4215-0108-2).
Three titles originating from Shojo Beat magazine -- considering all the hype this summer about how this book was going to change the industry, things have been very quiet. Although, I've very much looking forward to reading Nana when it comes out in early December.

Meltzer, Brad. Identity Crisis. DC Comics, 2005. 24.99. (1-4012-0688-3).
Pekar, Harvey. The Quitter. DC ComicsVertigo, 2005. 19.99. (1-4012-0399-X).
Vaughn, Brian K. Ex Machina Volume 2: Tag. DC Comics/ Wildstorm Signature Series, 2005. 12.99. (1-4012-0626-3).
Baker, Kyle. Plastic Man Volume 2: Rubber Bandits. DC Comics, 2006. 14.99. ( 1-4012-0729-4).
Four very different titles from DC Comics and I'm just having a really hard time seeing any of them having a wider appeal to a teen audience.

Quick, Jen Lee. Off*Beat. TokyoPop Media, 2005. 9.99. (1-59816-132-6).
Rivkah. Steady Beat: Volume One. TokyoPop, 2005. 9.99. (1-59816-135-0).
Two OEL titles from Tokyopop -- they seem to be shifting their attention to this list and pushing them hard in the teen market. It will be interesting to see what ones come out on top.

Graphix swag

2005-11-03T20:59:00.000-05:00

I'm promised Raina a few weeks ago that I'd upload a picture of the new BABYSITTERS CLUB promotional backpack clips, so here they are. I've also included the sassy QUEEN BEE change purse that we gave away at the Toronto Comics Arts Festival back in May and at Comic-Con in San Diego in July. Fun stuff -- I'm thinking AMULET action figures would be really cool.

Graphic novels, parents & teachers

2005-10-31T18:21:00.000-05:00

There's been two instances in the past few days that I've had contact with people who were involved some way in promoting graphic novels to kids through the educational system.

I received a call on Thursday from an enthusiastic parent who wanted to talk to me more about graphic novels for kids. Her daughter had bought a copy YOTSUBA&! from Scholastic Book Clubs and completely engrossed in it. The parent remarked to me that admittedly had no prior knowledge to comics or graphic novels but was so happy to see her daughter enthusiastic for reading. And now the little girl was planning on doing her own comic and planned on formatting it in the traditional Japanese style, read left to right. She's 10 years old.

I also received an email from Scott Tingley, a grade 1 teacher who has recently launched a website called Comics in the Classroom, dedicated to bringing knowledge to parents and teachers about great comics for kids. The site will eventually feature reviews, related articles, community projects, lesson plans and more.

With this sudden surge of people realizing the value of comics at the educational level, I felt it was a good time to bring attention to a pamphlet that Scholastic published about a month ago called Using Graphic Novels in the Classroom. This is the perfect primer for any teacher who is thinking of introducing graphic novels into their curriculum and for any parent who unsure of the value and suitability of graphic novels for their children.

The two main contributors here are Philip Crawford, Library Director for Essex Junction High School in Vermont and Stephen Weinder, Director of the Maynard Public Library in Maynard, Massachusetts -- both are highly regarded as experts in the field of graphic novels for youth librarians and teachers. Topics in the pamphlet include overview of graphic novels (what they are, are they suitable for kids, lists of recommended titles), why graphic novels are good in the classroom (how they promote literacy and enhance the curriculum, etc.), an introduction of BONE along with number of hands-on classroom activities.

I'm not sure how widespread this pamphlet is, but I highly recommend it. If you want a copy please visit Scholastic's website or email me at allagesblog@yahoo.com and I will track down a copy for you.

What are you doing on Saturday?

2005-10-11T13:11:00.000-04:00

My friend Chris Butcher of The Beguiling and comics.212.net, in conjunction with the Toronto Public Library, is putting on the first of hopefully many events bringing young readers and graphic novels together. Whether you're an aspiring graphic novelist or a fan of video games, manga or superheroes, this will be a lot of fun.

SPX 2005

2005-09-26T09:51:00.000-04:00

Just got back from SPX and thought I'd share a little since I was berated by many people -- including bloggers David and Joanna for not blogging enough lately. It's true...I've been a bad monkey. Rich Stevens of Diesel Sweeties designed the badges this year and made sure to make the VIP badge as obnoxious as possible. Lucky me I got to walk around with its air of video game pomposity around my neck. (Thanks Steve for the totally unexpected perk!)

My trip to Bethesda was a pretty last minute one when my weekend cottage plans fell through. I managed to hitch a ride with my pal Chris Butcher and his ragtag band of comics creators in a mini van and spent 10-ish hours driving south to Maryland. My intent was to enjoy this show, buy a few cool books for myself and get jazzed into doing my own writing again. I remembered how inspiring SPX was last year and hoped that I'd get the same feeling this year. I didn't really have any intention of doing the whole Scholastic thing this time, although the VIP badge had some people asking questions but I kept my answers to the bare minimum. I wanted to be a bit incognito

SPX isn't really a show with a focus on kid-related material anyways, although last year there was a decent component mostly because of Jeff Smith's attendance and the panel on creating kids comics. Although I did do my rounds and spoke with a lot of great kids comic creators that I had already talked to at the other conventions I attended this year including Andy Runton, Aaron Renier and John Gallagher.

Buying highlights
- buying Hope Larson's SALAMANDER DREAM in person, especially with the rounded corners she manually cut herself with her own corner rounding machine
- finally buying Kean Soo's JELLABY -- very excited to read this

Social highlights
- properly congratulating Raina and Dave on their engagement
- hanging out with the gay comics contingent -- especially my good friends Tim and Kyle

And yes, I did come out of the show definitely all hyped up to start my own work. Mission accomplished...

Erik Larsen on kids comics

2005-08-22T11:48:00.000-04:00

From his current column over at CBR:

Many companies make an attempt to publish comics for kids. Most don’t pull it off. My kids could not care less about most of the comics, which are, allegedly, aimed at them. Big winners around my house include DC’s "Plastic Man" by Kyle Baker (and the "Plastic Man Archives" by Jack Cole) and Bongo’s "The Simpsons," which is, quite possibly, the most faithful translation of a cartoon to comic book ever.

Other favorites include "Kamandi the Last Boy on Earth," "Tin Tin," "Captain Marvel Adventures" and nearly everything Lee & Kirby did together.

Why do I get the feeling he's automatically defaulting to Marvel and DC here.

MAD Kids

2005-08-19T14:25:00.000-04:00

For some weird reason it totally slipped my mind to comment on MAD's recent magazine expansion to include a new MAD magazine for 8 to 12-year olds.

I think it's a great idea but one issue that has been brought up is whether or not there's a need for a MAD book specifically geared to kids. Popular opinion suggests that the regular MAD book already appeals to this demographic even though its original audience was likely older teens or even adults. Licensed properties that have been around for decades tend to have a trickle-down effect in their target audience. The best example of this trend is Barbie who at one time appealed to 12-year old girls but as the toy market demands shifted, Barbie's main audience has slowly moved to 6-year olds.

MAD occupies a weird demographic space where there is a great deal in the magazine that is clearly for an adult audience but the demand from a younger audience is definitely there. Scholastic in conjunction with MAD created a book called The MAD Student Survival Guide and it did very well on book clubs. Hoping to follow-up on its success, I worked with MAD on two other books, The MAD Summer Survival Guide and The MAD Holiday Survival Guide and both performed well in the school market.

But this weird disjoint between audience and content made it a bit of a challenge to find suitable content to fill these mini-anthologies. Political satire goes over a 10-year old's head and sexual innuendo isn't something a teacher or parent wants their kids to read.

MAD KIDS will consist of old material, as well as new original comics. It will be interesting to see, with the new material, to what degree of irreverence the magazine will aim for in today's more extreme market. I'm expecting a lot of bodily function humor since it seems to be a popular topic for kids these days but I'm curious as to what other areas MAD will explore.

Vote for Bone

2005-08-18T09:11:00.000-04:00

BONE: The One Volume Edition by Jeff Smith has been shortlisted in the Graphic Novel category for a Quill Award. The Quills are a new consumer driven National Book Award created by Reed publishing and NBC Universal.

Also of note, Jon J. Muth has also been nominated in the Children's - Illustrated category for his amazing picture book ZEN SHORTS.

Check out www.quillsvote.com to vote.

GRAPHIX - the next wave

2005-08-18T09:08:00.000-04:00

Scholastic's David Saylor was interviewed over at Newsarama yesterday to talk about the schedule for all the upcoming books in the Graphix imprint.

Here's a quick run-down on the confirmed titles:
Bone Vol 1 and 2, along with Queen Bee should be available now

Bone Vol 3 Eyes of the Storm - February 2006
The Babysitters Club Vol 1 - April 2006
Breaking Up: A Fashion High Graphic Novel - July 2006
Bone Vol 4 The Dragonslayer - August 2006
Goosebumps: Creepy Creatures - October 2006

2007 will see more Bone, Queen Bee, Babysitters Club, Goosebumps and also Amulet and The Woodland Chronicles.

The one confirmed announcement I'm just over the moon about is confirmation that Michael Kaluta will be illustrating the graphic novel adaptation of THE LAST UNICORN. Charles Vess is the natural choice here but I think Kaluta is going to bring a more loose, quirky style to the project.

Comics - normalize it for kids!

2005-08-17T22:35:00.000-04:00

Thought I'd share this with you guys -- at Book Expo America in June, I picked up a small promo pamphlet for Candlewick's new kids book series called STINK, written by Megan McDonald. STINK is the younger brother of JUDY MOODY, another series that McDonald writes.

The pamphlet here (also downloadable off of the Judy Moody website) is essentially how-to- guide in making your own comics. McDonald, who is a comics fan and a big supporter of Jimmy Gownley's AMELIA RULES, represents the latest way of introducing kids to comics -- she's a comics mole. Jeff Smith explained this concept to me this year in San Diego -- there are now vocal comics fans hiding in every industry waiting to promote the medium in their field -- from magazine columnists to movie producers and librarians to booksellers. McDonald along with others like Dav Pilkey (Captain Underpants), Mo Willems (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus) and Jon Scieszka (The Stinky Cheese Man) represent the growing number children's book creators who are making comics a part of their stories. In a sense they are reminding kids about comics again but in an entirely non-stigmatized sort of way. I've always said that kids don't like comics, they just forgot about them. McDonald and even Pilkey in this case are not only putting comics in front of kids faces again but they are both encouraging them to create their own. This is not only the start of a brand new generation of comics readers, but creators also -- it's almost the birth of a North American dojinshi culture.

Expect a lot more moles to pop up in the children's book industry as comics creators make periodic jumps into children's books. Sara Varon (Sweaterweather) has a kid's book coming out from Scholastic in the Spring called CHICKEN AND CAT. Both Rainy Dohaney (also known to most comics fans as Renee French) and Dave Cooper both have new books just over the publishing horizon.

Bits from around the web

2005-08-12T14:39:00.000-04:00

Just got back from the dentist (TWO FILLINGS argh) and my entire face is pretty much frozen. Not fun. I thought I'd catch up on my linking today since it's a lazy Friday. Totally off-blog topic, while I was waiting to go in, I was flipping through People magazine and saw an ad for Zoloft that used comics to market it...this was a comic with two talking Zoloft tablets. I bet Brian Michael Bendis ghost wrote it. Anyways...onto link blogging:

SONIC X, the comic book based on the popular video game character gets a 6-page preview here. SONIC X seems to be getting a pretty big marketing push everywhere with the release of book-related material from Penguin. Expect to see more publishers hop on this bandwagon to find the next big licensed property.

More BIONICLE related promotion with DC Comics and Sports Illustrated For Kids here. Not sure how BIONICLE is still doing in the market. There's definitely been less buzz about it in the past year.

Ben Avery returns to the all-ages, fairy tale adventure book LULLABY in an ongoing series from Alias this September. Featuring 4 variant covers for the first issue, one of the covers displays a female character with quite large breasts. Apparently I wasn't the only one who spotted this anomaly for an all-ages book, a Newsarama poster remarked "Her boobs are too big....."

ZATCH BELL has been picked up by Viz to produce both the manga and the anime of this popular Japanese property. Apparently this is THE NEXT BIG THING. But then again that's what everyone said about DUEL MASTERS and look at what a mess that was...

SLG will release a trade paperback of the collected stories of JET PACK PETS, originally serialized in Disney Adventures magazine, in September. I've never read the strip myself but the artwork looks pretty damn cute from the cover image up at Newsarama.

My pal J Torres is releasing a second volume of ALISON DARE LITTLE MISS ADVENTURES from Oni Press. Full of humor and great high adventure, Alison Dare is a great book for kids. Definitely worth a look.

Kazu Kibuishi's AMULET

2005-08-11T14:02:00.000-04:00

Remember this from one of my New York City posts?

...sat in on a meeting with an extremely talented creator and his agent who pitched an amazing book for Graphix -- if it's signed it will be an excellent addition to our line.

Yup, that was Kazu Kibuishi and his amazing two book series called AMULET.

I knew instantly after seeing preview images (one seen above) at TCAF and hearing Kazu talk about the plot, that this project would be a perfect fit for Graphix. And after reading his other work, DAISY KUTTER, it became clear that Kazu is a creator with a unique depth and precision in storytelling. His action sequences have a clarity and impact that very few have in this industry. I’m confident AMULET will have this same quality.

From the press release: “In Amulet, main characters Em and Navin’s mother has recently died, and their father has just moved them to a strange, hilltop house. After their father disappears suddenly, the kids find a door that leads into a stunning labyrinth filled with strange creatures and hints of a vast, new world at the end of it. As they search for their father in the maze, they join forces with a small rabbit, Miskit, who is also searching for a lost loved one.”

I had a chance to chance to speak to Kazu about his thoughts on the process of creating and developing AMULET for kids:

S: What do you think are the key elements in creating a great graphic novel for children?

K: I'd imagine they would be the same elements that make a great graphic novel for adults, but marked with an appropriateness for children. A good, fun story, great visuals, and nice design go a long way.

S: What aspects of Amulet do you think kids will gravitate towards and enjoy the most?

K: The monsters and robots will definitely be the major draw at first, but after the kids have had their fill of the eye candy, they'll be reading the book to see what happens to Navin and Emily, or any of the other characters. If I do my job correctly, we'll all be caring very much about these kids and hope that their journey ends well.

S: What advice would you give to the general non-comics reading public about the value of graphic novels for kids?

K: Communicating a story through pictures is one of the most universal ways to communicate an idea with an artist's original vision intact. The more people we have in this world that can communicate through pictures, the better we'll be able to understand each other. Thankfully, kids usually count drawing as one of their favorite activities.

AMULET Book 1 will hit bookstores and comic shops in Spring 2007.

Jay Stephens is online

2005-08-10T19:00:00.000-04:00

Jay Stephens, creator of the kid-friendly comic JETCAT CLUBHOUSE and the Emmy award-winning TUTENSTEIN cartoon has a brand-new webcomics site featuring a whole slew of great stuff.

Jay's wondefully irreverent sense of humor just shines through this stuff. Included here are NATURE SHOW (think Happy Bunny, but just a bit more harsh), NOD (which have never been reprinted entirely before) and the weekly WELCOME TO...ODDVILLE (probably the strip that exemplifies Stephens' body of work).

Also included are links to Jay's site where you can buy books, t-shirts and other goodies. Definitely worth checking out.

Email crash

2005-08-08T08:42:00.000-04:00

For some weird reason Yahoo decided to block me from my main email account -- which means that scout101@yahoo.com is no longer functioning. This also means that I've lost tons of archived email and contacts. If you're reading this blog and have contacted me in the past could you send a quick email to allagesblog@yahoo.com so I can update my address book?

AUBRI -- unfortunately this includes the script pages you sent last week. Could you resend to the email address above?

Graphix panel coverage

2005-07-21T11:04:00.000-04:00

Comic Book Resources covered my panel on Graphix in San Diego. Check it out here!

I had a great time moderating the panel and despite children's comics as kind of a new things for the industry, I thought it was well attended. The one thing I was most happy about was how literate our audience was. People asked truly engaging questions that sparked a lot of great conversation. I hope we can double the amount of people next year. Thank you to all who attended.

San Diego

2005-07-12T15:52:00.000-04:00

Wow. Has it really been a month since I last posted? It's been a bit of a harrowing few weeks for me. I was involved in a hit and run accident and my car was destroyed. I then fell prey to a nasty flu virus that kept me out of commission for week. But now, all will be better with San Diego upon us.

I'll be wandering around the show mostly looking for cool talent for Graphix but I will also be hosting a panel on Saturday July 16th between 3-4pm on the new upcoming titles in the Graphix line. I hope to see you all there.

Here's the official info from the program schedule:
3:00-4:00 Graphix: Bringing Great Comics to Kids!—It all began with Jeff Smith's Bone, and now Scholastic is excited to announce the newest books in their line of original graphic novels for kids. Get the lowdown on Graphix from senior vice-president Jean Feiwel and VP/creative director David Saylor and hear all about upcoming titles from Raina Telgemeier (The Baby-Sitters Club) and Chynna Clugston (Queen Bee). Hosted by Scott Robins. Room 7B

Cheers!

Comics don't stop

2005-06-13T15:24:00.000-04:00

Back in good ol' Toronto from New York -- and off to see BATMAN BEGINS tonight. The perpetual comics machine continues...

More on MOCCA (with photos) and my NYC adventures soon.

NYC highlights

2005-06-09T09:09:00.000-04:00

4 more days to go and I'm finally getting a hang of the NYC experience, taking the subway, dealing with the oppressive humidity and pushing my way through crowds of people. Loving it!

Some of the highlights of my trip so far:

- sitting in on one of the Graphix planning meetings and finding out about what creators are coming up in the GOOSEBUMPS line of graphic novels as well as just yakking about comics and what creators we'd all love to see part of the line

- sat in on a meeting with an extremely talented creator and his agent who pitched an amazing book for Graphix -- if it's signed it will be an excellent addition to our line

- had many great dinners with co-workers and friends -- the food in NYC is just unbelievable

- went to Century 21 (big clothing store with designer stuff at discounted prices) and bought my first Versace shirt -- I felt just like Nomi Malone

- visited Ground Zero

- wandered the streets of the East Village, Soho, Chelsea and sweated off about 5 lbs in this heat

- visited Forbidden Planet, a very cool comic book store in Manhattan

And now this weekend is MOCCA -- reports and photos to come.

Other tidbits

2005-06-06T10:14:00.000-04:00

- The amazing FLIGHT anthology has been signed with Ballantine for the next few books as well as republishing the first volume. This will definitely give this great work a huge push in the bookstores. It will be interesting to see how they market the book and who the target audience will be. A lot of the material is definitely kid-friendly but this might be a truly all ages kind of purchase.

- The popular YA title SHADOWMANCER will be published as a comic book series. Not too sure about that artwork though....

- You know you've hit the masses when inspirational, Christian publishers are jumping on the manga bandwagon. I picked up a sampler of SERENITY at BEA. The lead character is a mouthy rebel girl who's constantly getting in trouble with her mother. When she accidently locks herself out of her house she ends up at a church youth group and then decides to stay in it to piss off her mother more. There's a market for everything...

Disappointment

2005-06-06T09:19:00.000-04:00

No Miyazaki at MOMA. Sigh. Tickets were all very much sold out when Raina tried to get them. Ah well. Still having a blast in NYC though. More to come later...

BEA

2005-06-04T13:50:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post to let everyone know I'm alive and well in NYC:

- The graphic novel pavillion still hasn't truly become an impressive pavillion yet. In fact, it's just a few half rows with DC Comics as the major booth. Tokyopop and Viz have booths outside of the pavillion, which is quite interesting to say the least.

- I sang kareoke last night with a bunch of YA authors and other fun Scholastic people. Met Holly Black of THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES -- totally fab. The highlight though? Hearing Gordon Korman sing Bohemian Rhapsody. Yeah, that just about sent me spinning...

- Monday going to the premiere of Howl's Moving Castle where apparently Miyazaki is going to speak. I'm screaming inside like a 10 year old girl

More to come later when I'm not rushed at a show internet kiosk.

The Best of the Rest at TCAF

2005-06-02T00:20:00.000-04:00

Andy Runton, creator of the wonderful kids comic OWLY

Corey Lewis and Bryan Lee O'Malley, creators of the coolest teen comics today, SHARKNIFE and SCOTT PILGRIM

Raina Telgemeier, fabulous artist of the upcoming BABYSITTER'S CLUB and her charming boyfriend Dave Roman of Nickelodeon Magazine and creator of QUICKEN FORBIDDEN

Cooke and Bone draw superheroes at TCAF

2005-06-01T23:48:00.000-04:00

Darwyn Cooke and Jason Bone presented a seminar on how to draw superheroes. It was a fun informal presentation where Cooke asked the audience to shout out names of superheroes performing various activities. Some of these included Mister Fantastic fishing and the Human Torch cooking the fish.

The highlight of the performance was Cooke's transformation of a butt picture into an image of Popeye.

**Sorry for the poor quality of these photos, I'm still getting used to posting images. :-P

Jeff Smith at TCAF

2005-06-01T22:12:00.000-04:00

Jeff Smith was Scholastic Canada's guest of honor at TCAF this year and he couldn't have been more pleasant and fun to hang out with the entire weekend.

Jeff did a presentation on the Origins of BONE and talked about the comics that influenced the creation of BONE, the mythology behind the story and how real places and things inspired him to include them in the comic. It was quite the in-depth talk but the audience was mesmerized for the entire time, including the kids.

He spent hours signing books for people, drawing characters in every book and speaking with every person in line to make the signing experience something really wonderful and personal. On both days, the line snaked outside the tent.

Toronto Comics Arts Festival

2005-06-01T22:08:00.000-04:00

stylishkidsreadcomics
Originally uploaded by scout101.

I'm currently in the midst of packing for BEA -- leaving at 4:45am tomorrow to get on a plane to NYC. I pretty much loathe packing so what better what to procrastinate than to post all my great photos from last weekend's incredibly successful Toronto Comics Arts Festival. Love this photo here of the three stylin' kids reading comics. I figure it would be a good one to start things off.

Chynna Clugston's Queen Bee

2005-05-31T09:17:00.000-04:00

Queen Bee
Originally uploaded by scout101.

Received my galley copy of Chynna Clugston's QUEEN BEE yesterday and promptly read it last night. It really is a fun book and has all the things that will appeal to tween girls - fashion, crushes and an American Idol-esque competition complete with some serious psychokinetic battle. There are plenty of Chynna-isms to keep her devoted fans happy -- the cute boy wears a London Calling t-shirt, there's cheeky references to mainstream superhero comics, one word: retro and perfectly timed slapstick humor that had me laugh out loud a few times. QUEEN BEE will be available in book stores in mid-August and will also be available on Scholastic Book Clubs in Canada and the US this Fall.

As well, fellow blogger Johanna Draper Carlson has recommended QUEEN BEE as one of her June 2005 Previews picks.

Post-TCAF link blogging

2005-05-30T13:59:00.000-04:00

Still trying to regain my sparkling personality after TCAF, which was all in all an incredible success for everyone who attended. I have tons of pictures and will give a full report of all the kid-related happenings in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, here's what's going on in the world of comics for kids these past few days:

- Newsarama reprints an article from Comic Shop New about ALIAS COMICS as one of the up and coming publishers of 'all ages' material. I haven't had the chance to read any of these books as of yet but we all know my issues with the term all ages from past rants.

- The Pulse has an article written by Alan Gross, the author of NBM's CRYPTOZOO CREW on his experiences with teachers and kids and how they've both responded to his 'family-friendly' comic book.

- The Fourth Rail reviews a self-published kids comic by Brian Clopper called WINGNUT AND FIDGET, about an intergalactic bounty hunter and his wacky sidekick. Brian was one of the first guys I was in contact with about marketing and creating comics for kids back in the day when I was negotiating the Jetcat deal. Nice to see him back creating comics again.

TCAF is upon us

2005-05-27T22:17:00.000-04:00

If you happen to live or are visiting Toronto, please stop by the the Scholastic Canada Children's Tent at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival tomorrow and Sunday in Mirvish Village. I'll be taking tons of pictures and reporting on any anecdotes and charming observations. It's going to be a great time for all.

In the meantime, here's a blast from the past -- an interview with me at the Pulse years ago when I had worked with Oni Press and Jay Stephens to put together a collection of Jay's JETCAT CLUBHOUSE comics to sell on Scholastic Book Clubs. This was around the time when the big manga bookstore boom was just catching on and graphic novels didn't have the media attention that they have now.

Tis the convention season

2005-05-19T06:41:00.000-04:00

Man, there really hasn't been a lot to talk about in regards to kids comics lately. I'm a bit behind in my reading so instead of going silent for the next week or so I've decided to go with a frivolous post today and outline where I'll be in the upcoming con season.

May 27-29 Toronto Comic Arts Festival -- Scholastic Canada will be sponsoring the kids tent and I'll be manning the booth for most of the weekend. Should be a great time
June 3-5 Book Expo America -- I'll be walking the show with my book club buddies. I'll be in NYC the entire week after that as well if anyone's around to show me a good time.
June 11-12 MOCCA Art Festival -- My first year going to this and I'm very excited.
July 14-17 San Diego Comic-con -- Scholastic will have a big presence at this con this year with a booth featuring Jeff Smith's Bone (of course!) and other upcoming projects

Feel free to stop by and say hello!

Perks

2005-05-18T13:43:00.000-04:00

One of the great things about work is sometimes I get to see preview screenings of movies. So today at 9:30am I saw STAR WARS EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH. Lots of great lightsaber battles and cool space ships but still a pretty illogical story in parts. Watch for multiple decapitations and limbs being chopped off. Fun!

Free Comic Book Day

2005-05-10T06:43:00.000-04:00

In deep contemplation
Originally uploaded by scout101.

Proof! Kids do love comics...and with so many great free age-appropriate titles to choose from...

Cine-manga for the little little kids

2005-05-09T13:03:00.000-04:00

Tokyopop has announced the launch of a new line of Cine-manga books aimed at ages 3 to 6. They will resemble early readers and feature an average of 2 art panels per page for easy reading. 3 books will start the new Jr. Cine-manga line with one MY LITTLE PONY title and two SESAME STREET titles.

This will definitely help young kids understand how to read comics earlier by introducing the concept of story structure as told through panels. Still not moving towards my dream of new original stories, however, the market these days is very licensing driven so it shouldn't surprise me here.

Disney's W.I.T.C.H.

2005-05-06T13:38:00.000-04:00

Senior Vice President of Global Children's Magazines, Disney Publishing Worldwide, Alessandro Belloni gives some background behind Disney's W.I.T.C.H. series over at the Pulse. He knows his marketing and it's very apparent especially with statements like this:

"Our core target is girls 9-13 years of age," continued Belloni. "As this is a very aspirational group, we chose a slightly higher age for our heroines. By doing so, we ensured what we’ve found to be a successful combination of identification and aspiration."

Now that's talking the talk.

I had some issues with Disney/Hyperion releasing this property as a series of chapter books with a few pages of color comics bound in. It felt like Hyperion wasn't prepared to release these as graphic novels even though that was W.I.T.C.H.'s original format. However, with the release of two volumes of pure graphic novels, one available now and another coming this summer, I'm starting to change my tune. I was pretty much prepared to hate W.I.T.C.H especially after reading that it was conceived by "a creative team consisting of scriptwriters, artists, and editors," but took it upon myself to read THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP and was quite surprised -- quality artwork, sharp dialogue and a solid story. It's definitely not the most original work and does read like a mass market property (the book just screams dolls with removable clothes and magical accessories) but the series does touch on experiences that most tweens will identify with.

I still have my ongoing gripe that we need more children's graphic novels that can form a canon of in this category instead of just taking the easy route with licensed properties and turning them into graphic novel form. There's definitely a place in the market for this stuff, like the SpongeBob Squarepants chapter books or Barbie early readers but I'm just itching for some more books with a singular creative vision.

Hyperion boasts that they've sold over a million copies of W.I.T.C.H. so far in North American in its various formats. I've personally seen ok sales but nothing to deem it super hot. Sometimes it takes a while for properties like this to really catch on and with a cartoon on its way that's sure to help raise W.I.T.C.H. popularity in the children's book market.

USA Today talks graphic novels

2005-05-04T14:43:00.000-04:00

USA Today has a great article talking about the importance of graphic novels and comics books in helping to encourage positive reading experiences in and outside of the classroom and to increase school library participation.

From the article:

So the artists were taken aback when the librarians professed that they already were in love with comics and wanted more. "I'm like, 'Hello? Is there a gas leak in here?' " says Smith, the creator of Bone, the epic adventures of a trio of cartoon cousins. "We were used to being told comics are bad."

I can attest to this -- I remember being told I couldn't use Tales of the New Teen Titans: Cyborg for a book report in Grade 2 because it wasn't a real book. Nice to see over 20 years later, attitudes towards comics finally changing.

Long before Graphix...

2005-04-28T12:55:00.000-04:00

Long before the kids manga bookstore explosion and even longer before the inception of GRAPHIX, Scholastic published a graphic novel called CITY OF LIGHT, CITY OF DARK written by Newbery award winner Avi and illustrated by Brian Floca.

From his website, Avi had this to say about comic books and the creation of his own long-form comic book:

"When I was a boy I loved comic books. I read them by the ton. (I had to read the scary ones outside on the front steps. My mother would not let them in the house. When I had fantasy story that was giving me problems, I remembered comic books and began to think I could tell my tale best that way. It's something I learn over and over again, every tale has its own way of telling.

Working with skilled artist Brian Floca, we had great fun--and much hard work--putting it all together. It was wonderfully exciting to do such a book--but as I learned--very difficult. You can't just read CITY OF LIGHT, CITY OF DARK, you have to look at the pictures. Nor can you just look at the pictures--you have to read the book. That was not easy to achieve."

CITY OF LIGHT, CITY OF DARK has notes of Lois Lowry's The Giver as seen through Will Eisner's eyes. Set in an alternate version of Manhattan, a race of otherworldly beings known as the Kurbs have allowed the island to be inhabited only if a yearly ritual is performed that acknowledges their absolute rule. If the ritual isn't performed, Manhattan will be plunged into a deep freeze killing everyone who lives there. The ritual involves placing a magical subway token in its proper place by noon on December 21st -- and everyone is after the missing token including Sarah, the girl whose destiny is to place the token in its proper place and Mr. Underton who becomes madly obsessed with the Kurbs' power to restore his sight.

The first part of the book is a hybrid of prose and sequential art and explains a lot of the backstory of the Kurbs and how Mr. Underton came to become the madman that he is for the duration of the book. It's one of the only times where I've seen this mix work, where exposition is in prose but scenes with dialogue or visuals best illustrated rather than described are in comics.

CITY OF LIGHT, CITY OF DARK works because of Avi's strong prose and high concept story but it's very apparent that the artwork here is secondary. There's a lot of places where exposition boxes are used heavily instead of letting the art tell the story. The illustration has a rough, unpolished quality to it, which reminds me of the work of Jessica Abel or Dylan Horrocks. Not to say it's bad, Floca creates some really great visuals like the design of Mr. Underton in his black trenchcoat commanding a flock of pigeons, but it does seem to take a bit of a backseat to the dialogue and exposition.

However, the sheer fact that a Newbery author has written a graphic novel (in 1993!)is definitely a good thing. Librarians should endeavor to add this book to their children's graphic novel collection.

What fun!

2005-04-28T09:25:00.001-04:00

Guess who got to recommend an artist for an upcoming graphic novel series based on a popular teen show? I feel a little like Rich Johnston today.

More kid-links

2005-04-27T09:39:00.000-04:00

I've got a few longer pieces I've been working on but in the meantime here's a round up of some the goings-on in the world of children's comics and books.

- Marvel plans to offer Dollar Digests, reprinting early issues of their core series like SPIDER-MAN, X-MEN, HULK, AVENGERS and FANTASTIC FOUR. Newsarama posters seem to think this is perfect for kids because of the low price point, but I'm skeptical to think that classic stories like these will appeal to anyone but hardcore Golden Age fans.

- Brandon Routh looks pretty snazzy in his SUPERMAN costume. In Fall 2006, expect to see readers, 8x8s, a jr. novelization and other book formats for kids -- everything except comics.

- Tania Del Rio talks about her work on the manga-reimagined SABRINA and JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS and has this to say:

"Some people are still surprised to learn that Archie has turned Sabrina into a manga-inspired series, but the two actually mesh together really well. The look and storylines are completely inspired by shojo manga, but the tone of the book is always going to be age-appropriate and this is something Archie is known for. While some parents may worry about what their kids are reading in Japanese manga, they don't have to worry with Archie's manga. It's a trust that's been built over many years."

Smart statement considering how hard it is to convince parents and librarian that manga sans content actually exists out there. Does it?

- As JM DeMatteis and Mike Ploog wait for Hyperion to republish ABAZADAD, they discuss details behind their new children's fantasy series, THE STARDUST KID.

- Greg Thompson speaks his mind about kids comics and talks about his new series called HERO CAMP.

"You know, I can't even buy my 7-year-old nephew an issue of Flash anymore," Thompson bites. "Super heroes are supposed to be for children. I'm not letting this go. The only stuff they're getting right now? Marvel Age books. What happened to the stuff I read as a kid? The Kirby, the Kane, the things anyone could connect with?"

And while I'm not hugely behind pumping out superhero comics for kids (I think there are other genres, topics that are way more appealing and that would sell to a wider audience), I'm glad someone has the courage to speak out about this issue.

Eisners

2005-04-14T14:08:00.000-04:00

The nominations for the 2005 Eisner Awards were released today including the list of contenders to win the BEST PUBLICATION FOR A YOUNGER AUDIENCE. They include:

Amelia Rules!, (Renaissance Press) and Amelia Rules! What Makes You Happy (iBooks) by Jimmy Gownley

I'm pretty sure Jimmy's been nominated before and next to Bone I think Amelia is THE kids comic. I may be biased since I've been a big follower of the book since it was first published years ago but the work speaks for itself. It's fun, accessible, has heart and tackles subject matter that means something to kids without pandering to them.

Owly, by Andy Runton (Top Shelf)

Owly is totally deserving of this nomination as well. Runton came back to comics inspired and it clearly shows in the material. There's just nothing like Owly being published right now.

Courtney Crumrin in the Twilight Kingdom, by Ted Naifeh (Oni)

I still have yet to read one of the Courtney Crumrin books but I hear they're well done. I've heard them called "Neil Gaiman books for kids," which is kind of funny considering that Gaiman writes kids books.

Plastic Man, by Kyle Baker and Scott Morse (DC)

I have loads of adoration for Kyle Baker's work but I find it interesting that this book made it here especially after winning last year. As well, Plastic Man really hasn't been marketed as a kids comic -- I was hoping that when they collected the first 6 issues it would be in an inexpensive digest sized book that could be put in kids sections, but instead DC went with a more sophisticated design and a higher price point. Oh well...

Tommysaurus Rex, by Doug TenNapel (Image)

I haven't had the chance to read this book yet but the interior art looks really appealing but that cover is just ghastly. No parent or kid would pick this book up in a children's section of a bookstore. Apparently Universal's optioned this book and hopefully when the movie is closer to coming out someone will redesign the book.

Other highlights include Jeff Smith nominated in the Best Graphic Album—Reprint category for the massive BONE ONE VOLUME EDITION and Raina Telgemeier nominated in the Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition category who is working on the new BABY-SITTER'S CLUB graphic novel series for Scholastic.

Speakeasy = good times

2005-04-08T14:50:00.000-04:00

There was a time when one always heard there was a comics scene in Toronto, especially with talent like Chester Brown and Seth living in the area, but it was hidden, never cohesive. Things seem to be changing with events like the upcoming Toronto Comic Arts Festival and other events like last night's comic book themed night of Speakeasy.

Lots of great artwork exhibited from artists like Cameron Stewart, Paul Rivoche and Chip Zdarsky. Special acknowledgement goes out to Jeremy Tankard and Steve Manale both with whom I chance to chat with about the importance of good kids comics.

Read Like a Kid - Quick reviews

2005-04-08T10:05:00.000-04:00

OWLY VOLUME 2 JUST A LITTLE BLUE: There's no decrease in the quality of the 2nd book in Andy Runton's OWLY series, in fact, it's better. Instead of two short stories, there's a single and stronger narrative this time -- Owly and Wormy decide to build a birdhouse to attract some new bluebird friends. Runton successfully combines a light hearted story of friendship with something deeper, a seamless tale of selflessness and also manages to touch on animal behavior and habitats all at the same time. For the amount of bad press that's been following manga titles these days, this is the book that needs to be put in front the faces of teachers, librarians, parents and obviously kids.

YOTSUBA&! VOLUME 1: Loosely translated as 'four leaf clover,' this new manga from ADV features the adventures of a spunky green-haired girl as she moves into a new neighborhood with her guardian. On my initial read, it was hard to figure out what exactly is age level for a book like YOTSUBA&! but the best way I could describe it would be a cross between Junie B. Jones and Judy Blume's Fudge books. The chapters are pretty much self-contained and episodic and feature humor stemming from Yotsuba's misunderstanding of the world -- one scene she is told that air conditioners contribute to global warming and from then on believes that anyone with one is evil. It's pretty funny but odd at the same time. I can't quite put my finger on it.

PEACH FUZZ VOLUME 1: As one of Tokyopop's first books in their original Ameri-manga line, PEACH FUZZ has all the makings of a great comic for kids - it's fun & humorous, it taps into the pet care trend that's attractive to the tween market, it teaches kids about responsibility and it delivers with appealing and relevant artwork. That is until we come to the vet office scene where two things stand out like sore thumbs -- the receptionist of the vet asks the main character's mother if she thinks the clerk at the pet store is cute. The mother thinks the receptionist is talking about a girl when in fact she's referring to a boy. The mother is very uncomfortable with this instance of mistaken lesbian identity. The second scene is when the main character, a young girl, runs into the vet who says "Women can't seem to keep their hands off me. Ha! Ha! Ha!" I can see something like this kept in a Japanese originated title, the views on sexuality are much more open in their manga, but to have these scenes in here with no reasonable context just seems sloppy and a bit gratuitous.

NANCY DREW VOLUME 1: Nancy Drew is one of those book properties will always remain in print despite the ups and downs of sales. After reading the first issue of the Hardy Boys comic book I was pretty skeptical of this line but Nancy Drew surprised me. The title character has a great internal voice in this book that's not heavy handed and that rings true as a young but smart teenager. It's a nice self contained mystery that unfolds with a decent pace. My major beef here though is the inconsistency of the artwork. There's really nice almost French comics-inspired work happening in the book that's reminiscent of the new Totally Spies cartoon. But the artwork has been muddied and darkened by so many computer coloring effects it makes entire pages blurry and almost unreadable. I'm not sure if the dark overcast to the artwork is supposed to create a moody effect but it's just not working here.

Ben Avery talks about Lullaby

2005-04-08T08:53:00.000-04:00

Missed this one earlier this week. The Pulse has an interview with Ben Avery on his new kids comic called LULLABY, described as "a manga-inspired reinterpretation/sequel to almost every single fairy tale or children’s book...fairy tales and children’s stories take place in a fairy realm that co-exists with our world."

I'm a big supporter for the "fractured fairy tale" genre but when it's done wrong, the work comes across as a shallow exercise in style, but when done right it can be truly magical. Fractured fairy tales are so compelling for kids because it allows them to think that a century's-old, permanent story (fairy tales with a capital 'F' and 'T') can be disassembled and played with. I think they inspire an incredible amount of creative freedom.

Everybody's linkin' for the weekend

2005-04-01T15:04:00.000-05:00

Just a few things to wrap up here...

- 5 pages of FRANKLIN RICHARDS: SON OF A GENIUS featured in each issue of the upcoming Power Pack series can be viewed at the Pulse. Comparisons to Calvin and Hobbes are already flying all over the internet but what I've read, it seems more Dexter's Labratory for me. It reads pretty well -- snappy and features a bit of gross-out humor that boys love but not sure if we've already moved past this theme after the aformentioned Dexter's Lab and Jimmy Neutron.

- Kudos to the LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS creators for taking matters in their own hands with promoting and marketing their book. Two sold out issues (from the publisher, so Direct Market stores are supporting it, which is rare for a non-superhero, kids book) and now a deal with a major Arizona newspaper to serialize a new story to then be collected and given to kids through the Arizona Public Library' literacy program. Newsarama has a 10-page preview of the third issue shipping this month.

- A known Marvel creator who writes adult stories in kids clothing had this to say about the new KRYPTO cartoon:

Okay, I can't believe I was kind of interested in this, but I'm such a buff I had to keep watching when I switched on BBC1 on Saturday morning and saw the first episode of this new cartoon. It's not just bad. It's 80s bad. It's all those bad jokes and utterly forgettable characters with bad puns for names and Krypto is right up there with Scrappy Doo for annoying.

And this isn't the first place I've seen comics fans relentlessly flying off the handle regarding this show. DC's made it pretty clear that KRYPTO is for the 5 to 7 age range -- the character design really works for that audience and refers back to a more classic look reminiscent of Hanna-Barbara shows. Anyways, an interview with the Director of the show can be found at Newsarama.

Betty & Veronica Spectacular goes tween-y

2005-04-01T13:56:00.000-05:00

For a company that is generally seen as conservative and has been absent from the online comic journalism circles for years, Archie Comics has been making some strong marketing decisions of late – first revamping SABRINA and JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS to a manga style and now changing the format of the BETTY AND VERONICA SPECTACULAR comic to "resemble a more fashion-oriented magazine with quizzes, Q&As and fashion spreads" popular with the tween market. Archie Comics is actually reacting to changes in the marketplace and reflecting that in meaningful shifts to their product.

One might argue that Marvel and DC are attempting these kind of grand sweeping marketing choices with the upcoming House of M and Infinite Crisis events. However, Archie Comics' decisions aren't editorial-based. They won't be undone by new creators or editorial regimes a few years down the line. ARCHIE is both maintaining the integrity of their brands (and along with the Betty & Veronica clothing line, slowly building interest in the brand for the upcoming movie) and making the books relevant for the current market. Someone at ARCHIE has really been thinking really hard about this stuff, and it shows.

Frivolous thought for the day

2005-03-30T09:38:00.000-05:00

According to Disney's upcoming launch their new Disney Fairies product line featuring Tinkerbell and her never-seen before group of fairy friends, male fairies are known as SPARROWMEN. Hm. Ok then.

Marvel confirms 7-11 books

2005-03-29T20:55:00.000-05:00

In a sort of piecemeal, round-about way, Marvel has confirmed the titles in their line of comics distributed in 7-11s across North America.

The line will be comprised of flip-books, the equivalent of two comic books, 64 pages each, priced at $3.99 with titles from Marvel's Ultimate line, their new all-ages Marvel Adventures line and "key" issues from the past few years including the relaunch of Avengers and the first issue of Joss Whedon's X-Men book.

As I mentioned in a previous post, most people are extremely positive about this and while I think it's a good deal in the fact that they actually got their foot in the door there, there are a few issues that really need to be addressed.

The line as it stands is marketed in the language of comics fandom. Your everyday casual reader will not understand the difference between an issue of Marvel Select and Ultimate Marvel. Give consumers Spider-Man or X-Men or even Hulk -- recognizable brands that the mass market knows from the recent movies. Hopefully these will be the prominent titles with the 'umbrella' titles having much less play on the covers. What most comics people don't get is that casual readers outside comics have no concept of Marvel as a brand, or even DC as a brand. And more importantly, they have no concept of the shared universe concept that's what makes superhero comics unique and niche as the same time. Shared universes require investment and casual readers just don't have that zeal that most hardcore fans have.

The fact that this line is made mainly made up of parts-of-a-storyline instead of stand alone stories (except for the Marvel Adventures books) seems to me that Marvel is hoping that by giving a taste to the casual reader that they will in a sense graduate from the 7-11 to the direct market comic book store. But how will they know where these stores are or whether or not they even exist?

Still no information on specific format changes, if there are any at all. In order to justify the price point here, Marvel should be making changes to the format so it stands up to like product on racks, your regular magazines and more importantly, the line's biggest competition, Shonen Jump. Perhaps a squarebound, larger trim size magazine style book with a higher quality paper for the cover, similar to the failed Ultimate magazine and the Target exclusive comics.

While content and format are important here, price is the key factor in the success of these books. $3.99 for 44 color pages of story, as opposed to Shonen Jump's 500+ b&w pages at $4.95. Will the remaining 20 in the Marvel book be ads like the comics or additional content created specifically for the line.

I hate picking on Marvel because I've been doing it a lot lately but these kinds of initiatives that have one foot firmly planted in the Direct Market and the other one firmly planted in the terms, ideas and headspace of comics fandom just seem not very well thought out to me.

Books books books...

2005-03-28T19:28:00.000-05:00

I've had a call to arms from my pal Kevin over at Thought Balloons to participate in a bloggerific book meme that's supposed to reveal deep hidden secrets of my personality. Let's see how this goes...

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

Probably Freckle Juice, because it's short and funny and would be hilarious to be called Freckle Juice.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver from Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City

The last book you bought is:

The Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries of the Teenage Brain Tell Us About Our Kids, by Barbara Strauch

The last book you read:

Comics-wise it was Owly Vol. 2 Just a Little Blue and Yotsuba&! Vol. 1. Book-wise it was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon and The Unconquered Country, by Geoff Ryman

What are you currently reading?

The aformentioned The Primal Teen and a book I'm reviewing for work -- the 2nd book in a series called A Knight's Story, Field of Blood by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell.

Five books you would take to a deserted island.

The Neverending Story, by Michael Ende
Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin
Was, by Geoff Ryman
D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths
Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World, by Haruki Murakami

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?

Kyle Cummings, Bryan O'Malley and Tim Fish because I know they've read good books.

Make-over!

2005-03-20T18:19:00.000-05:00

All Ages has a brand new look! What do you think? The last template had really wonky fonts and when I'd italicize a book title the word would practically overlap the next word. It was beginning to annoy me. This new template is much more snazzy. I've also added a bunch of new links on the side including:

A few new blogs:
David Welsh's Precocious Curmudgeon
Tom Spurgeon's The Comics Reporter
Love Manga, a brand new site on all comics Japanese
Tangognat, a great site focusing on comics in libraries.

Also:
Scholastic's BONE mini-site with fun games, character profiles and lots of other good stuff
A link to the upcoming Toronto Comic Arts Festival, where I will be acting as Youth Program Co-ordinator. If you're planning on attending make sure to drop by the kids tent and say hi.

Round up!

2005-03-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

Catching up on some of the important kids-related comics stories from the past month or so while I was on hiatus. When it rains it pours...

Marvel publishes a second Mary Jane mini-series
I was pretty hard on the first issue of the first Mary Jane series. I just couldn't see how it would really appeal to kids as a fun tween girl comic with one foot firmly planted in fanboy territory. It seems on the second shot, McKeever knows that Marvel has no idea how to push this to its intended market and has pretty much accepted it. It's a shame, McKeever can write teens and would probably do well with a project aimed at high tweens or even YA work with a publisher who knew where to place his work.

Josie and the Pussycats follows Sabrina with a manga make-over
This was a no brainer. Josie and the Pussycats are so manga-esque in the first place in their fun pop star glory, plus the cat costumes just work like a charm. Digests are an excellent plan here and I'm hoping if they're successful Sabrina will follow suit.

Franklin Richards back-up stories in the new Power Pack mini-series
Again, Marvel tries to fit a square peg into a round hole, this time emulating two popular children's entertainment themes -- the boy and his robot AND the boy genius. I'm curious to see how these back-up stories read. The artwork here and on the main Power Pack feature look very young, like Kindergarten/Grade 1 young. I'm already sensing a likely disconnect between the artwork and the stories.

Marvel teams up with 7-11s with new comic deal
Message board posters are hailing this as the best marketing idea Marvel has had in years. It's always seemed kind of obvious, hasn't it? However, didn't they try this already with the launch of the Ultimate line in a magazine format? Aren't comics already available in 7-11s? I know I've seen them in stores here in Canada. It seems like Marvel's big push here is the promise of exclusive product created for this market, except that no one knows what that product is -- format, price point and content. With an announcement as big as this, one would think that there would be a few more concrete details -- seems a bit like smoke and mirrors.

Exclusive Fantastic Four comic book hits 6000 schools nationwide
The school market is a tough nut to crack -- I know this working in it so I commend Marvel for sealing this deal. The book sounds promising too -- created with input from educators and ties into lesson plans covering reading, writing, science and math. Two issues may arise here -- how will parents feel about a comic book used to promote Marvel's upcoming movie and if they manage to dodge that bullet, there's also the possibility that kids might not even like the Fantastic Four. Coming off the heels of the Incredibles might hurt this property.

Krypto, Superman's Best Friend comes to Cartoon Network
It's Batman and Superman but as pets! Another no brainer. Expect this to get a MAJOR push for the 5 to 7 age group . The classic look to the character design here totally works.

Nickelodeon Magazine publishes the Best of Nick Comics Special
I haven't had a chance to really read through this, but it looks really great. And seeing Dave Cooper drawing SpongeBob is just such a treat for me. With this and the all-comics issue of Disney Adventures out there, comics are definitely becoming less niche and more recognized as a popular and appealing way of telling stories to kids.

Hyperion/Disney plans to publish a new line of graphic novel biographies
Librarians will be all over this and it's good to see that Hyperion is doing their research to use quality creators like Jason Lutes, James Sturm and Nick Bertozzi. The downside of this is that this still indicates to me that a lot of mainstream publishers are afraid to go headlong into the category with original fiction graphic novels. Starting with something safe like adaptations or biographies or even nonfiction is smart but definitely erring on the safe side.

Wow. Long post. And there I thought I was going to be short and sweet.

Read Like a Kid - Legendz Vol. 1

2005-03-14T22:48:00.000-05:00

Chris beat me to it with a scathing review of the first volume of Viz's latest young readers' manga series called LEGENDZ. Chris has some great points -- the book certainly is no equivalent to most kids lit out there but I think it has its place.

Sure, LEGENDZ is unapologetic in the way that it's a manga created solely to sell the merchandise, but it's really no different than Pokemon, Beyblade, MegaMan or any other mass market type property. As well, the Tamagotchi-esque merchandise isn't available in North America...yet so we can excuse this until we start seeing LEGENDZ on the shelves at Toys R Us. What it boils down to with LEGENDZ is not from singular artistic vision, it's just another format of a media property -- this stuff is the bread and butter of children's publishing from Lizzie McGuire chapter books to Batman colour and activity. It's there for kids who have no interest in reading unless its related to the things that are in front of them on television 24/7.

With that in mind, LEGENDZ is perfect for what it is -- it's a quick, accessible book, good for reluctant readers. The characters are familiar types, the plots are simple and follow an episodic structure similar to cartoons and the action is over-the-top with lots of great visuals. There's even some decent 'teachable moments,' like bullying, self-esteem and teamwork, and as surface as they may be, they'll still have an impact on the reader.

What made me happy was the complete lack of questionable content -- no mild swearing, no panty flashes and no heavy violence, which is a rarity I find with a lot of "all ages" manga. Even with that stamp on the back, there are sometimes occasions where naughty bids have a tendency to trickle through.

Get 'em reading something, I say...

Jeff Smith interviewed

2005-03-12T10:24:00.000-05:00

Found this great interview with Jeff Smith that covers a lot of ground -- from the beginnings of BONE to the Scholastic deal and the projects he's currently working on. You rarely see Smith covered on the usual suspect comic book journalism websites so it's nice to see such an extensive interview by a children's/YA library specialist -- definitely aimed towards the people who need to know more about BONE to get it out there into kids' hands

I especially like this quote:

I have to say the people at Scholastic "get it;" they did not come to us the way other publishers have and say, "Well, this is an interesting story, and my kid really loves these characters, and why don't we do it right and have an illustration on one page and text on the other?" Scholastic got it. They wanted to do the books as books and treat them as books, which may or may not seem miraculous to you, but I've been talking to comic book people and book people for years now, and the idea of treating a comic book like a book—it's radical. It shouldn't be, because it is literature; you read it from right to left, top to bottom, just like a prose book. Some of the story information is in the pictures, but it's still literature. There is a language and a symbology to it that is its own. From the beginning, Scholastic never wanted to do anything except treat Bone like a book.

When nerds play board games

2005-03-12T09:09:00.000-05:00

My friend Ian has written a hilarious article at Bookslut about the vices and virtues of Book Lover's Trivial Pursuit -- an evil, evil game that lasted for 4 to 5 hours, which seemed to go by so quickly after drinking copious amounts of wine. I cleaned up on the kids book section, while everyone else stood dumbfounded by questions like "What famous children's illustrator has written such books like the Very Quiet Cricket and the Very Hungry Caterpillar." Me answering with "Um, hello?? Eric Carle?" in my slightly tipsy valley girl-upspeak.

Ian quotes me at one point the article in regards to whether or not non-book people would find the game challenging: "I’m fine with that! Regular people have regular Trivial Pursuit and Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. For me, this is challenging.”

Yeah, keep me AWAY from this game people. Not one of my finest moments.

GRAPHIX update

2005-02-07T21:23:00.000-05:00

Newsarama has an interview with David Saylor, Creative Director for Scholastic's Graphix line where he talks about upcoming releases and future projects, including one of my personal favourites, an adaptation of Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn. There's also a really great cover image of Chynna Clugston's QUEEN BEE. Check it out!

The current schedule for Graphix releases is:
Bone Vol. 1 Out From Boneville - in stores NOW
Bone Vol. 2 The Great Cow Race - August 2005
Queen Bee - Fall 2005
Babysitter's Club Vol. 1 - Spring 2006
High School Confidential - Summer 2006

From what I've heard so far, BONE Vol. 1 is receiving an excellent response from librarians. And for those of you with kids in school, BONE will be a featured title on Scholastic Book Clubs in both the U.S. and Canada.

We now return to regularly scheduled blogging.

2005-02-04T13:54:00.000-05:00

Over a month...wow! Time flies. I took a long needed break from work over Christmas, ended up celebrating New Year's in Montreal (counting down to 2005 en francais), then was off to Massachusetts for a 4 day-strategy meeting for book clubs. Quickly after that, I came face to face with my 30th birthday, prompting me to take a newly coined "xtenda-birthday" that lasted for 5 days. Then, recovery, lots of X-Men Legends on my new PS2 (thanks mom and dad!) and deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.

So basically for the month of January I didn't have much time to read or even think about kids comics. And to be honest, there wasn't much happening that has really excited me about comics in general in the past while. But now with the first volume of BONE ramping up with its release in bookstores and direct market stores, I feel like I'm back in the saddle again. I hope you all waited patiently for me to get back on that proverbial horse.

'Tis the season for catch-up

2004-12-21T13:55:00.000-05:00

After a bit of a dry period for kids-related comic news, there's quite a few interesting items to come out these past several days.

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, the 6th and penultimate book in the series gets a release date -- July 16th, 2005, which I believe is earlier than once expected. I'm assuming with the movie franchise moving along (Goblet of Fire is out November 18th, 2005), JK Rowling is trying to keep up the pace, which is definitely a good thing. More info here.

iBooks is planning on releasing a series of graphic novels with new material featuring characters from the classic Harvey line including CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST, RICHIE RICH and HOT STUFF. It will be interesting to see what the tone of these books will be -- new & updated or classic & retro and whether or not the core concepts will resonate with kids.

Disney flexes its comic book muscles again and will increase the frequency of their 'all-comics' issues of DISNEY ADVENTURES. COMIC ZONE will have a quarterly release schedule and feature original stories based on the new hit Disney/Pixar animated movie The Incredibles, the Jetix/ABC Family animated series Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, and the previously published and upcoming animated series on Jetix/ABC Family and Toon Disney, W.I.T.C.H. Disney is enlisting some great talent from the comic book industry here including Patrick the Wolf Boy's Art Baltazar, Oni Comics creator Christine Norrie, classic off-the-wall alt comics creator Matt Feazell and more.

Randy Queen hopes that MANGA DARKCHYLDE will be considered "the Dark Knight of All-ages books." Considering Frank Miller's mature Batman work threw the mainstream superhero industry into the grim n' gritty doldrums that still resonate today (ahem Identity Crisis), I hope he's just mixing up his metaphors here.

As of 5pm today I'm officially on holiday break until the New Year, so expect more time for some long overdue content I've been meaning to post for a good month now. As always, thanks for reading!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

2004-12-16T16:03:00.000-05:00

It's called too many deadlines, hectic pre-holiday work crunch, holiday commitments and no blogging.

It's also the name of a successful, yet dreadful book series by Lemony Snicket, or rather Daniel Handler. A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS garnered a bit of comics buzz this past week with the announcement of a comic book adaptation of the upcoming movie in a special edition movie magazine from Nickelodeon. The above link features some great preview art from illustrator Sam Hiti that looks just great. Call me a bit biased though, I've been a big fan of Sam Hiti's work ever since I picked up a mini comics he published a couple of years ago called PHENOMS, which featured kids with amazing superpowers. I knew the quirky sensibility of that comic would translate to something like Series of Unfortunate Events.

I was fortunate last night to see a preview screening of A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS starring Jim Carrey and quite enjoyed it. The overall look and feel of the movie is just great, from the set design of the burned Baudelaire mansion to Count Olaf's outrageous clothing. The actors who portrayed the orphans, Violet, Klaus and Sunny were great and Carrey's performance as Olaf didn't overshadow the movie like as in most of the films he stars in. The only major flaw of the movie I found was the fact that it doesn't have that strong singular build-up with a blow-your-mind type climax. I think this comes from being adapted from 3 separate books. The movie moves along as a series of narrative peaks and valleys but doesn't have that extreme 'wow' moment at the end. It's a bit of a fizzle...but a satisfying fizzle. Plus, it's just scary enough for the kids to get a thrill without being completely traumatized.

Judy Blume

2004-12-02T18:25:00.000-05:00

Remember her? Well, I've decided to go back and read all her works, including the books I read when I was 8, as well as the few new ones she's written since then. I started last night with The One In the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo and Freckle Juice, both slim volumes coming in at around 40-ish pages, geared succinctly to a Grade 2 audience. The one thing i realized re-reading these, especially the latter was that after all these years scenes, dialogue, descriptions and even page layouts (both books use text and black and white line art in various ways) seemed like they had been read just yesterday and still fresh in my memory. This really confirmed how effective kids books can be at create a lasting impression even after so many years. I can't really say I remember any one particular scene from Dickens' Bleak House in any of its 900-ish page length from my first-year university English class. Next up -- the entire Fudge series starting with Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing.

Back on track

2004-12-01T21:09:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the mini-hiatus. I'm knee deep in holiday crunch at work. Here's some links I've missed in past couple of weeks:

Newsarama reports that MARY-JANE returns in March with another limited series that I'm assuming will eventually end up as part of the Marvel Age digest line. I still have yet to read the first digest. Whether or not Marvel tries harder to push this in bookstores will remain to be seen.

The Pulse has an interview with Mark Crilley, creator of comic book-turned-prose novel AKIKO, as well as another series published through Random House called BILLY CLIKK. He admits to "taking a break from comics for a moment."

Diamond Distributors is offering BONE in their latest catalogue in both SC and HC editions. As I've said in earlier posts, I've seen both editions and they're equally gorgeous and well worth buying again even if you have the original B&W trades.

Also in the current Previews catalogue is the 2nd volume of OWLY. I can't recommend this book more, especially for school librarians looking to expand their collection with appropriate material for the 7 to 9 age group.

Zoom's Academy goes to Ballantine

2004-11-17T14:42:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Heidi for this one.

ZOOM'S ACADEMY FOR THE SUPER GIFTED, a comic about a 13-year old girl who not only discovers that her father is a teacher at a school for kids with powers but discovers she has superhuman abilities herself, has not only been signed up for a movie starring Tim Allen but has also been picked up by Ballantine Books, a subsidary of Random House Publishing for two books. Creator Jason Lethcoehas published 3 issues of the comic book to date. Whether or not Ballantine will follow Disney's recent lead to alter the original material into a hybrid of comics and prose or keep it as is remains to be seen.

I haven't had the chance to read ZOOM'S but what I've seen of Lethcoe's artwork, I like. There's definite kid-appeal to his work.

With so much media attention and buzz around kids comics in the past 6 months, it seems like every publisher (traditional book and comic book) is taking the opportunity to snap up a existing all ages book for their line. 2005 should be an interesting year...

Oh happy Wednesday

2004-11-17T14:19:00.000-05:00

I have in my hands a copy of the first Scholastic volume of BONE: Out From Boneville and it looks absolutely amazing. The cover features a beautiful red foil embossed logo, and the interior colors look just leap off the page. The hardcover edition is even more of a treat with Mark Crilley's map of The Valley as the inside front and back cover pages.

I also had the chance to read the first 29 pages of script and roughs of Chynna Clugston's Scholastic graphic novel QUEEN BEE, which is releasing Fall 2005. The story is off-the-wall and totally fun -- think Mean Girls with psychokinetic powers. It's looking like a great book to follow BONE -- different enough to distinguish it on the shelves but still maintaining that "in-a-kid's-head" sensibility that is so important in making kids graphic novels a major success.

School market-appropriate Yu-Gi-oH!

2004-11-17T07:02:00.000-05:00

Hopefully there will be no cats with cigarettes being put out in their eyes or girls being kidnapped at gunpoint in this one. I remember reviewing Volume 1 of YU-GI-OH to sell on Scholastic Book Clubs a few years ago and realizing a major problem -- popular anime for kids in North America had been seriously edited from its original manga form. This has made selling the most popular Japanese properties very difficult to sell in a school market setting as translated manga.

But perhaps this will fix everything:
"VIZ, LLC, one of the leading publishers and distributors of manga and anime for North American audiences, has announced the upcoming release of YU-GI-OH! THE MOVIE™ ANI-MANGA. The single 288-page full color graphic novel provides a blow-by-blow summary of the animated theatrical film. Included in the first 100,000 copies will be one of the three Yu-Gi-Oh! Egyptian God Cards, previously unavailable in the U.S. The new Ani-Manga is rated “A” for All Ages and will be on sale nationwide on November 23 retailing for $13.99."

We like that 'A' rating. Time for an email to Viz...

I saw The Incredibles

2004-11-16T12:47:00.000-05:00

I'm convinced that THE INCREDIBLES is a delightful anomaly.

Since the summer there's been much discussion among co-workers whether or not this movie will actually hit with kids. The popular opinion was that THE INCREDIBLES is a movie made for fans of the superhero genre and that's it. That it would be too sophisticated packed with references that kids just wouldn't get.

And guess what? In some respects, it is. But it also:
- currently has a 96% positive review rating on Rotten Tomatoes
- beat Finding Nemo in amount of money made on opening weekend
- beat The Polar Express, a movie with a more confident premise (it's seasonal & feel-good) on its second week at the box office where traditionally one sees a major drop off in revenue from opening week
- has been enjoyed by EVERY kid I've heard that has seen the movie (from friends, relatives, co-workers)

THE INCREDIBLES is a dark, sophisticated movie that deconstructs the genre by breaking apart those major things that make up a superhero like sidekicks, costumes and secret identities. This is a movie with serious adult themes like society's elevation of mediocrity and the difference between real and cartoon violence (that scene where Elastigirl tells her kids that these villains won't hesitate to kill you is seriously intense, especially for a 7 year old and probably for a 12 year old too).

But on the other hand, THE INCREDIBLES does endeavor to keep kids entertained as well - the family dynamic (especially the scene where the family bickers at the dinner table using of each of their special powers), the wonder and awe of having amazing abilities (the scene where Dash runs on water will keep any kid on the edge of their seat) and just the right amount of humor. Plus, maniacal supervillains, gigantic robots that smash cities and brightly colored costumes help as well.

The strength in THE INCREDIBLES comes from the fact that it isn't just a series of pop culture references and gags but is a meaningful story with depth, stakes and real emotion.

So how does a movie, despite its highly sophisticated nature, keep the attention of kids for almost 2 hours? THE INCREDIBLESis an example of smart marketing -- from toys in McDonald's Happy Meals to video games to publishing over 35 related books before the release of the movie show how a highly penetrated property can win everyone over. More information on THE INCREDIBLES marketing machine can be found here.

As for me personally...yeah I liked it a lot despite being inundated with those popular opinions I described earlier. I'm just glad kids are liking it too...

Disney's afraid to publish comics?

2004-11-15T13:37:00.000-05:00

Many more details regarding CrossGen properties being picked up by Disney have surfaced here and here, including news that Disney was planning on walking away from the deal if they couldn't get the all ages fantasy book ABAZADAD.

What worries me is this:
"We're doing Abadazad as a series of children's books. [4 hardcover prose novels] We'll be taking material from the comics, adding to it, reformating it ... and coming up a combination of prose, illustration and sequential art that we think will be unique. Our plan is to create a storytelling format that is new and exciting ... and we can't wait to get started.

Brenda Bowen, VP and Editor in Chief of Hyperion Books admits she's not "a comic book person" and feels that ABAZADAD will work better as small hardcover books with a mix of prose and illustration, along the same lines as Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's The Spiderwick Chronicles. But again, like with Disney's other comics originated property, W.I.T.C.H., Disney in North America felt the series would work better as a series of prose novels with 8-page comic inserts. Did Bowen feel ABAZADAD would work better as prose because of JM DeMatteis' text-heavy writing style? Or is Disney still not confident enough that the graphic novel format has hit mainstream book buyers yet? It's somewhat worrisome that the self-proclaimed publisher of 50% of comics worldwide will not take the leap here.

Devil's Due gets Patrick the Wolf Boy

2004-11-11T08:46:00.000-05:00

Newsarama has a press release for Devil's Due's new digest line launching in January 2005. Included in the 4 releases is the previously self-published all-ages comic PATRICK THE WOLF BOY.

From the release:
PATRICK THE WOLFBOY (Writer: Franco Aureliani Artist: Art Baltazar) A hit across the convention circuits, and in development as an animated series, Devil’s Due is happy to have Patrick on board. This D3 collects the following: Patrick the Wolf Boy #1, Patrick the Wolf Boy: Christmas Special, Patrick the Wolf Boy: Valentine’s Special, Patrick the Wolf Boy: Mother's Day Special Summer Special and 25 pages of new Patrick stuff!

Patrick is a young boy who likes to do all the things that young boys do -- go camping, play in the backyard, go to school but -- he's also a werewolf and enjoys chasing squirrels. I've never had the chance to read any of Patrick's adventures but I've spoken with Art many times at conventions and he definitely has a kid-sensibility that is reassuring. The artwork is simple and appealing and the seasonal tie are a marketer/buyer's dream. Patrick seems like it would appeal to fans of such series like The Bailey School Kids and with an animated series in development might be a good title to consider for school market distribution.

Full review to come in January.

Disney gets CrossGen

2004-11-10T08:54:00.000-05:00

Publishers Weekly has confirmed rumors that a Cal Publishing Inc., a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide has acquired CrossGen's assets including the rights to publish the all-ages series ABAZADAD.

From the article:
"DPW president Deborah Dugan immediately announced plans to develop Abadazad, a fantasy series about a young girl's search for her lost brother, under its Hyperion Books for Children imprint. Dugan also said selected CrossGen graphic novel properties will likely also be considered for development into motion pictures, TV productions and games."

Hyperion traditionally publishes novels and whether or not ABAZADAD will continue to be published as graphic novels or be converted to traditional novels with some comics pages, a la Disney's W.I.T.C.H. series remains to be seen. Curious to see what CrossGen properties will be developed into other media and whether or not they'll be altered to reach a more mass market audience.

Dorian's talking about kids comics

2004-11-06T13:41:00.000-05:00

Over at Postmodern Barney Dorian has some interesting observations about kids and comics. He works in a comic book shop and sees first hand what kids are buying and more importantly, what parents are letting kids buy. Basically, he says that kids don't really want to read corporate "kiddie" versions of existing superheroes, which I agree with to a certain extent. I'm hoping that Marvel's new POWER PACK series might prove us all wrong.

The most interesting observation he makes is how young girls are coming into comic book shops with their parents looking for appropriate material. Unfortunately the output of titles from DC and Marvel with female leads, except for maybe SPIDER-GIRL, probably wouldn't go over well with the parents. Dorian's right -- kids need general audience friendly books with little continuity except for a core concept that carries over from issue to issue with action and humor. One of the most successful televisions for tween girls in the past few years has been Lizzie McGuire. The show embodies the sitcom format in so much that each episode contains all the information one needs know to enjoy this weeks madcap situation, but by the end everything is back to the status quo. The same can be said for ARCHIE COMICS' line of titles. This is the direction that will lead to Dorian selling tons of books to eager parents and their equally eager little girls.

Hardy Boys preview

2004-11-05T14:19:00.000-05:00

Papercutz, NBM's tween publishing division, have the entire first issue of the new HARDY BOYS comic book series on their website for preview until the end of today. After a quick read, I have my doubts that this will appeal to the market they're going after. The dialogue is clunky (first indication of bad dialogue is when a character's name is constantly stated over and over again in every conversation - people don't talk like this), the plot jumps around with little coherence and the artwork looks rushed and inconsistent. There is definitely an attempt to bring a manga sensibility to the detective brothers with the inclusion of speed lines and quirky romance subplots but it really feels tacked on. From what I've seen, when a properties is revived and slightly tweaked for a new audience, subtle changes are made but the core of what the property is about remains. I'm not sure if what makes the Hardy Boys, the Hardy Boys is being represented here.

I'd still be interested to read these in full graphic novel form to see if the problems iron themselves out...

Read Like a Kid - I've got owls on the brain

2004-11-04T23:53:00.000-05:00

I had a weird things for owls when I was a kid and I'm pretty sure it all stemmed from my unhealthy obsession with Bubo from Clash of the Titans. I wanted a mechanical pet owl pet crafted by Athena so bad! The fascination didn't stop there. In grade 8 art class we had to do this project that consisted of tracing an animal with india ink on glass, coloring it with magic marker, blocking out the "white" space with this thick black toxic paint, putting crackled tinfoil behind the glass and then into a frame. I thought it was a pretty cool craft so I picked an owl and ended up giving it to my mother for Christmas. Months later, after some minor family misfortunes, my mother was convinced that the owl was casting the "molochia" or the Italian evil eye on us and my artwork was cast to the deepest regions of one of our closets.

Which brings me to two works where owls feature prominently -- the YA novel HOOT by adult novelist Carl Hiassen and the latest all-ages graphic novel from Top Shelf Comix, OWLY by Andy Runton.

HOOT is about Roy Eberhardt, a 'new kid' to Trace Middle School, who not only has to deal with the class bully and the daily grind of school but his own curiosity when he spots a bare-footed boy running away from the bus one day. Upon further investigation, Roy finds himself caught in the middle of a battle between an environmentally conscious runaway and a corporation who wants to open a new pancake house ontop of the habitat of a burrowing owl colony.

It's really hard to say anything bad about a book that's won so many presitgious awards, including the Newbery Honor Book award. It's not that I didn't like HOOT -- it's a good story -- part slapstick, part mystery and part preteen drama. In fact, the most interesting element of HOOT is its introduction of the idea that kids can be activists and not in that cheesy "save the whales" kind of way but a more genuine call-to-arms. HOOT is one of many books currently on the market where adult novelists try their hand at writing a kids book. We saw this last year with Michael Chabon's Summerland, which has received mixed reviews. With HOOT I just felt there was an off-putting distance between the author and the reader that left me a bit cold.

Far from distant in any way is Andy Runton's first all ages graphic novels about the everyday adventures of an owl entitled OWLY. Owly is an innocent bird with his heart in all the right places. In the first half of the book, Owly nurses a worm back to health, instead of eating him, and the two end up becoming best friends and roommates. In the second story, Owly and Wormy befriend a couple of hummingbirds. But when winter approaches their friends must leave, but Owly and Wormy realize that goodbye isn't always forever when their friends return the following Spring for more fun.

To be honest, I was a bit hesitant when I found out that OWLY was a wordless graphic novel. Part of me felt that it was more important to grow the category of children's graphic novels with stories that could be used legitimitely in a classroom setting to get reluctant readers interested in books. Pushing aside my ignorance, I did a little research and realized that Runton's optimistic, simple stories of friendship follow a long tradition of of wordless material from renowned picture book illustrators like Raymond Briggs, Eric Carle and David Wiesner.

I also found this great quote on the Weber County Library's website:
"Wordless picture books serve as the initial step towards real reading. Their stories are told entirely through a sequence of illustrations. As children follow the pictures, they verbalize the action in their own words, a process that builds vocabulary and comprehension skills. Children may interpret the stories in their own way, and in the process, learn that stories have a beginning, middle, and an ending."

So in order for a children's graphic novel to be successful in providing this initial step towards reading, clear sequential storytelling must be in place. Runton accomplishes this with ease. Not only is OWLY easy-to-follow but Runton's ability to convey emotions in animal characters with just a slight smile or the raising of an eyebrow is incredible. Clearly, there is more than enough room for OWLY in the growing children's graphic novel canon.

Tardy link-blogging

2004-11-04T07:22:00.000-05:00

Again my apologies for the lack of updates lately...work, flu and the everyday grind seem to be taking over my life lately. A few things I missed pointing out in the past couple of weeks in the all-agesphere.

Newsarama has two items:

- A link to a preview of Runemaster Studio's LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS -- like I said before...looks good.

- A announcement of IDW's adapation of Clive Barker's all ages novel, THE THIEF OF ALWAYS. I remember really liking the book when I first read it back when I was 14-ish, so I'm interested to see what they do with the comic adaptation.

Next up...a big OWLS ONLY post...

Out damn flu!

2004-10-27T08:50:00.000-04:00

Ended up getting a flu shot on Thursday -- stayed in bed all day Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday -- I'm trying not to be one of those people cursing the flu shot and all its evil properties. Let's hope this is it for this season then. Regular updates should resume later this week.

In the meantime, you can check out John Gallagher's column at Newsarama where he talks about how his comic, Buzzboy finally found its audience in kids.

Marvel Age expansion

2004-10-21T09:21:00.000-04:00

Newsarama has an interview with sales guy David Gabriel and editor Mackenzie Cadenhead on the future expansion of the all-ages Marvel Age line including new titles like Power Pack (damn, someone beat me to the punch!), Spider-Man Tales, Fantastic Four Tales and Spider-Man Team Up.

One promising quote in this interview:
"Erica David and Kitty Fross will be writing Marvel Age Spider-Man Tales. Both are children’s book writers who have worked with Scholastic and Nickelodeon. Their sensibilities fit naturally in the comic book medium and we are learning an invaluable amount about the children’s book market from them."

If Marvel can keep pushing these in mass market venues, there will only be more awareness of the format and, in turn, more acceptance from parents. And while this line isn't necessarily a move towards building that core list of acclaimed children's graphic novels but at least Marvel is committed to continuing the line and pushing this kind of material.

Comics4Kids.org

2004-10-16T11:05:00.000-04:00

Just found this site cruising through some of the follow-up posts from LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS on The Pulse.

Comics4Kids.org is "...a not-for-profit company that gives comic books to children. This at once instills a sense of appreciation for literacy, as well as providing vicarious adventure for these children, maybe even comforting them."

There's a listing of press articles about the organization (but no links or excerpts), merchandise like t-shirts and mugs that you can buy, a few links to comic book dealers, but no specific documentation of what the organization has actually done. Call me a little bit puzzled.

Lions, Tigers and Bears preview

2004-10-15T10:39:00.000-04:00

Newsrama has a press release of a new all-ages book recently picked up by Image called LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS by Mike Bullock and Jack Lawrence of Runemaster Studios.

Described as Monsters Inc. meets The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the story revolves around "Joey Price as he discovers that the noises he hears at night aren't just figments of his imagination. Those noises come from the monstrous Beasties, who spend every night trying to "get" little children. Luckily for Joey, his stuffed animals are more than he ever thought they were, as they come to life to defend him from the Beastie perils."

The premise seems strong, and children will easily relate the love of a stuffed animals and imaginary friends. The artwork is reminscient of a Disney style which will make it appealing to a mass audience. The lion character on the cover looks like it was pulled right from the Lion King and in fact the artist, Lawrence did work for Disney on the Lion King at some point.

What worries me about this is the fact that Image publisher, Erik Larsen has decided to release it as a 4 issue mini series instead of a straight-to-graphic novel. It's not like Image hasn't released books like this in the past. With the book store market poised on filling their shelves with more childrens graphic novels, this seems like a missed opportunity to me. Does this mean another kids comic will not reach its intended audience because only a small groups of fans will pick up the book in singles from the Direct Market? And in turn, will the possibilty of poor sales in the singles cause doubt as to the graphic novel selling? I hope not...this is the direction we don't want to go. And on first glance, LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS looks like a fun book that deserves a chance.

The first issue ships in January, expect a full review then.

Read Like a Kid - Runaways

2004-10-13T10:32:00.000-04:00

Back from the non-stop turkey weekend and what better thing to do on a Monday night all high on Tryptofan than to read a nice digest sized comic book. So I read the 2nd volume of Brian K Vaughn's RUNAWAYS from Marvel and quite enjoyed it. Born out of the failed Tsunami line (Quesada/Jemas' attempt to wrestle away manga's stronghold in the bookstore market), RUNAWAYS was the diamond-in-the-rough -- loved by a small group of devoted fans, critically acclaimed by comics websites but saddled with low sales and no push in the bookstore market as it was first intended to be.

RUNAWAYS is about a group of teens who must leave their homes after they are framed for murder by their parents after discovering their dark secret -- they are actually super villains. Also, the kids realize they have powers and abilities of their own. This is an incredibly strong premise that would really challenge a young reader -- it's the ultimate betrayal when a parent, viewed as a teacher, a caregiver, is now seen as a threat.

The book is firmly placed in the Marvel Universe with references to Captain America and the X-Men but the book could definitely work without these with some slight editorial tweaking. It's a shame that Runaways really lost its chance to find its audience, losing important momentum floundering between Marvel's unsuccessful Tsunami line and the spotty Marvel Age line.

Now with Tokyopop venturing into the realm of original American style manga, I'm curious how this book would do if published by them. The link to the Marvel Universe isn't what carries this book, Vaughn has proved that by creating one of Marvel's wholly original books in years that's engaging, moves beyond the typical superhero themes but maintains a quality that I think kids, 8 to 12 would really enjoy.

SPX - Writing for Young Readers Panel

2004-10-08T08:42:00.000-04:00

A few more SPX remnants trickling in...

One of the few panels I attended this year was the Writing for Young Readers panel with Jeff Smith (Bone), Andy Runton (Owly) and John Gallagher (Buzzboy). When asked whether or not the panelists had the intent to specifically create kids comics, the three responded that they were creating the stories that they would've liked to have read when they were young. In fact, Smith commented that kids never even occured to him as an audience but he knew that if Bone was ghettoized as a kids book, especially in a time when there were very few trade paperbacks and when the hottest material out there was darker fantasy type stuff like early Vertigo books, that it would die a very quick death. In the early 90's comics for kids had no place in the Direct Market so creators didn't even consider creating material solely for kids. Of course this is a still an ongoing issue even in the market today.

Definitely one of the challenges in publishing kids comics will be overcoming this desperation to be viewed as a mature medium while at the same time being able to break out of that same desperation to create content-appropriate comics for kids. Of course, this doesn't mean dumbing down stories, which was another concern that came up in the discussion.

I ended up asking the panel whether they thought that outside influences were key in creating good kids comics, especially in a medium that so often refers back on itself. Gallagher said he prevents this by letting his wife read his scripts and pointing out any references or in-jokes that she doesn't get.

Gallagher brought up another interesting point concerning children's perception of value. He recounted a story about a kid who was questioning the price to page count ratio and how he can spend less money on a prose novel and get more story as opposed to a graphic novel which has less pages, less words but costs more. Here's another challenge -- changing the mass market's preconceived notions that art plus story has less value than just straight-up prose. Kids books stick to very similar formats across the board along with uniform pricing and the pricing of kids graphic novels needs to try and somewhat reflect this uniformity as well.

Surprisingly positive was the enthusiasm in the audience. About 70% of people in the room were interested in creating their own comics for young readers. But also there was a sense of discouragement with anecdotes told about artists being advised to draw in a more realistic style or coerced to move away from kid friendly material.

Jeff Smith pretty much ended the panel with this quote: "Kids stories should traumatize you." At first, I thought this was insane but quickly ran through the catalogue of some of the greatest kids books ever -- Charlotte's Web, Bridge to Terabithia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -- all very disturbing at times with images and feelings that have an impact on any child who reads them. Smith is definitely right -- it's these kinds of stories that stay with you forever and it's these kind of stories that need to be created in comics to fill that kids comics core list that Chabon refered to in his Eisner speech.

Yup, Ricky Gervais wrote a kids book

2004-10-07T22:41:00.000-04:00

Flanimals

Fans of The Office take note - Ricky Gervais has written a kids book. Well, sort of. I'm not entirely sure if it's really a kids book or just a weird esoteric book that will end up at places like Urban Outfitters and boutique stores that carry Paul Frank merchandise. Flanimals is a spotter's guide book of strange, random made-up creatures from Gervais' head, which seems like a pretty scary place after reading the book.

Puddloflaj
(Blobbulous Boinglubber)
Cowardly wobbler that spends its days avoiding the Grundit. The Puddloflaj looks like a fat useless blob. It actually doesn't have an ounce of fat on it -- it's water retention. In fact it's nearly 100% water, sort of like filling a balloon from a tap. Baby Puddloflaj can be used as water bombs.

See? Told you. The book takes on a real surreal quality if you imagine Gervais' character David Brent of The Office reading it.

Bone in color

2004-10-07T11:13:00.000-04:00

Newsarama has an interview with the delightful Steve Hamacker, colorist on the new Bone graphic novels from Scholastic.

"The trap with any special effects or in this case colorizing a well known comic book is that you have to overdo it. I like to think that the art is 98% done, and the color is enhancing it for the sake of the story. I want people to read the colorized version and not necessarily notice that its color. Jeff and I are always more concerned with the story than the technical aspect of the coloring. I like doing it that way."

It's easy to be a skeptic for a book like Bone that's all about Jeff's fantastic line work. But, judging from the audience's reactions at both San Diego and SPX, old fans are in for a treat and a new generation of readers will fall in love with this series.

SPX - A round of thanks

2004-10-06T20:56:00.000-04:00

- Thanks to Jose Villarubia for being a mentor without even knowing you're doing it. That's the point dahling.

- Thanks to Heidi Macdonald for wearing that fabulous silver jacket and for more future traffic directed to my blog. Hint, hint.

- Thanks to Danielle Corsetto for enjoying my accent so much and giving me good hugs.

- Thanks to Kevin Melrose for saying you liked my voice and urging me to blog more. I intend to.

- Thanks to Tim Fish for sufficiently embarassing me with one simple sketch. "Let's" indeed.

- Thanks to Bryan O'Malley and Hope Larson for being the cutest couple in comics. You guys will be huge.

- Thanks to Craig McKenny for putting up with two drunk fools - Chris and myself.

- Thanks to Jeffery Brown and Sam Hiti for always having something good for me to read at every convention I attend.

- Thanks to Andy Runton and Jef Czekaj for your energy, enthusiasm and talent.

- Thanks to Jeff and Vijaya Smith for being simply good people and for furthering my dreams.

- Thanks to Jason for putting up with our sugar-driven insanity for a 10 hour car ride.

- Thanks to Chris Butcher for being such a great friend and knowing how to coerce me into a 10 hour road trip.

- And lastly, thanks to Kyle Cummings for being one of the most inspiring, fun, amazing guys I've met in a long time.

Kid-links

2004-10-06T08:52:00.000-04:00

There's usually never enough kid-related news to actually have one post devoted to morning link blogging, but today is a different day. Huzzah!

- Raina Telgemeier, the creator of the upcoming series of Baby-Sitter's Club graphic novels for Scholastic has a report on SPX at the Pulse.

- Newsarama has an interview with Jef Czekaj, creator of Grampa and Julie: Shark Hunters, an all-ages full-colour graphic novel from Top Shelf. I wrote a review of this great book just before leaving for SPX.

- Also at Newsarama is the announcement that Penguin Books and Byron Preiss will launch a line of adapted classics in graphic novel form next summer. Titles will include Macbeth in a manga style by Tony Leonard Tamai, Black Beauty by comics legend June Brigman and more. Classics are often used to beef up an existing line and sell, slow, but steady, which makes this a "safe-start" on Penguin's part in entering the graphic novel market. The design of these will be the clincher since there are so many adapted classics on the shelves, these had better pop to grab a young reader's or parent's attention.

SPX - The sentimental recap

2004-10-05T17:51:00.000-04:00

Wow. What an amazing time. For every person in the past few years who has urged me to go to SPX, I thank you. Never have I been surrounded by such an amazing group of people just oozing with talent. I'm not sure if it has been like this every year but the level of quality and diversity was just so great. SPX is everything that San Diego is not -- social in a genuine, non-pissing contest sort of way and truly community based. No loud booming booths, no costumes, no bullshit. If one comes away from San Diego thinking "I hate comics," SPX will make you think "I really love comics." There is not one person who needs this kind of message every so often, everyone from the guy who makes fun mini-comics for himself to the bigshot editor at one of the major companies to the casual fan. It's important to be reminded that, fan or pro, this is what we love.

Of course for me, it was equally great to see the enthusiasm for and the amount of kid-related material at the show. Talking with newcomers like Jef Czekaj and Andy Runton and of course, Jeff Smith give me hope that comics are moving in the right direction in bringing in a new generation of fans that will love comics as much as we all do.

I'm going to stop there before I really get going -- but all in all, this show was truly an inspiring and amazing experience and I will be making this a definite yearly event. More to come...including my thoughts and recap of the panel on Writing Comics for Young Readers, my personal haul and a few amusing anecdotes.

Read Like a Kid - Grampa and Julie

2004-09-30T15:28:00.000-04:00

Grampa and Julie: Shark Hunters
by Jef Czekaj
128 pages, full-color
published by Top Shelf Productions

On the first day back to school, Julie presents a report on what she did over her summer vacation. Dragging a literal tome up to the podium she begins to recount her adventures with her grandfather and their quest to find Stephen, the largest shark in the world. Along the way they meet up with rapping squirrels, pirates who use cellphones, an alien scientist-monster and more in this first all ages graphic novel from Top Shelf.

The strength of Grampa and Julielies in its frenetic style. The constant unexpected plot twists and weird lack of story logic really work here -- it's like listening to an actual kid tell a story with all of its bizarre tangents and exaggerations. The book is also packed with what I like to call "groan" humor -- it's the kind of jokes that make adults cringe but kids absolutely love it. Remember there's no such thing as a cliche for a child. While Grampa and Julie is far from closely following curriculum, there are a few instances where Czekaj drops in science concepts and terms that most kids between the ages 8 and 12 would probably know. It totally enhances the reading experience here for a kid to either think "hey, I just learned that in school the other day" or "cool, I didn't know that before." Sometimes I feel like a broken record writing here, constantly harping on a good 4 or 5 key elements all kids comics should have. Probably one of the most important of these is large, easy-to-follow panels and Czekaj's book exceeds at that. And while the larger trim size may be a bit wonky for booksellers (publishing kids books is all about maintaining uniform formats and sizes to make things easier for bookstores), it encourages a clear reading experience, especially for a kid who may not have read comics ever before.

SPX!

2004-09-30T15:27:00.000-04:00

I'm piling in a car with Chris Butcher (of comics.212.net), Bryan O'Malley (of Scott Pilgrim fame), Kean, Hope & Vera (from Image's Flight Anthology) and Jason (of Hey, Wait fame and the equivalent in comics to Cher, but much more quiet but equally talented) for 9 hour drive to Bethesda, Maryland for the Small Press Expo. Jose Villarubia has promised me a night of frolic and dancing on Saturday so I'm thinking this is already going to a be a great time.

Juicy details to come on Monday...

The Very Big Monster Show preview

2004-09-27T13:45:00.000-04:00

It looks like everyone's trying their hand at all ages projects. IDW will be publishing a 56-page one shot called The Very Big Monster Show by Steven Niles and Butch Adams. CBR has a preview and a short interview with the writer.

"'The Very Big Monster Show' is about a little kid who discovers the old, classic monsters," said Niles. "They're basically out of work, unemployed and have been run out of town by the new monsters - the bloody, scary, stabbing type of monsters. This kid tries to help them get back on their feet and show them that they're capable of being scary again.

My initial thoughts? Great premise but I think the cover and artwork are a bit too painterly "IDW-style." Black panel borders and a dark pallete detract from the light and very appealing concept.

I'll definitely try to do a full-review after reading it though.

Adrian Tomine in Toronto

2004-09-23T10:01:00.000-04:00

My friend Chris Butcher urged the Toronto comics community to come out to support Harborfront's first graphic novel creator as part of their yearly reading series. As he says in the post linked above, this is a pretty big accomplishment and definitely a step towards a more mass recognition for graphic novels and comics in general.

The crowd: Plentiful, which was a nice surprise -- stylish EMO kids, publishing folk, Chester Brown

The content: Tomine read excerpts from the introduction of his latest book Scrapbook, which is a collection of unused material, sketches, commercial artwork and strips published in other venues. Some of this material was projected onto a screen.

The mood: Tomine was humble, slightly self-deprecating but not too much to be annoying. He was smart to pick humorous strips that received quite a few laughs from the crowd. All-in-all I think he was well received.

And something more to look forward to from Harborfront -- Art Speigelman will be here next month.

Newsarama posters think kids are starved for comics

2004-09-22T21:12:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling a bit like Graeme doing this. Every few months or so the online comics community screams out loud how kids are the key to saving comics.

"It was fun being with all the kids and seeing their excitement but kinda sad too. I know there is a small collection of stuff available at Target, and Marvel is trying to get stuff out there for kids, but the truth is that kids would buy this stuff up like crazy if they had better access to it -- and if there was more geared toward them."

"[A shelf of comics] is now the most popular with the kids in class, my wife says its usually bare by the end of the day, with kids begging to take them home. I would think Marvel and Dc would do some kind of reading program with schools."

"I wish Impulse and Young Justice hadn't been cancelled! My little sister loves them... Now the Johnny DC comics are too young for her, and the new Teen Titans comic is too old!"

"Again, if these little bastards can buy all those freaking yu-gi-oh cards, they can buy comic books. i always hear that manga is really popular with the kids these days (i feel so old). anyone know what the price is like on the books these kids are buying? are they notably cheaper than the traditional comics we buy?"

" think the real obstacle to kids reading comics, besides the "cool" factor, isn't price, it's accesibility. besides a comic shop, where can kids get comics? some places have the spinner rack, but there needs to be more than that. bookstores aren't the answer. what kid honestly even goes into a bookstore? i know i sure as hell didn't growing up."

A bit like an old, skipping broken-record don't you think? Can we please move away from all of the following message board rants:
- Comics need to be back in grocery stores -- No, comics need to adapt to the book market and piggyback onto the recent successes of the children's book industry and to get parents on board with the format
- Comics have to compete with other forms of entertainment for children -- Yes, but it's just not as dire as everyone seems to make it out to be -- kids are still buying books and I see sales results first hand
- Comics need to be cheaper -- No, comics need to abandon the pamphlet format and provide value at equivalent price points to chapter books that parents buy for their children
- DC and Marvel have ALL the answers -- Sorry, too jaded here
- Comics need to be "cool" -- No, they just need to speak to their intended audience and tell a good story

Zoe preview

2004-09-21T14:24:00.000-04:00

My friend Jon Ellis of Popimage sent me a link a couple weeks ago pointing to a new kids graphic novel called Zoe to be published by Mad Yak Press in Summer 2005. Known for publishing an annotated guide to the Invisibles, Mad Yak has quickly carved out a place in the market for themselves as a small publisher with exceptional production values and design. I mean, what indy company starts out publishing full-color, original graphic novel material with spot lamination on their covers. Not very many.

From Mad Yak's site:
With the discovery of a long-lost uncle, young Zoe moves out of an orphanage and into a fantastic lighthouse. But pirate neighbors, supernatural schoolchildren and a miniature dragon pale in comparison to the seemingly criminal machinations of her newfound family. Can Zoe and her friends get to the bottom of a mystery that threatens to end in robot domination of the world?

I was pretty impressed after reading the 13-page preview. This book could really end up being one of those break-out graphic novels for kids. And while the concept of a school with supernatural children has been done before in kids lit, the strength of the preview lies with the extremely appealing art and character design, the sharp pacing and comedic timing and the sense of scope in the artwork--Zoe is truly a little girl and this is emphasized by the sheer size of the objects and adults around her. Definitely looking forward to reading the book in its entirety.

Read Like a Kid

2004-09-21T13:31:00.000-04:00

Everyone seems to have a snazzy title for their reviews and now I do too! What do you think? One of the challenges in publishing good comics for kids is looking beyond nostalgia and contrived sophistication to create a book that will engage and speak to kids on their level. In essence, you really do need to read like a kid.

I promised Jen DeGuzman back in June when I met her at BEA that I'd review Emily and the Intergalactic Lemonade Stand so here's the first in long queue of reviews that I'll be posting periodically here. If you have a kids book (comics related or otherwise) that you'd like me to review please email me.

Emily and the Intergalactic Lemonade Stand
by Ian & Tyson Smith
96 pages, full-color
published by SLG

Emily spends her spare time selling lemonade to save up for the thing she wants more than anything in the world--a pony! Luckily she owns a robot that's one part lemonade juicer, but he's also one part perfect weapon and the Government won't stop until they have him. Throw in an intergalactic invasion, a rival friend and cute, but deadly, stranded alien and you have this latest graphic novel from Slave Labor Graphics.

Initially I had convinced myself that the Smith brothers had made a grave mistake in making the protagonist of a robot book female. Boys like robots, not girls right? This reaction is mostly informed by working in Book Clubs where most of the sales results we see are so gender-specific, or we assume they are. Girls like kittens and puppies and boys like cars and monsters. But after reading the entire book, I quickly realized the robot really wasn't the main focus but rather the experiences of a typical 10 year old little girl--the jealousy of a school rival, unexpected crushes, making hard 10 year old girl choices and realizing that the thing you really want might not be worth losing something else more important.

Emily is just a great package overall -- bold, bright colors, a 'Nickelodeon' feel to the book with its wacky sense of humor, great comedic timing and cute character design, and good messages that don't hit you over the head. It definitely earns its place in a start-up graphic novel library collection for kids.

Board books and Art Spiegleman

2004-09-13T13:29:00.000-04:00

A board book is a sturdy, cardboard edition of classic children's picture books durable enough for toddlers who like to chew on things. Generally running between 20 to 32 pages, board books were popularized by authors like Margaret Wise Brown, Eric Carle and Sandra Boynton.

In the Shadow of No Towers, the anticipated new book by Art Spiegleman, to my surprise, is a 42-page oversized board book. I haven't read it so shouldn't be making any grand sweeping judgements here but it's definitely an odd book design choice I had to point out.

Playing a bit of catch-up

2004-09-09T09:19:00.000-04:00

We now return to your regularly scheduled blog about kids comics. Sorry about that folks -- was buried under a mound of work and been on vacation all this week. Recharging the body, mind and soul.

HARDY BOYS AND NANCY DREW -- A little late on this one but better late than never. Everyone and their eccentric aunt had something to say about NBM's new Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew graphic novels.

Someone in the comments section of Graham's blog had commented on why the publisher here is banking on the fact that HB and ND are such "popular established characters" and why there's such an obsession to allign them with graphic novels rather than creating new material. Sure we've been a huge resurgence of 80s properties being revived in the children's market but for the most part they've all been quite soft in terms of sales. This just seems to go against everything that Michael Chabon said in his call-to-arms speech about kids comics. We don't need more more licensed characters -- we need the efforts made in building that core list of great children's graphic novels. If you look at the breakout hits over the past 2 or 3 years most of them are wholly original. If you look at something like A Series of Unfortunate Events or Artemis Fowl or the popular Gossip Girl series. All original and not originating from media.

There definitely is a nostaliga factor in that HB and ND have going for it but the kind of nostalgia that seems to be working in kids publishing are the 'feel-good' properties, not in reimagined forms but in classic reprints like Dick and Jane. They seems to lean heavily in that classic 40's back when life was simpler or even an inspriational sense. I'm not sure if HB or ND falls in that highly popular inspirational category.

ABAZADAD -- Since the fall of CrossGen a good number of their creator-owned titles have been sitting in legal limbo. One of these such titles was ABAZADAD, a touted all ages, high fantasy comic in the vein of Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The creators, JM DeMatties and Michael Ploog are now taking CrossGen to court to revert the rights solely back to the creators.

I read one issue to see what all the online clamour was about and found some of the most common no-no's in creating kids comics. The issue was incredibly dense with text, the artwork was gorgeous yet confusing and the panel layouts hard to follow. Of course adult comics fans loved this book -- it was completely different and more slick than anything on the stands, it taps into a childhood love of fantasy and it's in direct opposition to most of the 'decompressed' comics of today. This is definitely more of the kinds of material that we should be seeing from publishers to build that afformentioned canon of kids comics, but here the work is so impenetrable I have doubts that your typical a 9 year old non-comics reader would continue to read this. Perhaps DeMatties and Ploog are creating comics for a highly literate teenager here. I just don't think it's the best place to start.

Owly

2004-08-20T09:51:00.000-04:00

Over at the Pulse, Jen Contino interviews Andy Runton, creator of a new kids comic called Owly. Top Shelf guys, Chris Staros and Brett Warnock, both spoke highly of the book and seeing some of the designs and pages in this interview, it looks pretty cute. Hey guys...how about a review copy?

From Marvel's November solicits...

2004-08-18T12:26:00.000-04:00

Marvel has solicited the second book in their Marvel Prose line and this one's thankfully for the kids:

SPIDER-MAN: ENTER DOCTOR OCTOPUS! KID’S CHAPTER BOOK
Written by Louise Ann Gikow
Cover by Mark Bagley
Penciled by Francisco Herrera
An author, editor, television writer, and composer—there is little that Louise Ann Gikow has not done in children’s entertainment. She’s even spent time on the New York Times best-seller list for her novelization of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Now, she has teamed up with Marvel Press to create a must-read chapter book series starring Spider-Man! Life’s hard—welcome to Peter Parker’s world! He not only has to do tons of homework and help his Aunt May make ends meet, but also has to battle super-villains and save the world. When Doc Ock rolls into town, it spells danger for everyone, especially Peter’s best friends, Mary Jane and Harry. And Peter soon learns that the life of a super hero isn’t always so super.
224 PGS. / AGES: 8-12/ Trim Size: 5 3/8" x 8"/…$8.99
Cover: 4C, matte laminated with Spot UV
Interior Illustrations: Halftone illustrations throughout
UPC: 5960611587-000111
ISBN: 0-7851-1587-0

A few things to note:
- The solicit copy is amusing here, especially in its hyper-conscious efforts to make the author's name a huge selling point for this book. I'm sure Gikow is a good writer but it's just a little bit of overkill.
- 224 pages is quite long for a chapter book for kids 9 to 12, especially one with a licensed character. Chapter books for this age generally run 120 to 144 pages. That is unless there's going to be a LOT of illustrations in the book but even still...
- $8.99 is a pretty steep cover price for this kind of book. Spider-Man chapter books don't need spot UV on the cover -- they just don't. Licensed characters in prose form need to be cheap and cheerful and inline with the pricing of like books on the shelf. This book is just going to look expensive alongside SpongeBob Squarepants, Shrek and even the Justice League chapter books.

Mary Jane - from the mouths of babes...

2004-08-14T11:49:00.000-04:00

Just a follow-up from my post a few days ago about about my little experiment with the first issue of Mary Jane. I gave issue #1 to a co-worker of mine to give to her 9-year old daughter to read. She flipped through it, recognized right away that Mary Jane was "Spider-Man's girlfriend", read three pages and decided she didn't want to read it anymore. Now, I didn't have my co-worker ask her why but three pages isn't the best record in keeping the attention of a 9-year old. I'm wondering what exactly turned her off...artwork? were the panel layouts too confusing? was the story just not engaging? Something to think about....

My Library 11

2004-08-13T10:42:00.000-04:00

Continuing with the theme of this blog, I thought I'd focus my attention on the best graphic novels for kids. I've listed mostly more recent and contemporary works but this doesn't mean that I don't acknowledge the contributions that cartoonists like Walt Kelly, Charles Schultz, Herge, Osama Tezuka and many more have made to the medium. I've also focused on books I've actually read (except for one) and tried to pick diverse genres, various reading levels and varied demographic appeal.

1. The Complete Bone - the cornerstone of modern kids comics

2. Herobear and the Kid - taps into a lot of core childhood experiences -- the love of an imaginary friend and the excitement of being a hero

3. One Piece - the best boy's manga being published right now -- great off-the-wall humor and pirates!

4. Amelia Rules - I've stood behind this book for a long time -- it's fun and deals with issues like divorce in a non-heavy-handed manner

5. Adventures of Super Diaper Baby - I had to include one Scholastic book in here -- a super powered diaper-wearing baby save the world from a piece of poop -- what kid wouldn't crack up reading this...

6. Leave it to Chance - it may have some occult undertones but so does Harry Potter -- a well crafted story about a girl, her dragon and their mystical adventures

7. Clan Apis - OK, here's the one I haven't read but I know bees and insect behavior is curriculum for the younger grades -- nonfiction comics are definitely an untapped market

8. Jetcat Clubhouse - another creator I wholeheartedly stand behind -- Jay just gets it and his comics have a comedic timing that will leave kids in stitches

9. Ultimate Spider-Man - I had to include one superhero book and with the success of the movie, kids may want to further their Spider-Man experience through reading -- this book takes Spidey's origin story and makes it relevant and fun for a young audience

10. Pinky and Stinky - I love James Kochalka but someone has to tell him that a crow with a gun is just not nice -- this book, about two space exploring pigs, however, is fun and has a great message without the pigs pulling guns out on each other

11. Summer of Love - since Young Adult fiction is becoming more and more of a dominant genre in the bookstore market, I felt I had to have one representative from the graphic novel medium -- a sweet, heartwarming graphic novel about a girl dealing with the various issues of becoming a teenager

Spider-Man 2: "I'm surprised it took you this long to see it..."

2004-08-12T16:19:00.000-04:00

Indeed. A good month and a half later and I finally saw Spider-Man 2 and really enjoyed it, much more than the first one. If you don't want SPOILERS, stop reading. Here, we're not bogged down with an origin story, character introductions, plot setup -- everything is familiar now, which means the audience can really get into the movie right away. Everything about the sequel for me was better -- the story was tighter and elements of the first movie were nicely integrated with the new material, the dialogue had more nuances and details and the action sequences were less in-you-face CGI and more seamless. It was just total fun. The slapsticky Sam Raimi-isms were more apparent in this film and Alfred Molina, who I think is a totally underrated actor (loved him from the first time I saw him in The Imposters) made Doctor Octopus believable and downright scary without being totally cheesy. And thank god whoever made the decision to have Mary Jane find out that Peter is Spider-Man at the end of this film. One more movie of "I don't love you/I love you" would've driven me mad. I get the distinct impression that the 3rd movie, which I believe is being written as a trilogy, will end with Peter and MJ's wedding. Place your bets...

Oh yeah, Disney's doing comics too

2004-08-09T09:45:00.000-04:00

Recently, I noticed while standing in line at my local grocery store that DISNEY ADVENTURES magazine was shifting its focus to feature more comics. Some of these are based on animated movies like Lilo and Stitch, some are completely original material and others are new cartoon-ified versions of live action movies like Freaky Friday and Pirates of the Caribbean.

The response to this shift must have been positive because in San Diego I came across a promo pamphlet and preview issue of the new titles coming up from DISNEY's new line of comics. These include:
W.I.T.C.H. (5 girls deal with being teenagers and having elemental powers)
KYLION (a sci-fi adventure series about a group of teens who emerge from cryogenic sleep before their time)
MONSTER ALLERGY (a boy with special powers must deal with monsters and ghosts in his everyday life)

All three of these titles are currently being published in Italy and will be translated for the North American market.

There isn't much information regarding formats or distribution but I know for a fact W.I.T.C.H. WON'T be full color graphic novels -- Disney's releasing them as digest sized prose novels with color comic inserts, which makes me think that someone out there isn't entirely confident in the graphic novel format. I mean, if you're going to go for comics...then publish comics.

The preview issue has a few color pages from W.I.T.C.H. and KYLION, enough to give the reader a good idea what these are about. The art in both is quite appealing but I'm not sure how strong either of these are storywise. W.I.T.C.H. will probably find its audience since it follows some of the typical motifs of 'magical-girl' manga. KYLION has a few things working against it -- the story seems pretty hardcore sci-fi, which doesn't have a broad appeal right now in the greater market and the characters seem a bit generic. Not sure why but it feels a bit too Treasure Planet to me. Sadly, there were no preview pages of MONSTER ALLERGY, which I think looks like the strongest of the three, in terms of art, character design and concept.

Strangely enough, there's no website on the promo pamphlet but if you do a bit of googling on each of the titles you can check out some of the artwork yourself.

Email is working now

2004-08-06T00:13:00.000-04:00

For any of you who have been trying to email me and having it bounce back, yeah, I've fixed my link to my proper address, which is allagesblog@yahoo.com

Mary Jane revisited

2004-08-05T23:39:00.000-04:00

So according to this week's column of Lying in the Gutters, Rich reports that MARY JANE is on hiatus after 4 issues. Marvel foray into romance comics for girls lasted -- four issues. Hmm. So I finally pulled out the first issue that I had promised to review months ago (or it seems like months ago) and read it. It's not bad, but compared to SABRINA, which had great art and fun stories, MARY JANE just fell a bit flat for me. The art is totally appealing, but there's really not a lot going on in this issue to really capture the attention of a young girl -- Mary Jane faces the dilemma that she has no date for the Homecoming dance. She considers Harry Osborn but after being thrust in a tagged on battle between Spider-Man and Electro on the last 5 pages of the issue she decides she wants to take Spider-Man to the prom.

Will he wear a tux over his costume or just the mask?

My friend, Chris Butcher wrote on Previews Review that none of the female customers at his store enjoyed the book. I'm not sure how old these customers are but it would be intersting to hear the opinon of an actual 8 to 12 year old girl. In fact, I'll be bringing this comic tomorrow to a co-worker to give her daughter. Review part 2 to come...

Michael Chabon & kids comics

2004-08-04T07:24:00.000-04:00

For an industry generally not concerned with making books for younger audiences, people certainly have a lot to say about it.

Michael Chabon's keynote speech at the Eisners was basically a call-to-arms for the industry to bring kids back to comics. He explains how we finally have the recognition of graphic novels as a serious artform and a canon of great titles for adults. However, a medium where the primary audience initially was kids, it's disappointing that there isn't the same thing with graphic novels for a children's audience. Sitting at the Cartoon Books table with Jeff Smith and his crew, along with David Saylor, creative director from Scholastic, I could almost visualize a big neon sign over our heads stating: "It begins here..." It was uncannily synchonistic considering this was the year we launched Graphix in San Diego.

A week later, various comics news sites like Newsarama and the Pulse have excerpts from Chabon's speech and then all hell breaks loose. Cameron Stewart posted a link to Chabon's speech on the Millarworld boards, which spawned an 8-page thread where creators and fans came out to comment on the state of kids comics. Mark Millar thinks comics for younger audiences is wishful thinking and goes on to explain how Batman and Superman Adventures sold like shit. Bendis feels there's no marketing and found Chabon's address elitist. Bryan Hitch thinks that the primary audience for comics is a 12-year old boy older because comics are adolescent male power fantasies.

What blows my mind about this thread is the default thinking that kids want to read Marvel and DC, want to read about superheroes and will buy comics in their traditional pamphlet form from comic book stores. This just isn't the case and misses the point of Chabon's speech completely. Kids comics need to reflect the booming children's book business of late -- good, relevant stories that tap into key events and emotions that every child experiences, a wide range of content from high adventure to quirky romance, venues where parents, teachers and kids will buy these books and equivalent & expected pricing to other 'like' books.

I've always wondered in regards to Marvel and DC's licenses if there's just too much of a cultural gap when it comes to their major icons and today's kids. It's sort of equivalent to the kind of gap with characters like James Bond and Tarzan for my generation. I'd probably go see a Tarzan movie or play a Tarzan video game, but as a casual fan, the chance of me seeking out original Tarzan material is slim. Kids know who Spider-Man, Superman and Batman are, but do they really feel the need to go after that original material? Just a thought.

In any case, the continuing conversation spilled over at the
Fanboy Rampage blog where I've commented on the Scholastic line a bit. Heidi MacDonald has some really interesting things to say, as does Chris Butcher. Definitely worth wading through...

It'll be curious to see how this plays out in the next year or so, especially after that initial $150,000 marketing launch for BONE.

A conversation between myself and Jose Villarubia

2004-08-03T09:30:00.000-04:00

Just a tidbit from San Diego with a honest-to-goodness report to come. Last week was spent fighting jetlag and a serious bout of allergies.

Me: Jose, what would happen if you and Sergio Aragones got in a fight?

Jose, in his wonderful Spanish accent: Why would I get in fight with Sergio? He is a beautiful man.

Me: Just humour me, who would win?

Jose: Well, Sergio. He is much bigger than me.

Sabrina Manga

2004-07-21T01:08:00.000-04:00

One more post before San Diego...

Yesterday I picked up two issues of the new manga-ified Sabrina the Teenage Witch from my local magazine store in Little Italy. Needless to say the clerk looked at me pretty strangely. I just paid for my two issues and skipped off...

I read through both of them tonight before going to the Scissor Sisters concert (amazing show btw...if you haven't heard of this band, you MUST check them out) and was amazed at how self aware they are. In fact, the first issue even has a little frame narrative at the beginning explaining what manga is and what Sabrina and her friends' lives would be like if they were in a manga-type comic -- a big magical whirlwind and voila...Sabrina's traded in her traditonal blonde locks for a cute manga bob. Not sure what this all means though -- will Archie Comics only run this as long as the "manga fad" stays popular? -- do kids feel the need for an explanation why their comic has suddenly switched art styles? -- do they even care? From the letters printed in the back, everyone seems to like Tania Del Rio's interpretation of the popular teenage witch. I enjoyed them -- straightforward, appealing stories and clean panel layouts, probably two of the most important aspects in teaching kids the language of comics. Curious...if this is successful will Archie follow suit with its other characters.