Stitches Nominated for NBA…
which isn’t all that surprising. What’s causing all the controversy is the category it’s been nominated in – Young Adult.
I haven’t read Stitches yet so I’m not going to comment on whether it’s adult/YA or not. If you’ve read it what do you think?
Young Adult is such a strange little category anyway. Having served on an ala committee for the Young Adult Library Association, I can tell you that many many hours are spent discussing just what young adult means. Usually I try to clarify it for myself by asking if the writer intended his or her book to be for teens. Because if that’s what the writer intended than he is accepting all the responsibility that goes along with writing for this audience. If it turns out teens just like an adult book that doesn’t necessarily mean it should be excluded from an award but it makes me pause.
Then there’s the issue of teen books appealing to adults which is happening more and more often. Practically all of my friends loved Harry Potter and we haven’t seen a 1 in front of our ages for some time. But even beyond the bestsellers, I see a lot of adults picking up teen titles. So what happens to a teen title that appeals to adults – should it have a shot at the adult award?
The article suggests that maybe the publishers felt the graphic novel had a better shot at the young adult prize – that the adult category wasn’t ready. I don’t know about that but it’s a possibility I suppose.
Everyone seems to be in agreement about one thing though. Stitches is a great book. I’ll definitely have to check it out.
Adventure, Romance, Mad Science!
Young Bill Young here. Sadie is in slow wireless land, so she’s asked me to do another post. I happily oblige! Here goes. . .
The 2009 Hugo Awards have been announced, and the winning graphic story is “Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones” by Kaja & Phil Foglio.
The set-up: Agatha Clay is a student at Transylvania Polygnostic University and a total klutz.( You know there’s fun in store!)
Writer Kaja has a message regarding the honor on the Girl Genius website. Plus, you can follow Girl Genius online, beginning with the very first story. Congrats to the Girl Genius creators.
Eisner’s According to Me
I’ll briefly touch on the categories I care about or have read.
Best Publication for Kids – Tiny Titans, by Art Baltazar and Franco (DC)
I was kind of shocked that this won over The Amulet but Tiny Titans is a great comic for kids.
Best Publication for Teens/Tweens – Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, adapted by P. Craig Russell (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Ugh.. I, personally, hate the artwork in this adaptation. I don’t think it suits the story. Also, how it won over choices like Skim or The Good Neighbors is kind of a mystery. I would really like to know what was discussed that put Coraline over the top.
Best Painter/Multimedia Artist - Jill Thompson, Magic Trixie, Magic Trixie Sleeps Over (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Neat! This is a charming work and I’m glad to see it recognized.
Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan – Dororo, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)
Or, in other words, manga. I love Monster. As one of my friends puts it, I want to take Monster underneath the bleachers and make out with it. But if something had to beat it, Dororo is a good choice.
Best Writer – Bill Willingham, Fables, House of Mystery (Vertigo/DC)
Duh.
Best Continuing Series – All Star Superman. by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC)
Monster loses again.
Best Anthology – Comic Book Tattoo: Narrative Art Inspired by the Lyrics and Music of Tori Amos, edited by Rantz Hoseley (Image)
This is a gorgeous book, just really beautiful.
Best Graphic Album—New – Swallow Me Whole, by Nate Powell (Top Shelf)
What’s a graphic album?
Eisner Winners Announced
Eisner Award Winners are announce on The Beat.
What do you think? I’ll have my reaction and others’ tomorrow!
Popgun Vol. 1 – review
A 2008 Harvey Awards winner for Best Anthology, Popgun is packed with stories ranging from cute to sick to ow-ow-my-eyes. You know that sweet, beautifully illustrated anthology Flight?
Popgun is like Flight if someone kicked it in the balls. It’s a ramped up, unforgiving, onslaught of talent and storytelling. Featuring 52 stories it’s a lot to take in. I recommended going through slowly. Give yourself time to process – oh, and don’t be afraid to skip ones you don’t like. Trust me, there’s plenty for all.
Like most anthologies, not all the stories are great. Some like Cheeseburger-head try too hard. Others turn “experimental” into “unreadable”. For the most part though, the stories and the artwork are strong. One of my favorites was written by Aqua Leung author Mark Andrew Smith called New Brighton Archaeological Society. I also really enjoyed They Shoot Ponies, don’t They?
Described as a “graphic mixed tape”, there’s no running theme, nothing to tie these artists down. In some ways, this is a hindrance. It forces the reader to switch from noir to superhero with the turn of a page. Still this anthology, which is up to volume 3, is worth taking a look at. Plus in later volumes you get a story from an Oklahoma author!
The One Where I Finally Talk about the Eisners
Though I’m not sure what I can say that hasn’t already been said. Lots more people put a lot more thought into this than me. People like David Welsh, Simon Jones, Brigid Alverson, Noah Berlatsky – just to name a few. So I’m not going to get into the inner workings of the awards. Partly, cause I don’t care. Having been on a list committee and knowing some Eisner judges I think awards are just supposed to be fun and kind of stupid. They are designed to have things get overlooked or missed completely. They are set up so that someone loses or doesn’t make the list. They are, of course, completely subjective. What they do is get people talking or reading or wanting to make cool stickers to stick on the winners and hold banquets and I am for each and every one of those things. I’m also a fan of the run on sentance…where’s my award?
Thank you Eisner judges for working so hard and giving us your best! Yea!
So instead of analyzing and probably not getting anywhere since the above mentioned really covered it waaaayyy better than me. I’m just going to fangirl out and give you my Tohru Honda reactions.
Best Short Story – I have nothing to say on this matter since I really didn’t read any of these nor do I like short stories in any form. Well, I do like them but in small doses. *snort*
Best Continueing Series – Monster! No, Fables! No, wait, Monster! Maybe All-Star Superman? Ok, I’m settling on Monster mainly because, while I love Fables, the last volume was a little disappointing.
Best Limited Series – Locke & Key
Best New Series – Gotta be Terry Moore’s Echo. So cool. Although I have a friend who swears that Madame Xanadu is the best thing ever.
Best Publication for Kids - Amulet, hands down. I love love love this book. The artwork is so cinematic!
Best Publication for Teens – Skim, man those otherd don’t even stand a chance. Ok, so I said I wasn’t going to get all into the inner workings or criticizing the judges but this is what they come up with in the teen category? Really? Skim aside, I can easily think of at least 10 better picks.
Best Humor Publication/ Best Anthology – I didn’t read any of these… though I would put money on Kramer’s Ergot 7.
ditto on Best Digital Comic/ Best Reality Based Work – hey, I can’t read them all people! I have read some of the Treasury of Century Murder series and find them ok.
Best Graphic Album – I’m going with Skim again though these all look good.
Best Graphi Album -reprint – UMBRELLA ACADEMY YES!
Best Archival/ Best U.S. Edition of International Material – meh on both categories. I don’t like old stuff (this includes movies, tv shows, history before indoor plumbing) and I don’t typically like the styles of comics in other Western countries.
Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Japan – aha! Now this is another story. I’m going to pick Solanin. Monster can win best series. I know there’s massive amounts of love for the weird Dororo but I would have preferred a nod to Black Jack.
Best Writer – Bill Willingham. I loved the writing in Skim but man, I love Willingham’s imagination even more.
Best Writer/Artist – Even though I haven’t read all of Swallow me Whole, just seen previews, I’m going to say Nate Powell.
The rest of the categories are important because they recognize hard work and talent. However, they are not as fun to jump around about so I’m not going to make any predictions. Sorry inkers! Sorry publications about publications! Um, you did really good work, really – I just… kinda… boring.. stuff..
Sorry!
Ok, your turn, who do you pick?
Nickelodeon Magazine announces Comic winners
The children have spoken and here’s what they say – Nickelodeon Magazine – Nicktoon Comics.
I’m really pleased to see that so many kids are enjoying Diary of a Wimpy Kid! I chuckled at the Simpsons win too.
Great Graphic Novels for Teens 2009
I have to start by giving much thanks to the very hip and young Bill Young for blogging while I was away. He had some fascinating blogs and recommendations, I’m a little intimidated…
I was in Denver working on the Great Graphic Novels for Teens Committee. Our goal was to make a list of, uh great graphic novels for teens. Emphasis on the teens. But even if you aren’t a teenager, you’ll find a lot to love!
Check out the whole list.
Or maybe just the Top 10.
What do you think? I’ll have publisher, creator and fan reactions tomorrow. Personally, I’m very pleased with this year’s list and was honored to be a part of this very fun committee.
I should have a review…
I mean, I’ve read enough in the past week. But, it’s all jumbled up. Naruto fighting Freddie Mecury? No, that’s not right. I’ve been reading too much. It is possible. I’m one day away from meeting with my committee – Great Graphic Novels for Teens – to make a list. I should have all the books on the nomination list read. I’m…working on it.
You may not be familiar with the American Library Association’s awards and lists. You’ve probably heard of the Caldecott and the Newbery but maybe didn’t realize they were decided by librarians. I certainly didn’t, that is, until I became a librarian myself.
Besides being fun these committees help highlight the best books of the year. Do we always get it right? Probably not. But we try our hardest, we think critically about each and every book, we read long into the night, we drudge through books we wouldn’t normally even give a second glance too…all looking for the gems. It’s a tough process but I love it.
So, no review this week. Next week I’ll let you know what my Top 10 picks were then post the list of what actually made the Top 10.
Until then, keep reading.
Atomic Robo – review
Someone once mentioned that it was harder to write humor than to write dramatically. I have to agree. But it’s really hard to write humor with a heart, with some kind of dramatic emotion behind it. I imagine it really really hard to write humor with a heart – buried somewhere deep in a military robot. Yet, that’s just what Atomic Robo pulls off. The smart mouthed Robo leads his team into the weirdest of the weird situations. Got a giant ant infestation? Or maybe a centuries old pyramid set to attack your city? Well, then you call in Robo.
The small limited series is deceptive. At first it seems like just another mecha story, but once inside the pages it quickly becomes clear that in this case, the robot is in charge. The robot can feel pain and apparently some form of emotion. The case for his emotion is that in order to save his fellow human team members he must feel something for them. This emotion drives him to be a hero, however, it also leaves him lonely. He watches the men and women he loved grow old, leave his team and eventually die. But through it all he keeps his mouth running and his fists punching.
A good one for all ages, I highly recommended an afternoon with Robo.
