Comics Reviews: 5/3/2010

Reviews of comics adapted from Jane Austen, Luis Alberto Urrea and the Louvre.

The Four-Color Time Machine: Dan Nadel's 'Art in Time'

Comics historian Dan Nadel, author of Art Out of Time (2006), once more plumbs the history of classic, albeit obscure and nearly forgotten comics, in Art in Time: Unknown Comic Book Adventures, 1940-1980, a hardcover collection from Abrams ComicArts.

Beyond Comic Books: Marvel Inks Kids' Book Deals

Marvel Entertainment, the publisher of such popular superhero characters as Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the Hulk, has inked separate deals to launch a children's book publishing program at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and to expand its publishing partnership with Bendon Publishing in Ashland, Ohio. Both programs feature Marvel characters in a variety of trade books aimed at kids that include novels, early readers, and pop-up books as well as story, activity, and board books.

Eighth Annual Free Comic Book Day Comes May 1

This year marks the eighth year of Free Comic Book Day, held this year on May 1, a comics industry-sponsored promotional event that supplies specially compiled comics from a wide range of publishers to comic book stores across the country to be given out for free, primarily to kids.

Jeff Smith Responds to Bone School Library Challenge

Jeff Smith's epic fantasy tale, Bone, is widely regarded as one of the best all-ages graphic novels, so it came as something of a surprise when an Apple Valley, Minnesota woman, Ramona DeLay, requested that the fourth volume of the series be removed from her son's elementary school library. Smith was a guest of honor at the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) when the news broke, and although his weekend included panel appearances, signings, and the showing of the movie The Cartoonist (a documentary about Smith), he took a few minutes to discuss his reaction to the challenge.

Libraries Fight Challenges to Graphic Novels

At the recent Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, a librarian from Jessamine County, Kentucky, spoke firsthand about dealing with calls for censorship in his library, and an expert from the American Library Association discussed how to handle challenges to graphic novels at the panel titled "Burn It, Hide It, Misshelve It, Steal It, Ban It! Dealing with Graphic Novel Censorship in Your Library."

U.S. Graphic Novel Sales Down 6%

Milton Griepp, publisher of the pop culture trade news site, ICv2.com, reported that 2009 graphic novel sales in the U.S. and Canada declined 6%, to $370 million. In his annual white paper on the comics and graphic novel marketplace, Griepp said that 2009 sales of manga, usually the strongest category of graphic novels sales, were $140 million, a decline of 20% from 2008.

Comics Shops Join the Digital Revolution

As it had been at the comics retailer meeting, ComicsPRO, a few weeks earlier, the digital evolution was a hot topic of discussion at the Diamond Retailer Summit held April 14–16 in Chicago in conjunction with the C2E2 comics convention, but the doom and gloom obstructionism of many past meetings has largely given way to acceptance.

Photo Mania: C2E2 2010

Reed Exhibitions launched C2E2, the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, last weekend in Chicago and PW Comics Week was there to bring back photographs of the artists, publishers, events and fans we encountered during this year’s show.

Inaugural C2E2 Draws 27,500 to Chicago's McCormick Place

Despite concerns about attendance, Reed Exhibition's newly launched comics and pop culture convention, the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, or C2E2, attracted nearly 28,000 fans to the Lakeside Center exhibition hall at Chicago's McCormick Place convention center complex.

Dark Horse to Publish Carla Speed McNeil's 'Finder'

Comics Briefly

Plenty of Children's Comics at C2E2

Brobee, of Yo Gabba Gabba fame, crashed the party at the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo to help launch an anthology based on the Nick Jr. television program, to be published by Oni Press in tandem with Yo Gabba Gabba producers Wild Brain. That was one of the few new children's book announcements at C2E2, but children's comics were everywhere, from the mega-publisher Archie Comics to individual creators who autographed their comics for fans on Artists Alley.

C2E2 Debuts Draws 27,500; 2009 Graphic Novel Sales Down

Despite perceptions of a low turnout for Reed Exhibition's newly launched comics and pop culture convention, the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, or C2E2, the show drew just under 30,000 attendees to Chicago's McCormick Place

Comics Briefly

2010 Eisner Award Nominees; Marvel Moves to Hachette for Bookstores; Gaiman & Vess's Instructions, The Short Film; Hugo Award Nominees Announced; Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo This Weekend; Stumptown Comic Book Festival; Harvey Pekar and Alison Bechdel Live at UCLA; A First Look at DC's Brightest Day; This Week @ Good Comics For Kids; and This Week @ The Beat

Photo Mania: MoCCA and Kids Comic Con

PW Comics Week visited the Kids Comic Con in the Bronx and MoCCA in Manhattan to bring back photographs of the artists, publishers, events and attendees at both events.

Kubert's Dong Xoai, Vietnam 1965 Chronicles Military Heroism

Joe Kubert, one of the grandmasters of the comics field and the legendary creative force behind such classic comics as Sgt. Rock and Tor, has teamed with Vertigo to publish Dong Xaoi, Vietnam 1965, a hardcover graphic novel set during the Vietnam War, in May.

Life in Comics: Life and Death and Life Again in Comics

The dead-and-resurrected god is a recurring story in religions, originating in the "death" of the earth in winter and its "resurrection" in the spring. While I am not a believer, I acknowledge the power of these stories that humans have been telling for millennia; they tap into some primal fear and need for comfort in all of us.

MoCCA Festival Bounces Back

In response to the threat of heat, MoCCA, held annually by
Soho's Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, was moved to the more temperate
month
of April, with the result of a pleasant weekend that put the focus back
on
comics.

Marvel Switches Book Trade Distribution to Hachette

Beginning in September, Marvel Comics will switch to the Hachette Book Group to distribute its hardcover and paperback titles into the domestic and international book trade market.