Yen Press Cites Adaptations; Plans Kids Comics and More

Back in 2007, when Yen Press, Hachette’s manga, manhwa and conventional graphic novel imprint, was first starting out, publishing director Kurt Hassler predicted that graphic novel adaptations were going to be the next big trend for manga publishing in the U.S. So far he's been right.

Davis’s ‘Secret Science Alliance’ Appeals to All Ages

Eleanor Davis’s The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook, a delightful mystery in which three science-loving kids band together to solve a crime, is attracting attention from readers of all ages.

Tezuka: Discovering a God of Manga

Few if any creators in the history of the comics medium have wielded the wide-ranging influence of Japan’s Osamu Tezuka, and to prove it Abrams Comicarts recently released a stunning coffee table book comprehensively covering his life and career for the Tezuka aficionado and the curious newcomer alike.

Comics Briefly

Joe Kubert Collected Work Up for Auction: Live Chat with Eisner Winner Nina Matsumoto ; Harlequin Romance Manga Now On Kindle; Dash Shaw, Josh Neufeld & David Heatly with Chip Kidd's Band; This Week @ Good Comics for Kids; and This Week @ The Beat

Panel Mania: Sublife Vol. 2

Sublife Vol. 2 is the continued collection of short stories and strips by John Pham. This nine page preview is taken from the short story "Deep Space," which was started in the first volume. Sublife Vol. 2 will be released by Fantagraphics in December.

Katie Workman Shares Thanksgiving Recipes from Cookstr

Last week’s PW featured a story on Cookstr, the online database of cookbook recipes that has just celebrated its one-year anniversary. The piece explained how Will Schwalbe and Katie Workman built a site that lets people access more than 4,000 recipes from 350 cookbooks—for free. Here, Workman shares recipes for more of her favorite Thanksgiving recipes from the site.

Cookbook Authors Address Reader Complaints

Cook from enough cookbooks, and you’ll have the experience of following a recipe and being disappointed in the results. If you’re a cookbook author, you don’t want to hear complaints from readers, but, as prolific author Rick Rodgers told PW, sometimes “bad recipes happen to good people.” How to handle reader complaints is up for debate, and one prominent cookbook author is taking a proactive approach to addressing criticism.

Cooking the Books with Alison Fryer

Alison Fryer is managing partner of Toronto’s Cookbook Store, the only shop of its kind in the city of 2.5 million. She co-founded the 800-square-foot store in the city's Yorkville district with her business partner, Josh Josephson, 26 years ago. Fryer talks to PW about business, which is surprisingly good this year; the changes she’s observed in food culture over nearly three decades; and what books she’s excited about this fall.

Recipe Report: Chocolate Gingerbread Muffins

Jill O’Connor’s Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey Treats for Kids (Chronicle, Nov.) is filled with uncomplicated, easy recipes for cookies, donuts, pancakes, cakes and other treats. And while children may be O’Connor’s target, who’s to say a bunch of college kids wouldn’t enjoy the Chock-a-Block Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Muffins?

Short Order: November 23

Food52's Piglet cookbook tournament pitted 16 cookbooks against each other, and Nora Ephron chose the winner... Also in this issue's installment of cookbook-related news, William Morrow Cookbooks celebrates Lulu Powers Food to Flowers in New York City, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt cancels the publication of Cookie Family Dinner Cookbook following the magazine's folding, and Lidia Bastianich stops by the Running Press offices to work on her new children's picture book.

Comics Reviews: 11/23/09

Taiyo Matsumoto's follow-up to Tekkonkinkreet, Al Columbia's long awaited Pim and Francie and the latest from Vertigo Crime are reviewed this week, along with a new Kin Kull volume.

Fiction Book Reviews: 11/23/2009

Reviewed this week, novels by
Roberto

Bolaño

, Jasper Fforde, André Aciman, Daniel Suarez, and Bill Guttentag. Plus, television writer Jeffrey Stepakoff makes his fiction debut, Paula Reed fashions a Scarlet Letter sequel, and more.

Fact and Fiction About H1N1

It's in the headlines everywhere, as schools across the country have recorded heavy student absences this fall, with children laid low with flu symptoms. H1N1. To help parents and educators answer questions and assuage children's fears about this virulent virus, Stone Arch Books, an imprint of Capstone Publishers, is currently offering free downloads of its January 2010 release, Finn Reeder, Flu Fighter, a middle-grade novel...

Dynamite: Five Years and Counting

While many have proclaimed the "death of the pamphlet" where periodical comic books are concerned, a few companies have been able to prove that it still has a lot of life left in it. Five-year-old Dynamite Entertainment is one of the success stories in recent years with a mix of licensed and creator-owned titles.

‘Wimpy Kid’ Becomes Hit Zombie Parody for Papercutz

Papercutz, a tween-focused graphic novel publisher, seems to have caught lightning in a bottle as demand for its zombie parody of Jeff Kinney's bestselling children's book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, is sending the publisher back for a second and third printing. The title has sold about 30,000 copies since early November. Papercutz publisher Terry Nantier, who published the graphic novel anthology...

Royal Flush Magazine Doubles Down

Fans of Royal Flush magazine have had to wait more than a year for the sixth installment of the comics- and interview-packed independent arts publication—a wait that was unexpectedly extended even longer when retailers including Borders, Barnes & Noble, Hot Topic and Hastings refused to carry the magazine without poly-bags, on account of the potentially "offensive" material within.

Comics Briefly

Geoff Johns Tabbed as C2E2 Guest of Honor; Carla Speed McNeil, Sarah Ryan Team To Create New Vertigo GN; New Silent Film from Gaiman; Kevin Baker on NPR with Luna Park; First Look at the New Spider-Man Parade Balloon.; This Week @ Good Comics for Kids; and This Week @ The Beat

Panel Mania: Goats: The Corndog Imperative

Goats: The Corndog Imperative is the second collection of the webcomic Goats by Jonathan Rosenberg. In this seven page preview two characters are stuck in a bar in an alternate dimension, where other strange people keep popping in. Goats: The Corndog Imperative will be released by Del Rey on December 1.

Comics Reviews: 11/17/09

Children's Book Reviews: 11/16/2009

In this week's children's book reviews: picture books from Peter McCarty, David McPhail, Sandra Boynton, and Arnold and Adrianne Lobel; fiction from Iain Lawrence, Mike Lupica, James Patterson, and Peter Lerangis; and a round-up of the latest pop-up books to hit the market.