BARNES AND NOBLE PULLS DC COMICS FROM SHELVES

Last week Amazon launched the Kindle fire and because DC comics agreed to be exclusive and not allow BN's Nook to sell DC products electronically, BN made a big decision and decided to pull all of DC books from its shelves. BN said in a statement: "Barnes & Noble works with thousands of publishers to bring customers the world's largest selection of physical and digital reading content. However, regardless of the publisher, we will not stock physical books in our stores if we are not offered the available digital format."

Wow. This is a huge decision. My question is: are they in such a great position to making this kind of move? Also, clearly the line between bookseller and publisher has been blurred beyond recognition. Also, I find this especially ridiculous since graphic novel/comic book readers mostly don't like to read on e-readers!

BLANKETS

This is a trailer that someone did for Craig Thompson's Blankets:



And then I found this short kind of funny B&W film that some folks did acting out the first part of his graphic novel when he recounts being a kid, when his father would punish him by throwing him in "the cubby hole."



Books like this are fun because you really can act them out!

BOOK DESIGN -- HABIBI

-- AUTHOR/ARTIST Craig Thompson --

Blankets is a really good graphic novel about a new, young relationship. It's a great teen read though it's shelved in the adult section in bookstores.



Since I liked it so much I bought this book.






I haven't yet read it but the design is gorgeous.

This is why books will live on (I hope!). There is a gold foil inlay on the cover and spine and the inside is equally well designed.

This is why books are wonderful!

CORALINE THE GRAPHIC NOVEL

I was scanning through my bookshelves and found this. I read this a long while ago but thought it deserves mention on the old blog. I liked it. The art is nicely done and appropriately creepy. This is one of those cases where I can see why they'd get the idea to turn the story into a graphic novel. In my contracts there is a line that allows for an artist/writer to adapt my stories into graphic novel form and I always have that Xed out. It's obviously silly in my case because I am the artist/writer and I don't want my picture books in that form and if I did I'd want to do it myself! But this book totally makes sense. Gaimen did work on many projects with Craig Russell so I'm sure he had his full approval.


(portrait of Russell)

I love the talking rats. I will say that the colors are a little light and fluffy over all (the colorist is not Russell). If they were darker the book would even be creepier. Maybe the artist didn't want the book to be too creepy to maintain an younger audience?





I've read the book, and the graphic novel... now I guess I should watch the movie... right?

I will leave you with Russell at work:

A.D. NEW ORLEANS AFTER THE DELUGE

This is an adult graphic novel but it's perfectly appropriate for teens. I love it. It tells of the New Orleans disaster in a simple way, with amazing pictures. I follows several different groups of people--one group stays to watch their store, another leaves and wonders what happens to their home and belongings, another goes to a shelter, while the 4th entertains guests in the French quarter. The novel alternates in different colors so that it's easy to switch from person to person. I have to admit that I'm much more interested in the disaster now that I've read this book. It made it more personal for me.




















This comic started as a web comic. You can read it here:

But I suggest you go out and buy the book!

LIAKA by Nick Abadzis

I love this book. This came out a few years ago and it's stuck with me. My mom works with autistic kids and she told me she wanted to give a book to a kid in middle school who has Asperger's. She said he was interested in animals. I suggested this book. I hope he doesn't get depressed by the ending! The art is great, the way the story is told is great, and I liked that there were little thoughts from the dog once in a while. If you haven't read this book do it! You'll also learn an interesting bit of history.





Below is the real Liaka:

THE TICKLING

I'm on the topic of "the odd." I bought this book a long time ago but it's one of those that sticks with you. It's really strange but very good. It contains hardly any words but works so well. The book consists of tiny pencil drawings of a boy who was born without a face. He plays by himself because he and his father live on an island by themselves, away from judgmental people. His dad also has no face but wants his son to have an operation so that he can be normal. The boy doesn't want it. The father gives the boy different masks to wear:


(this image is actually bigger than the drawings are - many are only an inch to an inch and a half tall)

It's a very strange story but also very sad. It shows what you can do with little words and how a graphic novel can be simple, with one drawing per page instead of tons of panels. This is a book to check out if you can handle the odd.

PSYCHIATRIC TALES

I keep thinking about how I could write about my medical experiences. I've gone through it all - including 2 spinal taps! But there are many things to consider. Do I do it in graphic novel form? Do I make it funny? Serious? How do I handle it? Then I came upon this book:



It's definitely a serious take on things. They are short tales about mental illness, such as "Dementia Ward," and "Cut." I laughed out loud when I read the doctor asking the Alzheimer's patient to spell word "world" backward. That's what the neurologist asked me to do. Um... I won't tell you all how I did. But thus far I think the book is interesting and the "Dementia Ward" reminds me of my brief job in a nursing home (this was when I was 16 and didn't last long!). I'd say that even though this is shelved for adults, teens could easily read it, especially considering some of the content for teens out there. The Dementia Ward has some potty stuff going on and of course a section like Cut is about cutting, but if a teen is interested in what really goes on then I think they'll think it's pretty fascinating stuff. It might even give them insight into what a job might be like if they worked as a nurse or PA in one of these hospitals or nursing homes.

LIFE EXPERIENCES THAT TURN INTO BOOKS

I rarely talk about ideas that I have before I sign on the line... but I think it's okay to talk about this one. I was with a group of illustrators last week and we were talking about being picked on as kids. I was brutally picked on in junior high. It was so traumatizing that I'd blocked some of it out entirely for a few years. Talking with a few of the others gave me an idea. I'd wanted to do a book about my experience for some time but I don't remember enough to make a whole book out of it. That light bulb went off. What if we did a group project? A compilation of sorts! So my idea is to do a graphic novel about bullying and bullies with some stories that may just have text, some single pieces of art, and lots of graphic novel pieces for teens. I want to gather "submissions" of sorts and try to compile it all and then submit it. It obviously won't be about the money because how on earth will we all get paid for something like that? But I'm excited about it none the less. Sometimes there's that thing that needs to come out. I think I've finally found a way.