Publisher's Weekly Best Comics List

I agree with Tom Spurgeon on Comics Reporter that this list seems a little specious.

The Comics Equivalent of Wal-Mart Hanging Up Christmas Stuff Post-Halloween...

...is the posting of "Best Of" lists. Click the title for Amazon's best GN's of 2010 and their list of best-sellers. Equivalent.

GNR Posts Slew of Updates!

Graphic Novel Reporter continues its excellent work! This week they have creator interviews with Belle Yang and Audrey Niffenegger; our friend John C. Weaver reports on his vbisit to Baltimore Comic-Con; and there's a feature on GRN's "Core List of Manga for Teens."

Since I'm not really Manga-informed, I'm especially excited to see that list!

And there's so much more! Visit http://www.graphicnovelreporter.com now!

ICV2 Reveals Top Ten Kids Graphic Novel Properties for 2009

Neat list. Glad to see Bone making the top 10. If you want to visit the main site, they also have a list of top 10 super-hero properties for 2009.

2010 Texas Library Association Maverick Graphic Novel List

It's nice to see librarians in my current home state of Texas giving graphic novels some good attention.

New York Times' Graphic Novel Gift Guide for Holiday Season 2009

2009 Friends of Lulu Winners Announced

See the list here!

Amazon.com's "Best Of" 2009 for GN's

EL Paso Press' Graphic Novel Getting some YALSA 2009 Love

Cinco Puntos' first graphic novel, Pitch Black (which I've reviewed somewhere around here), is on the 2009 List of Great Graphic Novels For Teens. That list is created by The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), which has been leading the way in graphic novel advocacy since the early 00's. It even made the "Top 10," which isn't bad since over 50 titles were honored.

Congrats to El Paso's own Cinco Puntos and to Pitch Black authors Youme Landowne and Anthony Horton!!

Two New Must-Reads: A "Quick-Hits" Review

I've just completed two new graphic novels, Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli and Bayou Volume 1 by Jeremy Love. The former is about a professor of architecture who must move beyond his binary ways of thinking to become a whole person, which means reconnecting with the common folk and with his former lover. The latter is being described as a Southern fairy tale.



Both are great reads that are garnering great reviews, and they're both titles that I highly recommend. Asterios Polyp is for mature audiences and is intellectually heady, while high schoolers and onwards should enjoy Bayou, which started out (and continues) as a web comic through DC's Zuda line.

Bayou has won several Glyph awards for excellence in comics among black creators, and Asterios Polyp is a sure award-winner in the making. While I loved Bayou and will read subsequent volumes of the story as they are released in trade form (though I may not follow the strip in its web comic form at zudacomics.com), Asterios Polyp may just be one the best graphic novels ever published.