NPR blogger Glen Weldon casts a critical eye on DC’s much-hyped Justice League #1. His verdict: not bad, though he’s a little concerned about DC’s pledge to reimagine its iconic superheroes in a “younger, angrier, more brash and more modern” light. The title of this Tumblr blog pretty much sums it all up: Superheroes Are [...]
When I was seven years old, I owned Charlie Brown’s Super Book of Questions and Answers, a five-volume encyclopedia with entries on animals, plants, machines, space travel, human anatomy, and just about any other topic that might interest an elementary school reader. Interspersed with the facts and figures were short cartoons featuring the Peanuts gang. [...]
Are Japanese publishers finally getting serious about combating piracy? Nearly 40 Japanese companies have banded together to launch JManga, an online manga reader that will include a mixture of free and paid content. Brigid Alverson has a summary of the JManga Comic-Con panel. Sean Gaffney offers a thoughtful round-up of manga-related news from SDCC 2011. [...]
The Reading Pile is back this week with an eclectic assortment of titles that run the gamut from video-game tie-ins (Mega Man) to fairy-tale spoofs (Beauty and the Squat Bears) to sports manga (Cross Game). As always, we encourage you to join the discussion by telling us what kid- and teen-friendly titles are on your [...]
Who doesn’t like a free comic book? That’s the thinking behind Free Comic Book Day, an annual event in which retailers around the country provide customers free comics from publishers big and small. This year’s FCBD will be held on Saturday, May 7th at thousands of stores around the US and Canada. (Click here to [...]
The second Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, a.k.a. C2E2, is taking place this weekend, and Brigid Alverson will be there, chatting up creators, talking to publishers, and finding out what kid- and teen-friendly comics are in the pipeline. If you’re also planning to attend the show, be sure to check out Chris Sims’ helpful guide [...]
Tokyopop, once a trailblazer in the manga publishing field, has announced another round of layoffs. Among the casualties were Lillian Diaz-Pryzbyl, one of the company’s most talented editors, and Asako Suzuki, a relatively new hire who had played a key leadership role at CMX Manga. What the layoffs mean for Tokyopop is still unclear. Yesterday, [...]
Most of the titles in the VIZKids line fall into one of two categories: manga for younger readers (e.g. BakeGyamon: Backwards Game, Happy Happy Clover, Pokemon) or chapter books based on popular shonen series (e.g. Dragonball, Naruto). Next month, VIZ will be adding a new format to its kids’ line, one that falls somewhere between [...]
Kids love ghost stories, but a lot of manga featuring supernatural beings and vengeful spirits are too violent, gory, or sexually explicit for young readers. This month’s column focuses on two spooky titles that are better suited to middle school students than, say, The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service or The Ring. Up first is The [...]
Graphic novels are an excellent tool for combating the well-documented “summer slide,” encouraging kids to practice their reading skills while reminding them that reading can be a fun, pleasurable activity. Last month, my colleague Esther Keller helped the Good Comics for Kids team assemble a summer reading list that offered parents and librarians suggestions for [...]
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