Links: Fun with math and more

Kiel Phegley talks to Eric Wight about his foray into kids’ graphic novels, Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom, at Comic Book Resources.

Graphic Novel Reporter interviews Darren G. Davis, president of Female Force, the imprint of Bluewater Comics that has been turning out all those comics bios of famous women. I enjoyed the Hillary Clinton comic, and apparently the line is quite successful. Also at GNR: Phil Yeh, creator of Dinosaurs Across America, talks about using graphic novels to encourage literacy.

Did you know that Gene Yang has a webcomic that teaches algebra? It’s very cool, too. (Via The Beat.)

Another funnier (but less factual) mathematically oriented webcomic is the adventures of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage which seem to be spinning out of control from the brain of Sydney Padua. Padua started with a simple one-off about the pair, but enthusiastic reaction from around the internets has led her to produce several more episodes, in which Babbage and Lovelace become sort of steampunk difference-engine superheroes. She takes a lot of liberties with history but explains them all in the accompanying blog, which is almost as good as the comic. Go, read!

At The Graphic Classroom, Chris Wilson writes about using the Marvel comic adaptation of The Iliad to motivate students to read (and see the reviews of The Iliad and The Odyssey, linked below).

The Doug Wright Awards, which honor the best English-language books in Canada, were handed out over the weekend, and Skim, by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, took the laurels for Best Book.

Chris Arrant talks to Jim Mariotte, the writer of IDW’s Barack Obama comic.

Christopher Butcher posts a kid-friendly comic that didn’t make it into this year’s FCBD entry: Arcade Annie, by Andy Belanger.

Strangers with Comics has a podcast full of interviews from Kids Comic Con, and Kyo Morishima has lots of great photos.

All Ages Graphic Novels notes a graphic novel workshop at the Maine Comic Arts Festival on May 17 and links to the 2009 Spring Teacher Institute: Literacy and Technology Across the Curriculum with a Graphic Novel, which has been archived online.

Reviews

Eva Volin on Adventures in Cartooning (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Eva Volin on The Adventures of Daniel Boom, aka Loudboy: Game On! (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Sarah Boslaugh on The Color of Earth (PLAYBACK:stl)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Dinosaur Hour (Prospero’s Manga)
Chris Wilson on The Iliad (The Graphic Classroom)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 2 of Jellaby: Monster in the City (Comics-and-More)
Christopher Mautner on Luke on the Loose and Benny and Penny in the Big No-No (Robot 6)
J. Caleb Mozzocco on Marjane Satrapi’s  Monsters Are Afraid of the Moon (Every Day Is Like Wednesday)
Courtney Kraft on vol. 1 of NG Life (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Sam Kusek on vol. 1 of Ninja Baseball Kyuma (Manga Recon)
Kevin Hodgson on Odysseus: Escaping Poseidon’s Curse (The Graphic Classroom)
Wolverine: Worst Day Ever (Graphic Novel Reporter)

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