Links: Good grief, Charlie Brown!

CBR’s Tim O’Shea sits down with Paige Braddock to discuss KABOOM!’s new Peanuts comic. Braddock played several important roles in bringing these comics to press; not only is she the Creative Director of Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates, she’s also the inker and colorist for the series. Their biggest challenge: remaining faithful to the spirit of Schulz’s original comics. “Part of the equation is taking stories from the comic strip and adapting them by creating more cinematic scenes and character images from maybe a different viewpoint,” Braddock explains. “Keeping true to the stories while creating art scenes and staging that you might not encounter in the comic strip.”

Speaking of Peanuts, LA Weekly interviews Matt Whitlock, the artist for KABOOM’s new series.

Bandai Entertainment is shuttering its North American operations, including its small manga-publishing operation. Anime News Network has the details.

In her latest Comic Conversion column, Angela Eastman compares Paulo Coelho’s best-selling novel The Alchemist with its recent graphic novel adaptation.

Johanna Draper Carlson posts a preview of issue 16 of Life with Archie, which tells the story of how Kevin Keller met his boyfriend (and soon-to-be-husband).

Did you know that the indefatigable Stan Lee turned 89 in December? Sterg Botzakis offers a brief retrospective of this prolific creator’s work, from early stint at Atlas Comics to his current role as “comics ambassador,” media mogul, and movie star.

Reviews: At the suggestion of a reader, the review links are now divided into three sections: young readers (roughly ages 4-8), pre-teens (ages 9 to 12), and teens (ages 13 and up). These age guidelines are meant to steer busy librarians towards the section of the list that best reflects the contents of their collections. If an age rating was not provided in the review, we have made an educated guess based on the reading level and content of the book.

Young Readers
Jennifer W. on Billy and Buddy, Vol. 2: Bored Silly with Billy (No Flying No Tights)
Katherine Dacey on vol. 1 of Fluffy, Fluffy Cinnamoroll (The Manga Critic)
Jennifer on Hocus Pocus (No Flying No Tights)
Abby on Korgi, Vol. 3: A Hollow Beginning (No Flying No Tights)
Ted Brown on PrinceLess #3 (Comics Forge)

Pre-Teens
Jennifer on Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves: Reloaded (No Flying No Tights)
Sheena McNeil on The Chicagoland Detective Agency #3: Night of the Living Dogs (Sequential Tart)
Olwynn Supeene on The Nighttime Cabin Thief: A Mystery About Light (Sequential Tart)
Rob McMonigal on Olympians 4: Hades (Panel Patter)
Greg McElhatton on Rust: Visitor in the Field (Read About Comics)
Greg McElhatton on Snarked! (Read About Comics)

Teens
Kevin Hodgson on Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year: 2011 Edition (The Graphic Classroom)
Andrew on The Complete Dracula (No Flying No Tights)
Abby on vols. 1-10 of Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You (No Flying No Tights)
Bonnie on Mercury (No Flying No Tights)
Emma on Moby Dick (No Flying No Tights)
Kristin Bomba on vol. 5 of The Story of Saiunkoku (Comic Attack!)
Sterg Botzakis on Superman: Red Son (Graphic Novel Resources)
Adrian Neibauer on Three Shadows (The Graphic Classroom)
Sterg Botzakis on Trotsky: A Graphic Biography (Graphic Novel Resources)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 2 of Wandering Son (Read About Comics)

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