Links: Kids’ comics for the win!

Retailer Brian Hibbs posts the complete 2011 Bookscan list and — surprise! — kid-friendly titles like The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Bone, Dork Diaries, Pokemon: Black and White, and Dragonbreath are among the strongest graphic novel showings. In her analysis of the Bookscan numbers, Heidi MacDonald notes the bookstores, not comic book shops, are where consumers are buying kids’ comics, a point echoed by her readers.

In an interview with Publisher’s Weekly, Jimmy Gownley reveals that Her Permanent Record will be his last Amelia Rules! book. “I have done Amelia for so long that I needed to do something else,” he explains. Up next for Gownley: a how-to book for aspiring comic creators.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… a pram? DC Comics will be publishing a new all-ages comic Superman Family Adventures; Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani (of Tiny Titans fame) are the creators. Look for the first issues in stores on May 30th.

Speaking of Superman, fans of the recently canceled Smallville will be happy to note that DC Comics is continuing the story in comic-book form. The twist: this weekly series will be released in digital format first, then print.

Good news for children’s librarians: DC Comics has teamed up with Capstone Publishing to produce hardbound versions of its most popular all-ages comics. Among the offerings will be Batman: The Brave and The Bold, DC Superfriends, and Tiny Titans.

Alex Dueben talks to longtime Archie Comics writer and artist Dan Parent about his character Kevin Keller, Riverdale’s first openly gay character, who gets his own comic this month.

Yen Press broke new ground this week when it began the first simultaneous serialization of a new manga in North America and Japan. The title: Soul Eater NOT, a spin-off of Atsushi Okubo’s wildly popular shonen series about a magical academy run by a shinigami.

Announced via Twitter: Digital Manga Publishing has rescued Elemental Gelade from manga licensing purgatory. The now-defunct Tokyopop was the original publisher.

Looking for a fun exercise to engage elementary school students? Chris Wilson has some suggestions for Valentine’s Day activities for pint-sized comic artists.

For her latest Comic Conversion column, Angela Eastman compares Marvel’s recent Pride and Prejudice adaptation with the original novel.

Reviews: Robot 6 team member J. Caleb Mozzocco reviews a stack of kid-friendly titles, including Adventure Time and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Over at Anime News Network, Shaenon Garrity takes a trip in the WABAC machine to review Fumi Soroyo’s shojo classic Mars.

Young Readers (Ages 4-8)
Matthew Meylikhov on Adventure Time #1 (Multiversity Comics)
Rob McMonigal on Adventure Time #1 and Peanuts #2 (Panel Patter)
Chris Beveridge on vol. 8 of Chi’s Sweet Home (The Fandom Post)
Jia Li on vol. 1 of Fluffy, Fluffy Cinnamaroll (Manga Bookshelf)
Eric Federspiel on Okie Dokie Donuts: Open for Business! (Out from the Comic Shop)

Pre-Teens (Ages 9-12)
Holly von Winckel on Female Force #1: Gabrielle Giffords (Sequential Tart)
Drew McCabe on Geronimo Stilton #8: Play It Again, Mozart! and Reed Gunther #8 (Comic Attack!)
John Hogan on Graphic Heroes of the Revolution (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Rebecca Buchanan on PrinceLess, #1 (Sequential Tart)
Johanna Draper Carlson on PrinceLess, #4 (Comics Should Be Good)
David Gromer on vols. 1-2 of Princess Knight (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Matthew on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (No Flying No Tights)
Whitney on The Unsinkable Walker Bean (No Flying No Tights)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 2 of Yu-Gi-Oh 5-D’s (Sequential Tart)

Teens (13+)
Danica Davidson on vol. 3 of Ai Ore! (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 2-3 of Cage of Eden (Anime News Network)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 6 of Cross Game (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Katherine Dacey on Dawn of the Arcana and Gate 7 (The Manga Critic)
Matthew Meylikhov on Fantastic Four: Season One (Multiversity Comics)
Greg McElhatton on Friends with Boys (Read About Comics)
Nick Smith on vol. 1 of Grimm Fairy Tales: The Dream Eater Saga (ICv2)
Jennifer W. on vols. 1-2 of The Hardy Boys: The New Case Files (No Flying No Tights)
Lori Henderson on The Innocent (Manga Xanadu)
Sterg Botzakis on The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti (Graphic Novel Resources)
Danica Davidson on Manga Shakespeare: Othello (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Steve Bennett on vol. 1 of My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series (ICv2)
Greg McElhatton on Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics (Read About Comics)

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