Links: Friends with Friends With Boys

Faith Erin Hicks’s Friends With Boys will be released soon, but just until tomorrow, you can read the entire graphic novel online at her website, for free, but just until tomorrow, March 6. Be warned, it’s so good that you will end up going out and buying your own copy anyway, so don’t feel guilty. If you’re still not sure, check out the reviews linked below—this is definitely the book du jour.

Jeremy Whitley talks to Becky Jewell about his comic Princeless, an irreverent take on the standard princess-in-a-tower fairy tale, and how his wife, his sister-in-law, and his daughter all served as inspirations.

Jewell also interviewed writer J. Torres about his work on Archie Comics’ Jinx for the Graphicly Blog.

In other Archie news, One Million Moms (which seems to be overstating its case, as it only has 1200 Twitter followers), a branch of the American Family Association, called for a boycott of Toys ‘R’ Us because they were selling the issue of Life With Archie with the marriage of Kevin Keller—to another man!—on the cover, in plain sight. The boycott doesn’t seem to have had much of an effect, as the issue has sold out. (Or maybe that was the effect—nothing makes a book hot like someone trying to suppress it!)

Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight in their Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.

Is manga dying? The consensus at the Sequential Tart roundtable on the subject seems to be no, but the contributors have some interesting thoughts on what publishers could be doing differently.

Drew McCabe kicks the tires on Viz’s Shonen Jump Alpha digital magazine at Comic Attack.

Some problems, it seems, are universal: A Japanese 13-year-old whose mom complains that he reads too much manga (and not enough books) turns to the Tokyo Shimbun for advice, and the editors bring out an array of experts to explain why reading manga won’t turn your brain to mush.

Heidi Macdonald waxes enthusiastic about Giants Beware!, coming soon from First Second, and she shows off a few pages, too.

Reviews

Young Readers (Ages 4-8)

Greg McElhatton on Adventure Time with Finn and Jake #1 (Read About Comics)
Aquafortis on Bad Island (Finding Wonderland)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 1 of Fluffy, Fluffy Cinnamoroll (Sequential Tart)
Alysa on Nursery Rhyme Comics (Everead)
Brian Salvatore on Tiny Titans #49 (Multiversity Comics)

Pre-Teens (Ages 9-12)

Lori Henderson on vols. 6-10 of Dazzle (Manga Xanadu)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Princess Knight (Manga Xanadu)
Robert A. Howard on Sandra and Woo (webcomic) (Tangents Reviews)
Matthew Warner on vol. 2 of Tokyo Mew Mew (The Fandom Post)

Teens (Ages 13-16)
Melissa on Anya’s Ghost (The Book Nut)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 6 of Cross Game (Read About Comics)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 17 of Fairy Tail (Sequential Tart)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Friends With Boys (Comics Worth Reading)
Robert A. Howard on Friends With Boys (Tangents Reviews)
Dan Morrill on Friends With Boys (Comics Forge)
Nicola on Friends With Boys (Back to Books)

Filed under: Graphic Novels, News