Links: A Flurry of First Second books

Dave Roman discusses his new release, Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry, the sequel to his first Astronaut Academy book. Here’s a sample to get you started:

I pitched “Astronaut Academy” to First Second as two books, because a futuristic space station school is filled with endless possibilities. Book 1 establishes a world where people (like characters in a videogame) have multiple hearts in order to survive physical and emotional attacks. Señor Panda (a secret agent/Spanish teacher) enlists Miyumi to help him to track down a strange creature that’s hiding somewhere in the school, feeding off human emotion. In Book 2, the monster disguises itself as different people, specifically objects of affection in order to win the hearts of the student body.

Cecil Castellucci and Sara Varon talk about their new all-ages book Odd Duck, out this week from First Second (and previewed here yesterday), and then they drop in on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast for an interview there. And there’s a super-cute cartoon interview at Shelf Awareness.

And at Guys Lit Wire, Prudence Shen and Faith Erin Hicks discuss their new First Second release, Nothing Could Possibly Go Wrong.

Brian Gardes interviews Hicks for a podcast at Stumptown.

Kevin Keller creator Dan Parent won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book for his comics, which brought the first openly gay character to the Archie Comics universe.

J.L. Bell finds so many good things among the Eisner nominations for children’s graphic novels that he doesn’t know who to root for.

John Jakala looks at the kids’ comics among this year’s Free Comic Book Day comics.

Christopher Schweizer, of Crogan Adventures fame, posts some thoughts on writing historical fiction.

Good news for Bizenghast fans: M. Alice LeGrow’s newest book, The Elephant Book, is now available.

On the other side of the pond, Neill Cameron posts about the Oxford Children’s Comics Festival, where he helped make a really big comic.

Reviews

Sterg Botzakis on Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry (Graphic Novel Resources)
Kelly Fineman on Around the World (Guys Lit Wire)
Ken H on Atomcat (Comics Should Be Good)
Vik Gill on August Moon (Spandexless)
Drew McCabe on The Beano and The Phoenix (Comic Attack)
Drew McCabe on Benny Breakiron and The Sesame Street Comic #1 (Comic Attack)
Sterg Botzakis on Dim Sum Warriors, vol. 1: Enter the Dumpling (Graphic Novel Resources)
John Hogan on Jinx, vol. 2: Little Miss Steps (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Sterg Botzakis on Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong (Graphic Novel Resources)
Brian Gardes on Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong (Stumptown Trade Review)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 8 of Sailor Moon (Anime News Network)
Joe Hennes on The Sesame Street Comic Book #1 (ToughPigs)
Helen on Smile (Narrative Investigations)

Filed under: All Ages, Graphic Novels, News