Links: Cybils Finalists Announced

The nominees for the Cybils, the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards, have been announced, and here are the finalists in the graphic novel categories:

Elementary/Middle Grade Graphic Novels

Pashmina, by Nidhi Chanani
Real Friends, by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham
Suee and the Shadow, by Ginger Ly and Molly Park
The Big Bad Fox, by Benjamin Renner
The Dam Keeper, by Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Where’s Halmoni? by Julie Kim

Young Adult Graphic Novels

Buddha: An Enlightened Life, by Kieron Moore and Rajesh Nagulakonda
New Super-Man, vol. 1: Made in China, by Gene Luen Yang and Viktor Bogdanovic
Soupy Leaves Home, by Cecil Castellucci and Jose Pimienta
Spill Zone, by Scott Westerfeld and Alex Puvilland
Spinning, by Tillie Walden
Tyson Hesse’s Diesel: Ignition, by Tyson Hesse

At Comicosity Writer Jay Faerber and artist Sumeyye Kesgin talk about their comic Elsewhere, which is a YA fantasy story about Amelia Earhart. The comic has been running as a monthly series, with issue #5 due out in March, and the first volume of the collected edition was released last week. Faerber gives a quick rundown of the cast of characters:

Our lead character is the famous aviator, Amelia Earhart. Before too long, she meets another infamous missing person with a connection to aviation, the sky-jacker D.B. Cooper, who leapt out of an airplane with all the ransom money he collected in a 1970s sky-jacking. Then we’ve got Cort and Tavel, the two natives who befriend Amelia. Cort is a heroic adventurer, Tavel is the much more selfish and reluctant sidekick. And then there’s Lord Kragen, the evil despot who rules the kingdom. And lastly, theres Fred Noonan, Amelia’s aviator. Not many people know that she didn’t vanish alone. Fred vanished with her. And her mission in this fantasy land is to find him, so they can both return home.

What if Jane Eyre lived in modern-day New York? I talked to Aline Brosh McKenna, whose graphic novel Jane puts a contemporary spin on Charlotte Bronte’s classic.

At ICv2, I interviewed Hope Nicholson, founder of Bedside Press, a small press that produces some very interesting graphic novels and anthologies. Hope is the editor of the Moonshot anthologies of Native American comics and the Secret Loves of Geek Girls anthologies, she brought novelist Margaret Atwood and artist Johnie Christmas together for Angel Catbird, and she has funded several reprints of classic Canadian comics on Kickstarter. Her work is interesting and diverse, and Bedside Press’s current list includes a new all ages title, Window Horses, by Ann Marie Fleming, which is based on an animated film.

Archaia (now an imprint of BOOM! Studios) is collecting all its original Fraggle Rock comics into a softcover omnibus, to be released in March 2018.

Dylan Campbell discusses his all-ages webcomic, Scared by the Bell.

Right here at SLJ, Mahnaz Dar looks at some graphic novels that can help readers understand and discuss complex issues.

Elizabeth Bird of A Fuse #8 Production picks her favorite kids’ graphic novels of 2017.

Martha Cornog recommends some graphic novels for Black History Month—or anytime, really!

Reviews

Justin on vol. 1 of Astra Lost in Space (TheOASG)
Henry Chamberlain on Colonial Comics: New England: 1620-1750 (Comics Grinder)
Jennifer Wharton on the Far Out Fables Series (No Flying, No Tights)
Justin on vol. 1 of Kigurumi Guardians (TheOASG)
Alun Williams on The Manga Guide to Microprocessors (Electronics Weekly)
A Library Girl on M.F.K. (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Rachel Cooke on vol. 1 of My Brother’s Husband (The Guardian)
A Library Girl on vol. 1 of Orange: The Complete Collection (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Stergios Botzakis on Pashmina (Graphic Novel Resources)
Nick Smith on The Prince and the Dressmaker (ICv2)
Jennifer Wharton on Q & Ray: The Missing Mola Lisa: Case #1 (No Flying, No Tights)
Brigid Alverson on Sparks! (ICv2)
Stergios Botzakis on Spinning (Graphic Novel Resources)
Michael Buntag on Tetris: The Games People Play (NonSensical Words)
Jennifer Wharton on Wallace the Brave (No Flying, No Tights)
Jennifer Wharton on vols. 1-3 of The Water Dragon’s Bride (No Flying, No Tights)
Tom Spurgeon on The Wendy Project (The Comics Reporter)
Stergios Botzakis on The Witch Boy (Graphic Novel Resources)
Megan Rupe on Zen Pencils: Inspirational Quotes for Kids (No Flying, No Tights)

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