Comics for Girls

Sometimes you read articles like "What Taking My Daughter to a Comic Book Store Taught Me", and it really gets to you. Granted, this might not be everyone's take on every comic store, but it's a sad fact that this can happen - you can take a girl to a comic book store, and she might ask for "the real comics", comics where all female characters are not scantily clad superheroes. If you know a girl who's interested in comics and would like to read about other girls they might more readily identify with, we have some comic suggestions for you!

We have tried to use some of Geek Dad's guidelines for finding titles, especially: titles must be female-led and titles should be more than a toy ad. All titles are from the children's section unless otherwise noted.

To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel

Captain Marvel Vol. 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More by Kelly Sue Deconnick
[School Library Journal rated this appropriate for grade 9 and above]

Lumberjanes: Beware The Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson & Grace Ellis

Cleopatra In Space: Book One, Target Practice by Mike Maihack

El Deafo by Cece Bell 

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch  

Phoebe and Her Unicorn: A Heavenly Nostrils Chronicle by Dana Simpson 

Sisters by Raina Telgemeier 

Chiggers by Hope Larson

Oddly Normal: Volume 1 written & illustrated by Otis Frampton

Bandette: In Presto! by Paul Tobin with art by Colleen Coover [YA]

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, Jillian Tamaki [YA]

Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks [YA] 

Ms. Marvel, Volume 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson
[School Library Journal rated this appropriate for grade 9 and above]


Links


12 Comics for a 7-Year-Old Girl: A Response [Geek Dad]

10 Great Comics for Adolescent Girls: Graphic Novels and Collections [Paste]

You Go, Girls! 7 Kick-Butt Comics for 7-Year-Old Girls [Brightly]

New & Novel: Comedy Writing

Marc Maron just hosted President Obama on his WTF podcast last month (such a momentous event that Maron was still processing it during his next broadcast, which he called "The President Was Here", and he also created a special website to show pictures of the event). Every single episode of Seinfeld is streaming on Hulu, and Hulu celebrated by putting together a "Seinfeld Museum" for fans. Jon Stewart just ended his tenure on The Daily Show. Comedy and comedians - they are big news!

Comedians are not shy about putting pen to paper, either.  Here are some of the latest publishing ventures by some folks who regularly bring you the funny onscreen and on stage, with a couple of historical pieces thrown in for good measure.

Sick in the Head by Judd Apatow

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life From An Addiction to Film by Patton Oswalt

Happily Ali After: And Other Fairly True Tales by Ali Wentworth

More Fool Me: A Memoir by Stephen Fry

When The Balls Drop: How I Learned to Get Real and Embrace Life's Second Half by Brad Garrett

 

I Must Say by Martin Short

We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy by Yael Kohen

Hope: Entertainer of the Century by Richard Zoglin

Big Bad Book of Bill Murray: The Man, the Movies, the Legend by Robert Schnakenberg

Comics 101: Comic Books for Adults Who Don't Read Comics

Let’s clear things up right now. Age, sex, gender, religion, shape, size, reading habits, interest, political beliefs…. it doesn’t matter. Comics are for everybody and you don’t have to be “into comics”  to enjoy them. Like books, comic book genres run the gamut, you’ve got everything from superheroes to memoirs to weirdo sci-fi nonsense to sports. Just because the medium uses art to facilitate the storytelling process doesn’t mean that all comics are juvenile. Comics can be lighthearted all-ages read, but they can also be dense and violent. Story-wise, you would be hard pressed to find a comic that didn’t fit someone’s interests. Then, you’ve got your art. It’s not all just newspaper comic strip art. Some of it is photorealistic, others abstract. There’s pencil and ink art, there’s painted art, there’s computer art. Again, there’s something for everyone.
~Eric Margolis, "You Don't Have to Be 'Into Comics' to Read Comics" 

I started out with Fables, since I have a fondness for adapted fairytales. It came through as a repair job when I worked in the conservation lab at UCLA. Until then, I didn’t realize that there were comics for adults that didn’t have superheroes in them.
~Carrie, librarian

We want you to read comics! No excuses.  No exceptions. ABC Library's collection of comics (search the catalog for: graphic novels - there's a big debate on what they should be called) is exploding, and it's not all superheroes and manga - though there's plenty of those, that's not what we'll be discussing here.

Many adults say they aren't interested in comics because they are for children.  Many parents have to be convinced to let their children read comics because they consider them fun or light, not serious reading. To the first point, Scott McCloud, a comics theorist, would argue that "...our minds become the driving force behind reading a comic or graphic novel. Reading graphic novels is the most participatory form of reading, and your brain learns to read in an entirely different way." Besides the complexity of the text and drawing that a comic can exhibit, there are a whole lot of comics out there with themes suitable for mature readers these days - memoirs and mysteries and beyond. To the second point, Neil Gaiman would say: "The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them." As comic book readers ourselves, we can tell you that some of us started with Asterix and Tintin and Archie comics in childhood, later became English majors and read more than our fair share of the literary canon, and as gainfully employed adults still find time to read literary fiction - in our experience, seems like reading comics and graphic novels does not necessarily stunt your reading growth.

The other side of the coin is people sometimes tell us they find comics difficult to read.  There are a couple of books in the system that delve deep into the medium, with discussions of  the history, theory, art, and meaning of comics, cartoons, and graphic novels. We recommend, to start: Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean by Douglas Wolk and Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud. Or, take a look at Scott McCloud's TED Talk about "The Visual Magic of Comics". If Scott McCloud's enthusiasm doesn't reel you in, we don't know what will.

How to do you find comics that you might be interested in? Well, Albuquerque certainly has its fair share of comic book stores, and, though we've all see the stereotypical Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons, comic book retailers are not all like that! (But "How to Combat Comic Store Rudeness" is out there, just in case.) Another nice option - and a free one! - is to check the catalog at your local library! We've compiled a list below of comics in a variety of genres to get you started, running the gamut from some heavy-hitters of the genre such as Art Spiegelman, Alan Moore, and Will Eisner to newer comics from different points of view.  We recommend checking a handful out to see what your comic style is - we find that if we don't like the art, it doesn't matter who the comic is by or what its subject is, we're not going to like the book - but there are many different styles out there, so don't give up on the first try!

ABC Library also has a Graphic Novel Club which meets at the Lomas Tramway branch at 2 p.m. on the first Saturday of the month. They welcome new members and don't mind if you haven't read the book! This is a great opportunity to discuss comics with like-minded enthusiasts or to find out more about the genre.

We hope you'll consider checking out some comics today! If you would like to add to our list or have questions, please let us know in the comments.


Crime/Mystery

Scalped: Volume 1, Indian Country by Jason Aaron

Richard Stark's Parker, Vol. 1: The Hunter adapted by Darwyn Cooke

Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales

Fairy Tales

Fables: The Deluxe Edition, Book One by Bill Willingham

Horror/Paranormal

Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill 

Morning Glories: Vol. 1, For a Better Future by Nick Spencer

The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman

The Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book One by Alan Moore

War 

The Long Road Home: One Step at a Time - A Doonesbury Book by G.B. Trudeau

Science Fiction/Fantasy

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life. Vol. 1 by Bryan Lee O'Malley

The Unwritten: Vol. 1, Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity by Mike Carey & Peter Gross

Doom Patrol: Crawling from the Wreckage by Grant Morrison

Saga: Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

Air: Letters from Lost Countries by G. Willow Wilson  

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley

The Finder Library: Volume 1 by Carla Speed McNeil

Bone: Out from Boneville by Jeff Smith

Interiorae by Gabriella Giandelli 

Memoirs

Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Aya by Marguerite Abouet

Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel by Anya Ulinich

Blankets by Craig Thompson

To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel 

Quirky/Miscellaneous

The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman

Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton

The Sculptor by Scott McCloud

A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories by Will Eisner

The Graphic Canon - Volume 1 : From the Epic of Gilgamesh to Shakespeare to Dangerous Liaisons edited by Russ Kick

The Complete Concrete by Paul Chadwick

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle

Fanny & Romeo by Yves Pelletier

Daytripper by Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá
 

If you want to learn more about graphic novels, consider: The Graphic Novel: An Introduction by Jan Baetens; Masterful Marks: Cartoonists Who Changed the World edited by Monte Beauchamp;  Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe by Tim Leong; Outside the Box: Interviews with Contemporary Cartoonists by Hillary L. Chute; and Gene Kannenberg, Jr.'s 500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide.

Links

7000 BC - independent comics from New Mexico

How to Get Started Reading Comics That Have Been Running For Decades [Lifehacker]

How to Read Love & Rockets [Fantagraphics]
"The Hernandez brothers' decades-spanning œuvre can seem overwhelming to new readers, but it's actually much easier than you might think, and we've put this handy guide together to prove it. We envy the pleasures that await you."

Grovel 
Graphic novel reviews

No Flying No Tights - "Why Should I Read Comics?'

Panels
"Panels is a celebration of comics, the people who make them, and the people who love them."

Get Graphic
"'Graphic Novel' is a format, not a genre. Graphic novels can be fiction, non-fiction, history, fantasy, or anything in-between."

Internet Public Library [IPL] - Graphic Novels

Great Graphic Novels [American Library Association]

An Accidental Fan

I came home from work one day to find my husband sitting on the couch, watching a Nickelodeon cartoon.  I sat down next to him in a state of annoyed curiosity to see what this nonsense was all about.  It turned out to be, as I suspected, obnoxious!  And he kept doing it!  What's worse, I got drawn in and found myself on the couch for a full episode, slightly annoyed, but also intrigued by characters and a plot that seemed to be deepening.  After another episode, I didn't even find the show obnoxious, but funny and endearing - completely kid friendly, but apparently also fun for adults.  Before I knew it, I was in love with the epic little show:  Avatar, The Last Airbender!

Here's the background: the earth is divided into four nations: airbenders, earthbenders, firebenders, and waterbenders.  Individuals from these realms have mastery over their namesake element, but the nations are not at peace with one another.  To make a bad situation worse, the Avatar, the peacekeeper of all the nations, master of all four elements, has been missing without a trace for 100 years.  At the inception of the series, a brother and sister discover the Avatar frozen in ice, and they free him.  What follows is a rollicking adventure that takes the trio to the corners of the world and the edges of themselves.

The 3 season series ended all too soon for me, but the ending was a satisfying one.  I was excited to discover that there is a sequel series in progress called The Legend of Korra, and began to watch it after taking a break to recover from the epic-ness that was Avatar. (I am still a little surprised at how attached I became to a Nickelodeon cartoon - even as a kid I didn't like cartoons).  The Legend of Korra continues the story of the Avatar, with plenty of references to the original story, 70 years after Avatar, The Last Airbender ends.  It, too, is a high quality show.  The bad news is, our DVD collection does not include The Legend of Korra.  The good news is, we have Avatar, The Last Airbender! 

We also have copies of the comic book series that sprang up, which takes place after the Avatar cartoon episodes end, and before The Legend of Korra begins.  These are entitled the same as the cartoon they are based on, and they are just as good because after so many episodes of Avatar, you can imagine the characters' voices as you read (or is that just a weird thing I do?). 

Another product of Nickelodeon's show was a 2010 movie of the same title.  I cannot recommend the movie, however.  Even watching the trailer told me, among other things, that the movie has little semblance to the show, and where is it similar, it simply does not possess the same likeability.  In fact, on Rotten Tomatoes, a site where critics rate movies as "rotten" or "fresh," the movie was decidedly rotten, with only 6% rating it positively.  To be fair, it would be difficult to successfully cram 3 seasons of a great show, with lots of character development, taking place over lots of time, neatly into an hour and forty minute block of time.  And, hey, if you're not going to bother with the cartoon series, it's possible the movie wouldn't be so bad.  You can find out for yourself, because we do have copies.

Take a look at all of the above by clicking these links to our catalog:

The Cartoon Series On DVD

The Comics

The Movie

Is there anyone else out there who has fallen in love with a cartoon (book, movie) they thought they would hate?  Please share in the comments!

Also, check out Lomas Tramway's Graphic Novel Book Club!

The Carl Barks Disney Library

Carl Barks in the 1950s was a non-conformist living in a conformist society.  Certainly not a James Dean-style rebel, a hipster, or a beatnik but a more subtle one - a middle-aged man, who was fully aware of the flaws of the society in which he was living, and who wrote and drew stories for children that often reflected his philosophical disillusionment with the prevailing ideologies of the current world.
~Stefano Priarone, "Story Notes: Lost in the Andes"

 We are huge fans of Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck comics, from back in the day when we were little sprouts, and were delighted to find that Fantagraphics has been reissuing them. Carl Barks is the most famous and acclaimed author and illustrator of the Duck comics, with his first story appearing in 1943 and his last story written and drawn in 1968 (though he continued scripting stories until 1974). Even before cartoonists got credit from Disney for their stories, fans who recognized his signature style called him "The Duck Man" or "The Good Duck Artist".

Fun facts about the Barks comics:

• Walt Disney did not exercise creative control over the Duck comics, though they appeared under his signature.
• Though Barks did not invent the main characters in the Duck comics (Donald, his nephews, Daisy), he did invent Duckburg, Uncle Scrooge, Gyro Gearloose, the Beagle Boys, the Junior Woodchucks, and Gladstone Gander.
• The rolling boulder scene at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark was inspired by Barks' "The Seven Cities of Cibola", a Scrooge McDuck story.

The library has acquired several volumes of Fantagraphics' Complete Carl Barks Disney Library. The books vary a bit in content.  One has a scholarly introduction. Another has a short biography of Carl Barks at the end. Some of the books split up the comics into "The Adventures" (longer stories, 24-32 pages), "The Short Stories" (10 pages or less), and "The Gags" (1 page), and others just have a general table of contents at the beginning that lists each comic (many of which were only assigned names by Barks or others considerably after publication). Each book ends with "Story Notes" by a variety of cartoon scholars, mostly Americans but including a few from Italy, and "Where did these duck stories first appear?, giving the name of the volume the comic first appeared in and its date of publication.

Travel to exotic locales! Be amused by wacky hijinks! Scary stories, crime stories, Westerns - the Ducks have it all! Check out one of Duck collections today. If you're still not convinced, consider this recommendation from another ABC Library staffer:

[Carl Barks] was the best writer of Donald Duck/Uncle Scrooge stories ever (with Dan Rosa a close second, but he came much later). I know that I once tried to choose my 10 favorite comic book issues of all time.  It turned out they were ALL Barks' Donald Duck/Uncle Scrooge comics!  My very favorites are: "The Ghost of the Grotto", "The Golden Helmet", "Luck of the North", "Pipeline to Danger", The Seven Cities of Cibola" and "Lost in the Andes".  I could probably quote them verbatim from cover to cover.

Walt Disney's Donald Duck: "The Old Castle's Secret" by Carl Barks

Walt Disney's Donald Duck: "Trail of the Unicorn" by Carl Barks

A Christmas for Shacktown by Carl Barks

Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks

Please note: these books are completely uncensored from the original printing, and may include racial stereotyping. These books are shelved in the adult non-fiction section, so you can decide if they are suitable to share with children.

Links

Lomas Tramway Library's Graphic Novel Club

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library [Wikipedia]

5 Amazing Things Invented by Donald Duck (Seriously) [Cracked]

Review: Walt Disney's Donald Duck - Christmas on Bear Mountain by Carl Barks [Chicago Tribune]

Walt Disney [Lambiek Comiclopedia]

New and Novel Graphic Novels

Long dismissed as a less serious art form, graphic novels have finally started to gain more mainstream credibility over the last 20 years... The world of the graphic novel is one that spans a wide range of authors, artists, styles, and subject matter... While the distinction between graphic novels and comic books gets dicey (the term “graphic novel” was only introduced in the late 1970s), for [our] purposes...they are lengthier, meatier book-like works — and they’re all brilliant for both their literary and visual merit.
~ Brie Hiramine, "25 Essential Graphic Novels"

Graphic novels are a genre close to my reading heart. While I confess to a lack of expertise in the field of manga and only a nodding acquaintance with superhero comics (and I welcome your recommendations on these subjects!), I love to read all sorts of other graphic novels.  Sometimes other adults ask, "What's the appeal?" It's hard to pin down into words.  I've long been an avid comic reader, starting with Tintin, Asterix, Bloom County, Calvin & Hobbes, Doonesbury, and Archie back in my childhood, so I've always been drawn to the medium. Perhaps it is just the combination of "literary and visual merit" in the quote above - words and pictures on the page together managing to appeal to both my English major's love of literature and my sense of aesthetics (I am very picky about the art in graphic novels in much the same way a bad reader can ruin an audiobook for me).

I asked a couple of friends what the appeal of comics was to them. We discussed whether or not, as one person said, reading comics is "like a combination of reading a book and watching a movie". Sometimes a comic will contain extras such as a copy the writer's working "script" before the art is added, and one friend was quite interested in how the comic's writer seemed to be storyboarding the action for the illustrator, including instructions such as "The scene has shifted to the next day, so the characters should be wearing different clothes". We agreed that reading comics and/or graphic novels is a fast medium, and details are easily absorbed visually.  Even though you are still only using one sense, sight, with comics you take in more sensory detail.  As another friend said:

You can do that with comics, create that immersion and empathy.  That gutter I mentioned [the space between the panels where the reader's imagination completes the story] is part of why.  Your brain is being stimulated, through language and image, to experience with all your senses, as well as emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, whatever-allys the comic's creators are adept enough to reach.  The reader in the gutter is the one actually pulling it all together, fitting the pieces of the puzzle, participating in its creation.  The comic itself is just a series of guideposts, instructions for a scavenger hunt - turn the corner here, shuffle that cobblestone, watch for the rusty nail - too late!, and then what's next?

Alas, one my friends said when he tried to suggest a graphic novel to his book club, almost none of the club's members read it and a few who tried were confused by the genre - they professed to not understand how to read comics, or at least to not understand how to follow the action from panel to panel across the page. I guess there will always be people who don't like or don't get the appeal of comics, but those who do can be pretty diehard - Albuquerque alone has two comic book conventions and at least seven dedicated comic stores.

Others sometimes ask, "What's the difference between comics and graphic novels?" Wikipedia defines the difference thusly:

A graphic novel is a book made up of comics content. Although the word "novel" normally refers to long fictional works, the term "graphic novel" is applied broadly, and includes fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work. It is distinguished from the term "comic book", which is used for comics periodicals.

That definition can be a point of contention. Writers such as Alan Moore (Watchmen), Jeff Smith (Bone), and Neil Gaiman (Sandman) have objected to the term "graphic novel" as unnecessary and/or pretentious. The author Douglas Wolk said:

Comics are not prose. Comics are not movies. They are not a text-driven medium with added pictures; they're not the visual equivalent of prose narrative or a static version of a film. They are their own thing: a medium with its own devices, its own innovators, its own clichés, its own genres and traps and liberties. The first step toward attentively reading and fully appreciating comics is acknowledging that. 

Whether you want to call them graphic novels or comics, there are a lot of good ones out there on a lot of different topics.  There are graphic (or "visual") memoirs and biographies, graphic short story collections, classics of the canon adapted to a graphic format.  There is a graphic version of the U.S. Constitution. There are graphic versions of Game of Thrones, the Millennium Trilogy, and Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series for adults, and graphic versions of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Blue Bloods for teens. Don't hesitate to check the graphic novel bounty available in the library catalog - a search of "graphic novels" is easy-peasy in Encore, and using the categories in the left sidebar (format, collection, tag) will help you to limit your search!

For your convenience, we have compiled a list of graphic novels from the library catalog to get you started - some new, some novel, some both. The graphic novels listed are recommended for young adult to adult readers, unless otherwise noted. 

Climate Changed: A Personal Journey Through the Science by Philippe Squarzoni

The Red Ruby by Lars Jakobsen [YA]

On the Ropes by James Vance and Dan E. Burr

Persia Blues: Volume 1 by Dara Naraghi & Brent Bowman

Rage of Poseidon by Anders Nilsen

The Property by Rutu Modan

The Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg

Bad Houses by Sara Ryan

World Map Room by Yuichi Yokoyama

Incidents in the Night: Bk 1 by David B.

Fanny & Romeo by Yves Pelletier, Pascal Girard

Mind the Gap - Vol. 1 : Intimate Strangers by Jim McCann

The Underwater Welder by Jeff Lemire

A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return by Zeina Abirached [YA]

Little White Duck: A Childhood in China by Na Liu and Andrés Vera Martínez (J)

Steve Jobs: Genius By Design by Jason Quinn

Corto Maltese: The Ballad of the Salt Sea by Hugo Pratt

Dominique Laveau, Voodoo Child - Volume 1: Requiem by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

Lily Renée, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer by Trina Robbins (J)

Vietnamerica: A Family's Journey by GB Tran

Bad Habits: A Love Story by Cristy C. Road [eBook]

The Rime of the Modern Mariner by Nick Hayes

Miss Don't Touch Me by Hubert

Berlin: City of Stones by Jason Lutes

Howl: A Graphic Novel by Allen Ginsberg

Bandette: In Presto! by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover (J)
         
The Comic Book History of Comics  by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey


If you are a fan of this genre, the Lomas Tramway Library has a Graphic Novel Club for Adults!

Links

2014 Eisner Award Nominees   

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are considered the “Oscars” of the comics world. Named for the pioneering comics creator and graphic novelist Will Eisner, the awards are given out in more than two dozen categories during a ceremony each year at Comic-Con International: San Diego. 

Comic Books vs. Graphic Novels: Let's Find a Good Fit For You!

Talking Comics with Scott McCloud

Understanding comics: Scott McCloud  on TED.com 

Excerpt: 'Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean' 

Comic Books: A freakish kind of writing

Top 10 Graphic Novels 2014

Supergirls

Mike Madrid, author of two fabulous books on women in comics, describes himself as "a lifelong fan of comic books and popular culture" on his website. In an interview with the SFGate, he says he was drawn to females in comics because he "felt that they were allowed to have more developed personalities than a lot of the men in comics. A lot of the men had to be brave and fearless, and that was the extent of it, but women could have that and show more emotion." It was while researching his first book, The Supergirls, that he discovered the lesser-known heroines he showcases in his second book, Divas, Dames, & Daredevils.  "The characters are really a snapshot of what the comic book industry was like when it first started at its inception," Madrid says in the same SFGates interview. These forgotten heroines "reflected the very experimental nature of comics in the early days of the medium." Find his fun and informative books in the library catalog:

The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines 

A cultural history of comic book heroines. Is their world of fantasy different from our own-- or an alternative saga of modern American women?

The topics discussed in the book include: Goddesses of tomorrow -- 1940's: a secret life -- The queen & the princess -- 1950's: the girlfriends -- Supergirl and the ballad of American youth -- 1960's: the modern world -- Girls together (outrageously) -- 1970's: sirens & suffragettes -- Wonder Woman's extreme makeovers -- 1980's: the dark road -- Sex and the single superheroine -- 1990's: the babe years -- Heroine chic -- 2000 and beyond: mother love?
~from the library catalog

Divas, Dames & Daredevils: Lost Heroines of Golden Age Comics 

"After 'Supergirls' was published, I began hearing from readers. Many had no idea that the history of comic books stretched back to the late 1930s.  They told me that reading 'Supergirls' made them want to learn more about the early comics, and specifically about the female characters that appeared in them," Mike Madrid explains in "Golden Years", the opening essay of Divas, Dames & Daredevils. He continues, "While there are a number of heroines I would like to have included in [this] collection...I focused on the ones that I have dubbed as 'lost'. These are characters you may have heard of, but whose stories you never had the chance to read.  Or they may be women who only made a few appearances and then disappeared. They may have been lost, but you will find they are definitely unforgettable." 

Each section of the book contains one complete black and white comic adventure of each heroine! Sections include: Women at War, featuring Pat Parker, War Nurse, Madame Strange, and Pat Patriot; Mystery Women, featuring Spider Queen, Mother Hubbard, and the Veiled Avenger; Daring Dames, including Penny Wright, Feature Writer, Betty Bates, Lady at Law, Jill Trent, Science Sleuth, and Calamity Jane; 20th Century Goddesses, featuring Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle, Marga the Panther Woman, Diana the Huntress, and Maureen Marine; and Warriors and Queens, including The Sorceress of Zoom, Gale Allen and the Girl Squadron, and Mysta of the Moon.

We are big fans of both these books here at abcreads - hope you will enjoy them too! Fun reads for anybody interested in comics and their history.

Reading Comics

Albuquerque Comic Con starts today, and here at abcreads, we have been revisiting Scott McCloud's most excellent Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art in homage to this event. But there are a plethora of other titles which discuss comics (or graphic novels - what's the difference?  What's your preferred nomenclature?) that you might enjoy perusing, if you are a fan of the genre.  From the untold story of Marvel to the artist behind Love and Rockets to comic journalism to the graphic canon, here are some of the latest books about comics in the library catalog:


Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular Medium by Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester [eBook]

Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia! by Brian Cronin

Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through the Looking Glass by Susan E. Kirtley [eBook]

Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe by Tim Leong

The Comic Book History of Comics by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey

Journalism by Joe Sacco

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe

The Graphic Canon - Volume 1: From the Epic of Gilgamesh to Shakespeare to Dangerous Liaisons edited by Russ Kick

1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die edited by Paul Gravett ; foreword by Terry Gilliam

Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal by Jeffrey J. Kripal 

Stan Lee's How to Draw comics: From the Legendary Co-Creator of Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Iron Man by Stan Lee

The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death selection and commentary by Todd Hignite

The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture by Randy Duncan and Matthew J. Smith



You can find books for kids and teens on this topic using a subject search of "Comic books, strips, etc. -- Technique -- Juvenile literature" or "Comic books, strips, etc. juvenile".

George O'Connor's Olympians

Here at abcreads we can't get enough of Olympians, a graphic mythology series by George O'Connor, author of Uncle Bigfoot and illustrator of the Captain Awesome series.  The series is aimed at children aged 9-12 but the adults around here are enjoying them as well! Titles so far are: Zeus: King of the Gods; Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess; Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory; Hades: Lord of the Dead; Poseidon: Earth Shaker; with Aphrodite: Goddess of Love coming out later this year.

Each book contains, besides a the story of the god delightfully rendered in comic format,  an Olympians Family Tree, Author's Notes, information about the god (Roman name, symbols, heavenly body, etc.), G[r]eek Notes, discussion questions, bibliography, and recommended reads for both older and younger readers.

Also check out the Olympians' official website, which offers activities and information for teachers!

New & Noteworthy Graphic Novels for Grownups

Summer rolls around, and it's time for our semi-annual new & noteworthy graphic novel roundup! Here at abcreads we love to read graphic novels and comics, from Asterix & Tintin to graphic biographies to X-Men, and everything in-between. This year we're featuring a couple graphic memoirs (including one with recipes!), the latest entries in some series, the newest by Love & Rockets co-collaborator Gilbert Hernandez, even a graphic retelling of the U.S. constitution and a comic parody of Downton Abbey.

Our question this year for fans of this format: do you prefer to call them graphic novels or comics? The website wiseGEEK differentiates between comic books and graphic novels, primarily due to "completeness" and "length".  Author Chris Ware has also weighed in on the topic for Wisconsin Public Radio. What's your take?

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

Calling Dr. Laura: A Graphic Memoir by Nicole J. Georges

Julio's Day by Gilbert Hernandez

Red Handed: The Fine Art of Strange Crimes written & illustrated by Matt Kindt

Heck by Zander Cannon

Genius by Steven Seagle

The Unwritten: Vol. 7, The Wound by Mike Carey, Peter Gross

An Enchantment: The Louvre Collection by Christian Durieux

The United States Constitution written by Thomas Jefferson ... [et al.] ; adapted by Nadja Baer

Everything Together: Collected Stories by Sammy Harkham

Heads or Tails by Lilli Carré

Hitman: For Tomorrow by Garth Ennis, et al.

A Bride's Story 4 by Kaoru Mori

Invincible: Vol. 17, What's Happening by Robert Kirkman, et al.

Mumbai New York Scranton by Tamara Shopsin

A Chinese Life by Philippe Ôtié and Li Kunwu

Agent Gates and the Secret Adventures of Devonton Abbey: (A Parody) by Camaren Subhiyah

The Massive: Volume 1, Black Pacific by Brian Wood, et al.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Villains, Evil Stepsisters, & the Zombie Plague

Whether the world is threatened by world domination by dastardly villains or zombies, even if our superheroes have feet of clay and "happily ever after" doesn't exist, despite the fact that your vision is limited to shades of grey, these books offer a humorously skewed version of the world - and the end of it - that will entertain you for hours!


Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
The world is going to end next Saturday, but there are a few problems--the Antichrist has been misplaced, the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles, and the representatives from heaven and hell decide that they like the human race.

The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius edited by John Joseph Adams
An anthology of original horror tales featuring "evil genius" archetype characters intent on ruling the world features contributions by such best-selling authors as Diana Gabaldon, Daniel Wilson and Austin Grossman

After the Apocalypse: Stories by Maureen F. McHugh
In her new collection, Story Prize finalist Maureen F. McHugh delves into the dark heart of contemporary life and life five minutes from now and how easy it is to mix up one with the other. Her stories are post-bird flu, in the middle of medical trials, wondering if our computers are smarter than us, wondering when our jobs are going to be outsourced overseas, wondering if we are who we say we are, and not sure what we'd do to survive the coming zombie plague.

Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez
Hired by the owner of an all-night diner to eliminate the zombie problem that is costing her customers, werewolf Duke and vampire Earl tackle an even stickier adversary who is out to take over the diner.

The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
Danielle Whiteshore, aka Cinderella, reveals what really happens after the "happily ever after" as she, along with Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, race against time to rescue her husband, Prince Armand, from the clutches of some of fantasyland's most nefarious villains.

After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn
Forensic accountant Celia West is the powerless and estranged daughter of two of Commerce City's great heroes, Captain Olympus and Spark. When the city prosecutes the evil Destructor for tax evasion, Celia gets pulled in to track down evidence. As a new crime spree creates tension between the city's heroes and the police force, Celia's investigation uncovers long-buried secrets about her family and the city.

Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
When Doctor Impossible, an evil genius and ambitious wannabe world dominator, launches a new plot to seize control of the world, Fatale, a woman built by the NSA to be the next generation of weaponry, joins a group of misfit superheroes in their quest to destroy Doctor Impossible.

You Slay Me by Katie MacAlister [Large Print]
While conjuring up a demon in the form of a shaggy Newfoundland, Aisling Grey, the Keeper of the Gates to Hell, searches for the elusive and sexy Drake Vireo, who is responsible for a series of murders in Paris's immortal underworld.

Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron by Jasper Fforde
Welcome to Chromatacia, where for as long as anyone can remember society has been ruled by a Colortocracy. Social hierachy is based upon one's limited color perception. society is dominated by color. In this world, you are what you can see, and Eddie Russett, a better-than-average red perception wants to move up.


Some content was suggested by the eResource NoveList Plus, which can help you find new books based and also can show you all the books in a series, all the books by a certain author, as well as brief biographies of authors. Access to this eResource is free with your valid library card! Visit the Books and Literature subject guide to find links to NoveList Plus and more!