In another example of nerds making good, Junot Díaz has won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Riverhead Books). It’s a really superb book, almost miraculously so since it’s primarily about an undersexed, comic-loving geek. (Seriously, that’s a category of fiction that’s closing in on hip novels about twenty-somethings trying to break into the publishing industry.)
Don't make me beg
March 17, 2008 by
There are lots of books I love included in the recently released list of nominees for the latest round of Tezuka Cultural Awards. I can’t wait for enough of Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku to be in print for someone to license it. (I hear it’s a fairly drastic creative departure for her, but it’s Yoshinaga, and I think there’s some international law that requires all of her work be made available in English. I have no problem with such a regulation. I also want her new restaurant manga to be licensed as quickly as possible.)
But North American manga publishers, if you love me, and you often act like you do, one of your number will license Moyashimon (Tales of Agriculture) at your earliest convenience. It sounds kind of like Mushishi (Del Rey) and Honey and Clover (Viz) got drunk one night and conceived an insane child.
Thinking ahead
March 7, 2008 by
The first wave of nominations for 2009’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens list is up, and it includes my beloved Sand Chronicles (Viz). Anyone can nominate a title, though creators and publishers can’t nominate their own works.
I like a lot of things about this particular award, but I really appreciate the fact that the nomination process is ongoing. It seems like worthy books that come out early in the process are less likely to be forgotten.
It begins again
February 7, 2008 by
The Young Adult Library Services Association is wasting no time. You can nominate a title for next year’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens list right here. Just one caveat: “Nominations from authors or publishers for their own works will not be accepted.”
Big in France
January 21, 2008 by
There are lots of familiar titles and creators among the award nominees at this year’s Angoulême International Comics Festival. Here are the nominees of the manga variety:
Here’s what’s scheduled for the festival’s manga building.
(Edited to add a title I’d missed. Thanks, Huff!)
Honorable mentions
January 17, 2008 by
Okay, back on the subject of the Young Adult Library Services Association’s 2008 choices of Great Graphic Novels for Teens: It’s been too long since I was a part of the teen demographic for me to pretend to know what they might like, but I think it’s a really good list of recommended reading for adults, so it makes me happy.
Instead of picking through the list of selections, I thought I would look back at the nominations and see what didn’t make the cut. I was kind of startled to find some of my very favorite books in that category (because I’m egotistical), so I thought I’d put together a runners-up list of books that I think are well worth a read:
And a couple of books that I haven’t read yet, but really should:
I think I’m taking the Lat books for granted, knowing that I can almost always swing by a Barnes & Noble and pick one up. As for Bookhunter, I’m hoping an upcoming trip to a city with a good comics shop will allow me to correct that particular lapse. I’m sure I’ll be able to snag a copy of Sidescrollers, too, which did make the 2008 cut.
YALSA dancing
January 16, 2008 by
Via Tom Spurgeon, the American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services Association has posted its 2008 list of 43 Great Graphic Novels for Teens, including stand-alone books and ongoing series, along with a top 10 drawn from those.
I’ll probably compose a longer reaction later, but my first impression is that a lot of the entries could compose a good chunk of the list of my favorite ongoing manga series.
Coming up Shortcomings
December 27, 2007 by
It didn’t make the list of “The 10 Best Books of 2007,” but Adrian Tomine’s Shortcomings (Drawn & Quarterly) did land on list of “100 Notable Books of 2007,” compiled by The New York Times.
Curious
December 15, 2007 by
That’s interesting. Looking through the call for submissions for the upcoming round of Eisner Awards, I think a category is missing:
“The tentative categories include best single issue, best short story, best continuing comic book series (at least two issues must have been published in 2007), best limited comic book series (at least half of the series must have been published in 2007), best new series, best title aimed at a younger audience, best humor publication, best anthology, best graphic album—new material, best graphic album—reprint, best reality-based work, best archival collection, best U.S. edition of foreign material, best writer, best writer/artist, best penciler/inker (individual or team), best painter (interior art), best lettering, best coloring, best comics-related book, best comics journalism periodical or website, and best publication design. The judges may add, delete, or combine categories at their discretion. The cover letter should include both a mailing address and an e-mail address.”
That would be “Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Japan.” The release does say that the list is tentative, so maybe it will be added back in later. And last year was the first year for the category, I think.
Update: In the comments, writer Tina Anderson notes that the category is listed on the application, and past judges chime in to explain the flexibility of the process.
The year in fun (2007)
From a fun comics standpoint, 2007 was absolutely awesome. You know how I know? I had a hard time keeping the list below to 26 items. Okay, it’s an arbitrary number, and I could have just listed everything, but I thought I would make a stab at some pretense of discernment.
I’m not saying these are the best comics of 2007, though I’d put several in that category. I’m never entirely comfortable with that label, because I haven’t read everything and worry that my tastes are too narrow to make a reasonable stab at such a project anyways. But I have no trouble telling which comics I had a lot of fun reading, so here they are.
(Doesn’t the jump create a breathtaking level of suspense? Well, doesn’t it?)
(Updated because I can’t keep my years straight.)