Books That Caught My Eye at SDCC, Part 1
Again, quickly typing up my notes. These are things that piqued my interest and beg a closer look, when time permits.
No particular order here except the order in which I encountered them at the con. (UPDATE: this post got too long! So now it’s a Part One.)
• Owly (kids’ graphic novels, the one I saw was wordless and sweet, published by Top Shelf Press)
• Practically everything at the First Second (:01) booth made me drool—I was already familiar with these folks, having read (and been blown away by) Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese a little while ago. Gene was on one of the children’s graphic novel panels I attended at SDCC last year.
Gene Luen Yang and Jennifer Holm at SDCC 2009.
This year, “Urgent Request” from The Eternal Smile (written by Gene; illustrated by Derek Kirk Kim) won the Eisner for best short story, which is very exciting. To my amusement, at the very moment I was paging through Eternal Smile, I looked up and there was Gene with his family at the First Second booth. He and his wife had their three small children in tow—Gene was wearing the baby in a front-carrier, a heartwarming sight. We chatted briefly; it was a delight to meet them.
• Back to First Second Books. Other titles that caught my eye:
—Cat Burglar Black
—Adventures in Cartooning—we’ve checked this out from the library, big hit with my kids, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here before
—Foiled (Jane Yolen)—has been on my TBR list, even more appealing in person, wonderful art
—Tiny Tyrant
—The Color of Water
• Hill & Wang, an imprint of Macmillan. Boy was I impressed with these folks! They’re publishing nonfiction graphic novels on a somewhat stunning range of topics. Author Jonathan Hennessy gave me a copy of The United States Constitution—that’s right, it’s the Constitution in graphic novel form—and when I brought it home to Jane, she devoured it the next day. She’s raving about it; I’ll write more when I’ve had a chance to review it myself.
Other intriguing Hill & Wang titles:
—The Cartoon Guide to Economics. I went back to the booth on Sunday to buy this—I usually save my purchases for the last day so I don’t have to lug stuff around for too long—and dadgummit, it was sold out. But it’s on my list of must-haves for Jane. And I hear there’s a Cartoon Guide to Statistics on the way…
—The 9/11 Report. Scott bought a copy of this. He’s excited.
—The Stuff of Life, “a graphic guide to genetics and DNA” with art by one of my favorite Comic-Con pals, Zander Cannon. There’s a sequel on evolution forthcoming soon.
—Biographies of Isadora Duncan, Malcolm X, Ronald Reagan, J. Edgar Hoover, Che Guevara. We came home with the Duncan bio; Jane enjoyed it; more on that one later too.
—Anne Frank: The Authorized Graphic Biography. Arresting art. I’m eager to take a closer look at this one.
—The Beats, a graphic history of the beat poets with text by Harvey Pekar.
OK, that’s a lot for one post. More to come in a follow-up.
More on SDCC 2010:
A few photos
Photos of supercool steampunk wheelchair
Awesome sketch drawn for me by the incredible Fiona Staples
What I did at SDCC
Rick Riordan panel
LOST Encyclopedia Panel
Epic fantasy panel
Books that caught my eye (part 2)
biography, First Second, graphic novels, Hill & Wang, homeschooling high school, San Diego Comic-Con, SDCC, SDCC 2010
Sarah N. says:
What a great list. My almost 7yo loves the Owly series and Adventures in Cartooning. I’m putting several of the others on my wishlist!
On July 29, 2010 at 9:14 am
KC says:
We have fallen in love with graphic novels. It’s such a wonderful vehicle for my autistic son to follow a story. He loves them but my girls do as well. Thanks for such a great list of books.
On July 29, 2010 at 10:01 am
Farrar says:
I have been so enjoying your Comic-Con posts. Gene Yang is one of my favorite comic artists these days – The Eternal Smile just blew me away. He has another one that just came out as well that I liked.
On July 29, 2010 at 10:12 am
tanita says:
Just about everything First:Second does is my favorite. I enjoyed interviewing Gene Luen Yang so much, and I am waiting for The Eternal Smile to be available here. And Lady Jane’s Foiled looks so awesome.
On July 30, 2010 at 3:04 am
Katya says:
Owly is awesome. When Ben was in first grade it was his favorite series — he would read them over and over again (Ben is dyslexic and couldn’t read chapter books like the rest of his friends so he felt very left out). Ben went to a book signing and met Andy. Andy was really sweet — he took time to talk to Ben about the books and signed two books and a poster for Ben.
On August 2, 2010 at 7:08 am
Katya says:
Woops… I meant to post a link to a picture of Ben reading to a stray kitten we found:
http://itinerant-oak.blogspot.com/2009/06/owly.html
On August 2, 2010 at 7:08 am