Books That Caught My Eye at SDCC, Part 1

July 28, 2010 @ 6:04 pm | Filed under: Books, Graphic Novels, SDCC

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.

genejenni 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.