Blog Posts by Subject: Comics and Graphic Novels

Did you know that for the past few years there have been a great list of annual graphic novel selections for kids on the Children's Books: 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing list? I'm helping out on the committee this year, so I've been reading a bunch of comics aimed at younger readers. While not all of these titles will make our year end list, I thought I might share a few of my favorite books so far. 

Last month, when researchers at the Large Hadron Collider discovered a particle that behaved suspiciously like the Higgs boson, the theoretical particle that helps explain the existence of matter in the universe, I immediately thought of Roz Chast.

You know, the New Yorker cartoonist? The one so good at drawing wallpaper? And lamps? And little things?

The young writers of the 67th Street Library continue to impress local authors, library staff and even themselves as session three of the four session Dream Big Imagination Academy, a free writer’s workshop program for 9-12 year olds, culminated this Friday with each writer creating their own graphic novel! All week long this talented young group met at the library from 1-4 p.m. and with the guidance of local graphic novelists, authors and illustrators, realized their dreams of writing and illustrating their very own books.

Anya moved from Russia to America years ago, but even though she lost weight and lost her accent, she still has a lot of trouble making friends.  And then one day she has an accident that changes her life.  That’s the day she meets the ghost of a girl named Emily.

Looking for a good guide to get started with everyone's favorite mutant superheroes, the X-Men? Well, the New York Public Library has got a list for you! Explore this annotated list of the X-Men adventures collected in trade paperback format. Sadly, my favorite one-time X-Man Longshot is not featured in any of these stories. Also, join us next month at the Mid-Manhattan Library for Free Comic Book Day! 

Axe Cop is a policeman who uses his axe to chop off the heads of bad guys. He meets many unusual characters along the way. 

There’s Dinosaur Soldier, who was part man and part dinosaur… until he ate an avocado, at which point he transformed into Avocado Soldier. 

After reading Greg Rucka's Batwoman Elegy last year, I've been thinking a lot about graphic novels featuring the original Caped Crusader, Batman. Stories involving Batman and the characters in his universe have been published for over seven decades! Since that's a lot of reading to do, I've singled out 10 of my favorite Batman tales, all available to check out or request at your neighborhood library with your library card. Enjoy!

[Today's guest blogger is brought to you courtesy of E. C. Comics Tales From the Crypt.]

Hello, kiddies!

Welcome to The New York Public Li-bury!

Heh-heh-heh!

Surprised to find me as your guest flogger? I suppose, if you looked hard enough, you'd find all sorts of things buried in the Library's hacks. "But can he write?" you ask. Well, I am good at de-composing!

Since I would never make anyone coming into the library do something that I'm not willing to do myself, I had one of my fellow librarians interview me for our monthly anime patron feature. I'm also sad to report that this month's Anime Night is our last, mainly because FUNimation's Operation Anime service has decided to officially shut down. Something tells me that this is not the end, however, so look for more Anime/Manga offerings from the Mid-Manhattan Library sometime in 2012!

This week the New York Comic Con is in town! From October 13 through 16, the New York Comic Con will be held in the Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan. This annual convention is dedicated to comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, toys, video games, movies, and television!

At NYPL, we also celebrate comics and comic books. From the first issue of Captain America to Archie Comics, NYPL collects comics for leisure reading and for research. We also offer programs on anime shows and workshops on how to draw manga. Comics and comic books are one of the most pervasive and influential media forms of 20th-century popular culture. A survey of current scholarly 

Heather, this month's anime patron, joins her sister Erin and her fellow library patrons Anthony, Matt, Bobby, Shanta, and Marcus as one of longest standing Anime Night participants at Mid-Manhattan Library.

Despite faithfully coming nearly every month, Heather recently confessed to me that she wasn't always the biggest fan of anime and manga. I took some time during this month's screening to see if she had changed her mind and find out if she planned on coming to our upcoming screenings of Kenichi in November and MoonPhase in December. 

Imagine being lost in a strange place with no memory of who or what you are. The only thing you know? That luck seems to somehow be on your side. This is life for the mysterious man known only as Longshot.

Destined to become one of the iconic X-Men, Longshot's first self-titled graphic novel details his first trip to Earth. It turns out he ended up here by accident.

Last night, there were 17 people who came out for Mid-Manhattan Library's monthly Anime Night screening. This month, we watched popular game-turned-anime Disgaea. For September's patron feature, we caught up with Marcus. A man of few words, Marcus was nice enough to chat with the Library about why he likes anime and give us a few of his favorite titles. Let's hear what he has to say!

Are you ready for another edition of Anime Addicts? It's a new month, so we had a new anime screening: this time it was all about Kaleido Star — the story of Sora Naegino, a young girl who dreams of joining the circus.

With a new blockbuster movie due out July 22, 2011, Cap’s about to be exposed to audiences around the world in a big way. But truth be told, that’s all old hat for a character that’s been around since 1940, fought through war, death, and even his own untimely demise. Captain America remains today what he was created to be, the symbol of everything good and pure that his country stands for.

We've met Anthony. We've also met Matt. We've even met Erin. While those three patrons — attendees at Mid-Manhattan Library's monthly Anime Night screenings — are on the quieter side, none are quite as enthusiastic as this month's featured patron: Bobby! Boisterous and full of endless energy, his regular presence every month has helped solidify the bonds of friendship amongst our anime club. 

I followed a link the other day to the First Second Books website, one of my favorite publishers of graphic novels. I'm already a huge fan of Vampire Loves, the Color of Earth trilogy, Robot Dreams, American Born Chinese, Brain Camp, and Anya's Ghost, to name just a few examples. 

On the first Wednesday of every month, Mid-Manhattan Library hosts a monthly screening of anime. Throughout this Sci-Fi Summer season, we will be featuring patrons who have been attending Anime Night. So far, we've met Anthony and Matt. Almost 30 people came last night to see a screening of Gun x Sword. Join us next month on July 6 when NYPL at Nite will be showing Sgt. Frog at 7 p.m.

On the first Wednesday of every month, the Mid-Manhattan Library hosts a monthly screening of anime. Eighteen people came to last night’s screening of Trigun at 7:00 PM. Next month on June 1st, NYPL at Nite will be screening  Gun x Sword. Last month, we met Anthony. Let’s meet another one of our loyal Anime Night patrons named Matt. He comes all the way from New Jersey to hang out and attend our monthly program. Thoughful and polite, Matt took a few minutes to answer some questions so that we can get to know him a little bit better.