Graphic Novels

By Matt O'Keefe Short stories are a dying breed in mainstream comics, so often the best offerings are found in the independent scene. Such is the...

Kathryn and Stuart Immonen are of course well known for their stellar superhero work, but in their "spare time" they turn out some more...

Yup!  It's that time of year again!  Marvel has released their book catalog for May-August 2015, and it's chock full of reprints, collections, slipcases,...

Long before graphic novels were "respectable" there was Larry Gonick, whose Cartoon History of the Universe books were respected and bestselling looks at history as told in a fanciful but well researched cartoon style. A former calculus calculus instructor at Harvard and a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, his science bona fides have never been in doubt. And he's back in January with a Cartoon Guide to Algebra. Is there a way to make the abstract more comprehensible with comics? We'll soon find out.

PW's annual Graphic Novel critics poll, which I oversee, is out. This One Summer was the winner, which is hard to argue with. There's also a list of books of the year selected by the graphic novel reviewers. It's a small group, but they usually get it right. I thought it would be fun to look up past winners. The very first one isn't online, but it's a pretty strong list overall, and clicking the links will immediately take you back to whatever people were talking about in comics that year:

Only two comics made the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2014 list, the ubiquitous Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant by...

As a kid, Dover Books was just about my favorite publisher, bringing out fine reprints of sheet music, fairy tales, art and all sorts...

  Salon's Laura Miller has offered a 10 best Graphic Novels list for 2014, a nice eclectic mix with publisher like SelfMadeHero and Nobrow represented. The list...

The US branch of the international literary organization PEN America is holding an auction of "Firest EDitions/Second Thoughts" tpo help support its mission of...

LISTS! Michael Cavna—who will be full time at Comics Riffs next year, hoorah—has his top ten, most of which I expect to see over...

The post-Guardians partnership between Marvel and Jim Starlin continues with the second original graphic novel in a proposed trilogy about Thanos the purple skinned Mad Titan created by Starlin. THANOS: THE INFINITY RELATIVITY OGN comes out in June. While standalone graphic novels were once rare at Marvel they've gotten into the pool with the Starlin books, and some introductory books aimed at beginning (as in not experts in Marvel continuity) readers. The first book in the trilogy, Thanos: The Infinity Revelation, made the NY Times bestseller list, so it probably did all right.

By Harper Harris John Patrick Green is a Long Island-based comics creator, best known for his collaboration with Dave Roman, Teen Boat. In an announcement...