Kids' comics

Kids comics remain one of the book segments that is still growing, and certainly for comics publishers, it's a great way to get the younglings hooked so they will grow up reading comics. School Library Journal has a list of thirty-nine graphic novels that kids can’t resist:

Jeff Kinney's Wimpy Kid series get profiled revealing that is has now joined such publishing behemoths as Twilight and Stieg Larsson - indeed only the late Swedish author beat Kinney as best selling author in the US last year. The piece expands a bit on how YA publishing is still strong as other genres fade:

Debate whether it counts as comics or not, one thing is certain: Jeff Kinney's WIMPY KID series is HUGE. The sixth book in the series is out this November with a massive 6 million copy first printing, the biggest release of 2011. The storyline finds the Heffley family suffering from cabin fever as they're stuck inside during a huge blizzard. The theme says, Kinney is "being stuck inside the identity you create for yourself."

Kazu Kibuishi's AMULET series has been a strong seller for Scholastic and also a strong candidate for the next graphic novel series to get a big movie bump -- IF the movie gets made....

With Marvel picking up most of the licensed Disney material that BOOM! Studios had published, it's no surprise that they'll be publishing the much-loved Muppets comics by Roger Langridge in a 96-page collection called "MUPPETS PRESENTS: MEET THE MUPPETS" -- previously collected by BOOM! in 2009. Bringing back Langridge's great comics is a no-brainer, but there is still the question of the Langridge comics that were left in publishing limbo. On his blog, Langridge suggested that the material in question was in a contractual limbo, with DIsney unable to publish it until it had been published by BOOM!. Asked whether the lost material would be showing up at Marvel, a spokesman had only a "No comment."

Long discussed, the comiXology phone and tablet app for kids comics is available today. Such popular characters as Archie, Sonic the Hedgehog, Secret of Kells, Atomic Robo and dozens more kid-friendly, parent-approved characters will be available. Complete PR is below, but the main idea is that if you are a parent -- or know of one -- you know that iPhones and iPads are increasingly being used as babysitters for small children, and kids book apps top the iPhone charts. As the app is non log-in based, everything on it is preapproved; it's not hard to see how this is going to make buying digital comics for children in the classic "reward" method much easier. The app has launched with 15 publishers and 175 comics; notably absent are Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and IDW, but hopefully they'll be coming on board in some way.

They said it would never happen but it has: Teen Boat is being collected as a book by Clarion/Houghton Mifflin -- created by Dave Roman and John Green, Teen Boat, the story of a boy who can transform into a small yacht, has long charmed readers with a series of mini comics combining "the angst of being a teen with the thrill of being a boat." There's even a trailer, above. PR below:

History repeats itself as one more Roger Langridge's Muppet comics have been put in the vault by a business move. Fans of his near-universally acclaimed run on Boom's Muppet franchise may recall that his run on the beloved puppets began as a strip for Disney Adventures magazine, which was cancelled before the strips could run. Langridge made a few mini comics which he furtively handed out at cobs and the legend of the strips greatness grew. Result: when Boom got the license a call went out.

It's the first ever Peanuts graphic novel, Charlie Brown! Last week people were speculating over the announcement that kaboom! -- BOOM! Studios' new all-ages comics imprint -- would be publishing something Peanuts-related. Was it strips reprints? Comic book reprints? What? The reality is that it's an ALL NEW adaptation of a new Peanuts animated movie, Happiness Is a Warm Blanket Charlie Brown, which Warners Home Video is releasing in March.

Continuing its rollout of their revamped Kaboom! kids comics line, BOOM! is teasing a new series by Roger Langridge called SNARKED as part of the line. Peanuts AND Roger Langridge? This is looking better and better.

What a difference two letters make; just by adding a syllable, BOOM! has made its kid's line even more kid friendly, as the graphic above suggests. Although the Pixar license has gone back to Disney/Marvel, BOOM! is still publishing classic Disney materials, including Barks and Rosa, and the successful Disney Afternoon line, which just added DuckTales, and now, according to this image, is adding Peanuts to its lineup.

While it's been obvious for a while that BOOM! was no longer going to publish their Pixar comics, no official word has been circulated on what would become of the Pixar characters in comics. Now it seems...surprise! They are going to Marvel! With a magazine reminiscent of the old Welsh magazine titles for the newsstand -- for those old enough to remember -- or Nickelodeon Magazine for the Gen Y set.