Tag: Raina Telgemeier

When Scholastic launched its Graphix imprint 10 years ago, graphic novels were a novelty, if you can pardon the expression, in the mainstream publishing world. And kids comics were an unknown quantity—comics shops didn't want them and bookstores didn't know what to do with them. In the first wave, there were many miscues and misunderstandings at many houses along the way. But Graphix wasn't the one making them. Granted, starting out a line with Jeff Smith's Bone is about as much a sure thing as possible—6.9 million copies in print and counting. But picking Raina Telgemeier to do a Babysitter's Club relaunch and eventually Smile, and Kazu Kibuishi to publish his Amulet series weren't as sure—but they sure paid off. Along the way Graphix has picked up multiple Eisner Award wins and nominations, a Stonewall Book Award, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor, an Edgar Allan Poe nomination, and 14 New York Times bestsellers. They've published many more top cartoonists such as Doug TenNapel, Greg Ruth, Mike Maihack and Jimmy Gownley. And there's more to come.

It was the year of the woman in comics. No question. As readers, as creators and as characters, Finally. As I tallied the votes for this year’s Person of the Year, as chosen by industry professionals, I suspected a woman would win, and the voting was extremely close—and really could have been one of a half dozen people—but eking out a win was Raina Telgemeier. While the votes were cast before the recent Wall Street Journal piece, it generally summed up all the reasons why she deserves to be the Person of the Year. Telgemeier is the first cartoonist to become a “name” author for kids based on her graphic novels alone—Smile has appeared on the NY Times bestseller chart for 133 weeks, and in 2014 she had three spots, with Smile, Drama and Sisters, which debuted with a 200,000 first printing. And according to the WSJ, Smile now has 1.5 million copies in print, with Sisters close behind with 1.4 million. A while ago I joked that Smile is the new Watchmen, and based on these numbers it’s not far off.

Al Jazeera publishes a web comic, and it's not what you expect! Two Harris County (Texas) District Attorney employees were indicted by a grand jury for...

Last year Raina Telgemeier announced that she had signed a two-book deal with Scholastic, with the first of her two projects, Sisters, due for...

While cartoonist Raina Telgemeier has been revealing a few details of her next graphic novel on her tour for Drama, Publishers Weekly made it official: her next book will be a companion of sorts to the autobiographical Smile. Called Sisters it deals with “the inner workings of [Telgemeier’s] family,” specifically, her relationship with her young sister, which as you can see from the above artwork posted on her blog, wasn't always smooth sailing.

Torsten gave a fantastic review of things to do this weekend but I'll focus on two fun events for the Maine and Washington people, who desperately should enjoy themselves while the sun is still out!

Imagine a cartoonist-centric comic convention, held in a city that is equal parts Kiki’s Delivery Service and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and you get a small taste of what it’s like to attend Quai des Bulles. You would have to consume many delicious butter-filled pastries to get the full taste!

Raina Telgemeier sent along the itinerary of her fall tour which begins a APE and ends at the Long Beach Comic-Con, with a barnstorming tour of the west in between -- plus the art fits right in with our holiday theme!

This weekend before MoCCA will be the second Drink & Draw Like a Lady, hosted by Hope Larson & Raina Telgemeier. Both ladies also...