The Fanatic by PW newsletters

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Mixing Prose with Manga, Light Novels Attract North American Fans Works of prose fiction with quirky, fun plots and manga-style illustrations, Japanese light novels are attracting a growing audience of fans in North America. more Review: Pride: The LGBTQ+ Rights Movement: A Photographic Journey by Christopher Measom Supported by a rich trove of poster art, speeches and interviews, Measom’s photographic history of the Pride/LGBTQ movement offers a sweeping visual documentary that highlights events that shaped the movement in the years prior to the Stonewall Uprising as well its achievements afterwards. The book captures the movement over decades, from the sexually liberated 1920s to the repressive setbacks of the 1950s, the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, and events surrounding Stonewall, as well as providing a celebration of the lives of visionary LGBTQ activists such as Harvey Milk and others. More Learning to Destroy Demons Won’t Be Easy In Taisho-era Japan, Tanjiro is a kindhearted boy, but his peaceful life is shattered when a demon slaughters his entire family. His sister, Nezuko, is the only survivor, but she has been transformed into a demon herself! Tanjiro sets out on a dangerous journey to find a way to return his sister to normal and destroy the demon who ruined his life. (Sponsored) more 6 Classic Baseball Manga The next best thing to watching baseball is getting a chance to read baseball manga. Japanese manga artists are particularly skilled at bringing the sport to life on the page, so we’ve put together a short list of classic manga series inspired by the game of baseball as it is played, celebrated, and mythologized in Japan. More Review: I Know What I Am: The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi by Gina Siciliano Siciliano’s deeply researched graphic biography of the 17th century female painter Artemisia Gentileschi captures details of her life in a brutally misogynist and patriarchal era. A talented painter in an era that viewed women artists as essentially freaks of nature and sexual prey, Gentileschi suffered under the relentless threat of sexual assault while creating paintings (among them Judith Slaying Holofernes) that honored women who challenged and fought male dominance. Siciliano’s meticulous drawings and her detailed hand-written narrative offer a vivid portrait of Gentileschi’s life and art. Review: In Defense of Elitism: Why I’m Better Than You and You Are Better Than Someone Who Didn’t Buy This Book by Joel Stein Stein takes to the road to study America’s political divide, traveling to Trump country in Miami, Texas and to the L.A. enclaves of the West coast liberal elite, in hopes of making sense of American’s culture war. The result is a very funny profile that undermines presumptions of who is who. Stein—a half-hearted elitist himself—faces off with religious conservatives who try to convert him to Christianity (he’s Jewish) and with Hollywood elites, whose liberal beliefs he finds just as rigidly dogmatic. Stein has produced a lively portrait of a divided American political and cultural landscape. More Review: Chop Suey Nation: The Surprising History and Vibrant Present of Small-Town Chinese Restaurants from Victoria, BC to Fogo Island, NL by Ann Hui Born in Canada to Chinese parents, Hui examines the history of chop suey restaurants—places offering “made-in-North America” dishes such as ginger beef created from assorted scraps—and the ostensibly Chinese fare that is nothing like the Chinese food her mother prepared. Hui heads out on a cross country road trip to so-called “fake” Chinese restaurants and assorted home kitchens across Canada and through her conversations and encounters discovers patterns of cooking creativity and resourcefulness that suggests that chop suey may be “the most Chinese of all.” Reflections On Independence Day: On July 5, 1852, former slave and abolitionist orator Frederick Douglas gave a speech about American Independence Day. Spider-Man Post-Avengers: Endgame: Vox reviews Spider-Man Far From Home: the movie starts slow but finishes big and fast. The Water Dancer: In his first work of fiction, acclaimed nonfiction author Ta-Nehesi Coates (We Were Eight Years in Power) sets his new novel, The Water Dancer, on a Virginia plantation during slavery. His hero Hiram Walker, has a photographic memory though he is unable to remember much about his mother, who was sold away, until he encounters a vision of her when he is plunged into a river after a bridge collapses. Beyond Homophobia: The Source chronicles five rappers, among them Jay-Z and Young M.A., making a stand against hate and homophobia and who look to create an inclusive future for Hip Hop and the LGBTQ community. Books and Hooping: The Warriors celebrated sixth man Andre Iguodala talks to the New Yorker about this new book, The Sixth Man, playing with Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, and life in the NBA. VIEW ALL This Week on the More to Come Podcast This week the More to Come crew—Calvin Reid, Heidi “The Beat” MacDonald and Kate Fitzsimons—recap Calvin and Heidi's visit to the American Library Association Annual Meeting in Washington DC, discuss Heidi's feature article on graphic novels in libraries and take note of the ALA's newly formed Graphic Novel and Comics Roundtable; plus the cohosts examine and commemorate DC's closing of Vertigo, its pioneering graphic novel imprint. More In this deeply researched work of graphic nonfiction, Finnish comics artist Takalo has created an inspiring history of a grass roots movement to save an historic neighborhood from demolition, as well as a love story that chronicles her own relationship. Takalo tells the story of Tammela, a deteriorating though richly historical neighborhood of wooden homes in the city of Annikki, Finland, slated to be demolished until the neighborhood organizes and manages to save it. This 11-page excerpt provides background on the Tammela neighborhood and on Takalo’s relationship to it. Me, Mikko, and Annikki by Tiitu Takalo (translated by Michael Demson and Helena Halmari) will be published by North Atlantic Books in August. Click the image above to view the full excerpt. PW Comics World and The Fanatic Editor: Calvin Reid More to Come podcast cohosts: Kate Fitzsimons, Heidi MacDonald and Calvin Reid Podcast Producer: Kate Fitzsimons PW Graphic Novels Reviews Editor and Star Gazing cohost: Meg Lemke Follow us on Twitter at @PWComicsWorld and on Facebook. Send advertising questions about this e-newsletter to: cbryerman@publishersweekly.com For additional assistance, contact us by email or at the address below. Publishers Weekly, 71 West 23 St. #1608 New York, NY 10010 Phone 212-377-5500 Copyright 2019, PWxyz LLC The ALA Is Ready To Shake Things Up...With Comics The American Library Association annual meeting opens this week in D.C. as Amie Wright, newly elected president of the ALA's newly organized Graphic Novel and Comics Roundtable, makes plans to impact how graphic novels are collected and circulated in libraries, and the GNCRT has produced a lively slate of comics programming for the annual meeting. more Bill Jemas and Axel Alonso Return with a New Comics Venture Former Marvel publisher Bill Jemas is back, this time as CEO and publisher of Artists Writers & Artisans, a new comics venture, and he’s brought James Murdoch (yes, that Murdoch), Lightspeed Venture Partners, and a combined $10 million in investments along with him. More The Most Anticipated Graphic Novel of 2019! The Joker is dead… Did Batman kill him? He'll go to hell and back to find out. 'Batman: Damned' is a visceral thrill-ride and supernatural horror story told by two of comics’ greatest modern creators: Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo. (Sponsored) more Christian Rock Band-Inspired Graphic Novel Goes Back to ‘Eden’ Skillet, the grammy-nominated Christian Rock band, has teamed with indie graphic novel publisher Z2 Comics to publish Eden: A Skillet Graphic Novel, a paranormal environmental thriller in which the characters learn that personal sacrifice is the only way they will survive. PW spoke with Skillet lead vocalist John Cooper about the creation of the band’s first graphic novel, which he describes as a story of survival, determination, and faith, and an extension of the band’s music. More Review: Rusty Brown by Chris Ware The product of 16 years of work, Ware’s new graphic novel is set in a parochial school in 1970s Omaha, Neb. Ware plunges into the daily consciousness of his characters—third grader Chalky White, his sister Alice, perpetually bullied middle-schooler Rusty Brown, his remote father Woody Brown, the cruel stoner Jordan Lint, and Joanne, a black teacher with a powerful secret—in a methodical, unsentimental, lyrical rendition of their lives. Architectonically designed and meticulously drawn, each page of this graphic novel is a testament to Ware’s distinctive visual syntax and to a story that is both heartbreaking and heartrending. Review: The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table by Minda Harts Harts penned this career guide as a response to Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, a corporate-focused feminist guide to career building written from the perspective of white women. She offers the perspective of a professional black women in a book aimed at other women of color looking to make their mark in the business world. In this interview, Harts talks about her own work experiences in an effort to help women of color navigate a corporate world booby trapped with systemic bias and racial roadblocks. More Super Fun Sexy Times Vol. 1 by Meredith McClaren McClaren takes on the superhero genre in a series of erotic short stories featuring various super villains and superheroes hooking up in equally various and steamy encounters. Her collection of super smut features a flustered virgin and her alien boyfriend, an illicit encounter between sidekick and villainous minion, and an insecure and aging assassin, in tales that offer a diversity of sexual orientations, gender identity, skin tones, and body types in a lively collection of consent-driven, romantic, superpowered pornography. GNCRT Debuts at ALA Annual Meeting: The newly organized Graphic Novel and Comics Roundtable has organized four days of panels and presentations at the ALA Annual Meeting, kicking off with a day of programing (3 panels) devoted to Social Justice and Comics on Friday, June 21; a comics breakfast on Saturday June 22, the Will Eisner Library Grants and much more. Illustrating Batman at SoI: DC’s iconic superhero Batman and the venerable Society of Illustrators, share a date: Batman was born in 1939, the same year SoI moved into its current building on East 63 Street. To celebrate the date the society has organized Batman-related exhibitions in all three of its galleries. Illustrating Batman, a show of 50 great Batman artists opens June 21; and there are two exhibitions focused on the collections of Batman expert and acclaimed book designer Chip Kidd. The Annecy Festival : The annual international animation festival, just ended June 15, turns the entire town of Annecy France into a showcase for all kinds of animation, from features to short films. And reflecting on the global popularity of animation, pop culture news site Cartoon Brew says the show is getting busier, more crowded, and there are plans for an Annecy-branded satellite festival in Asia. Here Comics Ironheart: Robert Downey says Marvel's Ironheart character, or Riri Williams, a black female MIT student who builds her own suit of cybernetic Iron-Man armor in the comics, should be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. More to Come on this topic. A tribute to Jazz Pianist Geri Allen: The great jazz pianist Geri Allen, who died in 2017, was honored with a musical tribute, organized by the talented musicians who played with her. The tribute was held at the Spoleto Festival USA earlier this month. Musicians Lynn Carrington, Ravi Coltrane and pianist Craig Taborn were among the musicians celebrating the life of Allen. VIEW ALL This Week on the More to Come Podcast This week on More to Come Kate Fitzsimons This week on More to Come, Kate interviews acclaimed writer, and television, animation, film and comics creator J. Michael Straczynski about his new memoir Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood, to be published by Harper Voyager in July. J.M.S. talks about his writing and writing comics in particular, as well as offering his thoughts on editorial interference; writing Superman and comics as a personal lodestar during a rough childhood; and he discusses future projects he's working on with the new comics publishing house Artists Writers & Artisans. More Set in Tokyo three years after a mammoth alien spaceship arrived to hover menacingly over the city, Inio Asano’s charming and unusual manga Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction follows the lives of two irresistible teen girls—Kadode and Ontan—as they navigate high school, friends, and family stuff under the open-ended threat of alien invasion and interplanetary war. Asano has turned manga’s magical schoolgirl heroine trope into two funny, ironical, pop culture and social media-obsessed gamer girls, who we follow through the cluttered streetscape of Tokyo against a media backdrop of geopolitical clashes over the invasion, and the army’s relentless slaughter of a mysterious and weirdly docile alien invasion force. In this 12-page excerpt, a mysterious Japanese arms firm prepares for the worse; while Kadode, just graduated from high school, gets the nerve to ask her longtime crush—a young nice-guy teacher from her high school—if they can, well, be a couple. Viz will publish Inio ASANO’s DEAD DEAD DEMON'S DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Vol. 6 in July. © 2014 Inio ASANO Click the image above to view the full excerpt. PW Comics World and The Fanatic Editor: Calvin Reid More to Come podcast cohosts: Kate Fitzsimons, Heidi MacDonald and Calvin Reid Podcast Producer: Kate Fitzsimons PW Graphic Novels Reviews Editor and Star Gazing cohost: Meg Lemke Follow us on Twitter at @PWComicsWorld and on Facebook. Send advertising questions about this e-newsletter to: cbryerman@publishersweekly.com For additional assistance, contact us by email or at the address below. Publishers Weekly, 71 West 23 St. #1608 New York, NY 10010 Phone 212-377-5500 Copyright 2019, PWxyz LLC Patreon Looks to Satisfy Creators and Investors The membership-powered crowdfunding platform has added new service tiers and pricing beginning this month for new members, including new pro and premium levels designed for high-volume creative projects. more TCAF 2019 Hails Manga Stars; PW Talks with Oni's James Lucas Jones TCAF, an international show of indie comics and graphic novels, was held May 11 and 12 at the Toronto Reference Library, and honored acclaimed manga artists Junji Ito and Hiromi Takashima; PW also interviewed Oni Press publisher James Lucas Jones about the recent merger with Lion Forge. More Rick Riordan Graphic Novel Series Finale Celebrate Percy Jackson’s birthday with the epic conclusion to the graphic novel adaptations of the #1 New York Times best selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The hardcover and paper go on sale simultaneously, August 13, 2019. Preorder now! (Sponsored) more Review: Everybody’s Doin’ It: Sex, Music, and Dance in New York 1840–1917 by Dale Cockrell Nineteenth-century New York City was a hotbed of prostitution and dancing, and the combination turned commercial sex into the city’s biggest business. Cockrell’s history captures an underworld “where legions of lower-class blacks and whites danced madly to wild music.” It took a WWI crackdown and a lot of outraged preachers and politicians to eventually put an end to all the fun. More Street Noise Books Readies New Line of Nonfiction Graphic Books Street Noise Books, a new independent publishing house specializing in graphic memoir and illustrated nonfiction for young adults, will publish its first list of six titles in January 2020. more Secondarily, My Dear Holmes: PW Talks with Claire O’Dell PW talks with O’Dell about The Hound of Justice, her second novel reimagining Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as Sara Holmes and Janet Watson, gay African-American women, in a near-future U.S. on the verge of a new civil war. O’Dell discusses the long history of recreating the archetypal Holmes for new times. More Review: Bitter Root, Vol. 1: Family Business by David Walker and Chuck Brown Set in 1920s Harlem, this graphic novel introduces the Sangerye family, who have fought the jinoo—evil spirits that invade the mortal world—for generations. This lively tale features richly illustrated period Harlem streets, cool steampunk devices, and lots of bug-eyed monsters and demons. This Bookseller Gets It: Elliott Bay Book Co. manager Emma Nichols gives parents and other skeptics of the category the 411 on why they should embrace graphic novels, just as their children already have. Not Quite Done: In the latest example of fan hyper impatience, author George R. R. Martin used his blog to address rumors that the next two books in the Song of Ice and Fire series have already been written—No, he wrote on his blog, they have not been written. Nor is there a secret deal with HBO to suppress the books until the Game of Thrones TV series concludes. OK? Mammoth Manga Mural: It’s not just alliteration. Manga publishers Shuesha and Kodansha teamed up to create a nearly 100-foot mural in a massively long section of the Tokyo Metro subway. The mural includes many of the manga titles with high school as a setting, including the volleyball manga series Haikyu!!, the soccer manga series Days, and, of course, My Hero Academia. James Charles Feud Stuff: We don’t claim to understand the nuance around the current YouTube beauty vlog feud, so we’ll let BuzzFeed explain it all. Skip the Line: Worried about getting in to see the newly opened Whitney Biennial? ArtNet has published a “virtual tour” of the show, or really, just a lot of photos of work from the current survey of contemporary American art. VIEW ALL This Week on the More to Come Podcast This week on More to Come, Calvin interviews comics creators Tara Audibert and Andrew Lodwick about their work as illustrators on This Place: 150 Years Retold, a new graphic anthology from Highwater Press that collects stories about Canadian First Nations historical figures and events, stories retold from the perspectives of indigenous authors. More In this quirky satire on gentrification, race, and cultural appropriation, Darla, a young, hip black designer, accompanied by her ditzy, trend-crazy white childhood friend, look for a cheap apartment in a now-gentrified urban neighborhood only to discover a monstrous new kind of urban blight. Written by Ezra ClaytAn Daniels (Upgrade Soul) and drawn by Ben Passmore (Your Black Friend), BTTM FDRS is a savvy, albeit grisly, comic urban monster story for the social media generation. This is a 10-page excerpt from BTTM FDRS, which will be published in June by Fantagraphics. Click the image above to view the full excerpt. PW Comics World and The Fanatic Editor: Calvin Reid More to Come podcast cohosts: Kate Fitzsimons, Heidi MacDonald and Calvin Reid Podcast Producer: Kate Fitzsimons PW Graphic Novels Reviews Editor and Star Gazing cohost: Meg Lemke Follow us on Twitter at @PWComicsWorld and on Facebook. Send advertising questions about this e-newsletter to: cbryerman@publishersweekly.com For additional assistance, contact us by email or at the address below. Publishers Weekly, 71 West 23 St. #1608 New York, NY 10010 Phone 212-377-5500 Copyright 2019, PWxyz LLC Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. You are receiving this email because kl.naylor@btinternet.com subscribed to one of Publishers Weekly's e-newsletters. If you are not kl.naylor@btinternet.com, then please disregard this. If you would like to stop receiving this or any Publishers Weekly e-newsletter or promotional emailing, click here to update your newsletter subscription preferences. Publishers Weekly takes spam very seriously. This email message meets all the requirements of the United States CAN-SPAM Act and Canada¹s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). If you would like your email address removed from all Publishers Weekly email lists, click here to unsubscribe.