Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Comics News!
I have no idea who at work I'd share this with, since I'm the buyer for all the kids' graphic novels, but I thought it was worth linking: Boom! Studios, which makes all those great Pixar-related titles, has lost the Pixar license. The good news is that there is still going to be Pixar content, but it will be carried by Marvel (who is owned by Disney, who also owns Pixar). I'm not too thrilled with Marvel's print quality, since all the digests I've gotten from them for regular superhero titles fall apart far too quickly for library use. Some other good news (I have high hopes), is that Boom! will be carrying some kind of Peanuts (as in Charlie Brown, Snoopy, et. al.) titles in the future.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
On the Maintenance of Graphic Novels
Happy New Year!
I spent most of December on vacation, and came back to find 15 graphic novels on my desk, processed and ready to go into circulation. I'm taking care of one last step for all these new books--taping the outside edges of the front and back covers. As I said in the last post, this should extend their shelf life phenomenally. I've been going through rolls of the 3-inch book tape doing this, but I think it's paying off.
Most of the titles are just replacements that I ordered last year, but I did add The Big Adventures of Majoko 4 (978-1-897376-84-3), and The Baby-sitters Club: Claudia and Mean Janine (978-0-439-88517-1).
Side note: I took Amelia Rules home for my daughters to try. So far, so good. The Lightning Thief was a hit with the older girl and my husband.
I spent most of December on vacation, and came back to find 15 graphic novels on my desk, processed and ready to go into circulation. I'm taking care of one last step for all these new books--taping the outside edges of the front and back covers. As I said in the last post, this should extend their shelf life phenomenally. I've been going through rolls of the 3-inch book tape doing this, but I think it's paying off.
Most of the titles are just replacements that I ordered last year, but I did add The Big Adventures of Majoko 4 (978-1-897376-84-3), and The Baby-sitters Club: Claudia and Mean Janine (978-0-439-88517-1).
Side note: I took Amelia Rules home for my daughters to try. So far, so good. The Lightning Thief was a hit with the older girl and my husband.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
I've been bad--no posts for three months. I probably won't post again until January, since I'm on vacation starting next week until the end of the year.
Currently, I'm reading our library's new copy of the graphic novel version of The Lightning Thief, based on the book of the same name by Rick Riordan. My husband and daughter, both Percy Jackson fans, have already read it and given it their seal of approval.
Most of what's been added has been replacements or more of series we already own. About the only other thing I've done with the graphic novel collection is weed, and then spend large amounts of time applying book tape to the edges of the front and back covers of paperbacks. A little time and tape will make a book last at least three more months, I figure. A lot of the cover damage to paperbacks comes from them being shoved into backpacks and back on the shelves (by readers, not people paid to reshelf). This way, the Pokemon books (for example) will hold up until the pages start falling out of the binding (which takes a while, Viz is one of the better publishers for PB graphics).
Currently, I'm reading our library's new copy of the graphic novel version of The Lightning Thief, based on the book of the same name by Rick Riordan. My husband and daughter, both Percy Jackson fans, have already read it and given it their seal of approval.
Most of what's been added has been replacements or more of series we already own. About the only other thing I've done with the graphic novel collection is weed, and then spend large amounts of time applying book tape to the edges of the front and back covers of paperbacks. A little time and tape will make a book last at least three more months, I figure. A lot of the cover damage to paperbacks comes from them being shoved into backpacks and back on the shelves (by readers, not people paid to reshelf). This way, the Pokemon books (for example) will hold up until the pages start falling out of the binding (which takes a while, Viz is one of the better publishers for PB graphics).
Monday, August 16, 2010
Incredibles and Swans
Two new titles to add to the graphic novel section that just came in:
Swans in Space vol. 2 by Lun Lun Yamamoto (978-1-897376-94-2)
The Incredibles: Family Matters by Mark Waid (978-1-934506-83-7, paperback)
I'm just psyched to get the next Swans, since my test reader (my daughter) liked the first one. The Incredibles leaves me psyched as well, since we've gotten several other Incredibles titles from Boom Studios, and I'm enjoyed them all. Good CLEAN superheros stories that don't read like something scripted for the back of a cereal box. So glad I have some money in the budget (this year at least) for a few things.
Swans in Space vol. 2 by Lun Lun Yamamoto (978-1-897376-94-2)
The Incredibles: Family Matters by Mark Waid (978-1-934506-83-7, paperback)
I'm just psyched to get the next Swans, since my test reader (my daughter) liked the first one. The Incredibles leaves me psyched as well, since we've gotten several other Incredibles titles from Boom Studios, and I'm enjoyed them all. Good CLEAN superheros stories that don't read like something scripted for the back of a cereal box. So glad I have some money in the budget (this year at least) for a few things.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
3 Books I Just Read
Yeah, I know, boring title. Deal.
Anyway, I got two books on inter-library loan, and one off the shelf here. The two ILL books were to see if they were work buying (or should be teen titles) based on a great core collection list from the Good Comics for Kids people.
Long Tail Kitty by Lark Pien (978-1-934706-44-2) is great, and is going on my "must-buy" lists. Short, sweet, and entirely age-appropriate for younger readers.
Dragon Drive, vol. 1, by Ken-ichi Saura (978-1-4215-1187-0) is a manga based on a video game (and probably an anime, but I'm not sure). I'm afraid this is the kind of thing that makes me avoid manga. It bored me. The characters did not interest me, I really don't like graphic novels where most of the story is taken up by the fighting action, and even the "mystery" part of the plot doesn't inspire me to seek out the rest and read them. On the other hand, the violence contained no obvious bloodshed (it's all fighting-by-proxy) and there weren't even any "pantie shots" that I could see (though the one adult female wore some rather tight and/or short outfits). I'll put it on the "if I have money at the end of October" list and get the first few in the series. I just hope the violence doesn't accelerate.
The off-the-shelf book was just for fun. I finally read a version of Neil Gaimen's Coraline, this one the graphic adaptation by P. Craig Russell (978-0-06-082543-0). Good story. I was expecting creepy at points (this is Gaimen, after all), so I enjoyed it. I suspect this was, at least for me, much better than seeing the movie, since the people (at least, the ones who are really people) are draw more realistically than I've seen in the commercials for the movie.
Anyway, I got two books on inter-library loan, and one off the shelf here. The two ILL books were to see if they were work buying (or should be teen titles) based on a great core collection list from the Good Comics for Kids people.
Long Tail Kitty by Lark Pien (978-1-934706-44-2) is great, and is going on my "must-buy" lists. Short, sweet, and entirely age-appropriate for younger readers.
Dragon Drive, vol. 1, by Ken-ichi Saura (978-1-4215-1187-0) is a manga based on a video game (and probably an anime, but I'm not sure). I'm afraid this is the kind of thing that makes me avoid manga. It bored me. The characters did not interest me, I really don't like graphic novels where most of the story is taken up by the fighting action, and even the "mystery" part of the plot doesn't inspire me to seek out the rest and read them. On the other hand, the violence contained no obvious bloodshed (it's all fighting-by-proxy) and there weren't even any "pantie shots" that I could see (though the one adult female wore some rather tight and/or short outfits). I'll put it on the "if I have money at the end of October" list and get the first few in the series. I just hope the violence doesn't accelerate.
The off-the-shelf book was just for fun. I finally read a version of Neil Gaimen's Coraline, this one the graphic adaptation by P. Craig Russell (978-0-06-082543-0). Good story. I was expecting creepy at points (this is Gaimen, after all), so I enjoyed it. I suspect this was, at least for me, much better than seeing the movie, since the people (at least, the ones who are really people) are draw more realistically than I've seen in the commercials for the movie.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Whoops.
Summer Reading Program really ate up my time. And, starting next month, we'll be perpetually short a staff member for a few month, between vacations and someone else's maternity leave.
Here's a quick list of new titles added:
City of Spies
Max Finder v.4
Bionicle #8: The Legend of Bara Magna
Black Widow and the Avengers
The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck
a replacement copy of Bakugan Battle Brawlers #1 (cheap binding killed the first)
The Big Adventures of Majoko v.3
Disney's Hero Squad: Ultraheroes Save the Day
Donald Duck and Friends: Double Duck
The Incredibles: City of Incredibles (I actually read that one--fun!)
The Incredibles : Revenge from Below
Lizard Prince v.1 (the second volume is on backorder)
Meet the Muppets (finally! I've been meaning to get that for a long time)
Scooby-Doo in Dead and Let Spy (it's a hardcover the size of a single issue of a comic--should last a long time)
Tiny Tyrant 2: The Lucky Winner (just as funny as the first issue)
Twin Spica 1 (I was crying by the time I finished it--really powerful stuff, I hope the kids can enjoy it)
Wizards of Mickey 1: Mouse Magic
7 of those titles are from Boom! Studios. Since they got the license for Disney properties, they've really been going to town producing quality stuff. Lizard Prince has been on my "when I have money" list for a while. It got bumped up to "ASAP" when I heard that the publisher (CMX) was going under. Black Widow was probably one of the last of the Marvel titles for a while, until they get their supposed new line of kid-friendly titles geared up to graphic novel format (though I have a line on a new Power Pack title...)
I'm sure there are more Pokemon titles coming in from our subscription service, but someone else usually gets to those boxes before I can, so aside from the actual subscription management, I don't really see what comes in when.
Here's a quick list of new titles added:
City of Spies
Max Finder v.4
Bionicle #8: The Legend of Bara Magna
Black Widow and the Avengers
The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck
a replacement copy of Bakugan Battle Brawlers #1 (cheap binding killed the first)
The Big Adventures of Majoko v.3
Disney's Hero Squad: Ultraheroes Save the Day
Donald Duck and Friends: Double Duck
The Incredibles: City of Incredibles (I actually read that one--fun!)
The Incredibles : Revenge from Below
Lizard Prince v.1 (the second volume is on backorder)
Meet the Muppets (finally! I've been meaning to get that for a long time)
Scooby-Doo in Dead and Let Spy (it's a hardcover the size of a single issue of a comic--should last a long time)
Tiny Tyrant 2: The Lucky Winner (just as funny as the first issue)
Twin Spica 1 (I was crying by the time I finished it--really powerful stuff, I hope the kids can enjoy it)
Wizards of Mickey 1: Mouse Magic
7 of those titles are from Boom! Studios. Since they got the license for Disney properties, they've really been going to town producing quality stuff. Lizard Prince has been on my "when I have money" list for a while. It got bumped up to "ASAP" when I heard that the publisher (CMX) was going under. Black Widow was probably one of the last of the Marvel titles for a while, until they get their supposed new line of kid-friendly titles geared up to graphic novel format (though I have a line on a new Power Pack title...)
I'm sure there are more Pokemon titles coming in from our subscription service, but someone else usually gets to those boxes before I can, so aside from the actual subscription management, I don't really see what comes in when.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Foxtrot
I'm not sure there is any new Foxtrot content being written by Bill Amend. On the good news front, we got a new collection of his old stuff--sort of a "best of" book: Math, Science, and UNIX Underpants: A Themed Foxtrot Collection (9780740791406). Every good nerd joke Amend ever wrote! I got a copy for the branch, too.
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