last update -- 10/02/2004
Links added since the last update are annotated in
red. This list is not restricted to sites on material appropriate
for ages 12-16 -- many sites here will discuss more "mature readers"-oriented
material, and also graphic novels for younger readers.
Information for Librarians:
Comic Books for
Young Adults: A Guide for Librarians -- created and maintained by librarian
Michael R. Lavin, this site provides librarians with a good overview of
comics and graphic novels, dealing with comics formats and genres, acquisition,
and collection development. Lavin also presents a list of recommended
titles, including monthly comic books as well as trade paperbacks and graphic
novels, and nonfiction as well as fiction titles. His section "Do
Comic Books Belong in Libraries?" answers concerns that librarians might
have about comics, defends the artform from those who would denigrate it,
and provides much justification for the presence of comics in library collections.
Graphic
Novels: Where to Start? -- an article by Robin
Brenner of the website No Flying,
No Tights (see "reviews and recommendations" below), with a wealth
of information for librarians just beginning to learn about graphic novels,
including library review sources, web links, and recommended books about
graphic novels.
The Librarian's Guide
to Anime and Manga -- by librarian Gilles Poitras, author of the books
The
Anime Companion and Anime Essentials. An introduction
to anime and manga (Japanese animation and comic books, respectively),
including discussion of various issues related to them, and lists of recommended
titles, Internet sites, and books about anime and manga.
Graphic
Novels... A Visual Literary Art Form -- a page
from the Clermont County Public Library in Ohio, featuring an "Understanding
Graphic Novels" section, a few Spotlight reviews, a fun and games page,
and a page of web links.
Graphic
Novels for Librarians -- a short resource page by Jennifer McIntosh
of the East Greenbush, New York Public Library.
Thought
Bubbles -- an archive of columns on graphic novels
by Philip Crawford, librarian and author of Graphic Novels 101: Selecting
and Using Graphic Novels to Promote Literacy for Children and Young Adults:
A Resource Guide for School Librarians and Educators. The columns
are from the American Association of School Librarians magazine Knowledge
Quest.
YA
Talk: Graphic Novels -- an article by Francisca Goldsmith from the
May 1, 1998 issue of Booklist. It briefly discusses the history
of graphic novels and problems that libraries face in adding them to the
collection. It also lists a dozen recommended GN titles, along with
books and websites about comics.
An
Interview With Mike Pawuk -- a talk with young adult librarian Mike
Pawuk of the Cuyahoga County, Ohio Public Library, touching on the "Be
Graphic!" presentations he made for the Ohio Library Council and his own
library's extensive and very popular collection of graphic novels.
Graphic
Novels Feel the Love -- an article from the May
20, 2002 issue of Publishers Weekly about the rising interest in
graphic novels from librarians and distributors as shown at BookExpo America.
Graphic
Novels, Seriously -- an
editorial from
School Library Journal about the importance of graphic
novels in libraries.
Call
Them What You Like, Comics Books and Graphic Novels Are a Great Draw
-- an article from the Kansas Library Association NewsOnline, about the
success of a graphic novel collection at the Kearny County Library.
Tales
of the New -- an article from the Portland Phoenix, a Maine newspaper,
about the appearance of graphic novels in Maine libraries, with quotes
from several local librarians.
Novel
Concept -- an
article from the Minneapolis/St. Paul Pioneer Press about the rise of graphic
novels, featuring quotes from Stephen Weiner (author of The 101 Best Graphic
Novels) and St. Paul librarian Sheila Winderlich.
Teen Cyber
Center: Graphic Novel Title List -- by Beth Gallaway of the Haverhill,
Massachusetts Public Library. Includes a list of all graphic novels
in the library's collection and a page of comics web links.
Teen
Space: Graphic Novels -- a listing of graphic
novels at the Spokane, WA Public Library.
The
Secret Origin of Good Readers -- a marvelously titled resource book
for teachers on using comics in the classroom, including an excellent defense
of the use of comics, suggested comics for students, and ideas for activities
involving comics. A companion to a presentation at the SanDiego Comic-Con
International by Robyn A. Hill, Mimi Cruz, and Mike Carlin. The 2002 updated
edition, which can be downloaded at this site, includes a page for librarians.
Comics
Research Bibliography -- a huge collection of print and web citations
for articles related to comics, compiled by Michael Rhode and John Bullough.
It's searchable, though this feature is not recommended over a slow connection.
Many subject bibliographies (on topics such as anime or Charles Schulz)
are available as well.
Comics & graphic novels reviews and recommendations, with a library
connection:
The Comics
Get Serious -- graphic novel reviews by D. Aviva Rothschild, author
of Graphic Novels: A Bibliographic Guide to Book-Length Comics,
a book I highly recommend to anyone reading this page. The
website serves as a supplement to the book, which was published in 1995.
A very good site, by one of the first people to try to get this kind of
info out there to people beyond the comics subculture (thanks, Aviva).
Diamond Bookshelf
Reviews -- graphic novel reviews by librarian Katherine L. Kan, who
also writes the regular column "Graphically Speaking" in Voice of Youth
Advocates (VOYA, that is).
No Flying, No Tights --
recommendations on all types of graphic novels (including superheroes,
despite the title) by Robin Brenner, Library Technician at Cary Memorial
Library in Lexington, Massachusetts and library science student, and her
cohorts.
Graphic Novels
- An Annotated List -- graphic novel recommendations by Dawn Imada,
young adult services librarian with the San Jose Public Library System,
in San Jose, California.
Tired
of Superman? How About Trying Something New? -- graphic
novel recommendations by April Spisak (of the Clark County, OH Public Library)
and Ria Newhouse: a page created when they were graduate students in the
Library and Information Science program at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.
YALSA
2002 Popular Paperback for Young Adults -- this page, made up of books
nominated by members of the Young Adult Library Services Association, includes
a list of recommended graphic novels.
YALSA
1997 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults -- another list of YALSA-recommended
books, including graphic novels.
Graphic Novels
and Nonfiction -- booklist put together by the Berkeley Public Library
Teen Services staff.
Takoma
Park Maryland Library Graphic Novels Page --
a
listing of graphic novels the library owns, with reviews by teens and library
staff.
Winnipeg
Public Library Staff Picks -- a
selection of graphic novels and related books by WPL staff.
San
Mateo County Library: We Recommend -- a list of graphic novels recommended
by SMCL staff.
Comics & graphic novel review sites outside of libraries:
Tony's
Online Tips -- an archive of columns written by Tony Isabella for the
Comics Buyers Guide, an excellent monthly news-and-reviews magazine,
featuring many reviews of comics and graphic novels.
Artbomb
-- A site with a mission to "promote diverse
and sophisticated graphic novels", with a database of reviews by comics
writer Warren Ellis and others.
Comics Worth Reading
-- a diverse collection of reviews by Johanna Draper Carlson. Includes
reviews of individual comics issues and current series as well as graphic
novels.
Mangamaniacs -- reviews
of Japanese manga, and other manga information.
Graphic
Novel Review -- an online magazine of
graphic novel reviews. The first issue, dated Sept. 2004, includes
an interview with cartoonist Eddie Campbell.
TheFourthrail.com -- review
site by Don MacPherson and Randy Lander, featuring their columns "Critiques
on Infinite Earths" and "Snap Judgments". Also see the Graphic Novel
Starter Kit below.
Graphic
Novel Starter Kit -- annotated Amazon.com list of 25 top recommended
graphic novels by Randy Lander, writer of the "Snap Judgments" comics review
column at TheFourthrail.com.
Comics awards:
Comic Book
Awards Almanac -- a very handy compilation of comic book award nominees
and winners, including the Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz Awards, the Comics
Buyers Guide Fan Awards, and others.
Harvey
Awards -- named for famed cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman. The site
has complete lists of nominees and winners back to the award's creation
in 1988.
General comics info:
Newsarama.com --
presented by Kevin Smith's View Askew, this is probably the most up-to-date
comics news site.
Comicon.com
Pulse --
another comics news site, courtesy of Mile High Comics.
CBR: Comic Book Resources
-- features news, regular columns, a text version of Diamond Comic Distributors'
Previews
catalog, message boards, Scott McCloud's Zot! Online strip, and
a huge database of comics web links.
Comic book companies with titles on my recommendations list:
www.dccomics.com -- DC Comics
www.marvel.com -- Marvel Comics
www.darkhorse.com -- Dark Horse
Comics
www.crossgen.com -- CrossGen
Comics
www.imagecomics.com -- Image Comics
www.archiecomics.com --
Archie Comics
www.fantagraphics.com --
Fantagraphics
www.viz.com -- Viz Communications
www.tokyopop.com -- Tokyopop
www.antarctic-press.com
-- Antarctic Press
For other comics publishers, see Comic
Book Publishers and Distributors on the Internet
Creators' official pages:
www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/6912/index.html
-- Mark Crilley's Akiko
www.boneville.com -- Jeff Smith's
Bone
www.divalea.com -- Lea Hernandez,
creator of Cathedral Child and Clockwork Angels
www.jayhosler.com/clanapis.html
-- Jay Holser's Clan Apis
www.elfquest.com -- Wendy &
Richard Pini's Elfquest
www.megatokyo.com -- Fred
Gallagher's Megatokyo online comic
www.theredstar.com
-- Christian Gossett's The Red Star
www.glasswings.com.au/comics/t+k
-- Mark Oakley's Thieves and Kings
www.usagiyojimbo.com -- Stan
Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo
Buying graphic novels (these listings are for information only,
and do not constitute an endorsement by me):
Diamond Bookshelf
-- Diamond Comic Distributors' page for schools and libraries, offering
a discount and free shipping to them.
Comic Shop Locator --
Comics specialty stores are an excellent resource for librarians.
They can (and probably will) offer you knowledgeable advice, access to
hard-to-find items, and discounts. This page, also provided by Diamond,
can help you find them -- just enter your ZIP code.
Graphic Novels at Brodart.com
-- created by library distributor Brodart, this page
includes "core lists" of recommended graphic novels, information on new
titles, a short history of graphic novels, and other info.
Mailing list:
GNLIB-L: Graphic Novels
in Libraries -- owned by Steve Miller (no, not THAT Steve Miller --
at least, I don't think so) and hosted by topica.com, this is a discussion
list for librarians and other book-related professionals about problems
and joys of getting comics and graphic novels into library collections.
The
above is a link to the topica site: Miller also has a website about the
mailing list, GNLIB
On the Web. On the list, we discuss recommended titles, reviews
in professional journals and major magazines, related stuff like Japanese
animation, and all sorts of library-specific issues; commiserate about
how all our Sailor Moon books keep falling apart; and generally
try to help each other out. And although many of us are named Steve,
it's not a requirement for membership. To join, just enter your e-mail
address in the handy box below.
Several of the links on this page were recommended by members of this
list -- in fact, several of these websites are maintained by, or are about,
members of this list. My thanks to all.