The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has their nominations for their annual great Graphic Novels for Teen list up. The list of recommended graphic novels and illustrated nonfiction for those ages 12-18 is prepared yearly. A shorter list of recommended titles will be made later in the year, with a Top Ten list released later in the year.

There are over a hundred titles on the list, covering all major genres, from manga and literary to mainstream.

2009’s list can be read here.

Another giant IP deal unfolded yesterday, as Viacom/Paramount/Nickelodeon acquired the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for $60 million.

Created in 1984 by two New England indie cartoonists, the Turtles have gone on to be an enduring kids brand, with movies, cartoons, cereals, toys and probably something everyone who was a kid in the ’90s owned at one point. Most recently, 4Kids Entertainment was producing an animated show, giving the Turtles yet another run near the top.

Now, Paramount plans a NEW show for Nick in 2012 as well as a new feature film that same year. The Turtles’ very successful toy license with Playmates will also continue.

The Nick deal included nearly $10 million as a buyout for 4Kids, which owned the TV rights for the franchise.

The rest — $50 million — went to Mirage Group, the previous owners, including co-creator Peter Laird, probably best known in this space as the funder and organizer of the Xeric Grants for deserving indie comics.

While it’s not quite clear who else is involved in the Mirage Group, Laird had been the sole creator involved in the franchise since buying out his co-creator Kevin Eastman in 2000.

On his blog, Laird explains his reasons for the sale, mainly burnout at running a global franchise — Laird is 55 — and the desire to get back to drawing. The entire statement should be read for context, but it does get into such interesting territory as how his take differs from Nickelodeon’s and more. But it is certainly not the end:

One comment — which I have seen online several times — expresses the sentiment that this sale will mean “the end of TMNT”. This baffles me. Unless I am completely naive, the sale to Viacom could very well mean a brighter future for the TMNT property than was previously feasible.

On a final note (at least for this statement), please understand that I sold the TMNT property, not Mirage Studios. Mirage still exists, and it’s still my company. It just doesn’t own the TMNT intellectual property anymore. I’m not sure what its future will be. For a little while, it will be helping with the transition of TMNT over to its new owners. But after that…? I don’t know. What I am hoping, however, is that this little core group of creators sticks together, both as friends and collaborators. And I think that is certainly possible.

Eastman and Laird remain the only two indie comics creators who ever got filthy rich from their creations, and they did it by holding on to the copyright and having a very, very savvy agent who made them terrific deals. Eastman spent an awful lot of his money, and it’s believed that the Laird buyout actually bailed him out of a lot of debts he’d run up. However, even allowing for the other entities of the Mirage Group, $50 million is a nice payout after having already made millions and millions of dollars.

Congrats to Peter Laird, and here’s hoping he enjoys his newfound spare time.

Mykal the Dog’s The Big Blog of Kids’ Comics! is what you’d expect. Jack Bradbury! Al Fago! Good stuff.

Via PR, the news that Wimpy Kid is really, really big, with a four million copy initial release for the next volume in the series. Author Jeff Kinney will also be on tour on the West Coast (dates in the jump) and be making many media appearances. Although whether the text-heavy Wimpy Kid series counts as a comic at all is often a subject of some dispute, as we’ve often said, Kinney self-identifies as a cartoonist, and we should welcome him to our clan.

On October 12, 2009, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, the fourth title in #1 bestselling author Jeff Kinney’s series published by Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams, releases with a 4-million-copy one-day laydown. The printing is the largest of any children’s book release this year. The additional pre-publication printings reflect a surge in demand for the newest book in the middle grade series and Abrams’ commitment to the increasing popularity of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. 

“We are poised to ship additional books as demand warrants, and we expect the sell-through to be extraordinary. Our first printing and lay down are unprecedented for Abrams and indicate how hugely successful and popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid has become,” said Michael Jacobs, president and CEO of Abrams. “It’s exciting to see the impact these books have on readers. Even more interesting for our industry is how Dog Days will bring people into the stores and give fans of the series an impetus to shop for and buy books and help kick off the holiday season at retail.” 
The national lay down of the book has been supported by a pre-sell campaign implemented by more than 3,000 stores across the country. Custom-made items provided by Abrams kept the message consistent and in support of in-store events on the day of sale and throughout the fall. More than 2,000 event kits that have materials created by Jeff Kinney were shipped. These include reproducible sheets with Wimpy Kid games and trivia, a T-shirt to be raffled off, and temporary Dog Days tattoos. 

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Edited by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly, The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics is perhaps the most seminal historical comics anthology since A Smithsonian Book of Comic Book Comics, and a powerfully persuasive document arguing for a more linear, storytelling-based tradition of comics. It’s also full of comics by Harvey Kurtzman, Walt Kelly, Jules Feiffer, Carl Barks, Andre LeBlanc, Sheldon Mayer, and more that is so mouth-wateringly gorgeous that you will just sit and stare at it for hours on end. To wit, a few sample pages, provided by Abrams. Click for full sized versions.

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This press release is a little long, but it’s worth it just to see Sergio Aragonés’s accomplishments laid out in one very very long paragraph. In the time it takes to read it, he probably drew a whole page!

Bart Simpson teams up with Sergio Aragonés beginning in Bart Simpson #50.

Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons” and “Futurama,” has announced that Sergio Aragonés (MAD Magazine, Groo the Wanderer) will become a regular featured artist and writer in Bart Simpson comics beginning with issue #50. Sergio Aragonés will provide the entire contents of Bart Simpson #50 as well as the cover art. The issue will include an eleven-page main story entitled “The Simpson Project.” Mr. Aragonés will also contribute a new and ongoing feature entitled “Maggie’s Crib,” a series of pantomime stories much in the vein of his classic three-page “A Mad Look At…” feature found in MAD Magazine. Sergio will also be a contributor of stories to the Bart Simpson title as well as other Bongo Comics Group titles on a regular basis.
 
Bart Simpson #50 will be released on October 28, 2009 in direct market comic book stores and at newsstands. Bart Simpson is a bimonthly comic book aimed at younger comic book readers and was launched in 2000.
 
“I have been a Simpsons fan from the very beginning,” says Sergio Aragonés. “I watch the show, read the comics, and collect everything that has come out, so imagine the pleasure to now be writing and drawing my favorite family…I couldn’t be happier!”
 
Bill Morrison, Bongo Comics Creative Director, says, “We’ve put some of the funniest characters ever created in the hands of the world’s funniest cartoonist. This is unprecedented in the world of humor comics, and it may result in more comedy than the average reader can safely handle. I predict it’ll be just like that movie The Perfect Storm, only hilarious.”
 
“Sergio’s the best,” says Matt Groening, Bongo Comics founder and publisher, “and it’s an honor to work with him.”

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The Joe Shuster Award nominees in the kids’ comics category have been announced. The nominees were chosen by a panel of teachers:

The Comics for Kids Award / Prix de Bandes Dessinées pour Enfants recognizes creators who have produced works which capture the attention and fascination of young readers, and help to create a passion for life-long reading. Works considered for this award are comic books and graphic novels by Canadian creators that are targeted at readers 14 and under.

Clayton Hanmer, CTON’s Super A-Maze-ing Year of Crazy Comics! (OwlKids)

Susan Hughes and Willow Dawson, No Girls Allowed (Kids Can Press)

Karl Kerschl and Serge Lapointe (with Amy Wolfram, USA), Teen Titans: Year One (DC Comics)

Liam O’Donnell and Michael Deas, Ramp Rats – A Graphic Guide Adventure (Orca Publishing)

Paul Roux, Ariane et Nicolas Tome 5: Les tours de Babel (Editions Les 400 Coups)

Chad Solomon (with Christopher Meyer, USA), The Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws Vol. 2: The Voyageurs (Little Spirit Bear Productions)

Kean Soo, Jellaby Book 1 (Hyperion)

Mariko Tamaki and Steve Rolston, Emiko Superstar (DC/Minx)

While Marvel and DC are apparently shipping enough comics to choke a rhino today, may we recommend the quality cartooning of Jill Thompson and the final book in the Magic Trixie trilogy? If there is a finer comic for sale this day, we’d be very, very, very surprised.

It looks like kids’ comics licenses are the new hot thing, as two new licenses were revealed yesterday: BOOM! Studios will be picking up the Disney Comics license formerly at Gemstone, and Archaia has just signed a pact with the Henson Company.

§ Disney first. As revealed by the online September previews, BOOM! will publish WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES #699 by Riccardo Secchi and Stefano Turconi, and MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #297 by Stefano Ambrosio and Lorenzo Pastrovicchio. This is picking up the numbering right from where Gemstone left off. But it also looks like BOOM! will be marketing these books in a more kid-friendly format, like its successful launch of the Pixar books, THE IINCREDIBLES and CARS. Arthur de Wolf at the DCW website (a dedicated source for Disney comics news) gives this a bit of perspective:

It looks like Boom! is completely abandoning the collector’s concept and going a different route. The first new issue of Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories will have only 24 pages and will sell for $2.99, the same price and size as its Pixar titles. And that’s not all, it will have the first part of an Italian-produced multi-part series titled Ultraheroes. These three-tier stories (stories with three rows are usually used in smaller pocket-sized books, while full-sized comics have four rows) aren’t anything like the material that has been published in WDC&S in recent years. Ultraheroes is a series with a total of 240 pages, so it looks like this is going to be the new style of WDC&S for at least its first 10 issues.

Gemstone always published Disney Comics more for the extremely niche adult collectors market that’s more numerous in Northern Europe than here; a switch to a kid-friendly line could make for a larger potential audience.

§ The other news was Archaia picking up the Henson license, with such properties as FRAGGLE ROCK, THE DARK CRYSTAL, LABYRINTH, MIRRORMASK, and THE STORYTELLER. PW has more details. With Archaia recently refinanced and revitalized, this is their first significant licensing deal, and shows that they’re fitting right in with the model of the modern comics publisher.

Unanswered questions from THIS announcement: what about Toykopop’s license for manga-esque versions of things like LABYRINTH? According to a post by author Jake Forbes at Comics Worth Reading, the fourth volume of RETURN TO LABYRINTH is still coming out.

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The Beat has confirmed an LA Times report that Nickelodeon Magazine, the last studio kids magazine, has been canceled:

Viacom is shutting down Nickelodeon Magazine this week and will lay off about 30 staffers. Launched in 1993, the magazine, with a circulation of more than 1 million and a total audience of more than 6 million, was for many years an important promotional platform for the children’s cable network and provided a steady stream of cash. The magazine even once was a National Magazine Award finalist and also led to a few spin-off products.

The fate of comics editors Chris Duffy and Dave Roman isn’t specifically known yet. The loss of the magazine comes as a blow to the comics community — in addition to developing such popular comics properties as SpongeBob and Avatar: The Last Airbender, Duffy and Roman hired the cream of the crop of indie cartoonists, from Sam Henderson and Johnny Ryan to Laura Park and Jason Lutes. It was one of the few places where cartoonists of this ilk could get paid decent rates for their work, which makes it all the sadder. In addition, they published stand-alone comics collections and sponsored the first Kids Comics Awards.

While this leaves an obvious gap for kids comics, it leave a gap for comics in magazines in general — once a key way for cartoonists to make money and gain exposure, the implosion of the magazine market has taken this avenue with it. Or as Ryan Sands tweeted:

Nick Mag was a great venue 4 indie cartoonists: Laura Park, Jason Shiga, Johnny Ryan, Elio, Kupperman. Now there’s just vice, GR & arthur

GR means Giant Robot.

Above: A Richard Thompson drawn cover for Nick Mag’s comics section. Much more art and history of the magazine can be seen at the Nick Mag Comics LJ, which we urge all to visit as a token of remembrance of a great magazine. There is a post up just from yesterday with a LAURA PARK 3D COMIC.

Award-winning cartoonist Gene Luen Yang (AMERICAN BORN CHINESE) leads a double life: he’s a teacher as well as a ‘toonist. But he puts both skills to use in this edu-comic titled FACTORING WITH MR. YANG AND MOSLEY THE ALIEN, which covers factoring, a basic skill in algebra that involves breaking down numbers into their components.

Confession: We did okay with the first coupla lessons, but when it got to that Trinomial Expression stuff we just quietly went back to playing Wesnoth.

On the plus side, we are now totally up for using expressions like “When you factor that in…” and “Among the many factors affecting this are…” because now we can sound authentic!

Via Lee’s Comics newsletter.

Hugh Jackman is joining the multi-comic club with a planned starring role in GHOSTOPOLIS, based on a graphic novel by Doug TenNapel. The book is upcoming from Scholastic.

The story centers on a man who works for the government’s Supernatural Immigration Task Force. His job is to send ghosts who have escaped into our world back to Ghostopolis. When a living boy accidentally is sent to the other side, the agent must team with a female ghost (and former flame) to bring him back.
[snip]
TenNapel’s graphic novels are in high demand as movie projects, with nearly all of them set up at studios. His dinosaur tale “Tommysaurus Rex” is set up at Universal, “Creature Tech” at New Regency and “Monster Zoo” at Paramount.

TenNapel talks about the book a teensy bit in this thread at his forum. We couldn’t find any art so we were forced to run another picture of Hugh Jackman.

The annual event, focused on children’s graphic book material and organized by Alex Simmons, comes to the Bronx tomorrow:

The KIDS COMIC CON 2009 is set for April 25th at Bronx Community College (181st Street & University Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453). And yep, even though the economy is struggling like Superman surrounded by Kryptonite, the KIDS COMIC CON 2009 is still FREE for children 17 and under (and hey, Mom and Dad, its just $5 for you — making the KIDS COMIC CON one of the best entertainment values around).

The guest/exhibitor roster, which includes Archie Comics, Ponent Mon, Fillmore creator Scott Gimple and many more, can be found here. Take the whole family!

We forgot to pot this news, but everyone else did, but it’s still too good not to pass along: SALT WATER TAFFY, Matt Loux’s charming series about youthful adventurers, is going to run as a webcomic in addition to the regular printed versions:

“When I was working on THE TRUTH ABOUT DR.TRUE, SALT WATER TAFFY V3, Jack and Benny kept wanting to go on side trips, and I realized they would make great comic strip characters,” said Loux. “The Salt Water Taffy website creates a place for me to tell more of their adventures in a new format.”

Loux will premier a new comic strip online every other week until the launch of SALT WATER TAFFY VOLUME 3: THE TRUTH ABOUT DR. TRUE. The Salt Water Taffy website will also keep fans-up to-date on news, reviews, and events, and give a sneak peek of the new book.

Wimpy Kid unsurprisingly won two of the inaugural Nickelodeon Magazine Comics Awards, but Naruto got beaten by Pokémon. The winners:

+ Favorite Graphic Novel: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series), by Jeff Kinney, Amulet Books/Harry Abrams
+ Favorite Comic Book Series: Simpsons comics, Bongo Comics
+ Cutest Comic Character: Snoopy–from Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz (United Feature Syndicate)
+ Favorite Comic Strip: Garfield by Jim Davis (Universal Press Syndicate)
+ Best Hair in Comics: Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson (Universal Press Syndicate)
+ Favorite Manga Series: Best of Pokémon Adventures, by Hidenori Kusaka and Mato (Viz)
+ Grossest Thing in Comics: The Cheese from Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney (Amulet Books/Abrams)
+ Favorite Fantasy Graphic Novel: Bone (series), by Jeff Smith

Via PR:

Nickelodeon Magazine, the leading entertainment and humor magazine for kids, announces the winners of the first Nickelodeon Magazine Comics Awards. The eight winners, chosen by more than 17,000 readers, are featured in the April 2009 issue of Nickelodeon Magazine– currently on newsstands. The Nickelodeon Magazine Comics Awards–the first major comics awards for kids–honors the best comic books, strips and graphic novels for kids published across the U.S.

“Our readers have spoken, and thousands have cast their votes,” said Laura Galen, Editorial Director of Nick Magazine. “This contest presented us with a great opportunity to engage our readers and make them a part of the editorial process. We hope they’ll enjoy seeing their favorites in print.”

Over a six week period (Nov. 24–Dec. 31, 2008), readers cast their votes for their favorite comics and characters across eight categories through a mail-in print ballot and online at http://www.nickmag.com. Readers selected their favorite graphic novels, fantasy graphic novels, comic book series, comic strips, manga series, cutest comic characters, best hair in comics and grossest thing in comics.

And in our final chart based item for the morning, ICv2 has released an adjusted list of the top-selling graphic novels of 2008, according to BookScan:

The top nine titles remained the same, but beginning with #10, five new titles made the top 20. Two of the Scholastic color Bone volumes, Bone Volume 1: Out from Boneville and Bone Volume 7: Ghost Circles, hit the list at #10 and #12, respectively.

Dark Tower: The Long Road Home, which was given a single ranking for the combined sales of all its covers, is #13 on this more comprehensive list.

Tokyopop’s Warrior’s Refuge, the OEL manga based on the works by Erin Hunter, is #15 on the combined list.

And Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Adventures Vol. 1 from Viz is #16.

A couple of very important things here: When factored into the list, kids comics actually dominate this list by a wide margin. NARUTO, BONE, WARRIORS, FRUITS BASKET.

Also, we can’t help but call out those WARRIORS books from Harper: They are packaged by Toykopop and concern a kitty cat fantasy along the lines of Watership Down, except with kitties. The stories are original. The art, from what we’ve seen, is not that great, but kids seem to be eating it up. We’ll note that Disney has also had success with their Artemis Fowl kids GNs and other properties. This is what the future of mainstream graphic novel publishing is going to look like, like it or lump it.

Archie Comics was kind enough to send over their schedule for the show:

Stop by the Archie Comics booth #1821 and meet writers Misako Rocks!, Alex Simmons, Paul Castiglia and Barbara Slate and artists Fernando Ruiz, Dan Parent, Joe Staton, Bob Smith, Jim Amash and Tito Pena. They’ll be on hand signing autographs and giving away FREE comics! Plus, for the first time ever you can purchase select Archie Graphic Novels at special convention prices! (While Supplies Last!)

Signing Schedule:
Friday:
3-4 Paul Castiglia

Saturday:
11-12 Misako Rocks!
12-1 Barbara Slate
1-2 Tito Peña
2-3 Bob Smith
3-4 Joe Staton
4-5 Alex Simmons

Sunday:
11-12 Dan Parent
12-1 Jim Amash
1-2 Fernando Ruiz
2-3 Alex Simmons

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Well, at least in NYC, as reported by Shelf Awareness:

Harry N. Abrams is off to a very muscular start in 2009. On Tuesday, the pub date for Jeff Kinney’s DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: THE LAST STRAW (Amulet Books), the third book in the series, the company sold at least 80,000 copies of the book, Abrams president and CEO Michael Jacobs estimated. Some 3,000 people attended Kinney’s appearance that night at the Barnes & Noble in Carle Place, N.Y., on Long Island (see photo), and about 1,300 copies of the book were sold. (At the last minute, an Abrams sales manager drove 400 extra copies to the store in a van.) Kinney appeared last night at an event hosted by R.J. Julia, Madison, Conn. Jacobs commented: “We’re very happy, especially in this retail environment.”

The New York Times looks at Jeff Kinney’s “Wimpy Kid” blockbuster status:

The franchise has been a sleeper hit for Amulet Books, an imprint of Harry N. Abrams, and for the author, Jeff Kinney, who started it as a series of online cartoons on the Web site FunBrain.com. The first book, published in 2007 and billed as a “novel in cartoons,” has spent 89 weeks on The New York Times’s children’s best-seller list and has been translated into 28 languages. According to the publisher, there are 10 million copies in print of the first two books and a third title, a do-it-yourself version that lets children write their own story. A “Wimpy Kid” movie is being cast. The latest book, “The Last Straw,” is being introduced Jan. 13 with a printing of a million copies.

Published on lined paper in the form of journal entries, the books tell in pitch-perfect voice of Greg’s hilarious and mortifying adventures at home and school. Greg, who is finely attuned to social pecking orders, writes that he is “around 52nd or 53rd most popular this year.” He is also lazy and manipulative, always choosing to do what is expedient rather than what is right — qualities that place him somewhere on the continuum between Dennis the Menace and Bart Simpson, and make him so appealing to readers 8 to 12 years old, especially boys.

If you have a little downtime over the holidays, you could do much worse than by reading The Comics Reporter’s yearend series of interviews:

Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson
Scholar and critic Jeet Heer
A looooong interview on mainstream comics with Tucker Stone
Indie comics with Sean T. Collins
PictureBox’s Dan Nadel
and the always interesting Eddie Campbell.

There are some newsy bits scattered here and there — PictureBox will be putting out retrospectives of John Kricfalusi and Syd Mead in their non-comics publishing arm. Also, Campbell, who it would seem to be impossible to interview poorly, has quite a bit to say about the recent reorganization at Macmillan which put his publisher, First Second, into the Macmillan’s Children’s Group:

I’m not surprised, because the book world, by which I mean the mainstream book publishers as well as the libraries and the Library Association, has been viewing “the graphic novel” as a young reader’s genre for quite some time. In part I think it’s because the part of a publishing house that is likely to be interested in bright illustrated narratives is the children’s books department, and in part also because those publishers, and America’s libraries, see the “graphic novel” as a way of grabbing a part of the literate populace that has hitherto proved elusive. Now, I have no objection to young folks having their own literature specially designed for them, though when I was a young ‘un myself I would have been highly suspicious of anything that the adult world thought I should read because it was supposed to be good for me. Let’s not forget that this is one of the things that drew us to comics in the first place, the very fact that they were not approved by our adults; they were our visual rock’n'roll, the things we knew that they didn’t. However, let’s not get bogged down on that point. The problem with this development is that comics were supposed to have grown up and become the “graphic novel,” but now we are apt to find articles telling us that the “graphic novel has grown up.” In other words we’re back where we started.

While Campbell has every right in the world to fret about his publisher, Tom Spurgeon also had made a bit note of First Second’s move. Nothing can be taken for granted in the publishing world, but this isn’t quite a shocker — First Second was ALWAYS part of Holt’s children’s division, as the initial press release from 2005 made clear:

Long rumored in the publishing press, children’s publisher Roaring Brook Press today announced it’s new Graphic Novel imprint, First Second, with an impressive line up of established creators like Jessica Abel, Warren Pleece, Eddie Campbell and others. The line will be guided by Editorial Director Mark Siegel and the first books will see publication in early 2006. The full press release of their announcement follows.

Tom mentions that First Second EIC Mark Siegel has his own response that will probably be even more forceful, but it’s worth pointing out.

Which doesn’t mean that Campbell’s general point doesn’t stand. While we’ll have more on this (hopefully) when we sit down (in March!) to do our own Year in Review, the fact is that juvenile graphic novels did much, much better in 2008 than literary comics from major (i.e. book) publishers did. Indeed, several of TCR’s interviewees ponder the effects of traditional publishers’ forays into graphic novels, and those effects do bear continued scrutiny.

Oh no! Soon you will see another beloved comics character as you have never seen him before! That never happened before, either! But it’s not who you think! And we’re not done using exclamation marks!

It’s Salem the cat, Sabrina’s loyal companion from years of Archie Comics!

This March, Salem goes from sidekick to main attraction in a story that kicks off a four-part miniseries-within-a-series starting in SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH #101: “YOUNG SALEM”! Only this time, this cool cat isn’t a cat at all!

In SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH #93 and #94, Salem’s backstory was explored in the two-part “Salem’s Secret.” That story highlighted a secret which linked Salem to Sabrina in an unexpected way, and explored the repercussions that followed…repercussions which affected everyone in the Magic Realm.

Now, Salem’s early days are explored once more in a special four-issue tale which harkens back to the days when he wasn’t an enchanted feline, but an actual boy wizard! That’s right: in this special storyline we take you back…way back…to when Salem was a little boy! Years later, an ill-conceived plot by Salem will incur the wrath of the leaders of the Magic Realm and lead to his enchanted punishment of spending the rest of his life as a furry feline. The magic begins in SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH #101 and continues through issue #104.

Frankly we’re surprised this story wasn’t called “Final Salem” or “Secret Salem” or “Salem Crisis” or some other catchy title. Archie Comics’s efforts to tell the story in four issues also strike us as insufficient. Why could this tale have not been expanded to a company-wide crossover? You’ve got to think big these days.

School LIbrary Journal has released a list of adult books recommended for younger readers:

It was a banner literary year and so SLJ’s Adult Books for High School Students Committee decided on 30 titles, published between September 2007 and November 2008 (with reviews published in 2008), to recognize as the best for high school readers. The list includes realistic and historical novels as well as some genre-blending titles. Biography, history, and books about the environment are well represented. Outstanding graphic novels and nonfiction also appear. The committee members are from public and school libraries across the United States and Canada, working with teens in urban, rural, and suburban settings. We are convinced that these titles will appeal to high school readers and provide a bridge into the vast world of adult publishing.

The graphic novels listed include:

Bourban Island 1730
Lewis Trondheim & Olivier Appollodorus. illus. by Lewis Trondheim. First Second. Tr $17.95. ISBN 978-1-59643-258-1.

What It Is
Lynda Barry. Drawn & Quarterly. Tr $24.95. ISBN 978-1-897299-35-7.

Ronald Reagan, A Graphic Biography.
Andrew Helfer, Steve Buscellato and Joe Staton. Hill and Wang. Tr $16.95. ISBN 978-0-8090-9507-0.

Me and the Devil Blues, 1: The Unreal Life of Robert Johnson
Akira Hiramoto. Del Rey. Tr $19.95. ISBN 978-0-345-49926-4.

Incognegro.
Mat Johnson & Warren Pleese. Vertigo. Tr $19.99. ISBN 978-1-4012-1097-7.

The Museum Vaults: Excerpts from the Journal of an Expert.
Marc-Antoine Mathieu. NBM ComicsLit and the Louvre Museum. Tr $14.95. ISBN 978-1-56163-514-6.

Cairo.
G. Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker. Vertigo. Tr $24.99. ISBN 978-1-4012-1140-0.

A People’s History of American Empire.
Howard Zinn & Paul Buhle. Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt. Tr $30. ISBN 978-0-8050-7779-7.

More in the link. A note: the list has left off a number of artists names, which we’ve added in. We’ll have a word with those SLJ people next time we’re in the office.

Johanna points us in the direction of a new children’s book by the marvelous Sara Varon: Chicken and Cat Clean Up.

In this volume, a 40-page hardcover for $16.99 aimed at ages 4-8, Chicken runs a housecleaning service in New York City. Cat works with Chicken, but Cat is clumsy and causes accidents, wanting to play instead of work. It’s only when Cat plays to his strengths that he’s recognized for his help. The full-color pages are calm and welcoming in their cool pastels. This new book is a sequel to Chicken and Cat, which came out a couple of years ago from Scholastic.

§ A raft of stories from the UK about how — get this — children love comics, in the wake of a study with hard numbers behind the surge. Sales are booming and growth is foreseen, says The Scotsman in a story called “Comic effect works its magic on children”:

Research by consumer analysts Mintel shows that the pre-teen market, catered to by classic comics like the Beano and the Dandy, has seen a surge over the past four years.

Experts predict sales of comics are set to increase by a further 21 per cent to reach £165 million by 2013 following the success of new titles launched on the back of TV programmes such as In the Night Garden.

Mintel senior analyst Mark Brecchin said: “It seems that the humble comic is standing the test of time and even today they provide an ideal treat for children. The market for this traditional favourite has gone from strength to strength due to a host of new launches, price rises and the fact that publishers now bring out more issues per title each month.

The Herald has more:

Sales of children’s comic books have rocketed, despite the lure of modern hobbies and pastimes.

The pre-teen market - which includes classic comics such as the Dandy and Beano - has experienced a surge of more than 70% in the past four years.

Comic sales have seen a massive 72% increase since 2003, and were worth £136m this year, thanks to new titles such as Dr Who Adventures.

Sales of women’s magazines increased by just 15% in the same period and teenage magazines declined by 61%, according to research by consumer analysts Mintel.

The UK England doesn’t have an overly robust native comics industry — especially given all the talents living there — but they do have a strong tradition of kids comics in general interest magazines, like the Beano and The Dandy, which present the kind of “national comics magazine” prevalent in Europe — especially Disney-themed magazines — but absent in the US. (Disney Adventures was a sort of attempt in this direction, and Nick magazine continues the tradition; however, comics are a small part of these magazines, compared to Beano.)

And why have comics might have surged over a five-year period? People quoted in the articles suggest it’s because of more licensed comics based on popular TV shows and so on. The Telegraph version of the story has even more info:

Dr Who Adventures magazine by the BBC rocketed from a standing start to top the chart as the most popular children’s title in 2007, with a circulation of 155,000, Mintel found. Comics based on American cartoon series The Simpsons have also proved very popular. Bucking the trend for television-based children’s magazines is The DFC, an old-school comic for eight to 12-year-olds which includes an illustrated version of Philip Pullman’s tallship tale The Adventures of John Blake.

The same piece mentions, however, that Beano has declined from a six-figure circ five years ago to a mere 64K today.

By the way, is it just us, or the does UK Dennis the Menace look a lot like Naruto?

Matthew Loux’s well-received kids comic, SALT WATER TAFFY, is back this week with a second volume:

Following closely on the success of the first volume of his new graphic adventure series, Matthew Loux brings us the second installment with SALT WATER TAFFY VOL. 2: A CLIMB UP MT. BARNABAS. In stores this week and with a third volume already in the works, critics are convinced that the American Library Association & YALSA award winning Matthew Loux is here to stay.