A distinguished panel of librarian experts puts together a top ten list for the ALA:

1. Kampung Boy
2. The Legend of Hong Kil Dong : The Robin Hood of Korea
3. Missouri Boy
4. Girl Stories
5. Kristy’s Great Idea
6. Bumperboy and the Loud, Loud Mountain
7. To Dance : A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel
8. Castle Waiting
9. American Born Chinese
10. Oddly Normal : v.1

Commentary in link.

Hey now! THIS is ironic! An article in a Korean newspaper laments the dearth of manhwa for ADULTS. Damn it! Can you believe it? Comics in Korea are kid stuff! And it all started in the 90s.

After a heydey in the 1990s, mainstream comic books aimed at adult readers have all but disappeared from the nation’s graphic novel scene. Cine 21 Co., the publisher of film weekly Cine 21, seeks to spark a renaissance with its new comic book, “POPTOON.”

The comic will be published twice a month beginning March 1.

The nation’s comic book industry has shown a keen interest in the new title. The Korea Culture & Content Agency (KOCCA) and the Korea Manwha Information Archives late last year selected the scheduled foundation of the comic as one of top 10 news stories in the nation’s comics world in 2006, even before its launch.

In the mid-1990s, titles such as “Mr. Blue,” “Big Jump,” and “27,” defined the domestic comics scene for adult readers. But production in this market rapidly shrank, and such once-popular titles have all but disappeared.

The domestic comics industry anticipates “POPTOON” will be the breakthrough needed to pull itself out of the current slump, and industry experts say a regularly published comic book in the genre could be the means for new talent to be discovered. Park In-ha, a comics critic and professor of Chungkang College of Cultural Industries, welcomed the foundation of “POPTOON,” saying, “The publication of genre cartoons is necessary for the diverse development of the graphic novel culture. Comic books are the only solution for this, and I hope ‘POPTOON’ will provide a breakthrough for the comics industry,” added Park.

While we have a hard time believing this puff piece isn’t some kind of joke, it does show the terrible dangers that face the American comics industry. COMICS CAN GO BACK TO KIDDIES OVERNIGHT! We MUST have our rape comics or the children will win! Fight, fight, fight!

A much quoted story from the San Jose Mercury News takes the opportunity for a puff piece previewing WonderCon and turns it into a fretful look at the dearth of comics for kids:

Almost no one talks any longer about comics being a sneakily artful way of getting kids to read. There is even some fear that the current waves of adult customers represent the last generations of comics readers.

A recent article on that topic in Wizard magazine generally dismissed the idea that comics readership is headed off a cliff. But it also revived the debate about the impact and appropriateness of including a rape (albeit discussed, not shown) in a costumed heroes tale such as “Identity Crisis.”

Brad Meltzer, the novelist who wrote that miniseries, said by e-mail that “the best part of comics has always been the mix of stories.”

“Even if young kids were the biggest comics readers,” Meltzer notes, “I’d still tell the story I want to tell. That’s the only story I should tell. Sooner or later, they’ll grow into it, or make it themselves.”

Oddly, The Beat was interviewed for a very similar story in the New York Sun, which took the opportunity of previewing NYCC, and turning it into a fretful look at comics dark, inpenetrable turn:

“They were mostly an influx of lapsed readers from the 1990s,” said Mr. Buckley. “Although we did get some new readers from the mainstream press we received.” DC Comics, home of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, has also made use of current events for their comics. With names like “Infinite Crisis,” “Identity Crisis,” “Secret Wars,” “Civil Wars,” “World War Hulk,” and “World War III” their comic series have become an inaccessible haze of wars and crises only a true believer can follow.

As my quote from the latter piece show, I don’t truly believe that there are NO new readers coming into comics, but they are coming in for different reasons and in much slower waves than, say, the manga or shojo revolution. Still, as we’ve written here many times, its just plain bad business to miss out on making comics for kids — I expect thatis Marvel and DC don’t pick up the thread — and really why should they at this late date? Their readerships are set at a different age point — mainstream publishers will.

With kids:

That is, until a kid comes in with his dad looking for an Iron Man comic. One of the other guys takes them under his wing and shows off our spiffy ‘kid friendly’ corner and notes that Iron Man happens to be in the most awesome book ever, Marvel Adventures: Avengers. The kid is not satisfied; he wants a book about Iron Man only. My fellow clerk gives me a look of helplessness and I nearly drop my stocking clipboard as my worst fear has been realized. The dad goes over to the new comics section as we have to explain that, no, his son might not be ready for the newer Iron Man books. The back issue bin is dived into as I look to the Trade Paperback shelves and see nothing but ‘Demon in a Bottle’, ‘House of M: Iron Man’, ‘Heroes Reborn: Iron Man’ and the recent trade wherein a kid is blatantly shot by SHIELD. While I hit the back and come out with an Essential Iron Man vol. 1, I find they’ve already left.

With the first couple issues of the Warren Ellis story.

With women, via Laura Hudson:

I’ve been working in a comic book store for ten months now, and I still get near-weekly questions about whether I really read comics… for real? It’s not that people are trying to insult me–though that is the general effect–it’s more that they treat me like a magical unicorn whose existence is nigh-unreal. On the other hand, I notice that I put women at ease when they walk in the door–they tend to make a beeline for me, whether they’re comics fans themselves (who are perhaps also tired of being unicorns), or just people trying to find their way around a comic book store for the first time, something that can be a little intimidating if you feel out of place.

But it’s getting better. I certainly saw my share of girls at the comic con, and they weren’t all at manga booths. When I went to the Marvel trivia contest on Sunday (where I survived three rounds) there were at least four other knowledgable female fans competing, one of whom made it through to the end. All of this is good. And yes, it’s getting better. But it isn’t enough, not yet.

The headline says it all:
Comic book pays for buffalo.

For one year, 10-year-old Adam Ahrens saved every nickel, dime and quarter he could get his hands on.

Adam also wrote and illustrated a comic book to sell to friends and family members. Eventually he came up with the $750 he needed.

But he wasn’t saving for a new bike or a top-of-the-line video games console. No, instead he bought a water buffalo.

Fortunately for his parents, the water buffalo won’t be living with them.

With the help of Mississauga-based World Vision, the animal will be bought in India and given to a needy family there. That family can use the water buffalo to plough fields, plant crops, puddle rice fields, harvest, pump water and haul carts. The animal’s milk is also a source of protein for children.

But will these children have access to the inspiring characters and entertaining adventures to be found in the Virgin Comics line? Methinks young Adam’s work has only begun.

[Item totally ganked from Tom.]

The classic EC title is being resurrected as a titles from the kid-friendly Papercutz line — ironic, eh?

Good Lord! *Choke!* The greatest horror comic is back!

After more than 50 years, EC Comics’ legendary flagship title returns with all-new TALES FROM THE CRYPT, narrated by the original Crypt-Keeper, Old Witch, and Vault Keeper. Each issue will feature two 20-page tales of terror in the EC tradition!

Who is responsible for this new trend? Papercutz, the youth-friendly publisher of HARDY BOYS and NANCY DREW graphic novels. Editor Jim Salicrup explains, “Everyone loves scary stories, especially kids, and the TALES FROM THE CRYPT style of dark humor with shock endings truly appeals to all ages, not unlike Harry Potter or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Despite the furor over horror comics in the ‘50s that led to the demise of most of the EC line, people forget that those comics were created for readers of all ages. Ironically, most of the original CRYPT comics would be approved by the Comics Code today. It’s a real honor for me to be following in the footsteps of Al Feldstein and to be editing an all-new TALES FROM THE CRYPT comic.”

The first issue, which will ship to comics shops in June, will include:
• “Artistic License,” by horror author Marc Bilgrey (H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror) and Mr. Exes (Abra Cadaver). The story reveals how two nosy and somewhat murderous neighbors discover the shocking inspiration for Jack Kroll’s outsider artwork.
• “For Serious Collectors Only,” by Rob Vollmar (Bluesman) and Steve Mannion (Batman). This tale explores how far Thomas Donalley—a middle-aged action-figure collector who lives in his mom’s basement—will go for an ultra-rare Japanese figure.
• Introductory pages featuring the GhouLunatics by writer Jim Salicrup and artist Rick Parker (Beavis and Butt-Head).
• Cover by award-winning artist Kyle Baker (Birth of a Nation, Plastic Man, Why I Hate Saturn).

Future issues will include stories by Fred Van Lente (Marvel Adventures), Xeric Grant winner Neil Kleid, Stefan Petrucha (The Shadow of Frankenstein, Papercutz’s NANCY DREW), Don McGregor (Zorro), Sho Murase (NANCY DREW), and other great talents. Each bi-monthly issue is 48 full-color pages for an affordable $3.95

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