Comic Book Resources

This contest is totes awesome

R. Sikoryak's Strand bag

Get it? I said "totes" and it's a tote bag contest! Oh, I slay myself.

Ahem. Anyway, The Strand Bookstore has teamed up with Fantagraphics, Drawn and Quarterly, Toon Books and the School of Visual Arts to offer the Strand Tote Bag Design Contest. All this month, until March 31, aspiring artists are encouraged to send in their design for famed New York book shop's next "artist tote bag.  Judges for the contest include  previous bag designers Art Spiegelman, Adrian Tomine, R. Sikoryak, Françoise Mouly and Steven Heller.

The prizes are pretty impressive. The grand prize winner not only gets to see their art printed on the store's bag, but also gets: an afternoon with Mouly; D&Q's complete set of books from 2009; $450 worth of recent Fantagraphics books; a complete set of Toon Books; and more.

Second prize nets you a class at SVA, a collection of signed D&Q books; more comics from TB and Fanta, and a $100 coffee gift card. Third prize is the same, but less so.

I don't know about you, but I'm tempted to enter by just drawing a couple of stick figures.

Rules and details for the contest can be found at that fifth link. A look at past Strand tote bags can be found here.

Robot reviews: Two from Toon Books

Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker
by Geoffrey Hayes
Toon Books, 32 pages, $12.95

This is my favorite of the Benny and Penny books so far. It isn't that I've disliked the previous two books in the brother/sister series as much as this new entry, about an unruly cousin that comes over to play, seems a bit more lively and playful, both in the layouts and in the art itself, which has a frenetic and loose -- but never sloppy -- quality. It's a pretty energetic and fast-paced book, even by young reader standards. You sense Hayes had a lot of fun putting this together and his good humor is infectious. Obviously it's not going to challenge anyone over the age of seven, but I'd easily recommend it for it's intended audience.

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Benny and Penny, Little Mouse and Stitches win Youth Media Awards

Benny and Penny in the Big No-No!

Three graphic novels were honored at the Youth Media Awards, presented this morning during the American Library Association's midwinter conference in Boston.

Geoffrey Hayes' Benny and Penny in the Big No-No!, published by TOON Books, received the (Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award, which recognizes authors and illustrators of books for beginning readers. Jeff Smith's Little Mouse Gets Ready, also from TOON, was one of four Geisel Honor Books.

David Small's Stitches: A Memoir, released by W.W. Norton & Company, earned an Alex Award, given each year to 10 adult books that appeal to young-adult readers (ages 12 to 18).

Spend some time with Toon Books

Panel from 'Zig and Wikki'

Speaking of kids comics, Toon Books has a few news items worth noting. First of all, the company has upgraded their Web site, adding a number of interactive features, including Toon Readers, which features creators like Jeff Smith reading their books aloud as you virtually flip through the pages; and Cartoon Maker, which lets you build your own comic using the Benny and Penny characters.  (via)

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OMG, I think I might squee

Little Mouse Doll

As part of their ongoing promotion of Jeff Smith's first children's book, Little Mouse Gets Ready, publisher Toon Books has made an exclusive plush doll, created by dollmaker Sabrina Cho. It retails for $75 and comes with a certificate of authenticity and a copy of the book signed by Jeff Smith. Also: It's too cute for words.

Found via Comics Worth Reading

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Yaoi Press

Legal | Yaoi Press Publisher Yamila Abraham was arrested Monday in Las Vegas on federal fraud charges related to online sales of an "herbal" alternative to recreational street drugs. Authorities claim the product contained no herbal supplements and was actually composed of dextromethorphan hydrobromide (DXM), the active ingredient in over-the-counter cough suppressants. The charges date from 2005 and 2006, when Abraham operated the mail-order website Pleasureherbs.com.

If convicted, Abraham, 34, could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the seven counts of mail fraud, up to one year in prison and a $250,000 fine on one count of misbranding a drug, and up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine on one count of introducing goods in domestic commerce by means of false statement. She also could be forced to forfeit property from the proceeds of the crime up to $186,680 and any equipment used to make the drugs.

On the Yaoi Press blog, Abraham asked for everyone to "please keep a cool head, and have faith. This situation is not going to end Yaoi Press. Don't believe the hype." She stressed that she will continue to appear at conventions, including this weekend's OtakuMex in Albuquerque, New Mexico. [Las Vegas Sun]

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What Are You Reading?

The Photographer

We have a very special edition of What Are You Reading this week, as our guests are none other than the legendary Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly. Spiegelman, you know, no doubt, as the author of such acclaimed books as Maus, Breakdowns and In the Shadow of No Towers, while his wife Mouly was co-creator and editor of Raw Magazine, art editor at the New Yorker and is spearheading the new Toon Books line of children's comics.

To see what's currently in their reading stack, just click on the link below ...

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Robot Reviews: Kids' comics roundup

Little Mouse Gets Ready
by Jeff Smith
Toon Books, 32 pages, $12.95.

Children's comics don't get more basic than this. Little Mouse wants to go play in the barn with his brothers and sisters, but first he has to get dressed. He does so step by step showing readers important things like how to button your shirt (and illustrating a narrative sequence of events). Then there's a punchline and rimshot, the end.

Smith's art is lush and spry here. I especially liked Little Mouse's Warner Brothers-style reaction at the end. There's no denying it's a cute book, made by an extremely talented guy. But this is really a book for preschoolers and those just learning to read. If you know someone like that, then Little Mouse will make a great gift. But older Bone fan, even those still in elementary school, aren't going to get too much out of this, beyond a chuckle or two at the end.

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Robot reviews: Two from Toon Books

From 'Luke on the Loose'

Luke on the Loose
by Harry Bliss
Toon Books, 32 pages, $12.95.

This is my favorite title in the Toon Books line so far. Bliss, best known for his contribution to the New Yorker as well as children's books like Diary of a Worm, delivers a great manic energy to this story of a boy who wanders away from his dad and ends up chasing pigeons all across New York City. I liked how the backgrounds where filled with Mad Magazine-like nonsense bits like having Tintin and Olive Oyl as aghast onlookers or the dog walker who was keeps getting pulled around the park. I liked Luke's father's nonchalance at losing his son and how his dialogue was frequently summed up as "boring dad talk." I liked how Bliss uses long, horizontal panels to denote both setting and motion, as in an amusing sequence where Luke runs roughshod through an outdoor restaurant, interrupting a proposal in the process. Basically it's speedy pace and refuse to take itself seriously or offer any sort of moral works in its favor and I think kids will get a few good belly laughs out of Luke's adventures. I know I did.

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Random publishing news rundown

Little Mouse Gets Ready

Lots of revelations about upcoming books have come out in the past week. Let's see if we can hit the highlights.

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Gaiman's The Graveyard Book wins Newbery Medal

The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, has won the prestigious Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to children's literature.

The award was announced this morning at the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting in Denver.

Eleanor Davis' Stinky, from Toon Books, received a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor for beginning-reader books.

Gaiman responded to the news on his blog and, more candidly, on Twitter: "About to drink second cup of tea without Marmalade this morning. Also, I just won the Newbury Medal for THE GRAVEYARD BOOK."

He quickly followed that comment with this slighly less subdued one: "Newbery, not Newbury. Also FUCK!!!! I won the FUCKING NEWBERY THIS IS SO FUCKING AWESOME. I thank you."

Released in September in the U.S. by HarperCollins, the young-adult fantasy centers on a boy who takes refuge in a cemetery after the murder of his parents. There, he's adopted and befriended by ghosts.

Davis' Stinky is about a monster who is terrified of people, and concocts crazy plans to scare a kid away from his swamp.

Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: Toon Books plans for spring

Luke on the Loose

I wanted to point out two things. First, Deb Aoki has a more complete round-up of Viz's early line-up. Second, Douglas Wolk has done an impressive job running down the big-ticket books of the year over at Savage Critic.

Moving on we turn to Toon Books, the new children's graphic novel company from Francoise Mouly. They have two books planned for the first half of the year:

Benny and Penny

Luke on the Loose by Harry Bliss. The popular New Yorker cartoonist and children's illustrator (Diary of A Worm) makes his graphic novel debut in this story about a boy who, while following some pigeons, ends up taking a rather unconventional tour of New York City. $12.95 hardcover, April 6.

Benny and Penny in the Big No-No by Geoffrey Hayes. Hayes' cute mice siblings return for another outing. This time the pair go snooping in their mysterious new neighbor's backyard. Will they find a monster or a friend? Maybe a monster friend! $12.95, hardcover, May 5.