Graphic Novels Prepub Alert: Pogo, Harry Potty & Moto Hagio

Featuring Pogo, Harry Potty & Moto Hagio

By Martha Cornog -- Library Journal, 05/20/2010

The Wimpy Kid is bedding down at Twilight this month, so we get Tim Collins’s hilarious Diary of a Wimpy Vampire, from Michael O'Mara Books. Poor Nigel Mullet, undead at 15 forever—Greg Heffley had it easy! Sample Nigel’s agonies here. And just when we thought all the mash-ups had been done.

More seriously, Nick Bertozzi (The Salon) has announced he’ll be expanding his webcomic about Shackleton’s voyage in the James Caird to a full-length graphic novel for First Second about the Endurance expedition. It’s gut-grinding thrills all the way, as Bertozzi writes: "The wooden boat is trapped and crushed in the polar ice, they live on an ice floe for two years, they sail across the harshest sea on the globe in a lifeboat, and when they reach land, they have to climb across a crevasse-filled glacier to get to civilization—and they all live!" Look for it in 2012 or so after his in-progress Lewis & Clark book appears.

Baum, L. Frank (text) & Skottie Young. The Marvelous Land of Oz. Marvel. Sept. 2010. 192p. adapted by Eric Shanower. ISBN 978-0-7851-4028-3. $29.99. F
Following up on their best-selling Eisner-nominated Wizard, Shanower and Young continue Baum’s saga with Princess Ozma’s origin story. Fans of manga gender-benders should like this one, since we meet her first as a boy named Tip—with a pumpkinhead as a sidekick and on the run from one more wicked witch.

Davis, Vanessa. Make Me a Woman. Drawn & Quarterly. Sept. 2010. 176p. ISBN 978-1-77046-021-8. $29.95. AUTOBIOG
Chutzpah-ha-ha tell-all vignettes in charming watercolor art about being young, single, and Jewish. Get the flavor here.

Dinski, Will. Fingerprints. Top Shelf. Sept. 2010. 96p. ISBN 978-1-60309-053-7. $14.95. F
An imperious plastic surgeon, an ambitions and clever assistant, and a cast of face-obsessed patients collide in this parable of surgery vs. psychology—and the fallout. Simple pastel color art with "silent-film-style" dialog panels.

Hagio, Moto. A Drunken Dream and Other Stories. Fantagraphics. Sept. 2010. 288p. tr. from Japanese by Matt Thorn. ISBN 978-1-60699-377-4. $24.99. F
When Fantagraphics jumps into magna, they splash big: with the "founding mother" of modern shojo manga and a pioneer of the BL (boys love) genre. These four decades of short stories feature gorgeous art—some in color—and intellectually subtle plotting. Very little of Hagio’s work has appeared in English previously. Click here for Thorn’s 2004 interview with the artist.

Hara, Yui. The Witch of Artemis. Vol. 1. TOKYOPOP. Sept. 2010. 192p. ISBN 978-1-4278-1554-5. pap. $10.99. F
The orphaned Kazuki daydreams about the magical star Artemis, even though it doesn’t really exist. Then one day he runs into a cute girl from Artemis, and then another—and they both have magical powers and, apparently, interesting secrets. At least three volumes are out in Japan.

Himaruya, Hidekaz. Hetalia Axis Powers. Vol. 1. TOKYOPOP. Sept. 2010. 144p. ISBN 978-1-4278-1876-8. pap. $12.99. F
Think costume party where all the guests dress and act like pretty boys embodying a particular country such as the United States, Germany, Japan, or Italy. Except it’s a "broadly comic and politically incorrect" two-volume snapshot of 20th-century history, with the countries anthropomorphized into bishonen characters mocking all sides. The controversial series (no shinola, Sherlock!) has sold over a million copies in Japan, and FUNimation has nabbed the anime.

Hollander, Nicole. The Sylvia Chronicles: 30 Years of Graphic Misbehavior from Reagan to Obama. New Press. Jul. 2010. 208p. ISBN 978-1-59558-494-6. pap. $19.95. HUMOR
Since the mid-1970s, the widely syndicated Sylvia has provided an edgy, feminist-political complement to the domesticity of Lynn Johnston’s For Better or for Worse and the personal gal-dramas of Cathy Guisewite’s Cathy. With an introduction by Mr. Not-Nice-Either, Jules Feiffer.

Kelly, Walt. Pogo: The Complete Daily & Sunday Comic Strips. Vol. 1: Through the Wild Blue Wonder. Fantagraphics. 2010. 360p. ISBN 978-1-56097-869-5. $35. HUMOR
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum’s lament from the 1971 Earth Day strip could be Kelly’s most enduring and, unfortunately, accurate legacy. Various Pogo collections have appeared in the past, but the entire 12-volume run has never been systematically issued as Fantagraphics is doing, with Bone’s Jeff Smith—a lifelong admirer—in the designer’s seat. As THE pioneering humor-satire strip inspiring countless other cartoonists, Kelly and Pogo should need no introduction.

Lockpez, Inverna (text) & Dean Haspiel (illus.). Cuba: My Revolution. Vertigo. Sept. 2010. 144p. ISBN 978-1-4012-2217-8. $14.99. F
Once a medical student growing up in Cuba, Lockpez turned to art and came to the United States in the 1960s. Her agonizing personal transitions amid idealism and ideologies factor into this fictionalized autobiography, rendered in striking red-and-black art.

Moore, Alan (text) & Ian Gibson (illus.). The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones. 2000 AD. Sept. 2010. 208p. ISBN 978-1-906735-93-7. pap. $17.99. F
Über-scripter Moore (Watchmen) wrote this sci-fi adventure in 1984, when females didn’t star in British comics magazines like 2000 AD. Taking a detailed, anthropological approach to life in the 50th century as lived by a (relatively) ordinary woman, the popular series ended owing to a creator-publisher dispute, not for lack of readers. Of course, Moore’s "ordinary woman" manages to remain pretty darn gorgeous whether as a housing project native, star-cruiser hostess, or (finally) interstellar warrior. Classic black-and-white art with sometimes-inventive layouts.

Niffenegger, Audrey. The Night Bookmobile. Abrams ComicArts. Sept. 2010. 40p. ISBN 978-0-8109-9617-5. $19.95. F
Four a.m. Chicago, and there’s this Winnebago on a corner pumping out "I Shot the Sheriff." Whoa, it’s a bookmobile—that stocks every book and piece of text that Alexandra has ever read. She tells the librarian she’ll be back later, but it’s way more complicated than that. Niffenegger (The Time Traveler’s Wife) took H.G. Wells’ "The Door in the Wall" as inspiration for her short story, which she adapted herself. Her simply drawn and eerie color webcomic originally appeared on The Guardian’s website in 2008.

Petrucha, Stefan (text) & Rick Parker (illus.). Papercutz Slices #1: Harry Potty and the Deathly Boring. Papercutz. Sept. 2010. 64p. ISBN 978-1-59707-217-5. pap. $6.99. F
Yeowch! After Papercutz’s Tales-from-the-Cryptified Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid comes a slice-and-dice on poor Harry and his mates: Harry, Don Measley, and Whiny Stranger must find a way to defeat the nose-less dark lord Value-Mart. Some of us can remember Harvard Lampoon’s 1969 Bored of the Rings, which Went On Too Long, but 64 pages might be just about right.

RoboCop Omnibus. Various creators. Dynamite. Sept. 2010. 300p. ISBN 978-1-60690-143-4. pap. $24.99. F
The popular RoboCop franchise includes three films, four TV series, a videogame, and comics from Marvel, Dark Horse, and Avatar. This volume collects all the Dark Horse stories, including an adaptation of the third film and a miniseries written by veteran noirist Frank Miller.

Takaya, Natsuki. Fruits Basket—The Complete Series Box and More! TOKYOPOP. Sept. 2010. paging/vols. NA. ISBN 978-1-4278-1695-5. pap. $149.99. F
Need to replace your worn out Fruits Basket volumes? It looks like TOKYOPOP is releasing the entire megahit shojo series as a boxed set at a price that’s sure to be discounted and ultimately way cheaper than the cost of 23 single volumes.

The Tango Collection. Allen & Unwin. Sept. 2010. 240p. ed. by Bernard Caleo. ISBN 978-1-74237-143-6. pap. $26.95. F
Romance is not dead Down Under, where the indie comics anthology Tango has come out with nine collections of love stories since 1997. This volume draws from Tango’s first eight issues, all from creators living in Australia and New Zealand. For more about Tango’s history, click here. Black-and-white art. Caleo is the founder and editor of the anthology.

Tardi, Jacques. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec. Vol. 1: Pterror Over Paris [sic] and The Eiffel Tower Demon. Fantagraphics. Sept. 2010. 96p. ISBN 978-1-60699-382-8. $24.99. F
A pterodactyl loose in Paris! A fetching young reporter off to tackle mummies! And that’s just the first of ten volumes. Set in 1912 and originally published in 1976, Tardi’s full-color picaresque thriller inspired a French film that just opened in Europe. (Check out the trailer.) Wonderful for Indiana Jones fans hankering for even more over-the-top plots.

We’re Going Back to Munden’s Bar. Various creators. IDW. Sept. 2010. 104p. ISBN 978-1-60010-627-9. pap. $17.99. HUMOR
We served up Munden’s Bar in "Read This in Moderation: Ten Booze-Infused Graphic Novels," and here’s another round on the house.

Young Shin-Lee (text) & Jung Sun Hwang (illus.). Trips, Ships, and the Ultimate Vision: Acts, Part 2 – Revelation. Zondervan. Sept. 2010. (Z Graphic Novels/Manga Bible). 224p. ISBN 978-0-310-71294-7. pap. $6.99. REL
Volume 1 began with Genesis; now it’s Volume 8 and the end of the Bible as well as the end of the world. Starting with the apostle Paul off on his last two missionary trips, we end with John’s vision of the apocalypse. This cleaned-up kid’s version of the Good Book in simply drawn manga style makes a good counterweight to Crumb’s Genesis.

About Comics

Rude Britannia: From Hogarth to Now. Tate Pub. Sept. 2010. 160p. illus. ed. by Martin Myrone. ISBN 978-1-85437-886-6. pap. $34.95. GRAPHIC ARTS
A history of British caricature and satirical graphics from the 18th century to the present, including cartoons, comic books, film, photography, and contemporary art. Myrone is a curator at the Tate Britain gallery, in London.