Hello, my friends. As it seems World War Three has broken out since the last time we talked, it feels almost silly to try and just talk about what’s new in the world of Comics Plus. But, as I and my many courageous colleagues have championed over the years: comics and manga have always been a legitimate a source of literature, as much as anything else you’d find on your school or library’s shelves.
From our Classroom Connections and Book Club resources, to our in-house librarian’s Picks and my own “humble” monthly advisories — we do our best to highlight not only what’s popular on Comics Plus, but also how you can leverage the combined strengths of unlimited, simultaneous access and a deep, diverse collection to well and truly engage readers of all ages.
Seeing the look on a reader’s face when they discover their next favorite title (and knowing you helped spread that joy) isn’t explicitly reflected in any materials budget, but if it were, there’d never be an underfunded library in the world again.
The wider world aside, every reader we help engage and find the book that motivates them to read more helps make our planet just a little brighter. Service to one, is service to all, after all. That’s of course provided there will still be a world left for us to enjoy it all in. Sorry…
Enough of that, let’s finally talk about the one thing that’s always been important since the dawn of recorded history… the books!
Young Readers
I was certain to highlight Heather Bruegl’s impressive Indigenous Peoples of North America (Cherry Lake) series last month, so you can probably understand my enthusiasm when another batch of these super-informative picture books recently crossed my desk. While the volume covering the Inuit people arrived in February, by the time you’re reading this, the Blackfoot and Lakota nations will be represented, too.
Written for kids, but with wisdom that transcends any age, there’s probably more real info in this series than a Gen Xer’s entire childhood of “American History” typically contained.
And there’s definitely more where that came from, so stay tuned!
- Comics Plus Collection(s): Elementary, Children’s Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
Middle Grade
It’s possible I’m just “piling on” since my esteemed colleague, Moni Barrette, also just wrote about it in her most recent “Pick Six”, but in case you missed it, the second volume in that one particular uber-cute anthropomorphic series, arrived on Comics Plus last month: Operation: Make a Splash by Tate Godwin (Andrews McMeel).
Wait, which particular uber-cute anthropomorphic series you may ask? (I know… there’s a lot.) Why it’s that one I’d first shown some serious love to last year when it was brand-spanking-new to both us and the wider world. While everything I’d complimented the first volume on remains true for this one, I think Godwin’s latest really shows the sophistication of a creator who’s definitely starting to master their style.
The humor, the pacing, and everything that goes along with it seems much more on point. I’ll also say the jokes are a lot less “cringy” — or maybe the intentionally cringy ones are just less frequent? — but regardless, it stands out as a totally relatable story about following your passions while still being open to new experiences… as well as standing up for yourself and others.
We could all probably use another hundred books just like this one, but for now you’ve got at least one more perfect recommendation for practically any readers in this general age bracket.
- Comics Plus Collection(s): Elementary, Middle School, Children’s Public Library, Teen Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
Teens
Miss Moni doesn’t sleep at the wheel, but there’s never too much love to be poured out for any of Jim Henson’s deeply adored properties, so I’m only too happy to echo her and celebrate that we now have the eminently entertaining The Muppets Noir #1 by Roger Langridge (Dynamite) available on Comics Plus!
He’s one of those renowned cartoonists whose cred really does precede him, and I’ve honestly been an admirer of the great Mr. Langridge going all the way back to his Fred the Clown days in the early aughts. And while sure… we have Criminy (Dark Horse) — as well as his reimaginings of Betty Boop and Darkwing Duck (Dynamite) — it’s great we finally get another chance to see him revisit (and provide us his totally unique take on) the beloved world of the Muppet Show.
I know I’m not alone when I say that reading this book can really make someone’s day… that’s a lot of power when you think about it, and now it’s yours, just as simple as that. It’s time to get things started.
- Comics Plus Collection(s): Middle School, High School, Teen Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
Young Adults
It’s been suggested that I try to “write less” in these monthly advisories, so I’ve endeavored to keep my selections extra tight this time around, but please be sure to review the Honorable Mentions below. That said, my two top picks for YA readers were both so interesting (and in such different ways) that I couldn’t help but feature both.
My first selection is one I just couldn’t overlook, simply because it seemed to encapsulate everything I love about the transportive power of manga. Comfortably set somewhere in the midst of the prosperous Edo period, Neighborhood Craftsmen: Stories from Kanda’s Gokura-chou, Vol. 1 by Akihito Sakaue (Yen Press) features a variety of slice-of-life stories that present a deep dive into the lives of various craftspeople of that era — most of whom, despite the title, are actually women.
Each story is rendered so beautifully, and with such exhaustive (and thoroughly well-researched) detail that you come out the other side feeling like you just received the combination of a history lesson and a basic apprenticeship! The pride, the skill, the “timeless” passion of the peoples of that time and place are lovingly immortalized in these pages.
If a three-chapter saga about the plastering of a merchant’s storehouse doesn’t sound absolutely riveting to you, I promise this manga might just have you chomping at the bit for a fourth one by the end…
My top YA pick is definitely an important one, so strap in and check out My Words, A Long Way Off by Anaële Hermans and Sandrine Revel (Europe Comics), the absolutely heartbreaking story of a professional linguist who is struggling with the loss of her formerly vast vocabulary to the effects of a stroke.
Images and text both play crucial roles in this unfolding narrative, as it’s actually the failure of language that conveys the most meaning. This is yet another story that quite possibly could only be told in graphic novel form… but regardless, there’s probably no better medium to explore this deep and challenging idea.
Are you still finding yourself forced into exhausting arguments about comics even being literature in the first place? Just show them this book and shut them up forever.
- Comics Plus Collection(s): High School, Teen Public Library, All-Access for Schools, Full Collection
Adults
I’m limiting myself to a single selection for our mature readers this month, and while there are plenty of other fun reads out there, if I’m only picking one title, there’s no question it had to go to the book by one of my favorite comics writers… period.
I’ve definitely written about him before because we have a fairly robust selection of his already impressive catalog, but Virgile by Zidrou and Lucy Mazel (Europe Comics) quickly joins the ranks of some of the Belgian writer’s most memorable and moving stories. If you’re not already familiar with his various works you may as well start with Virgile (you definitely won’t be disappointed), but after that you should also really consider reading the African Trilogy (particularly Book 2) and/or The Whale Library. And don’t pass on (the mouthful) While the king of Prussia was waging war, who do you think was darning his socks?
Each one is a top-notch recommendation in its own right, and any one of them will certainly set you on the road to discovering even more great reads.
But back to Virgile… I’d wondered how best to entice someone to read the book without actually spoiling the story’s premise, until I realized it’s in actually knowing what the book is about (and going along for the ride anyway) that makes it so damn poignant. When a quadriplegic man makes the difficult decision to finally end his own life, he invites all his closest friends, family, and even his estranged ex-wife to his big “euthanasia goodbye party”. I know, right?
Chock full of heartbreak, heroism, and humor… brutality, banality, bitterness, and betrayal…. rage, resolution, and finally release… this book reads like a master class in the Five Stages of Grief. It might just help widen your own perspectives on life, and how you chose to live what’s left of it.
Books like this let us do that.
There will always be things in the world that are uncertain and remain forever outside our control, but thanks to the power of literature we can always enrich our minds and control how we react to it all. Even if it ultimately just means facing death with dignity.
Until we speak again, all you library people the world over — stay safe out there!
- Comics Plus Collection: Full Collection
Honorable Mentions
That was a lot of books to cover in one advisory, and yet there are still so many more I didn’t get to. Remember, there’s always more to read every month on Comics Plus! With literally thousands of titles to choose from across a wide range of genres, I could keep writing forever.
Be sure to check in every month for more highlights, and browse our expanding list of past Rob’s Advisory selections.
Until then, here are some more honorable mentions that, mostly for space reasons, didn’t quite make my list, but you (and/or your readers) may also enjoy checking out:
- ACCA 13-Territory Inspection Department, Vol. 1 by Natsume Ono (Yen Press)
- Age of the Dinosaurs by Christian Lopetz (Cherry Lake)
- Archie X Army of Darkness #1 by Erik Burnham and Bill Galvan (Dynamite)
- As Miss Beelzebub Likes, Vol. 1 by matoba (Yen Press)
- Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko! Volume 1 by Sal Jiang (Tokyopop)
- Darkwing Duck Omnibus Vol. 1: Darkly Dawns The Duck by John Blair Moore and George Wildman (Dynamite)
- Destiny Paradise Night by Tomato Machida (Tokyopop)
- Hercules Vol. 1: The Monster Hunter by Elliott Kalan and George Kambadais (Dynamite)
- Hinatsugimura by Aki Shimizu (Yen Press)
- I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet, Vol. 1 by Nozomi Ginyoku, Taro Shinonome, and Mitsuki Yano (Yen Press)
- Immortality and Punishment, Vol. 1 by Kentaro Sato (Yen Press)
- In So Deep, It’s Love Already, Volume 1 by Reida Soragaki (Yen Press)
- Land of the Free: America’s ABC by Devin Scillian and Pam Carroll (Cherry Lake)
- Minecraft: Heart of Cobblestone Volume 2 by Andrew Clemson and Jeremy Lawson (Dark Horse)
- Orbit: Power Up—The History of Video Games by Michael Frizell and Roe Mêsquita (TidalWave Productions)
- Scenes from Awajima, Vol. 1 by Takako Shimura (Yen Press)
- The Nobody (New Edition) by Jeff Lemire (Dark Horse)
- The Ragnarok System of the Desperate Reincarnated Demon Lord and the Seven Aggressive Maidens, Vol. 1 by Kenji Saito and GUNP (Yen Press)
- Thundarr The Barbarian #1 by Jason Aaron and Kewber Baal (Dynamite)
- Ursula #1 by Sherri L. Smith and Gabriele Bagnoli (Dynamite)
Rob Randle is the Director of Content Management for LibraryPass, and has worked in and around the comic book industry in various capacities, including as a book reviewer for the NY Journal of Books, and a judge for various comic book industry awards—the 2006 Eisner Awards, among others. Before joining LibraryPass, he had been the Director of Publishing for iVerse Media LLC since 2010, and prior to that was a purchasing manager for Diamond Comic Distributors where he helped to manage the monthly Previews catalog for close to a decade starting in 2002. Additionally, Rob occasionally does freelance work as a comics creator, and is the author of the critically acclaimed graphic novel Serial Artist. Rob holds a B.A. of Illustration from the Maryland Institute, College of Art (MICA).
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