March Comics Roundup

I have a few odds and ends that are worth highlighting this month. Here goes.

Fans of my Goodreads page will note that the Salem Press Graphic Novel encyclopedia I contributed to is out next month. If you are a library and have money or are independently wealthy, feel free to purchase the book here. I'm excited it's finally out. It's also worth noting that DC Comics just tweeted about a Flashpoint giveaway that you can view here. Enter to Win. You know I just did.

This month I read both Wolverine & Jubilee and vol. 2 of Gotham City Sirens (the latter which I bought at Bergen Street Comics - I finally visited!). I recommend both books, and will probably be providing extended reviews of both of them for my new gig on Graphic Novel Reporter reviewing things that I read. You can read my first review on the special edition of Oni Press' Courtney Crumrin here.

If you don't think I update my blog enough, be sure to check me out on Yelp. I've been catching up on my back log lately. While I still don't review a place every day, I've been updating my reviews a lot more there. I hope to eventually get down to the Midtown Comics in NYC's financial district soon since I still have yet to go. I have a cool list of NYC comic shops you can read about there.

Wednesday also means 'new comic day.' Here's the issues I bought for this week:

Year in Review: Top 10 & Updates

So, even though I am still computer-less and fancy free, I have been hard at work bringing you something I know you've all been on the edge of your seats for. Since it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, you probably guessed it's time for my annual: Top 10 YA Books of 2011 list. It has become an annual tradition since I did an okay version last year and my definitively awesome list in 2009. This was in large part due to teachers requesting fiction titles in list form when I worked in the Bronx, especially titles I booktalked when I visited their schools. Since I don't do that any more, it's emerged more as a way to rank titles I review for School Library Journal and feature titles that I read for non-review purposes (this year, that included The Doomsday Box which I got from LibraryThing and A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie from a teacher I knew from the Bronx).

Best Scene in Anything Ever

There are three flowers in a vase...

The first flower is yellow.

Holiday Break

My computer broke the day before yesterday. I'm angry like Ramona Flowers.

Suffice it to say, there will be a lack of updates for the foreseeable future.

Moving on Up

Come hell or high water, I'm going to be moving at some point next year. As a result, I've been going through lots of stuff in my apartment and putting them, both mentally and physically in the 'keep/not keep' piles. Books are always the first thing I do this with, and as a result, I've either been donating my books to the library or moving them to a work shelf for safe keeping. So this is what I have left-

Pretty soon, they won't even be there. I'll be moving at least 3 or 4 before the Christmas break, and one of those books is an X-Mas present for my dad. Pretty eclectic group left, huh?

Anyway, I'm both sad and excited about it. SO WHY NOT BLOG IT!?

Graphic Novels Project Update

So... I have some good news!


I would have posted this yesterday, but I was a good kid and actually updated the blog then. And who wants two entries from me on the same day? No one, that's who. But I'm happy to report ::drumroll please:: There's is finally a title, ISBN, and release date for the graphic novel encyclopedia I spent a good portion of my life writing! Remember me complaining? Yay!!

<--- is one possible cover for it.

Critical Survey of Graphic Novels: HEROES & SUPERHEROES (978-1-58765-865-5) is the name and it retails for a whooping $295.00. You may not want to buy this one yourself, kids. But do encourage your local library to buy it, especially if it's an academic library with an art program. The release date says April, but many list it as 3/25/12.

Gobble Gobble

Again, I am guilty for not really updating. But there's not a lot to say. I'm continuing to read Past Continuous ... and I'm enjoying it. It's weird. The story is very sci-fi and not really plausible, but the protagonist is kind of a fun guy to read. I can relate to him, and he's kind of an ass, yet he's still somehow cool at the same time. There's pretty hard for an author to pull off in a young adult book, in my humble opinion.

I still have to read Peter David's Fallen Angel book I bought at NYCC. I'm wondering what to bring home for reading. I may do Laura Bennett's book, which I still have yet to read, and maybe finally will when I'm on the bus headed back to New Hampshire in a couple of weeks. Of course, I'm defeating the entire idea behind owning a nook. That fact is supposed to prevent me from bringing a bunch of books home with me. But what's wrong with two or three... right!?

Anyway, I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. I'm planning a trip to the comic store soon, so hopefully I'll be able to post some covers of things I'm reading.

What's Been Going On

I know it seems like I've been Absent Abby for the past few weeks, but I have been up to stuff:

I'm finally reading a new book (pictured right). I finished the first chapter and it's weird.

Not blogging here? 'cause I just wrote a blog for work. Sadly, it takes priority.

I've also been yelping up a storm, basically putting a new review up every day.

Also, if you miss me, I have not forsaken my Twitter account, which I update often.

I was writing a post about my experiences at the New York Comic Con, but it turned really negative really fast. I think I might just skip talking about it after all.

I haven't really gone out and bought any comics, either. I'm still reading Batgirl, Teen Titans, and Superboy from the New 52 round, but I might drop Superboy soon. Buffy has got her groove back, and X-Factor still remains my favorite. Wolverine and the X-Men actually isn't that bad, either. I'll post next time I buy stuff.

Coming Soon: NYCC Updates

So the New York Comic Con has came and went, and there has been very little in the way of updates on this here blog. Not to worry! I will be giving you some useless information soon, a NYCC summary, and even a Comic Book Buying Binge NYCC edition. I actually picked up a lot less comics than you might think at um, er... an entire convention that was supposed to be about comic books. It turns out? There's a lot of other non-comic related entities there now, but we'll get to that when we get to that.

Hopefully I'll have some time in November to update a few regular features. I have a new Fallen Angel TB from Peter David which I can do an 'In Review' segment for, and I'll probably be picking up a few more of the DC titles that have been rebooted. I think, out of all of them, Batgirl has become my favorite title. I've getting a lot of flak from some lady friends of mine who are sad I'm not more into Batwoman, though. I'm sad, too. But I'm really not in a rush to read it. Sometimes you just have to wait for trades.

Just wanted to let y'all now... I haven't forgotten to update! It's just been hectic lately. So I promise tons of fun stuff soon.

Comic Book Binge Buying #2

Gaming Day + General Updates

As September draws to a close, I find myself much less busy than I was over the summer. I am no longer blogging every week for work (I actually probably won't ever promise to do that again, in retrospect) and now that I'm no longer working for Kirkus, I'm patiently seeing if the fall season brings me any new review books from School Library Journal. At home, I'm still finishing up 'Breadcrumbs' - I've been taking my time with it, because... well, it's just a fantastic book.

At work, I'll be gearing up for National Gaming Day soon. This is the annual initiative of the ALA where we go pro-board and pro-video games. I've learned some things from last year: my event will be four hours instead of six, focusing on the hours when it got especially busy. We're also doing it exclusively in the afternoon, since no one really came in during the morning. I'm excited for it. I plan on playing a bunch of a Mortal Kombat vs. the DC Universe that day.

Not a lot to report... it's sad that when I actually have time to blog, I don't have much to blog about. Check my Goodreads profile for books I'm reading/read, as I've been really good about updating it lately. When October is over, the Children's Book List for 2011 should be completed, so I don't even know what I plan on doing with myself then.

Comic Book Binge Buying #1

Sucker for a 'Dark Fairy Tale' ...

I have, once again, accept the guilt of all guilts for not updating. Since I'm writing to you finally, it's safe to assume (and you'd be correct!) that I've taken my semi-regular 'reading break' and I don't currently have any review books pending. After a kind of review-heavy summer, I have to say... that's kind of welcome.

I did bring home a book from work, though. You never know when you might start to get the reading itch, and I have quite a bit of lag time during a morning of boring laundry tomorrow. 'Breadcrumbs' by Anne Ursu won 'book that peeked my interest the most' by a landslide at our last children's book list pow-wow. Even though we're set to talk about nonfiction at this Monday's meeting, the book was described as sort of a darker version of a modern fairy tale ... and I do love it whenever anyone describes a book for kids that way. The cover is also ominous. It tells you nothing. There's something about that that makes it too wicked for me not to read the book. If you're still with me, yeah... I'm weird.

It's also worth noting that I'm no longer currently writing for Kirkus Reviews. The 'new' section of the magazine I've been contributing to - Lifestyle - was started in February, but wasn't really bringing in advertising revenue and I guess wasn't generating the buzz they thought it would in general, so Kirkus decided to shut it down. I've had a mixed reaction to this news, but it's worth noting that overall, my experience working for Kirkus has been an overall positive one. I'll miss little post-its from Karen, my editor, and wouldn't rule out working for the publication at some future date. A big thank you to my librarian friend Laura; if it wasn't for her, I never would have known about nor written for Kirkus in the first place.

I did spend $20.98 on comics this week, and bought a few of the early DC 'reboot' titles. You might get some blogs (or lets be real, a single blog) on that sometime soon.

What Do *I* Know about Kids' Books?

Over Labor Day weekend, I got the chance to catch with my friend Rose, the Librarian. Die-hard followers of my blog may remember her from my adventure to Washington D.C. last summer when I went to the ALA conference. Rose is one of the members of the Stonewall Book Awards, where she reads a variety of material that is GLBTQ related. Her and other committee members then debate amongst themselves over which book is the best. It can be immensely frustrating (there's A LOT of books), but it can also be a lot of fun and ultimately rewarding. Prior to Rose joining, I was on the committee for an extremely brief time and was a member of the committee for the 2010 Award Winners List. I took over the position from someone else, so I always feel iffy talking 'bout it.

Karen Green [with Envy]

Y'all know I like to toot my own own horn. But I can also accept when a blog is just better than mine. And Karen Green's blog, Comic Adventures in Academia, is much, much better than anything I write here. Karen works at Columbia University, and I've had the chance to meet her and speak on stage with her twice (at the New York Comic Con and Book Expo America, respectively).


Karen's latest blog, Four Nights in the Museum, highlights not only a great graphic work that deserves attention, but showcases Karen's amazing talents as a writer. I love reading anything she comes out with because hey, let's face it... she's like waaaay smarter than I am.

Adult Books Can be Fun, too

I don't often talk a lot about the books I read for Kirkus Reviews. I do like to say I review for them since I've picked up the gig. It might have to do with how they pay me, and I tend to like people who do that. But I don't review youth fiction titles for them, which in the past has been more of my niche. I've moved on to the world of adult nonfiction, and the section I write for - 'Lifestyles' - tends to deal with more 'popular topics' like parenting, philosophy, social media, and college acceptance.

Not all of the books I've read have been bad. Granted, some have been stinkers... but nonfiction can be kind of stuffy regardless of how well written it is or it isn't most of them time. A rare exception is the book I'm reading now titled Raised by the Church. The novel recounts Edward Rohs' experience growing up in the 1950s and 1960s in NYC in a series of Catholic orphanages. He also spent part of the time in Long Island. I've always wanted to read more about New York City seeing as how I live here now, but don't often find the excuse.

Not only does Edward's story get told, but he also gives a brief historical overview of everything from the number of and reasons why there were so many orphans in the early twentieth century to a comprehensive background of the order of nuns who were primarily responsible for raising him. It might be the Catholic schoolboy in me, but his story is just hard to put down. I actually almost missed my stop on the subway today reading it... and I'm not even halfway done. It comes out in a few months, but I definitely recommend reading it.

There will also be a book release party for the title in NYC during November.

Sizzlin' Smokin' Summer

Sorry for the lack of updates, kids.

I've been busy at work attempting to blog at least once a week. While I think this makes the quality of my blogs take a little bit of a nosedive, it has been kind of fun to set this up as sort of a weekly challenge for myself. I'm planning on doing keeping pace with this until the end of August. That's when I'll be done with my weekly blog "series." The best part? The background research is watching old television shows.

I have also been busy reviewing books like a MoFo. This includes the rather lazy post a few weeks ago where I just up some covers of books I was in the process of reviewing. I've gotten through those, and now have two new ones from School Library Journal (including the one who's cover you are seeing). I can't see "Geek Wisdom" is one of my favorite books, but it does have nerdy footnotes at the bottom of every page, and there was one on Spider-Man I enjoyed.

Sadly, with my review duties at Kirkus and my attempts to finish up work on the Salem Press/EBSCO "Graphic Novels" reference project (I'm writing about WONDER WOMAN this time, which is actually a lot more fun than it probably sounds) I have kind of a busy summer in store for myself. That means this blog? Going to get neglected. Hopefully in the fall (or if I just find myself with oodles of time), I'll get back to updating on a regular basis. I want to be better, I swear. Maybe. Probably.

Some New Books for the New Year

Remember me? Just like the little girl from that movie Poltergeist, I'm baaaaaaaaaaack.

The good news? I've actually been reading.

School Library Journal, in its infinite wisdom, has been sending me a bunch of non-graphic novel titles to review. While one of my previous reviews was indeed published this month, check out my first fiction review for their magazine since 2009. At the moment, and to the right of this paragraph, you can see the nonfiction book I'm currently working my way through for professional review purposes. This book, a follow up to the YA semi-hit Tweak from a few years ago is... well, I'm not actually loving the story. And it's not in my crotchety old man it-glorifies-drugs way. I'm just finding the prose kind of all over the place; it's kind of trying to be a love story, but the protagonist is so self-involved and introspective that it really isn't about two people at all. Also, he's not exactly a character you can either identify with or even like. I mean, I'm a third of the way through the story. I'm invested to finish. But still. This is why I don't recommend to anyone that you should continue to read titles you aren't enjoying. I forgot how horrible that can be. I've been kind of lucky up until this point; SLJ has been sending me things I actually like. Law of averages though. Not every book can be as good as the last.

It's Lovely Weather for a Sleigh Ride Together…

It's hard to believe it's December 2010 already.

I like to think I started an annual tradition last year with my Top 10 Young Adult Books for 2009. Since I've gotten some positive feedback from the list recently in my library, I went ahead and created a NEW! Top 10 Young Young Adult Books for 2010! Exciting, right!? A few of the titles were originally published in 2009 but I managed to read all of them in the last year. I actually already have two titles to add to next year's list as well.

Also this month, the piece I wrote for Graphic Novel Reporter is now up online. Check out How to Build a Dynamic Comic Social Hour if you are interested in starting a graphic novel / comic discussion group at your bookstore or library. I've also included a permanent link to GNR on the right side of the blog. They're a great resource for librarians (including a great graphic novel core list) and anyone else interested.

The Epic End of October Updates & Stuff

I'm proud of you guys for sticking with me during all my Buffy posts. I know not everyone was into it... but admit it. Some of you were. I threw in an X-Men and Batman title for balance, just in case Buffy was not your thing. I had a good time at New York Comic-Con 2010. For those that attended my panel, or didn't but wanted to, I did want to provide the handout for anyone that didn't get a copy. What's coming up in 2010, you ask? I am going to tackle a big collection in X-Men: Fall of the Mutants during the next few weeks that will be divided into three parts (Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants respectively). The majority of my Vintage posts are done. I only have a few titles left to review, none of which will really be "vintage." Two were even published in the last year. I feel like it's the end of an era, so I've been thinking a lot about what direction this little blog should go in for 2011.

Here's a little image preview of a few covers from upcoming year-end entries: