Organized by the Graphic Novel Reporter, the “Hottest Graphics Novels of 2012” panel, a rapid-fire rundown of the year’s best releases, has quickly become one of the more popular panels on graphic novels and comics at BookExpo America. For fans, retailers and librarians, the panel is a great primer for those looking to build a library collection or stock their store’s or their own shelves with surefire commercial and critical hits.
Hosted by Graphic Novel Reporter’s John Hogan, the panel consisted of PW Comics World’s Brigid Alverson, who also writes School Library Journal’s Good Comics for Kids blog, Emily Pullen, bookseller at Skylight books, Publishers Weekly’s own Heidi MacDonald, graphic novel reviews editor of PW and also editor of comics news and culture blog The Beat, Josh Christie, bookseller at Sherman’s Books and Stationary and editor at iFanboy and Karen Green, graphic novel librarian at Columbia University. The panel’s picks included a wide variety of genres from science fiction to memoir to children’s, and covered a diverse set of topics including world economics, time-traveling rodents, sumo wrestling and Jeffrey Dahmer. The creators varied as well, from blue-chip cartoonists like Chris Ware (Building Stories), Alison Bechdel (Are You My Mother?) and Charles Burns (The Hive), to newcomers like Pat Grant (Blue) and returning all-stars like Derek Kirk Kim (Tune: Vanishing Point). There was an evident wealth of books to choose from, and most of the panelists lamented being limited to only five picks, though there were some honorable mentions covered very briefly.
The complete list of 97 graphic novels including honorable mentions can be found on the Graphic Novel Reporter Website.
The panelists took turns speaking on each of their picks, providing brief synopses and reasons why said book was worth one’s attention. There’s no better way to assure the quality of something than receiving an honest firsthand account, and the five panelists’ recommendations acted as a reliable seal of quality. Both their expertise and excitement were reflected in the tone of their responses, which blended the venerable approval a seasoned connoisseur with the avid raving one may hear from a geeky friend or colleague. In fact, all seemed in agreement of each other’s choices, often echoing their endorsement and even unintentionally overlapping in the case of The Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (edited by Russ Kick; published by Seven Stories Press), which in fairness had probably made everyone’s shortlist.
The overall diversity of the selection pointed to comics’ increasing prominence in the publishing world, being able to convey ideas and emotions to any type of subject in a unique, alternative way to prose. The presence of faithful adaptations, including the aforementioned Graphic Canon, Hope Larson’s A Wrinkle in Time and the latest in Darwyn Cooke’s Parker series, showed how comics can even tell the same story as prose with parallel efficacy. In addition comics are more frequently being used to educate, providing a more approachable yet equally expressive form of communication, evidenced by a number of nonfiction, explanatory books such as Economix and Philosophy: A Discovery in Comics.
No one genre was overrepresented (even superheroes, the dominant sales force in the industry, only had a pair of Batman books make the extended list), and though the levels of sophistication varied, the five panelists’ range of selections shared the one common trait: Simply great comics readers should seek out and share.
