Comics Briefly

Book Review Comic by Bechdel; New Runaways Creators Revealed; S. Clay Wilson Needs Help; Hernandez and Sakai Signing; Bleach, Naruto Movies on iTunes; Secret Identity Launch Party; War of Kings #1 Free Online and Princess Diana in Female Force

Panelmania: Remake

A robot boy named Max Guy battles bookstore shoppers in this exclusive 6-page preview of Remake, a collection of comics by Lamar Abrams that mixes manga-style action with pure absurdity. Remake will be released by Adhouse Books in May.

A Garland of Garlands: 2009 Poetry Anthologies

The father of all poetry anthologies was Greek—the Anthologia Graeca, known in English as The Greek Anthology, the first version a collection of epigrams and poems compiled by Meleager of Gadara. That was in the first century B.C. Ever since, the poetry anthology has endured as a form that strives to represent or establish a particular tradition or mode of practice.

The New Storytelling: Multimedia Children's Publishing

Back in early December, when we meet with Lisa Holton about her new book packaging company, Fourth Story Media, it seems like an oddly exhilarating moment to be discussing a start-up, much less a book publishing start-up. Back then, word had just leaked that Houghton Mifflin wasn't acquiring new books.

Children's Book Reviews: Week of 3/30/09

Picture Books What Is This? Antje Damm . Frances Lincoln (PGW, dist.), $15.95 (96p) ISBN 978-1-84507-899-7 Buttons become pig noses and a kitchen faucet turns into a swan under Damm's inventive hand. This appealing title, in line with Damm's Ask Me, invites readers to imagine what ordinary objects could become, given the addition of some paint, paper or clay.

Nonfiction Book Reviews: Week of 3/30/09

The Management Myth: Management Consulting Past, Present, and Largely Bogus Matthew Stewart . Norton , $27.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-393-06553-4 Stewart (The Courtier and the Heretic) reflects on his unconventional path to becoming a successful management consultant—despite a complete lack of business knowledge or experience, let alone an MBA.

Fiction Book Reviews: Week of 3/30/09

The Story Sisters Alice Hoffman . Crown/Shaye Areheart , $25 (336p) ISBN 978-0-307-39386-9 Lyrical but atypically monotonous, bestseller Hoffman's (The Third Angel) latest follows the dark family saga of Elv, Megan and Claire Story, sisters plagued by uncommon sadness. As a child, Elv spun fairy tales of a magical world for her sisters, but a period of savage sexual abuse—information a...

Haunted House: PW's Book of the Week

The Little Stranger Sarah Waters . Riverhead , $26.95 (464p) ISBN 978-1-59448-880-1 Waters (The Night Watch) reflects on the collapse of the British class system after WWII in a stunning haunted house tale whose ghosts are as horrifying as any in Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Doctor Faraday, a lonely bachelor, first visited Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked as a pa...

Sustaining for Sustenance: 2009 Gardening Books

Despite publishing's massive layoffs and other cost-cutting measures, many gardening publishers have noted an increase in their annual sales. This is due in large part to a renewed excitement surrounding books on organic gardening and, especially, sustainable gardening techniques. Chelsea Green publisher Margo Baldwin says gardening publishers are releasing titles on sustainability to tap into ...

Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 3/30/2009

Upbeat ComicsPro Confab Generates Optimism

The four day annual ComicsPRO convention brings together about 100 retailers dedicated to uniting the comics retail segment to address issues and solve problems.

First New England Webcomics Weekend a Big Success

Creators, hobbyists, and the intellectually curious came from across the country to participate in Webcomics Weekend, which was held on March 20 - 22 in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

Chmakova’s Nightschool is First In Its Class

One of a handful of non-Japanese original manga creators who have achieved both critical and commercial success, Svetlana Chmakova is now releasing the first volume of Nightschool, a new original manga series that will be published by Yen Press in April.

Guibert Revisits War in The Photographer

First Second Books and artist Emmanuel Guibert have again teamed up to bring to the U.S. graphic novel market The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders, another tale of a life shaped by war.

Comics Briefly

DC Launches Wednesday Comics Weekly; New Leadership at CBLDF; Viz Takes Entire NYT List; US, Japan Synch Anime Release; Morning Manga Winners; Spider-Girl Returns Online; Star Trek Movie Comic Goes Mobile; Humbug Comes to The Strand and First Cosplay Party At Japan Society

Panelmania: Planet of Beer

Finding What Matters: PW Talks to Author Binnie Kirshenbaum

Binnie Kirshenbaum's ninth book, The Scenic Route, a wistful love story played out among the cities and byways of Europe, has a digressive road map all its own What was the inspiration for Sylvia, who narrates your novel? There's a picture of my great-grandmother on the wall in my living room, and one day I realized I didn't know her name, and I had no family left who would t...

Sisters with a Secret

Shanghai Girls Lisa See . Random , $25 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6711-4 See (Peony in Love) explores tradition, the ravages of war and the importance of family in her excellent latest. Pearl and her younger sister, May, enjoy an upper-crust life in 1930s Shanghai, until their father reveals that his gambling habit has decimated the family's finances and to make good on his debts, he has sold bo...

Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 3/23/2009

This week's Web: a chorus of modern African Americans, an army chaplain on the field and at home, the true story of fake history, and a "Real Housewife of New York City" (the single one) on uncovering the thin within. Plus: Elizabeth Gilbert gets skewered, Hollis Frampton gets collected, and five new reviews for kids.

A Thriller With a Conscience: A Profile of Greg Rucka

Greg Rucka doesn’t look like the kind of guy who could kill someone with his bare hands. But any of his characters—bodyguard-turned-fugitive Atticus Kodiak, ex-assassin Alena, British Special Intelligence Services spy Tara Chace—could take you out with one well-placed punch. “A few years ago, people would have said that I look like the people I write about,” laughs Rucka over coffee in Portland, Ore., where he lives with his wife and two children.