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Nonfiction Reviews
Digging for Dirt: The Life and Death of ODB Jaime Lowe . Faber and Faber , $23 (240p) ISBN 978-0-86547-969-2 Ol’ Dirty Bastard was one of the founding members of hip-hop’s Wu-Tang Clan, “the heart and soul of the group” in its early years, although he had embarked on a solo career before he died of an accidental drug overdose.
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Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 8/25/2008
An imperative week in Web Reviews: China, make room for Africa; crossworders, put down your pens; ladies, give up your no-good beaus; families, meet your new meal nanny; and New York City pet-owners, curb your damn dog. Plus: the complete story of the hardest music ever to come out of Visby, Finspäng, Hägersten-Liljeholmen, and many other funny-sounding Swedish places.
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DC Kids Line Continues to Grow, Succeed
In 2007, DC launched a new line of all-ages comics, bringing the stories of popular heroes such as Batman, Captain Marvel, the Teen Titans and others to young children. DC has no official age range for the books beyond saying they are aimed at young readers. The line has done well and now includes eight ongoing titles, with another, Supergirl's Cosmic Adventures of the 8th Grade, set to launch in the fall.
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Yen Press Highlights 4-Panel Manga Format
This summer, Yen Press is releasing four new series featuring four-panel manga, a Japanese manga format that looks like an American cartoon strip that runs vertically rather than horizontal.
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Trotman talks Templar
The business of Web comics depends on making money by giving something away for free. Not everyone can pull that off, but Charlie Trotman earns a living from her Web comic, Templar, Arizona, despite the fact that the entire comic is available online at no cost.
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Kyle Baker: When Stupid is Smart
Kyle Baker's new art book should be shelved in the self-help, self-improvement, new age-y section of the bookstore where folks try to find some direction in life. Kyle Baker has a message for THE PEOPLE. And what is Kyle Baker's message? Learn How To Draw, Stupid! No,wait, it's: Learn How To Draw Stupid. No comma after the word "draw", heh.
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Comics Briefly
Dash Shaw, Pantheon Ink Deal; Jake Parker Two-Book Pact; PW The Beat: Watchmen Fight; More; Nickelodeon Kids’ GN Award; Japan Society at NYAF; DMP to Rent Manga Online; Response to Tokyopop’s Postponed Titles; Spider-Man Free Online; Kyle Baker on NPR; Fresh Ink in Tokyo; Joe Chiappetta Interview; and Paul Sizer on The Pulse
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Panel Mania: Prince of Persia
In this 12-page preview from the upcoming Prince of Persia graphic novel, a young woman in ancient Persia undertakes a daring adventure. Created by Jordan Mechner, written by B. Sina and illustrated by LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland, the book is due out from First Second on September 2.
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Girls with Guitars: Apocalipstix Rocks
Artist Cameron Stewart and writer Ray Fawkes tell the tale of the Apocalipstix—an all-girl band who decide they’re not going to let Armageddon stop their cross-country tour! New from Oni Press.
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Portrait of the Artist
The Sky Below Stacey D'Erasmo . Houghton Mifflin , $24 (320p) ISBN 978-0-618-43925-6 A luminous novel crafted in meticulous detail with shimmering language, D'Erasmo's third book tells the story of Gabriel Callahan's life, beginning with his father's abandonment when Gabriel was a child and tracing his ambivalent search for wholeness through adolescence and into adulthood.
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Short-Order Author
Curmudgeonly chef Kenny Shopsin talked about his book, Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin, between shifts at his New York restaurant, Shopsin's General Store. You talk about “the art of staying small” and say you have no desire to oversee a Shopsin's restaurant empire or endorse a line of cookware.
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Fiction Reviews
Me and Kaminski Daniel Kehlmann , trans. from the German by Carol Brown Janeway. Pantheon , $21.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-307-37744-9 German literary wunderkind Kehlmann follows up Measuring the World (2006) with this curious and lesser novel. Self-conscious and yet completely un—self-aware, journalist Sebastian Zollner attempts to outdo his art critic rival by writing the biography of recl...
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Web Exclusive Reviews: 8/18/2008
On the Web: unremarkable remnants of young suburban angst, the sadly familiar gripes of one dispirited government spy, a hacked-together introduction to one of the world's holiest leaders, and a YA disappointment of major bloody proprotions. On the other hand: a fascinating look at the power-hungry 17th Century woman who controlled Pope Innocent X, and a gorgeous debut memoir reveals a woman's struggle to raise a son with severe cerebral palsy.
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Nonfiction Reviews
The Norman Maclean Reader Norman Maclean , edited with an intro. by O. Alan Weltzien. Univ. of Chicago , $27.50 (352p) ISBN 978-0-226-50026-3 Maclean (1902—1990), an English professor at the University of Chicago, did not establish himself as a writer until late in his life, but quickly gained national acclaim in 1989 for A River Runs Through It and Other Stories.
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Children's Book Reviews
Picture Books Queen of Style Caralyn Buehner , illus. by Mark Buehner. Dial , $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-803-72878-3 A bored royal turned overzealous cosmetician provides the spark for the husband-and-wife Buehners' (Snowmen at Night) quirky fable about empathy and gratitude. Fed up with nothing to do, Queen Sophie heeds her exasperated jester's advice to learn something.
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The Future Is Almost Now
Although comic books have always been a creature of print and paper and ink, the idea of converting them to computer screens is nothing new. Examples of digital comics date back to as early as 1985, and pirated comics have long been available to savvy Web users on underground BitTorrent sites. But publishers, ffor the most part, have ignored the whole issue of digital comics for years.
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Comics Briefly
CBLDF Benefit ; Viz releases Stan Lee Manga; PW The Beat:Time Warner; Fans of 1974; David Glanzer Speaks; Doug Wright Awards; NYAF Cosplay Day at Kinokuniya; FLCL Ultimate Ed. Defect; Stephen King’s The Stand; and Mark Miller, Tony Harris at Midtown Comics
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Fans Flock to Baltimore's Otakon
24,000 Fans flocked to the Baltimore Convention Center for this year’s Otakon, an anime and manga convention held August 8-10.
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Many Tokyopop Series ‘Postponed,’ Not Canceled
Despite rumors that Tokyopop canceled many titles in the wake of its reorganization, the company says that many of the titles purported to be on the chopping block will be published on a modified schedule.
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DK Lands on Comic Fans’ Coffee Tables
Dorling Kindersley is coming out this fall with not one but two new oversized hardcover books about the history of two large forces in the comics world: Marvel Comics and DC’s Vertigo imprint.
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