First Second Books - Doodles and Dailies

ALAN'S WAR profiled in Publisher's Weekly

An exquisite piece from Kate Culkin in Publisher's Weekly—can be read here.

SLOW STORM release party at ROCKETSHIP in Brooklyn!

Tonight in Brooklyn! RELEASE PARTY for SLOW STORM with its author and artist Danica Novgorodoff at the world class ROCKETSHIP store!

THE LOST COLONY 3 PW REVIEW

The Lost Colony series generates fierce criticism and passionate praise. Publishers Weekly just posted a review for Book Three of Grady Klein's series, LAST RIGHTS.

The Lost Colony 3: Last Rights Grady Klein. Roaring Brook/First Second, $18.95 paper (160p) ISBN 978-1-59643-099-0

Like some fairy tale take on the Old South, peopled with fantastic characters and lightly leavened with satire, Klein's third Lost Colony volume is a treat from start to finish. On the titular utopian island, where verdant fields are bounded by lushly blooming trees and picturesque mountains that initially obscure the dark past of the humans living there, spoiled princess Birdy isn't sure where to turn with her problems. The loving flashbacks she has of her recently murdered grandfather are challenged by eruptions of truth about his violently racist character, while her stuckup mother appears smitten by the appearance of an old flame, the oleaginous Reverend Swagger. Meanwhile, Birdy, a spoiled and tempestuous tyke, continues to mistreat her one true friend, the ex-slave Louis. Klein's mixture of the real (shades of antebellum Southern racism) and the fantastic (magical rock sprites who inhabit the island and work in mysterious ways), combined with his wondrously bright visuals, make for a heady and occasionally even educational mixture. (Oct.)

To those who've caught The Lost Colony bug: please be contagious—let others know about it.

Eddie Campbell at Nottingham's Best Comic Shop "PAGE 45"

I was sorry to miss this one!

Photos and first hand account to be found here.

Also:

At the Thought Balloonist, Charles W. Hatfield posts a remarkable review of THE FATE OF THE ARTIST, from which I'm skimming a bit of cream here:

To those already entrained by Campbell’s rhythms the book is an openhanded, full-to-bursting gift, the culmination of a long, long process whose every step has been absorbing.

(...)

I don’t know of anyone in comic books who can compete with Campbell's graciousness and smarts, his devastatingly personal, sometimes harrowing and yet eminently civilized way of putting into order the jagged shards of experience and, in the process, fashioning a self that so many of us want to spend time with.

It’s been two years since I first [read] Fate. As I said, it keeps echoing round my brain. I decided early on, and still believe, that the book was wrung out of anger and, as Campbell half-acknowledges, a tormenting case of creative block.

Anger and desperation are the book’s arterial qualities, threading through and sustaining the thing, giving it a certain battery-on-the-tongue bitterness. How odd, then, that the end result should be so pleasurable, so inventive, and so extravagantly, profoundly, comic.

ROUND ROBIN discussion of ROBOT DREAMS on OPRAH'S LIST

At goodcomicsforkids.com here's a fascinating discussion about ROBOT DREAMS appearing on Oprah's Kids List—between a handful of librarian goddesses...Brigid Alverson, Robin Brenner, Eva Volin, Esther Keller, Snow Wildsmith and Kate Dacey

ROBOT DREAMS on Oprah's Book List!

Sara Varon's gem ROBOT DREAMS, is on Oprah's Kids Reading List!

PW's Remarkable Eddie Campbell Interview

"Growing up in Scotland, Eddie Campbell had two ambitions: to be a cowboy and to work in the circus."

After that introduction, what new and lofty heights are there for this PW interview to scale?  Find out!

"Growing up in Scotland, Eddie Campbell had two ambitions: to be a cowboy and to work in the circus."

After that introduction, what new and lofty heights are there for this PW interview to scale?  Find out!

Gene Yang and Derek Kirk Kim to Appear at Stumptown

Stumptown (Portland's indy comics festival) is this weekend.  First Second isn't going -- as much as we all enjoy the Portland comics scene, we're still recovering from the whirlwind that was New York Comic-Con. 

But two of our phenomenal authors will be there -- Gene Luen Yang, and Derek Kirk Kim.  And they'll be doing a panel on Saturday at 3 p.m. on their upcoming book from First Second. 

[image from Gene and Derek's upcoming gn]

George O'Connor on the Lenny Lopate Show

New York based readers of this blog may already be familiar with the Leonard Lopate show, the popular news/talk show on local public radio station WNYC. This Thursday, April 17th, our own George O'Connor will be a guest on the show to talk about his First Second graphic novel Journey into Mohawk Country. He'll be joined by Mr. Charles Gehring, the man who originally translated the diary of 17th century Dutch explorer Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, that serves as the text for the novel.

If you're interested in hearing what George sounds like, local listeners can tune in at 1:00 pm to either FM 93.9 or AM 820. For those more remote or the wired at heart, check out wnyc.org for mp3s and other listening options.




[http://geooco.blogspot.com/]

LAIKA: making-of site

Have a look-see: Nick Abadzis calls this gem a 'micro site' dedicated to the making of his LAIKA.

Well worth a visit, it's a beauty! It's an online version of the slideshow talk he gave at various venues last October and November when Laika came out. 

http://www.nickabadzis.com/laika/

"a luminous masterpiece filled with pathos and poignancy"—Kirkus Review