What is Zuda Comics? That’s a great question. The short answer is that it’s an all-new line of Web Comics. The longer answer is that Zuda Comics are whatever you make of them.
Zuda Comics is the webcomics division of DC. You can design your own comic for entry into their monthly competition, vote for your favourite entry, or simply enjoy the ones already online.
While we’re on the subject, you can find the DC comics website here, and don’t forget to check out our collection of them in your library branch.
Zuda Comics collects user-submitted comics. The comics then compete with one another – they’re rated by users – and the winner is published. There’s some great work there, and the latest, Dracula vs. Santa, is hysterical. My aching sides!
The American Library Association, together with its rather unattractive website*, has produced a list of 10 great graphic novels/ series that were published in 2008. We even have some, which I’ll list below.
Life Sucks, by Jessica Abel, Gabriel Soria and Warren Pleece
Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan, by Aimee Major Steinberger
Skim, by Mariko Tamaki; drawings by Jillian Tamaki
The Umbrella Academy. Volume 1, Apocalypse suite, by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba
(I feel almost exactly like one of those Academy Award presenters typing that, but without the frock and the fame and the botox.)
* sorry sorry, but it’s true!
This Digital Inspiration blog post entitled, informatively, Create your own Garfield Comic Strip, will introduce you to the wonderful world of, well, creating your own Garfield comic strip. In summary, you can download this application and drag and drop (so you can do it if you can’t draw) and hey presto! I guess it’s similar to creating your own giant squid (mine has now swum 180 kilometres and most recently beat up a diver).
More new books from last week and this week. Christmas week!
Last Kiss of the Butterfly, by Jill Hucklesby (287 pages) – Jaz is a London girl and proud of it, but her mother – who has cancer – wants the two of them to spend a final summer in a cottage on the marshes. Not quite what Jaz wants, until she meets Ethan, who’s quiet but a bit of a stunner.
First sentence: ‘Here with me.’
Hunting Elephants, by James Roy (339 pages) – Harry’s Uncle Frank’s Vietnam War experiences threaten to exacerbate family tensions. And! There may be a crazed gunman in the bushes.
First sentence: ‘Harry was dying.’
The Celebutantes : In The Club, The Celebutantes : To The Penthouse, and The Celebutantes : On The Avenue, all by Antonion Pagliarulo (327, 356, and 340 pages respectively) – The Hamiton triplets are named Madison, Park, and Lexington, and are rich heiresses living in New York. Sort of like the Gossip Girl books, but with richer, more famous girls.
First sentences (in order): ‘She reached for her sunglasses.’ ‘The Ambassadors for the Arts Luncheon, held annually in the legendary Conrad Suite of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, had officially begun.’ ‘Night fell cool and crazy over Manhattan, the streets buzzing with the first hint of spring.’
Antsy Does Time, by Neal Shüsterman (247 pages) – Fourteen-year-old Ansty (short for Anthony) learns about life when his terminally-ill friend (with the awesome name, Gunnar Ümlaut) feels hopeful for the future.
First sentences: ‘It was all my idea. The stupid ones usually are.’
Into the Dark : An Echo Falls Mystery, by Peter Abrahams (262 pages) – Super-sleuth Ingrid Levin-Hill finds a body while out snowshoeing (which is when you walk on snow while wearing shoes that resemble tennis racquets). Unfortunately, the body is on her grandfather’s land and he’s sent to jail. Ingrid needs to uncover the past to find out the truth.
First sentence: ‘“Brucie?” said Jill Monteiro, director of the Prescott Players.’
Gay America : Struggle for Equality, by Linas Alsenas (160 pages)[Non-fiction] - This is an extensive and very interesting history of gay rights in America, written for teen readers.
Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances, by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle (352 pages) – There are three stories in this book about high school romance. Although written by different authors the stories are connected. As the title suggests the stories rely rather on a white Christmas – but we’re used to that.
First sentence from each story: ‘It was the night before Christmas.’ ‘JP and the Duke and I were four movies in to our James Bond marathon when my mother called home for the sixth time in five hours.’ ‘Being me sucked.’
A World Away, by Pauline Francis (316 pages) – Nadie is an American Indian girl who is taken by the early settlers of America back to England, to display to Queen Elizabeth I. There she falls in love with Tom, a blacksmith; can he survive with her, back in her own country? I could tell you … but I won’t.
First sentence: ‘Flames light the length of my mother’s body and lick around her slender neck.‘
The Mendini Canticle, by Brian Keaney (201 pages) – This is book three in the science fiction series, Promises of Dr Sigmundus.
First sentence: ‘The storm that had raged over the south of Gehenna had finally blown itself out.’
Crowboy, by David Calcutt (233 pages) – A war-torn city with gangs of warring children. Sort of a cross between Mad Max and Lord of the Flies, according to Amazon (where it reviews well).
First sentence: ‘So I’m outside the city one evening on me usual rounds, sorting through the leftovers and picking me way through the day’s dead.‘
Drawing Words and Writing Pictures : Making Comics: Manga, Graphic Novels, and Beyond, by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden (282 pages) [non fiction] - This is a ‘definitive course from concept to comic in 15 lessons’. It’s a very, very nice book, laden with illustrations and guides. I’d go so far as to say that it’s the definitive book for people wanting to write and draw their own comics.
Merry Christmas, yall!
The Green Lantern film is going ahead and should be out in 2010, which is good news if you’re a fan of the comic hero, or enjoy film adaptions of superhero comics. Green Lantern isn’t one particular hero, but is instead the title given to any member of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force who use their power rings to do some pretty cool stuff. They inhabit the same reality as Superman and Batman, and I’m not sure who would win in a fight. My money would be on Superman, to be honest.
(Our Green Lantern collection is here.)
GoComics is a website run by the company who distribute Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, and a loads more daily comic strips. You get to select the kinds of strips you like and then spend all morning reading them – although there is only so much Garfield you can take.
A massive stack of new graphic novels has arrived. There are (like the new books) too many to list, but here are some of the outstandings ones.
There are about fifty other new comics. Most are new installments of established series, from J.S.A., Batman and Spiderman to The Hardy Boys, Duck Tales and Avalon High. Check them out!
A stack of new comics have arrived and are available to you all. We have:
There’s a lot more, inside … Read more…
Otago Museum’s SciCity is an interactive website that is laden with games. What’s notable is that you can create your own avatar, earn SciCity dollars that you can spend on technology, and chat with other users! It’s pretty addictive, but in the good, educational way. Otago Museum also produces the Cosmix Comic books, which are all online. We often have free copies in the library as well.
We have several new manga series in the library. Angelic Layer is a five-volume series by CLAMP (the group of female manga artists who were responsible for Cardcaptor Sakura). This manga is about a futuristic sport where competitors match tiny robots – or angels – against one another.
We also stock the first fifteen volumes of the bestselling manga Fullmetal Alchemist, by Hiromu Arakawa. Edward and Alphonse Elric are talented alchemists. An attempt to bring their mother back costs Alphonse his body and Edward some limbs. They seek the fabled Philosopher’s Stone to make them whole again – even though their new prosthetics are really very cool.
These are very popular!
Elfquest was a comic series that began in the late 70s, and it is still being published today. We have several graphic novels in the library. But! Like all good things, it can be found for free on the Internet. Each week several issues are added to the archives at the Elfquest website – eventually all 6000 pages (!) will be available.
Enjoy!
Kiwi comics is your portal to the New Zealand comic scene. This wiki-style site allows you to keep in contact with creators and comic dealers around the country, find out about comic cons and other events, plus much, much more!
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