Carly Usdin – The Hub

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2022) Featured Review of Ghosted in L.A., Vol. 2-3 by Sina Grace, Siobhan Keenan, and Cathy Le

Ghosted in L.A., vol. 2–3 by Sina Grace, Siobhan Keenan, and Cathy Le
BOOM! Box / BOOM! Studios
Publication Date: September 1, 2020; December 29, 2020
ISBN: 9781684155415, 9781684156047

In the second and third volumes of Ghosted in L.A., college student Daphne adjusts to her new home with the ghosts of Rycroft Manor. On top of school work and navigating relationships with her ghost roommates, she also must deal with sinister forces both inside and outside the house. Meanwhile, her gay ex-boyfriend Ronnie joins the Rycroft crew and tries to fit in among the other queer students at college. These worlds collide in the culmination of the series, which wraps up tidily in the third and final volume.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, November 19 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Heavy Vinyl, vol. 2: Y2K-)! by Carly Usdin and Nina Vakueva Book Cover — *Heavy Vinyl, vol. 2: Y2K-0!* by Carly Usdin and Nina Vakueva

Heavy Vinyl, vol. 2: Y2K-0! by Carly Usdin and Nina Vakueva
BOOM! Box / BOOM! Studios
Publication Date: March 25, 2020
ISBN: 9781684154951

It’s 1999 in New Jersey. Seventeen-year-old Sam is working at Vinyl Destination, a record store where she and her coworkers sell music, play in a band, and operate a fight club. When her coworker Kennedy discovers that someone is attaching a virus to music downloaded off “Snapster” and burned to CDs, the crew is on the case. They’re sure music executive Rick Blaze is behind it and that it is somehow connected to the Y2K turnover. Luckily, they’ve won a battle of the bands contest to open the New Year’s Eve show at Time Square, giving them just the right setting to save the day.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, March 5 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

The Strange Ones by Jeremy Jusay
Gallery 13 / Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: January 14, 2020
ISBN: 9781982101121

A serendipitous meeting at a Belly concert in Manhattan between Anjeline and Franck, two loner teens in NYC in the early 1990s, leads to an epic friendship and much more. As they journey back and forth to Staten Island, they bond over music, family, and ennui. We see their relationship develop, and their loner armor slowly begins to melt.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2020) Nominees Round Up, November 25 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Beast Rider by Tony Johnston and Maria Elena Fontandt De Rhoads
Abrams
Publication Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 9781419733635

Manuel has one goal; to get to Los Angeles and his older brother. In order to do this he will have to jump on a train, The Beast, and ride on the roof until it crosses into the US. But it isn’t that easy when you are 12. Manuel encounters many setbacks on his voyage including police, gangs, thieves, starvation and someone even steals his shoes. Getting to his brother takes years.

While this story at first appears hopeless, Manuel never loses sight of his goal and shows his resilience to all of these obstacles and even meets some kind people who give him a meal and nurse him back to life after being left for dead.

This title is recommended for readers who have enjoyed Sedgwick’s Saint Death (2016), Anderson’s Border Crossing (2009) or Bowles poems They Call Me Guero (2018).

–Jessica Lorentz Smith

Copycat by Hannah Jayne
Sourcebooks/ Sourcebooks
Publication Date: July 3, 2018
ISBN: 9781492647393 Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2020) Nominees Round Up, November 25 Edition

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, July 11 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

The Avant-Guards, vol. 1 by Carly Usdin and Noah Hayes
Boom! Studios
ISBN: 978-1684153670
Publication Date: September 3, 2019

When Charlie transfers to The Georgia O’Keefe College for Arts and Subtle Dramatics, she thought she was done with basketball and the pressures of college athletics. Struggling to fit in and feel comfortable in a strange new environment, the last thing she wants is the added pressures of basketball on top of everything else. She doesn’t count on Liv, the passionate and exuberant basketball player determined to start a women’s league at O’Keefe. With Liv’s drive and help from the other quirky yet welcoming members of the team, Charlie realizes that this squad might not stress her out like the previous team she fled in the past. Also, She may have found the kind of friends she was looking for—and maybe even a new girlfriend.

Continue reading Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, July 11 Edition

#GGN2019 Nominees Round Up, June 9 Edition

Casa Nostra by Chris Sarracini and Nick Kilislian
Udon Entertainment
Publication Date: December 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1772940558

In 1933, Claire owns a safe house which offers mobsters a place to hide from the authorities. In return, she asks only for payment and for the men to follow her rules. By her side are her three friends: Sharleen, the daughter of a field medic who performs plastic surgery for criminals; Annabelle, Claire’s adopted daughter; and Rosa who spent five years in prison for a crime she won’t discuss. When the Syndicate orders Claire to take in Rizzo, Al Capone’s golden boy who is wanted for a series of brutal murders, she must skillfully navigate a man’s world in order to get revenge and save innocent women from Rizzo’s sadistic killing spree.

Continue reading #GGN2019 Nominees Round Up, June 9 Edition

Women in Comics – Looking Ahead to 2018

As another year begins, it’s time to look ahead to the exciting new comics and graphic novels by women that we can expect in 2018. Hopefully this list will give you something to look forward to as the new year starts!

Cover of All Summer Long by Hope Larson Cover of Be Prepared by Vera Bergasol Cover of Moonstruck by Grace Ellis Continue reading Women in Comics – Looking Ahead to 2018