GGN2021 – Page 2

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, October 15 Edition

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

Flamer by Mike Curato
Henry Holt & Co. / Macmillan
Publication Date: September 1, 2020
ISBN: 9781250756145

Aiden spends a last summer at scout camp before high school, which he dreads. He had a terrible middle school experience. He’s bi-racial and gay (though he can’t admit it yet) and doesn’t know where he fits in or how to be himself in a world that actively mocks both of those things. He is religious, confused, crushing on his tent-mate, and desperate to figure himself out while also enjoying the only place he has friends and can occasionally be himself.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, October 8 Edition

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

All Together Now by Hope Larson
Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers / Macmillan
Publication Date: August 4, 2020
ISBN: 9780374313654

Bina and her friend Darcy are living it up, writing new songs, and shredding the guitar in their new band together. But when the two enlist fellow classmate Enzo to be their drummer and Darcy and Enzo’s relationship shifts into something new and unexpected, Bina’s left feeling betrayed and excluded. On top of that, Bina’s best friend Austin has been acting very weird ever since he broke up with his girlfriend, and Bina can’t help but wonder if it has something to do with her.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, September 24 Edition

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

Suncatcher by Jose Pimienta
Random House Graphic / Penguin Random House
Publication Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 9780593124826

Beatriz has always loved music and starts a band when she is in high school. Her connection to music comes from her grandfather who died eight years earlier. She discovers that her grandfather’s soul is trapped in his old guitar and he can only be freed if she plays the perfect song—a song of his that he never wrote down. Beatriz is consumed by music in an effort to free her grandfather and sacrifices friendships, the band, and her own wellbeing in the process.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, September 17 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 Way of the Househusband, vol. 1-4 by Kousuke Oono
VIZ Media
Publication Date: September 17, 2019; January 21, 2020; May 19, 2020; September 15, 2020
ISBN: 9781974709403, 9781974710447, 9781974713462, 9781974717675

The Way of the Househusband is a slice-of-life, slapstick-comedy manga that follows a former yakuza enforcer as he lives a normal life as a househusband. Tatsu, who was once known as “the Immortal Dragon,” is still an intense and intimidating figure, but he has focused his fervor on mastering the tasks of domestic life. He creates elaborate and adorable bento box lunches for his wife, participates in the activities of the neighborhood ladies’ association, and astounds his former yakuza associates and enemies with his new skills when he encounters them. Each new volume has laugh-out-loud moments and new twists so you never feel like you are just reading the same thing over and over.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, September 10 Edition

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

Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio by Derf Backderf
Abrams ComicArts / Abrams Books
Publication Date: September 4, 2020
ISBN: 9781419734847

A few days prior to the shooting of unarmed college students who were protesting the Vietnam War, 10-year-old Derf Backderf saw the Ohio National Guard arrive in his nearby town. On May 4, 1970, students were murdered and wounded by the same National Guard troop that had been sent in by the governor to squash a trucker strike. These four days in May are masterfully brought to graphic life through Derf’s words and illustrations. Like in his books My Friend Dahmer and Trashed, Derf’s ability to investigate and bring forward untold and forgotten stories as part of the bigger, more knowable truth is a testament to his ability as a writer and an illustrator.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, September 9 Edition

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

Ronin Island, vol. 2 by Greg Pak and Giannis Milonogiannis
BOOM! Studios
Publication Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 9781684155576

Hana and Kenichi are on different journeys, but both are headed to the Island. Hana tasks herself with learning more about the Shogun’s rise to power, and Kenichi is traversing the wasteland alone. A pack of bandits takes Kenichi hostage and attacks the Shogun’s touring company where Kenichi and Hana meet again. Hana must make a choice between the Shogun and Kenichi.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, August 27 Edition

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

Fence, vol. 4: Rivals by C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, and Joana LaFuente
BOOM! Box / BOOM! Studios
Publication Date: June 30, 2020
ISBN: 9781684155385

Fence is back with a long-awaited volume four! In this installment, the King’s Row fencing team has been finalized. Up until this point, every fencer was playing for himself, but now they need to work as a team if they want to defeat other schools in competition. Seiji is training hard while Nicholas takes remedial lessons to focus his accuracy. Then, the King’s Row team has to face off against MacRobertson, the school that knocked them out of contention for the State Championship the previous year. It seems that MacRobertson knows all of the players’ fencing styles, and it looks like they could be unstoppable. Can King’s Row get it together to pull out a win?

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, August 20 Edition

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

A Quick & Easy Guide to Sex & Disability by A. Andrews
Limerence Press / Oni Press
Publication Date: June 23, 2020
ISBN: 9781620106945

Debut author/cartoonist A. Andrews does their part to counter the lack of sexual education resources for disabled individuals in this inclusive and all-body positive Quick & Easy Guide. This book dispels myths about disabled bodies, stresses the importance of self-love and communication (with partners as well as doctors and personal care attendants), and covers the basics of sex toys and positioning furniture.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, August 13 Edition

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

Heartstopper, vol. 1 by Alice Oseman
Graphix / Scholastic
Publication Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 9781338617436

Charlie Spring is halfway through Year 10 (British equivalent to 9th grade) when he is placed into a new vertical class group and is seated next to Year 11 student Nick Nelson. Shy, openly gay Charlie is worried that rugby player Nick will end up being a bully, but the two strike up a friendship. As they grow closer, Charlie struggles with what he assumes is an unrequited crush, and Nick starts to question if his feelings for Charlie are romantic. And if they are, what does that mean in regards to his identity?

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, August 6 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 Oracle Code by Marieke Nijkamp and Manuel Preitano
DC Comics
Publication Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 9781401290665

Barbara Gordon is a world-class hacker. Unfortunately, the skills that keep her interested in hacking lead her into dangerous situations. After Barbara survives a gunshot wound that leaves her paralyzed from the waist down, she reluctantly agrees to let her father admit her to the Arkham Center for Independence. At the Center, she will undergo physical and mental therapy and accustom herself to her new normal. Barbara, angry and afraid, starts to wonder if the sounds she hears in her room at night and the mysterious visitor she receives are all the result of her trauma. But then patients start to go missing and Barbara has suspicions that there is something more going on behind the mysterious walls of Arkham Center.