stephen mccranie

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2022) Nominations Round-Up, Fall

Great Graphic Novels Roundup Art — Due to the large number of nominees, not all titles are shown here. See full list below.

Each quarter, the Selected Lists teams compile the titles that have been officially nominated to date. These books have been suggested by the team or through the title suggestion form, read by multiple members of the team, and received approval to be designated an official nomination. At the end of the year, the final list of nominations and each Selected List’s Top Ten will be chosen from these titles.

The Apothecary Diaries, v.1. By Natsu Hyuuga. Art by Nekokurage. 2020. Square Enix Manga, $10.99 (9781646090709).

Maomao is a palace servant who was sold into service to the Emperor. After saving one of the Emperor’s heirs, she is promoted to food taster, where she is able to use her skills as an apothecary.

Artie and the Wolf Moon. By Olivia Stephens. Lerner Publishing Group / Graphic Universe, $16.99 (9781728420202).

Artie discovers that her mother is a werewolf and that she has abilities of her own. While attempting to discover what happened to her missing father, she comes across other supernatural enemies.

Asadora, v.3. By Naoki Urasawa. VIZ Media / VIZ Signature, $14.99 (9781974720118).

When she was young, Asa survived a devastating typhoon, but on the same day saw a mysterious footprint in the town where she lived with her family. Now older, Asa becomes involved in a mission to stop the creature who made the footprint.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2022) Featured Review of A Quick and Easy Guide to Consent by Isabella Rotman and Luke Howard

Quick and Easy Guide to Consent Cover Art

A Quick and Easy Guide to Consent by Isabella Rotman and Luke Howard
Limerence Press / Oni Press
Publication Date: October 27, 2020
ISBN: 9781620107942

The latest in the Quick and Easy Guide series, this volume covers the complicated concept of consent in an easily digestible comic book. The peppy narrator, Sergeant Yes Means Yes, or Sarge, takes readers through a variety of scenarios teens may find themselves in, discussing how to make the scenarios safer and more comfortable for everyone involved. The guide defines consent (complete with examples of what does and does not count as consent), and provides ways to discuss wants and needs with potential partners. The backmatter even includes helpful charts to help readers define their boundaries, interests, sexual activities, and STI risk reduction.

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, March 12 Edition

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

Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence by Joel Christian Gill
Oni Press
Publication Date: January 21, 2020
ISBN: 9781549303357

Joel Christian Gill narrates what it was like for him to grow up in a single-parent household in the 1980s, from childhood to young adulthood—Black, broke, and surrounded by uncertainty. Bouncing around between caretakers, schools, and residences, Gill shares a version of his turbulent adolescence, marked by pervasive violence—sexual, emotional, and physical—and the scant, but powerful, pockets of connection and fulfillment he finds in friendships, reading, and drawing.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, May 30 Edition

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

Femme Magnifique: 50 Magnificent Women Who Changed the World edited by Shelly Bond
Black Crown
Publication Date: September 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1684053209

Are you ready to meet some awesome women who have done unbelievable things for our world, our species, nature, animals, food, space, music and more? In this brilliant anthology, editor Shelly Bond brings readers the stories of 50 magnificent women who affected change no matter the challenges or barriers they encountered along the way. Each individually illustrated story is three pages long, which doesn’t seem like enough to get the essence of each woman, but the vignettes are a perfect introduction to women who live their lives on their own terms, and encourages readers to seek out even more information on the profiles which affect them the most. From Kate Bush and Michelle Obama, to Aida Page and the Broad City gals, there are a variety of talents, interests, stories and diversity to engage any reader in the wonderful works women have done, many with little or no recognition at all (looking at you Rosalind Franklin).

Continue reading Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2020) Nominees Round Up, May 30 Edition

#GGN2019 Nominees Round Up, October 11 Edition

Stephen McCranie’s Space Boy, vol. 1 by Stephen McCranie
Dark Horse Books
Publication Date: July 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1506706481

Amy has lived her life on a far away mining colony, but when her dad loses his job, the family must return to planet Earth, a place Amy has only read about and seen through the media. To do this she must be in cryogenic sleep for thirty years. When she and her family arrive, they must navigate a new and different world, and one that does not contain Amy’s best friend Jemmah, who is now an adult back on the mining colony. Amy also has synesthesia, which gives her the ability to attach flavors to people. Her mom is mint and her dad is like hot chocolate. At her new school she meets a boy who has no flavor. She is both scared and curious. How will she survive in this strange new Earth? Will she ever be able to reconnect with Jemmah?

Continue reading #GGN2019 Nominees Round Up, October 11 Edition