Category Archives: graphic novels

O Canada! Super People and Super Heroes

Posted on August 2, 2015 by rosinskynatalie

Last month in Montreal, I had the pleasure of dining with three talented illustrator/authors, all members of the SCWBI’s (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’) Eastern Canada Chapter: Julie Prescesky, Julien Chung, and Emilie Pepin. Chatting with these super people, … Continue reading →

Posted in comics, graphic novels | Tagged Adrian Dingle, ALA Alex Award, Alpha Flight, Amelie Pepin, and Graphic Novels, Animal Man, Animal Man compilations, Canada, Canadian superheroes, comics, Dan Green, Descender, Drawn & Quarterly Press, Drawn & Quarterly: Twenty-Five Years of Contemporary Cartooning, Dustin Nguyen, Equinox, Erica Henderson, Essex County, Essex County trilogy, First Nations superhero, Green Arrow, Hope Nicholson, Inuit superhero, Jeff Lemire, Jon Morris, Julie Prescesky, Julien Chung, Justice League United, Mike McKone, Miyahbin Marten, Montreal, Moose Cree, Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Quebecois author/illustrators, Rachel Richey, Ryan North, SCBWI Canada East, superheroes, Sweet Tooth, The League of Regrettable Superheroes, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Travel Foreman, Trillium, Underwater Welder, Volume 1: Justice League Canada, Volume One: Squirrel Power, Wolverine | Leave a comment

Graduation: Visiting the SuperMutant Magic Academy

Posted on July 1, 2015 by rosinskynatalie

Check your high school diploma! See if the words “SuperMutant Magic Academy” are lurking (perhaps written in invisible ink) on that certificate of achievement. The feelings and “A-hah!” moments evoked by Jillian Tamaki’s recent publication are heartbreakingly familiar as well … Continue reading →

Posted in comics, graphic novels | Tagged 4th of July, boarding school, Canadian author/illustrator, Harry Potter, high school, high school graduation, Hogwarts, J.K. Rowling, Jillian Tamaki, Mariko Tamaki, mutants, Skim, SuperMutant Magic Academy, teens, This One Summer, tweens, web comic, yearbook | Leave a comment

Mighty Small? Not at All

Posted on June 1, 2015 by rosinskynatalie

Springing into summer, we Minnesotans see bugs everywhere. Mosquitoes, those tiny terrors, have yet to be out in full force, but ants trail along sidewalks and beetles bustle in gardens. Out past my suburban home, farmers are readying their crops … Continue reading →

Posted in comics, graphic novels | Tagged "Field Guide to Superpowers", Ant Man, Ant Man movie, ants, beetles, Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle comic books, Blue Beetle: Volume One: Metamorphosis, bugs, Clan Apis, Drawing Flies blog, entomology, evolution, honey bees, Jaime Reyes, Jay Hosler, Last of the Sandwalkers, middle school, science education, Sir Charles Darwin, Spider Man, teenager, The Sandwalk Adventures, Wasp Woman | Leave a comment

Satisfying Sequels . . . and More

Posted on May 1, 2015 by rosinskynatalie

When it comes to graphic literature, do you like to “snack” on smaller, individual comics, or would you rather sit down to the “full meal” of a compilation? When publishing sequels, today’s comic book industry caters to both tastes. Some … Continue reading →

Posted in biographies, comics, graphic novels, memoir | Tagged Adrian Alphona, Andrew Aydin, Barack Obama, civil rights, comic book compilations, comic books, Congressman John Lewis, David Tipton, desegregation, Eisner Awards, Free Comic Book Day, Freedom Riders, G. Willow Wilson, Harlan Ellison, Here, Hugo Awards, Islam, J.K. Woodward, Jacob Watt, James McKelvie, Kamala Khan, Kris Anka, Marvel Comics, Matthew W. Wilson, Montgomery Alabama, Ms. Marvel, Ms. Marvel: Generation Why, Ms. Marvell: No Normal, Muslim-American superhero, Nate Powell, Rachel Maddow, Richard McGuire, Scott Tipton, Selma Alabama, Shield, Star Trek, Star Trek: City on the Edge of Forever: The Originial Teleplay, The Avengers, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Volume 3: Crushed, Wolverine | Leave a comment

Recognizing Words . . . Reading Stories

Posted on April 2, 2015 by rosinskynatalie

Being illiterate was frustrating! In Japan last May, I could not read package labels in grocery stores and pharmacies, follow the directions posted on street maps, or understand the background information displayed on many museum exhibits. Japan’s written language is … Continue reading →

Posted in graphic novels, picture books | Tagged all-ages picture book, Allen Ginsberg, Art Spiegelman, Bill Thomson, Blood Song--A Silent Ballad, Chalk, David Weisner, Erik Drooker, Flood! A Novel in Pictures, Frans Masereel, Franz Kafka, Gods' Man, Howl, illiteracy, illiterate, immigrant, immigration, Japanese, Kanji Pict-O-Graphics, Lynd Ward, Maus, Michael Rowley, New York City, Otto Nuckel, Peter Kuper, picture book audiences, picture books, reading, Shaun Tan, Si Lewen, The Arrival, The Metamorphosis, The System, Tuesday, wordless books, Wordless!, World War III Illustrated | Leave a comment

“Larger-than Life”? Art, Fame, and Family

Posted on March 1, 2015 by rosinskynatalie

Does the expression “larger-than-life” bring images of Mt. Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, or Michelangelo’s David to mind? This term is often used to describe the scale of public art, designed to impress viewers with its grandeur even alongside natural … Continue reading →

Posted in comics, graphic novels, Uncategorized | Tagged art, art world, autographed copies, book tour, Chrome guide, David Smith the character, David Smth the sculptor, Eric Lorberer, fame, Faust, galleries, graphic storytelling, Macalester College, Making Comics, monumental sculpture, New York City, Portland Maine, Rain Taxi Review, Reinventing Comics, Scott McCloud, St. Paul Minnesota, studios, The Sculptor, Understanding Comics, Zot! | Leave a comment

Jews, Muslims, Christians: The Rabbi’s Cat Speaks

Posted on February 1, 2015 by rosinskynatalie

A skinny, big-eyed cat stands out among the responses cartoonists world-wide drew to last month’s terrorist attacks on the French magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery store in Paris. Sixteen people were slaughtered and others injured—all to honor those … Continue reading →

Posted in graphic novels, Uncategorized | Tagged 1930s, A Moveable Feast, Algiers, Arabs, Askhenazi, Black Jews, Blacks, Brigitte Findakly, Cesar Award, Charlie Hebdo, Christians, Eisner Award, Ernest Hemingway, French author/illustrator, Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, Herge, Instagram, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Islam, Islamic extremists, Islamic terrorists, Jewish, Jews, Joann Sfar, Little Vampire, Little Vampire Goes to School, Mohammed, Muslims, Paris, Pascin, racism, Sardine graphic novels, Sephardic, Soviet Russia, sub-Saharan Africa, terrorism, The Professor's Daughter, The Rabbi's Cat, The Rabbi's Cat 2, The Rabbi's Cat film, Tintin | Leave a comment

Resolutions: A New Year for New Superheroes

Posted on January 1, 2015 by rosinskynatalie

New Year’s resolutions—many of us make them, but fewer manage to keep them! It’s not surprising, then, that comics fans and media outlets have poked fun at this tradition itself or at current events by imagining the New Year’s resolutions of … Continue reading →

Posted in comics, graphic novels | Tagged Adrian Alphona, ALA Top Ten Graphic Novel for Teens, Alif the Unseen, Awal Muharram, Cairo, Canada, Chris Peters, Eisner Award, Faith Erin Hicks, G. Willow Wilson, Hadith, Ian Herring, Islam, Islamic New Year, Jersey City, Jill Lepore, Kamala Khan, Kurt Busiek, M.J. Perker, Mark Engbom, Marvel Publications, Ms. Marvel: Next Generation, Ms. Marvel: No Normal, Muslim-American superhero, New Jersey, New Year's resolutions, Nova Scotia, Pakistani-American, Sana Amanat, superhero, superheroes, Superman, The Adventures of Superhero Girl, The Secret History of Wonder Woman, Turkish-American, World Fantasy Association Best Novel | 1 Comment

Re-Gifting? Classic Novels and Plays Gone Graphic

Posted on December 1, 2014 by rosinskynatalie

“Re-gifting” is the joking term for re-wrapped presents—those little-used or unwanted items that are sometimes conveniently handy as last-minute choices to give to someone else. When classic novels and plays are re-packaged, so to speak, as graphic novels by publishers, … Continue reading →

Posted in graphic novels, manga, Uncategorized | Tagged a + e 4EVER, Alejandro Torres, Alice in Wonderland, anti-Semitism, Artful Dodger, Charles Dickens, Christmas, classic novels, classic plays, Classics Illustrated, Dodger, Eisner Awards, Eleanor & Park, Emma, Fagin the Jew, Fahreneheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation, Fahrenheit 451, graphic adapation, Hanukkah, Hugo Petrus, I. Merey, Jane Austen, Jo Baker, Lewis Carroll, Longbourn, manga, Manga Shakespeare, Nancy Butler, Nancy J. Hajeski, Neil Gaiman, Newberry Medal, Northanger Abbey, Oliver Twist, P. Craig Russell, PAPERCUTZ, Pride and Prejudice, Rainbow Rowell, Ray Bradbury, Sense and Sensibility, Sonny Liew, Terry Pratchett, The Graveyard Book, Tim Hamilton, Tommy Kovacs, Twelfth NIght, Will Eisner | Leave a comment

Lawbreakers and the Vote

Posted on November 4, 2014 by rosinskynatalie

When is it right to break the law? To defy the police? Who decides whether an illegal act is an act of heroism rather than just a crime? These questions are on my mind today, Election Day here in the … Continue reading →

Posted in graphic novels, memoir | Tagged 19th Amendment, African American, Andrew Aydin, British women's suffrage, Bryan Talbot, Christabel Pankhurst, civil disobedience, civil rights, Dotter of her Father's Eye, Dr. Martin Luther King, Edmund Pettus Bridge, Election Day, Emmaline Pankhurst, John Lewis, Kate Charlesworth, March Book One, March Book Two, Mary M. Talbot, memoir, Nate Powell, Sally Heathcote, Suffragette, Sylvia Pankhurst, voting rights, women's suffrage | Leave a comment