Library sales up, manga drops

What this librarian & comic fangirl found interesting:

Icv2, #65, July 2009

• In spite of horrendous contraction in the US Economy, Graphic Novel sales up in 2008: 5% increase in book and comic stores.
  
  
• GN sales faster in bookstores than in comic shops
  
  
• 900,000 copies printed of Watchmen- broke all modern sales records
  
  
• GN for kids and tweens, saw a 134% increase in titles
  
  
• Library sales from $30 million to $35 million in 2008...this growth should continue in 2009.
  
  
• Manga sales declined- down 17%. Small manga publishers went out of business. Some properties like Vampire Knight no exposure on Cartoon Network.

Watchmen directors cut July 21st!

Final Fruits Basket vol 23 July 2009

Vertigo Crime imprint:
Entries, Ian Rankin comic book featuring Constantine from Hellblazer: August 25
Filthy Rich, Brian Azzarello: also August 25

other stories

Sharing more choices from another librarian for our presentation of the "Year's Best Graphic Novels 2008"

JAMILTI by Rutu Modan ADULT
Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly (September 30, 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-1897299548

Set in Israel during various eras throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, Modan's short stories are evocative and haunting. The themes of these simply illustrated stories range from revelations of disturbing familiy secrets to portrayals of tragic beauty amid political violence.

HELLBOY LIBRARY EDITION,
Volume 1: Seed of Destruction ADULT/YA
by Mike Mignola and John Byrne
Publisher: Dark Horse; Library ed edition (May 14, 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-1593079109

Drawing upon occult mythology and 20th century history, Mignola has created a hero who embodies the American ideal of self-invention. Brought to earth in a Nazi occult experiment and nurtured by American GIs, Hellboy rejects his ties to the underworld as he chooses to be a force for good and fight all manner of demons and other supernatural beings.

J.EDGAR HOOVER: A Graphic Biography by Rick Geary. ADULT/YA
Publisher: Hill and Wang; 1st edition (January 8, 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-0809095032

Geary's detailed and engaging account of J. Edgar Hoover's rise within the FBI is an informative history of the agency itself.

NAT TURNER by Kyle Baker
Publisher: Abrams (June 1, 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-0810972278

Kyle Baker illustrates Nat Turner's own description of the largest organized rebellion of enslaved people in the first half of the 19th century. Baker's black and white drawings make the violence and brutality of this event explicit.

Merry Infinite Canvas to you all

The end of the year is fast approaching. I've seen a few 'best of' lists, but 2008 seems like a downsizing year in my own comic buying (due to titles ending and disinterest in some)-- a lighter blog year for most of the indie blogs I've been following since 2005-- and def. lighter content on RF here.

But, I'm just as immersed in the graphic novel collection at the library as ever, buying floppy comics in a pile every few weeks, and reading Fables and other trades. Planning two big presentations for 2009, one at the NY comicon on "creating a mini con at your library" and for April's 2009 NJ Library Assoc. conference on "the best Graphic Novels of 2008" with my comic book mafia library team from last year.

Personally, my best includes
What it is - Lynda Barry
The New York Four- Brian Wood
Comic Book Tattoo
Tonoharu
Dan Dare trade- Garth Ennis
Faker, The Un-Men, The Vinyl Underground (Vertigo trades)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all! Snuggle up with some comics for the winter. I'll post again come 2009....