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Women in Comics: A Reading List
One of the questions that most often crops up in my e-mail inbox is, "so what comics created by women do you know of?", followed shortly by, "where can I find a list of all the comics created by women?". The internet, being the vast procrastination device that is, has plenty of such lists but none of them really seem to cover everything.
Undoubtedly this is because to attempt such a list would be madness. Fortunately, that means it's right up my street...
Behold, an always in progress browsable list of comics and graphic novels, strip compilations and webcomics, all written and/or drawn by the many talented women in comics.
Please add missing books (or corrections) to the comments and I'll add them at regular intervals. Cover artists do count but I'm unsure how to categorize them...
Many thanks to Lee Grice at Small Press Big Mouth for his contributions!
Originally I planned to include cover art of every title, an idea that soon became unworkable for loading reasons due to the 100 plus titles. So instead, a small blurb is included with each where possible, and I've split them into Fiction, Small Press/Self Published Webcomics, Comic Strips, History, and Biography.
The main point of this list is to be easily browsable rather than all encompassing; these are books that should be relatively easy for you to find rather than having to dig through back issues (though there are many more great comics that should be collected!).
The Fiction list is sorted by publisher, again for ease of browsing, and also because this is easier for book stores who may want to stock some of these books to make them more available for fans of women in comics (hint hint!).
If a title in the "other titles" list for a woman creator is in bold, then that title has its own entry. If it isn't in bold, then that entry is either still to come, or the creator only has a smaller role in the title, or the title is out of print and really hard to find.
Quickjumps to sections:
Fiction & Graphic Novels
Small Press/Self Published
Comic Strip Collections
Fiction & Graphic Novels
First up is fiction & graphic novels, separated out by original publisher. My first draft attempted to filter by person but that became very overcomplicated with all the overlaps! Plus, it's always nice to browse by books.
Quickjumps to publishers:
AdHouse Books
Atheneum Books
Dabel Brothers
Dark Horse
Drawn & Quarterly
Eclipse Comics
First Second
Frog Books
Groundwood Books
Jonathan Cape
Kitchen Sink Press
NBM Publishing
Oni Press
Pantheon Books
Slave Labor Graphics
SLG Publishing
Top Shelf Productions
AdHouse Books
Monkey & Spoon
Writer/Artist: Simone Lia
"The second "animalia" graphic novel! This graphic novel explores the relationship of a married couple in an all-too-realistic snapshot of their everyday lives. Monkey & Spoon is the second of three books that will tell the "tale" of an animal's exploits."
Other Simone Lia titles: Both, Fluffy, Please God, Find Me A Husband!
Salamander Dream
Writer/Artist: Hope Larson
"Hailey believes in magic. Or at least she tries to, when she visits the woods near her house where, as a young girl, she first meets the endearing Salamander, who tells her a tale to while away a summer afternoon. As she grows older, she meets Salamander again as an adolescent and then a young adult. This book is a collection of the stories the two friends take turns telling each other: of swimming with a minnow in the stream, of flying on the back of a hawk, of shrinking through the pores of the skin to raft on red blood cells and fly past electrons."
Other Hope Larson titles: Chiggers, Gray Horses, Mercury.
Atheneum Books
Writer/Artist: Hope Larson
"Eisner award winner Hope Larson weaves together history, romance, and a touch of her trademark magical realism in this remarkable graphic novel of how the past haunts a teenage girl's present."
Other Hope Larson titles: Chiggers, Gray Horses, and Salamander Dream.
Writer/Artists: Simone Lia, Tom Gauld
"A morally outraged sweetcorn kernel, 'folk these days are disgusting! What the bloody hell happed to morals?', some wrestlers going for a wander before their big finale, a rabbit, a monkey nut, bread, bhagis, bittersweet relationships...Exquisitely and intricately drawn, quirky, surreal and very, very funny, "Both" introduces two new brilliant comic artists to the Bloomsbury list alongside Edward Gorey, Steven Appleby and Glen Baxter."
Other Simone Lia titles: Fluffy, Monkey & Spoon, Please God, Find Me A Husband!
The Bellybuttons
Writer: Maryse Dubuc
Artist: Marc Delafontaine
"Jenny and Vicky are super-cute, super-catty girls who would do almost anything to be the centre of attention. The third wheel of the group is the too-tall, plain Karine. When a guy named Dan shows interest in Karine, Jenny and Vicky are appalled and will go to any length to thwart the competition."
Three of the five volumes (ongoing) have been translated into English so far.
Dabel Brothers
Take a Chance
Writer/Artist: CE Murphy
"Driven to save lives after her son's murder, Frankie Kemp has spent years as a non-powered vigilante. But when a virus releases super-powered potential in much of the population, 'Chance' is left to face her child's shadow-sliding killer with nothing more than her wits and experience."
Dark Horse
Beasts of Burden
Writer: Evan Dorkin
Artist: Jill Thompson
"Welcome to Burden Hill-a picturesque little town adorned with white picket fences and green, green grass, home to a unique team of paranormal investigators. Beneath this shiny exterior, Burden Hill harbors dark and sinister secrets, and it's up to a heroic gang of dogs-and one cat-to protect the town from the evil forces at work."
An absolutely gorgeous book of horror stories starring animals, this is a real favourite of mine.
Other Jill Thompson titles: Black Orchid, The Little Endless Storybook, The Invisibles, Scary Godmother books, Sandman: Brief Lives, Wonder Woman.
Billi 99
Writer: Sarah Byam
Artist: Tim Sale
"World War III hit, and nobody noticed. Lost amidst the crooked politicians and corrupt corporate practices of the late 20th century, the American Dream became polluted and drowned out, replaced instead with an ever-growing chasm between the "haves" and "have-nots." No one is more aware of this than Billi Chadam."
Nominated for "Best Writer" Eisner Award in 1992.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales
Writers: Joss Whedon, Amber Benson, Becky Cloonan, Jane Espenson
Artists: Cameron Stewart, Leinil Yu, Tim Sale, Gene Colan
"Before Season 8, Joss Whedon brought generations of Slayers and vampires to comics with the help of his acclaimed TV writing team and some of the best artists to ever grace the comics page. Now all those stories, plus selected stories from Season 8, are collected in one deluxe hardcover with a new cover by Jo Chen."
Other Amber Benson titles: Blood Stained Sword, Shadowplay.
Other Becky Cloonan titles: American Virgin, Channel Zero, Conan the Barbarian, Demo, East Coast Rising, The Mire, True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, Wolves.
Channel Zero
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Becky Cloonan
"DMZ and The Massive creator Brian Wood launched an all-out assault on the comics medium in 1997 with Channel Zero, an influential, forward-thinking series that combined art, politics, and graphic design in a unique way. Hitting on themes of freedom of expression, hacking, cutting-edge media manipulation, and police surveillance, it remains as relevant today as it did back then. The Channel Zero Collection contains the original series, the prequel graphic novel Jennie One (illustrated by Becky Cloonan), the best of the two Public Domain design books, and almost fifteen years of extras, rarities, short stories, and unused art."
Other Becky Cloonan titles: American Virgin, Conan the Barbarian, Demo, East Coast Rising, The Mire, True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, Wolves.
Crossing the Empty Quarter and Other Stories
Writer/Artist: Carol Swain
"The "graphic lit" love child of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Raymond Carver, Carol Swain's comics first appeared in print in the late 1980s, and Swain has since contributed her biting, bedazzling comics to over twenty anthologies across the globe."
Other Carol Swain titles: Foodboy, Invasion of the Mind Sappers.
Writer/Artist: Carla Speed McNeil
"'Completely fascinating.' -Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Red) Lose yourself in a world beyond your wildest dreams... Since 1996, Finder has setthe bar for science-fiction storytelling, with a lush, intricate world andcompelling characters"
Nominated for nominated for seven Eisner Awards, winning for "Best Web Comic" in 2009.
Grendel: Devil Child
Writer: Diana Schutz
Artist: Tim Sale
"The story of Stacy Palumbo, adopted daughter of Hunter Rose, and the tragic role she played in passing his legacy onto her daughter Christine Spar - the legacy of Grendel! The ugly world has no shelter for frightened Stacy, a single link in a chain of evil that extends to the limits of time. Whether a victim of the Devil or minion of his will, this unhappy journey through her life will not reveal. Only one thing is certain, she must confront the darkness, for there is no escaping its reach - not for any of us."
The Guild
Writer: Felicia Day
Artist: Jim Rugg
"Internet phenomenon The Guild comes to comics, courtesy of series creator, writer, and star Felicia Day."
Scary Godmother
Writer/Artist: Jill Thompson
"It's Halloween night and it's up to Scary Godmother to show one little girl just how much fun spooky can be!"
Other Jill Thompson titles: Beasts of Burden, Black Orchid, The Invisibles, The Little Endless Storybook, Sandman: Brief Lives, Wonder Woman.
Star Wars: A Long Time Ago v5, 6, 7
Writers: Mary Jo Duffy
Artists: Cynthia Martin, Ron Frenz
"Return to the great adventures of your youth, or discover a part of the Star Wars saga you never knew existed. From 1977 to 1986, Marvel Comics produced monthly Star Wars comics. This was when the continuity for that galaxy far, far away was still brand new, when almost anything could happen--and often did!"
Other Mary Jo Duffy titles: Catwoman, Glory.
The All-New Atom
Writers: Gail Simone, Rick Remender
Artists: John Byrne, Eddy Barrows, Mike Norton, Pat Olliffe
"Meet Ryan Choi - the young hotshot professor filling the empty slot on Ivy University's teaching staff…and who inadvertently fills the role as the all-new super-heroic Atom! "
Simone wrote issues #1-15, 17-18, 20. Collected as: My Life in Miniature; Future/Past; The Hunt For Ray Palmer; Small Wonder.
Other Gail Simone titles: Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Deadpool, The Fury of Firestorm, Killer Princesses, Secret Six, Welcome to Tranquility, Wonder Woman.
Writer: Gail Simone
Artists: Ardian Syaf, Vincente Cifuentes
"As a part of the acclaimed DC Comics - The New 52 event of September 2011, Barbara Gordon is finally back as Batgirl! The nightmare-inducing brute known as Mirror is destroying the lives of Gotham City citizens seemingly at random. Will Barbara be able to survive her explosive confrontation with this new villain, as well as facing dark secrets from her past? A new chapter in the riveting adventures of Batgirl continue in stunning fashion"
Simone wrote issues vol. 4 #1-ongoing. Collected as The Darkest Reflection (released July 2012).
Other Gail Simone titles: Birds of Prey, Deadpool, The Fury of Firestorm, Killer Princesses, Secret Six, Welcome to Tranquility, Wonder Woman.
Birds of Prey
Writer: Gail Simone
Artists: Ed Benes, Joe Bennett, Paulo Siqueira, Nicola Scott, Adrian Syaf
Possibly the most famous of Simone's many comic runs, Birds of Prey centres on a team of kick-ass ladies in Gotham, organised by the brilliant Oracle herself, Barbara Gordon.
Simone wrote issues #56-90, 92-108, and vol. 2, #1-13. Collected as: Of Like Minds; Sensei & Student; Between Dark & Dawn; The Battle Within; Perfect Pitch; Blood and Circuits; Dead of Winter; End Run; Death of Oracle.
Nicola Scott's pencilled issues #100-119
Other Gail Simone titles: The All-New Atom, Batgirl, Deadpool, The Fury of Firestorm, Killer Princesses, Secret Six, Welcome to Tranquility, Wonder Woman.
Other Nicola Scott titles: Blackest Night: Wonder Woman, Secret Six, Teen Titans.
Catwoman: Her Sister's Keeper
Writer: Mindy Newell
Artist: J.J. Birch
"The 1989 Catwoman limited series, written by Mindy Newell and with art by J.J. Birch, expanded upon Miller's Year One origin. This storyline, known as "Her Sister's Keeper", explores Selina's early life as a prostitute and the start of her career as Catwoman."
Other Mindy Newell titles: Lois Lane: When It Rains, God is Crying
Lois Lane: When It Rains, God is Crying
Writer: Mindy Newell
Artist: Gray Morrow
"When Lois Lane, star reporter for the Daily Planet, covers a "routine" story, she soon discovers that the plight of missing children is anything but routine! Consuming her life, the story forces her to clash with her editors, friends, and even her estranged sister and leads to deadly danger!"
Other Mindy Newell titles: Catwoman: Her Sister's Keeper
Huntress Year One
Writer: Ivory Madison
Artist: Cliff Richards
"As the last survivor of a crime family eliminated by bloody rivalries among the mobs of Gotham City, the orphaned Helena Bertinelli grew into the mysterious vigilante known as the Huntress."
Power Girl
Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray
Artist: Amanda Conner
"The fan-favorite writing team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray team with popular aritst Amanda Conner for the rip-roaring solo adventures of Power Girl. She bursts from the pages of the JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA to star in her own series. Power Girl wants to build herself a secret identity but a major villain from her past, the Ultra-Humanite, has other plans in store for her and to get his way, he's holding Manhattan hostage. Plus, a trio of sexy alien marauders hits Earth for the ultimate party. Unfortunately, by their standards, that means destroying it!"
Conner pencilled issues vol. 2 #1-12. Collected as: A New Beginning; Aliens and Apes.
Other Amanda Conner titles:
Other Amanda Conner titles: Noble Causes, The Pro, Supergirl, Terra, Two-Step, Vampirella.
Secret Six
Writers: Gail Simone, John Ostrander, Paul Cornell
Artists: Brad Walker, Nicola Scott, Carlos Rodriguez, Jim Calafiore
"Join Catman, Scandal, Deadshot, Ragdoll, and the rest as they hit the road on the run from some of the world's most dangerous killers! A contract has been put out on the lives of the Six, but the sly team has some tricks — and a whole lot of bullets — up their own sleeves."
Simone wrote issues #1-6 (limited series), 1-14, 16-36. Collected as: Six Degrees of Devastation; Unhinged; Depths; Danse Macabre; Cat's in the Cradle; The Reptile Brain; The Darkest House.
Other Gail Simone titles: The All-New Atom, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Deadpool, The Fury of Firestorm, Killer Princesses, Welcome to Tranquility, Wonder Woman.
Other Nicola Scott titles: Birds of Prey, Blackest Night: Wonder Woman, Teen Titans.
Teen Titans
Writer: J. T. Krul
Artists: Eduardo Pansica, Nicola Scott
"There's a new hero in town, and while Damian might not want to join you, he's more than happy to lead you! There should always be a Robin on the team, but if Damian is their only available option, maybe they'll pass on having a Boy Wonder. Robin and Ravager stand alone against the Feral Boys as Raven makes one last, desperate attempt to rescue Headcase."
Nicola Scott pencilled issues #88-100. Collected as: Team Building; Prime of Life.
Other Nicola Scott titles: Birds of Prey, Blackest Night: Wonder Woman, Secret Six.
Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray
Artist: Amanda Conner
"As Terra's earthshaking stunts grab the attention of the world, a new threat rises from beneath the surface. Will Terra live to fight another day, as she takes on the blaze and fury of Pyrite and the Lavarians? And what is the secret behind this new mover and shaker's powers? Guest-starring Justice Society of America members Power Girl and Doctor Mid-Nite as well as Justice League of America member Geo-Force!"
4 part mini-series.
Other Amanda Conner titles: Noble Causes, The Pro, Power Girl, Supergirl, Two-Step, Vampirella.
Welcome to Tranquillity
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Horacio Domingues
"Tranquility is a planned community, a small town where formerly tough super-guys and formerly glamorous super-gals can retire in peace, without being hounded by enemies, sons and daughters of enemies, and rabid stalker-fans. They can enjoy a more "normal" life, raising families, mowing lawns—just quietly living out their lives."
Other Gail Simone titles: The All-New Atom, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Deadpool, The Fury of Firestorm, Killer Princesses, Secret Six, Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman
Writer: Gail Simone
Artists: Terry Dodson, Bernard Chang, Aaron Lopresti, Fernando Dagnino
"An army of foes called the Olympians have risen to begin their all-out assault on war across the globe and only Wonder Woman can stop them! One particular attack could spell the end of the Department of Metahuman Affairs and end WW's secret identity of Diana Prince. And Wonder Woman's life is changed forever when she faces a monster named Genocide who easily goes toe to- toe with the comic book icon...and beats her!"
Simone wrote issues vol. 3 #14-44 & vol. 1 #600. Collected as: The Circle; Ends of the Earth; Rise of the Olympian; Warkiller; Contagion.
Other Gail Simone titles: The All-New Atom, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Deadpool, The Fury of Firestorm, Killer Princesses, Secret Six, Welcome to Tranquility, Wonder Woman.
Drawn & Quarterly
Indoor Voice
Writer/Artist: Jillian Tamaki
"Indoor Voice collects pen, brush, ink, watercolor, and collage experiments that show how Tamaki arrives at her illustration work, as well as more polished and personal comics work examining her relationship to her parents and their influence on her art."
Other Jillian Tamaki titles: Skim
Eclipse Comics
Brought to Light
Writers: Alan Moore, Joyce Brabner
Artists: Bill Sienkiewicz, Tom Yeates, Paul Mavrides
"In this long-awaited documentary comic book, Brabner, co-author of the comic book Real War Stories , and political illustrator Tom Yeates have produced a straightforward and competently illustrated journalistic account of the CIA's pivotal attempt to assassinate independent Nicaraguan contra leader Eden Pastora in a bombing at La Penca. The second story, Shadowplay , by celebrated comics writer Moore, and the acclaimed illustrator/author Sienkiewicz, is a masterly satiric expose of 'The Secret Team' that came to direct the Reagan administration's covert war in Nicaragua."
Other Joyce Brabner titles: Activists!, Animal Rights Comics, Our Cancer Year, Real War Stories
Artichoke tales
Writer/Artist: Megan Kelso
"Artichoke Tales is a 176-page coming-of-age story about a young girl named Brigitte whose family is caught between the two warring sides of a civil war, a graphic novel that takes place in a world that echoes our own, but whose people have artichoke leaves instead of hair. Influenced in equal parts by Little House on the Prairie, The Thorn Birds, Dharma Bums, and Cold Mountain, Kelso weaves a moving story about family amidst war."
Other Megan Kelso titles: Queen of the Black Black, Scheherazade, The Squirrel Mother Stories.
Castle Waiting
Writer/Artist: Linda Medley
"This award-winning graphic novel tells the story of an isolated, abandoned castle and the eccentric inhabitants who bring it back to life. A fable for modern times, Castle Waiting is a fairy tale that's not about rescuing the princess, saving the kingdom, or fighting the ultimate war between Good and Evil, but about being a hero in one's own home."
Writer/Artist: Carol Swain
"Foodboy is about loss and hope, friendship, and faith, bonds that are tested when the paths of two boyhood friends diverge. Garth—the Foodboy of the title—and Ross live in the small Welsh village of Llanparc, where they have grown up together, been baptized together, skipped Sunday School together. The attempt of a visiting troupe of Evangelists to convert the locals seems to trigger in Ross a physical and spiritual retreat 'into wilderness.' Gareth remains loyal to his friend, leaving food out for him, even when it becomes apparent that Ross is becoming increasingly feral."
Other Carol Swain titles: Crossing the Empty Quarter and Other Stories, Invasion of the Mind Sappers.
Writer/Artist: Francesca Ghermandi
"Fleeing his previous life as a factory worker, buffeted by his miserable job, his cruel co-workers, and his overbearing girlfriend, our hapless protagonist, George Henderson, has just arrived in a new city to start over: Grenuord. But Grenuord, rocked by terrorist attacks and therefore in full police-state alert mode, does nothing to assuage George's paranoia—especially as strange occurrences begin to accumulate, including a sinister man who, under the guise of checking George's stove, discovers (and absconds with) a toxic glow-in-the-dark substance from his basement, an abusive neighbor, and a beautiful but elusive hitchhiker with a mysterious past—oh, and did we mention that George is actually dead from page one? Twists and turns abound in this stunningly unique graphic novel."
Other Francesca Ghermandi titles: Pastil
Writer/Artist: Gabriella Giandelli
"A high-rise apartment building in an unnamed European city. Its inhabitants come and go, meet each other, talk, dream, regret, hope... in short, live. A ghostly, shape-shifting anthropomorphic white rabbit roams from apartment to apartment, surveying and keeping track of all this humanity... and at the end of every night, he floats down to the basement where he delivers his report to the 'great dark one.'"
Nominated for the 2011 Prix Artémisia
Invasion of the Mind Sappers
Writer/Artist: Carol Swain
"A disquieting meditation on teenage fantasies in the tradition of Heavenly Creatures and The Miracle, Swain's first full-length graphic novel tells the story of Dai, Helen, and Ivan, three friends who believe that the earthquake that rocked their hometown was caused by — yes — a crashlanding UFO, survived only by their temporary headmaster. Are they right, or is the truth even stranger? Swain's brutally honest depiction of small-town life and her powerfully forthright graphic style create a bruising, harrowing masterwork."
Other Carol Swain titles: Crossing the Empty Quarter and Other Stories, Foodboy.
Writer/Artist: Dame Darcy
"Dame Darcy is one of the most beguiling presences on the comics scene - musician, actress, TV star, fortune teller, dollmaker and cartoonist to the core - and has been bewitching readers for over 15 years with her neo-Victorian horror/humour/romance comic Meatcake. Alternating between one-off fairy tales and ongoing romps starring her eclectic cast of characters, including Effluvia the Mermaid, the roguish Wax Wolf, Igpay the Pig-Latin pig and Scampi the Selfish Shellfish, Meatcake is like a peek into the most creative, deranged dollhouse readers have ever seen."
Other Dame Darcy titles: Frightful Fairytales, Gasoline.
Naughty Bits
Writer/Artist: Roberta Gregory
"The series ran from March 1991 to July 2004, totalling 40 issues. The main character is Bitchy Bitch. The raw drawings depict everyday life of a desperate/ aggressive woman, in a mature and fun tone."
Other Roberta Gregory titles: Life's a Bitch: The Complete Bitchy Bitch Stories
Percy Gloom
Writer/Artist: Cathy Malkasian
"The story begins with our hero bravely striking out on his own for the first time, leaving his mother's house to apply for his dream job as a cautionary writer for the Safely-Now Corporation. In the process, he uncovers an unreal world of secret societies, benevolent families, and bureaucratic security. Lazy-eyed Percy Gloom fights to overcome the loss of his wife, Lila, to a truth-pointing, lotharian cult leader. Approached by his doctor to help protect some special people and given advice by some talking goats, Percy comes to terms with his place in the gloomy world and finds himself reaching enlightenment (literally)."
Other Cathy Malkasian titles: Temperance
Queen of the Black Black
Writer/Artist: Megan Kelso
"Kelso scrutinizes bicycle messengers, venereal diseases, infidelity, unwanted pregnancies, temporary work assignments, family reunions, and classroom daydreams in subtle and unexpected manners, setting herself technical challenges such as depicting music in comics (the virtuoso "The Daddy Mask", with its sensuous gray swirls of sound on the page)."
Other Megan Kelso titles: Artichoke Tales, Scheherazade, The Squirrel Mother Stories.
The Squirrel Mother Stories
Writer/Artist: Megan Kelso
"This acclaimed collection of graphic short stories includes personal and semi-autobiographical stories that draw heavily on the details of Kelso's youth along with stories about the idea of America and American history. Kelso's work is characterized by subject matter that fits roughly into two disparate camps: personal and semi-autobiographical stories that draw heavily on the details of her childhood and adolescence, and stories about the idea of America and American history, such as a trilogy of short pieces about Alexander Hamilton."
Other Megan Kelso titles: Artichoke Tales, Queen of the Black Black, Scheherazade.
Writer/Artist: Cathy Malkasian
"After a brutal injury in battle, Lester has no memory of his prior life. For the next thirty years his wife does everything to keep him from remembering—and re-constructing—a society, Blessedbowl, that elevates him as a hero. Blessedbowl is a cultural convergence of lies, memories, stories, and beliefs. Its people thrive on ideas of persecution, exceptionality, and enemies, convinced that war lurks just outside their walls."
Other Cathy Malkasian titles: Percy Gloom
First Second
Writer: MK Reed
Artist: Jonathan David Hill
"Neal Barton just wants to read in peace. Unluckily for him, some local Christian activists are trying to get his favorite fantasy series banned from the Americus public library on grounds of immoral content and heresy. Something has to be done, and it looks like quiet, shy Neal is going to have to do it. With youth services librarian Charlotte Murphy at his back, Neal finds himself leading the charge to defend the mega-bestselling fantasy series that makes his life worth living."
Other MK Reed titles: Cross Country
Anya's Ghost
Writer/Artist: Vera Brosgol
"Anya could really use a friend. But her new BFF isn't kidding about the "Forever" part . . . Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who's been dead for a century."
Other Vera Brosgol titles: What, Were You Raised by Wolves (online)
Bake Sale
Writer/Artist: Sara Varon
"Cupcake's life is pretty good. He's got his bakery, and his band, and his best friend, Eggplant. His days are full of cooking, socializing, and playing music. But lately, Cupcake has been struggling in the kitchen. He's sure the solution to all his problems is out there somewhere. But maybe that solution is hiding closer to home."
Other Sara Varon titles: Robot Dreams, Sweaterweather
Brain Camp
Writers: Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan
Artist: Faith Erin Hicks
"Neither artistic, dreamy Jenna nor surly, delinquent Lucas expected to find themselves at an invitation-only summer camp that turns problem children into prodigies. And yet, here they both are at Camp Fielding, settling in with all the other losers and misfits who've been shipped off by their parents in a last-ditch effort to produce a child worth bragging about. But strange disappearances, spooky lights in the woods, and a chilling alteration that turns the dimmest, rowdiest campers into docile zombie Einsteins have Jenna and Lucas feeling more than a little suspicious . . . and a lot afraid."
Other Susan Kim titles: City of Spies
Other Faith Erin Hicks titles: Friends with Boys, The War at Ellsmere, Zombies Calling.
Friends with Boys
Writer/Artist: Faith Erin Hicks
"Maggie McKay hardly knows what to do with herself. After an idyllic childhood of homeschooling with her mother and rough-housing with her older brothers, it's time for Maggie to face the outside world, all on her own. But that means facing high school first. And it also means solving the mystery of the melancholy ghost who has silently followed Maggie throughout her entire life. Maybe it even means making a new friend—one who isn't one of her brothers."
Other Faith Erin Hicks titles: Brain Camp, The War at Ellsmere, Zombies Calling.
Life Sucks
Writers: Jessica Abel, Gabriel Soria
Artist: Warren Pleece
"Life sucks for Dave Marshall. The girl he's in love with doesn't know he exists, he hates his job, and ever since his boss turned him into a vampire, he can't go out in daylight without starting to charbroil. Undead life in its uncoolest incarnation yet is on display in this cinematic, supernatural drama told with gallons of humor and hemoglobin."
Other Jessica Abel titles: La Perdida
Frog Books
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Writer/Artist: Phoebe Gloeckner
"So begins the wrenching diary of Minnie Goetze, a fifteen-year-old girl longing for love and acceptance and struggling with her own precocious sexuality. Minnie hates school and she wants to be an artist, or maybe a speleologist, or a bartender. She sleeps with her mother's boyfriend, and yet is too shy to talk with boys at school. She forges her way through adolescence, unsupervised and unguided, defenseless, and yet fearless."
Other Phoebe Gloeckner titles: A Child's Life and Other Stories
Groundwood Books
Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Jillian Tamaki
"'Skim' is Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth who goes to a private girls' school in the early '90s. When her classmate Katie Matthews is dumped by her boyfriend, who then kills himself — possibly because he's (maybe) gay — the entire school goes into mourning overdrive. It's a weird time to fall in love, but that's what happens to Skim when she starts meeting secretly with her neo-hippie English teacher, Ms. Archer. But then Ms. Archer abruptly leaves the school, and Skim has to cope with her confusion and isolation while her best friend, Lisa, tries to pull her into "real" life by setting up a hilarious double-date for the school's semi formal."
Other Mariko Tamaki titles: Emiko Superstar
Other Jillian Tamaki titles: Indoor Voice
Writer/Artist: Amruta Patil
"They were inseparable - until the day they jumped. Ruth, saved by safety nets, leaves the city. Kari, saved by a sewer, crawls back into the fray of living. She writes ad copy for hair products and illfitting lingerie, falls for cats and roadside urchins, and the occasional adventuress in a restaurant. As Danger Chhori, her PVC-suit-clad alter ego, she unclogs sewers and observes the secret lives of people and fruit. With Angel, Lazarus, and the girls of Crystal Palace forming the chorus to her song, Kari explores the dark heart of smog city - loneliness, sewers, sleeper success, death - and the memory of her absentee Other."
Writers: Bill Willingham, Bill Williams, David Tischman, Mariah Huehner
Artists: Elena Casagrande
"Plotted by Joss Whedon and Bryan Lynch for the first seventeen issues, this series is the official follow up to where the television series left off. Originally titled Angel: After the Fall the series chronicles Angel and companies exploits in LA after the entire city is taken to Hell. Starting with issue #18 the series was retitled to simply Angel."
Elena Casagrande pencilled issues #33-44.
Other Elena Casagrande titles: Ghost Whisperer, Hulk, Illyria: Haunted, Star Trek
Other Mariah Huehner titles: True Blood
Blood Stained Sword
Writers: Amber Benson, Dan Wickline
Artist: Ben Templesmith
"This collection combines two of Ben Templesmith's original graphic novel artistic outings: the stylized tale of Blood-Stained Sword, written by Dan Wickline, as well as the horrific chills of Demon Father John's Pinwheel Blues, written by Amber Benson."
Other Amber Benson titles: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales, Shadowplay.
Done to Death
Writer: Andrew Foley
Artist: Fiona Staples
"Fed up with receiving poorly-written "Twilight" knockoffs, editor Shannon Wade did what any reasonable person would: she started killing the worst of the would-be authors sending them to her! Meanwhile, a stuttering, overweight vampire has targeted those who portray vampires in a light he deems unrealistic. Not exactly novel but terribly graphic, Done To Death follows Andy and Shannon's paths towards a collision as darkly funny as it is ridiculously violent."
Other Fiona Staples titles: Mystery Society, North 40, Saga.
The Last Unicorn
Writers: Peter S. Beagle, Peter B. Gillis
Artist: Renae De Liz
"Whimsical. Lyrical. Poignant. Adapted for the first time from the acclaimed and beloved novel by Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn is a tale for any age about the wonders of magic, the power of love, and the tragedy of loss. The unicorn, alone in her enchanted wood, discovers that she may be the last of her kind. Reluctant at first, she sets out on a journey to find her fellow unicorns, even if it means facing the terrifying anger of the Red Bull and malignant evil of the king who wields his power."
Other Renae De Liz titles: Anne Rice's Servant of the Bones, Jennifer Love Hewitt's The Music Box
Mystery Society
Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Fiona Staples
"Nick Hammond and Anastasia Collins are the Mystery Society - and bring new meaning to "underground cult" status! Stealthily avoiding the authorities, this skulduggery duo spend their time and money righting wrongs committed in the world's underbellies."
Other Fiona Staples titles: Done to Death, North 40, Saga.
Writers: Amber Benson, Christina Z
Artists: Ben Templesmith, Ashley Wood
"In "Demon Father John's Pinwheel Blues", Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Tara) and Ben craft a tale of a syndicate of vampire street children that is turned upside down by new recruit Pinwheel. In "Shunt", Christina Z and Ash present the tale of the perfect woman, who gives up the perfect life to uncover a heinous human slavery ring run by an elite group of vampires. Vampires who transform their beautiful female victims into the most sensually marketable product. Within the torture and depravity lies a twisted tale of obsessive passion and furious loyalty."
Other Amber Benson titles: Blood Stained Sword,
Other Christina Z titles: Witchblade
Writer: Alex de Campi
Artist: Igor Kordey
"Rupert Cain walked away from his life as an honorable soldier three years ago when an explosion in a London bar killed most of his company. He abandoned his former life—and his girlfriend—to become the assassin Ajax. In a London of the future where England is bankrupt and the government's agents have no one's interests at heart but their own, Cain kills and doesn't ask questions. But now his former commanding officer, who happens to be father to his ex, has been murdered and Cain must find out why. His journey leads him to a kidnapping of the head of OPEC by the Right to Beauty Brigade (all they want is money for plastic surgery) and an intrepid reporter who's good at getting herself into the thick of things and not so good at getting herself out of them."
Other Alex de Campi titles: Ashes, Valentine.
True Blood: French Quarter
Writers: Mariah Huehner, David Tischman
Artists: Claudia Balboni, Bruno Letizia, David Messina
"In this sequel to the first New York Times bestselling True Blood mini-series, "All Together Now," mind-reading waitress Sookie Stackhouse is in New Orleans helping Vampire Sheriff Eric Northman track down an insane killer named Guerra. Bill Compton''s in town, too, making sure Eric doesn''t get fresh with Sookie, and investigating a local Hep-D outbreak that may be connected to Guerra''s latest victims. Meanwhile, back in Bon Temps, why is Pam hanging out at Merlotte''s - and what does she want with Lafayette?"
Other Maria Huehner titles: Angel
Womanthology: Heroic
"Womanthology is a large-scale anthology showcasing the works of women in comics. It is created entirely by over 140 women of all experience levels, from young girls who love to create comics all the way up to top industry professionals. All of the short stories will center around the theme for this volume - Heroic."
A Distant Soil
Writer/Artist: Colleen Doran
"The story of a young girl, Liana, who is born heir to an alien religious dynasty and is the most powerful psychic being in the universe! In Volume One: The Gathering, Liana and her older brother Jason escape the cruel captivity they have known most of their lives only to encounter a warship sent by her father to assassinate her!"
Other Colleen Doran titles: The Book of Lost Souls, Gone to Amerikay, The Nightmare Factory, Orbiter, Stealth Tribes.
Writer: Che Gilson
Artist: Jimmie Robinson
"Avigon lives in a world of dark, gothic landscapes, where the sky is black with smoke, and the rivers run slick with oil. A world inhabited by strangely surreal clockwork creatures, all governed by eccentric politicians and egomaniacal clockwork masters. But Avigon is looking to change all of that. Avigon is looking to escape. Avigon's search for a ray of hope will lead her to the darkest regions of humanity, past the edge of her soul, and into the embrace of her destiny."
The Pro
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Amanda Conner
"Just when you think Garth Ennis has gone too far, just when you thought no one would go near the idea of the world's first superhero prostitute... here comes The Pro! Plus, in "The Pro Meets the Ho," our plucky heroine faces a super-powered "soiled dove" whose powers of perversion exceed her own!"
Other Amanda Conner titles: Noble Causes, Power Girl, Supergirl, Terra, Two-Step, Vampirella.
Writer: Brian K Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
"Star Wars-style action collides with Game of Thrones-esque drama in this original sci-fi/fantasy epic for mature readers, as new parents Marko and Alana risk everything to raise their child amidst a never-ending galactic war."
Other Fiona Staples titles: Done to Death, Mystery Society, North 40.
Sky Pirates of Neo Terra
Writer: Josh Wagner
Artist: Camilla D' Errico
"In Neo Terra, a world that blends forgotten technology with natural magic, reckless young glide-wing pilot Billy Boom Boom must outwit the Pirate King to stop him from ushering in a new Dark Age."
Other Camilla D' Errico titles: Burn, Nightmares & Fairy Tales, Tanpopo
Jonathan Cape
Britten and Brülightly
Writer/Artist: Hannah Berry
"'Private Researcher' Fernández Britten is the messenger who would view being shot as a blessing. The years spent uncovering people's secret dramas and helping to confirm their darkest suspicions have taken their toll. Battered by remorse over the lives he has ruined, he clings to the hope of redemption through delivering, just once, a truth with a positive impact. It's a hope he has been clinging to for a long time. And so Britten and his 'unconventional' partner, Brülightly, take on the case of suicide Berni Kudos. At least, suicide was the official verdict. His fiancée, Charlotte Maughton, believes his death was something more sinister."
Other Hannah Berry titles: Adamtine
Writer/Artist: Simone Lia
"Fluffy is a young rabbit with a human daddy named Michael, an anxious bachelor stuck in an uncomfortable, uncommitted relationship with a woman who just happens to be Fluffy's preschool teacher. One day Michael decides to take Fluffy away for an impromptu trip to visit relatives in Sicily - and away from the overzealous affections of Miss Owers. Neither bunny nor man is truly prepared for the worldly excitement of a suspected kidnapping in Sicily, and both will be forever changed by the experience."
Other Simone Lia titles: Both, Monkey & Spoon, Please God, Find Me A Husband!.
Gemma Bovery
Writer/Artist: Posy Simmonds
"Is it a coincidence that Gemma Bovery has a name rather like Flaubert's notorious heroine? Is it by chance that, like Madame Bovary, Gemma is bored, adulterous, and a bad credit risk? Is she inevitably doomed? Gemma is the pretty second wife of Charlie Bovery, the reluctant stepmother of his children, and the bête noire of his ex-wife. A sudden windfall and Gemma's distaste for London take them across the Channel to Normandy, where the charms of French country living soon wear off."
Other Posy Simmonds titles: Literary Life, Tamara Drewe, Mrs Weber's Diary
Please God, Find Me A Husband!
Writer/Artist: Simone Lia
"As her new book opens we find her in Leicester Square. She's just been dumped by her boyfriend and she's talking to God, telling Him that she's nearly thirty-four and if He wants her to get married He'd better get a move on. Amazingly, God sends a reply, prompting Simone to plan an 'Adventure with God' that starts with a fortnight in a nunnery, then takes her to Australia in search of a hermit. The one she finds proves a disappointment, unlike Brett, the handsome horseman who takes her riding. She thinks he looks just like Crocodile Dundee; he thinks she looks just like Penelope Cruz. Is this the man she's been searching for, or is God making fun of her?"
Released April 2012.
Other Simone Lia titles: Both, Fluffy, Monkey & Spoon.
Tamara Drewe
Writer/Artist: Posy Simmonds
"Loosely inspired by Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, Tamara Drewe follows a year at Stonefield, a bucolic writer's retreat run by Beth and Nicholas Hardiman, where Dr. Glen Larson, an American professor and struggling novelist, is staying. The ambitious young Tamara Drewe, mourning the loss of her mother, has returned to her family home nearby. A bookish girl not so long ago, Tamara is now a gossipy columnist at a London paper and undeniably sexy. She quickly has every man in the vicinity—Glen, Nicholas, and the handyman, Andy—falling at her feet, while teenage best friends Casey and Jody become infatuated with Tamara and her ex-rock-star fiancé, Ben. Meanwhile, long-suffering Beth sees to the needs of the writers while managing the farm, the household, and the many affairs of her husband, a best-selling detective novelist."
Other Posy Simmonds titles: Gemma Bovery, Literary life, Mrs Weber's Diary
Kitchen Sink Press
"Omaha" the Cat Dancer
Writer: Kate Worley
Artist: Reed Waller
"Set in the fictional Mipple City, Minnesota (a pastiche of Minneapolis derived from its one-time postal abbreviation of MPLS) in a universe populated by anthropomorphic funny animal characters, the strip is a soap opera which focuses on Omaha, a feline exotic dancer, and her lover, Chuck, the son of a powerful business tycoon."
Daredevil: Typhoid Mary
Writer: Ann Nocenti
"By her own admission, Typhoid Mary is "a love-maker and a man-hater." She is a psychotic, schizophrenic predator who will use her gallery of multiple personalities for one single-minded purpose: to seduce, dominate, and ultimately execute her prey. Quickly becoming the underworld's most feared assassin, Mary terrorizes her targets with a seemingly inexhaustible lust for bloodshed. In service to the Kingpin, Typhoid Mary sets her deadly sights on Daredevil, the heroic protector of New York's notorious Hell's Kitchen. With Daredevil at her mercy, will Typhoid Mary be able to strike the fatal blow?"
Ann Nocenti wrote Daredevil #236-#291
Other Ann Nocenti titles: Green Arrow, Inhumans, Kid Eternity, Longshot, Someplace Strange, Spider-Man: The Mad Dog Ward, Spider-Woman.
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Artist: Art Adams
"Leather, looks, and luck - put 'em all together, they spell Longshot! The non-mutant X-Man's first trip to Earth is reprinted here in its entirety, introducing the scintillating Spiral and the murky madness that is Mojo, menaces that threaten the Marvel Universe to this day! Guest-starring Spider-Man, She-Hulk and Doctor Strange!"
Other Ann Nocenti titles: Daredevil, Green Arrow, Inhumans, Kid Eternity, Someplace Strange, Spider-Man: The Mad Dog Ward, Spider-Woman.
Power Pack
Writer: Louise Simonson
Artist: June Brigman
"Teen teams are nothing new, but only one super-group got started at age twelve and under! Alex, Julie, Jack, and Katie Power prove you're never too young to save the universe when they use the powers they received from one alien race to foil the schemes of another - the dreaded Snarks! Back on Earth, they meet another new archenemy, General Carmody, a mutantphobe so confused he even targets heroes who AREN'T mutants! Guest-starring Spider-Man, Cloak and Dagger, and Henry Peter Gyrich of Initiative infamy"
Simonson wrote the majority of Power Pack issues from #1-#41
Other Louise Simonson titles: New Mutants, Steel, Superman: The Man of Steel, X-Factor
X-Men: Evolution
Writer: Devin Grayson
Artists: Studio XD
"The X-Men appeal to many audiences, but this book is squarely aimed at younger readers. The story takes place before major team action, just as Professor Xavier is locating young mutants and giving them a safe haven at his school, where they may develop their individual superpowers while learning to get along with each other and the normal humans around them. Meanwhile, villainous Magneto is recruiting his own team of disaffected mutants who expect to be hated by humans and who return that feeling with interest"
Other Devin Grayson titles: Batman, Catwoman, Ghost Rider: The Hammer Lane, Matador, Nightwing, The Titans.
Writer: Marjorie Liu
Artist: Will Conrad, Sana Takeda, Ryan Stegman, Phil Noto
"Government-controlled killing machine. Child of the streets. X-Man. X-23 has lived many lives, but none of them have ever felt right. She knows she's a killer, but she's not sure she can be anything else. The X-Men offer her a home and help facing her demons, but she's done being someone's project. She wants to be her own woman, and she'll do it on her own terms. Leaving the X-Men's island home of Utopia on a mission all her own, she's already found trouble. Even with the mutant thief Gambit at her side, her past haunts her. With new enemies rising, can X-23 trust herself not to succumb to her deadly ways? Or is it all just in her head? Free of her chains, can this killer finally taste true freedom?"
Other Marjorie Liu titles: Black Widow, Daken: Dark Wolverine, Dark Wolverine, NYX.
Other Sana Takeda titles: Drain, Ms Marvel, Soulfire
Emiko Superstar
Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Steve Rolston
"Emiko, a half-Japanese, half-Caucasian Canadian, is a self-described geek facing a summer of babysitting and isolation. Things change when she stumbles upon an underground performing art scene inspired by Andy Warhols Factory. She eventually takes to the stage, dressed in her grandmothers mod outfits from the 60s, and achieves minor celebrity. Soon, though, Emiko must face the troubling complexities in the lives of her new friends and the consequences of her own questionable actions."
Other Mariko Tamaki titles: Skim
The Plain Janes
Writer: Cecil Castellucci
Artist: Jim Rugg
"When transfer student Jane is forced to move from the confines of Metro City to Suburbia, she thinks her life is over. But there in the lunch room at the reject table she finds her tribe: three other girls named Jane. Main Jane encourages them to form a secret art gang and paint the town P.L.A.I.N. -- People Loving Art In Neighborhoods. But can art attacks really save the hell that is high school?"
Janes in Love
Writer: Cecil Castellucci
Artist: Jim Rugg
"The second volume of the critically acclaimed series finds a group of high school girls each named Jane, who are anything but ordinary, playing cupid. Plus P.L.A.I.N. (People Loving Art In Neighborhoods) goes global once the girl gang procures a spot in Metro City Museum of Modern Art contest."
NBM Publishing
A Home for Mr Easter
Writer/Artist: Brooke A Allen
"Tesana has never really fit into anything before but her daydreams. But when making an attempt to connect to her peers by joining in a pep rally planning committee she suddenly discovers a little white rabbit that lays brightly colored eggs. Realizing that she may have found the real life Easter bunny, Tesana embarks on an epic quest in an effort to get him back to his natural habitat and into safe hands."
Rumble Girls: Silky Warrior Tansie
Writer/Artist: Lea Hernandez
"Raven Tansania Ransom is a promising pilot-in-training of personal armor known as a Hardskin, at exclusive girl's school academie Juliet. Carmen Cameron, another pilot-in-training, reveals to the school Raven's shady background, making her the butt of gossip and cruel pranks. Raven challenges Carmen to full-Hardskin combat, not knowing Carmen's fixing the fight. Raven's coach, who is also sexy media celebrity pilot Crimson August, faces a crisis as well: his popularity is slipping, leading the suits to give him a new rival. Someone young, innocent and female. Someone very much like Raven."
Other Lea Hernandez titles: Killer Princesses
Oni Press
Avalon Chronicles
Writers: Nunzio Defilippis, Christina Weir
Artist: Emma Vieceli
"When Aeslin Finn was a little girl, her parents read to her from a magical book called The Avalon Chronicles. But that was a long time ago. Now a teenager, Aeslin is about to discover just how magical she and that book really are. Transported to the world of Avalon, she discovers a kingdom in need of a Dragon Knight - and the last dragon, Blue Moon, is waiting for her!"
Other Christina Weir titles: Maria's Wedding, New X-Men: Academy X, Once in a Blue Moon, Past Lies, Skinwalker, Three Strikes, The Tomb
Other Emma Vieceli titles: Dragon Heir, Vampire Academy
Gray Horses
Writer/Artist: Hope Larson
"Noemie has left her home in France to study abroad. In Onion City there are new friends, new environments, and new loves. There are also new dreams. And not ordinary dreams. Vivid visions of life in a different time and in a different place, but more than that, of a different existence. In Noemie's sleep she's not a woman, but a horse. A noble creature aiding a sick little girl. But how does this effect Noemie's own journey?"
Other Hope Larson titles: Chiggers, Mercury, and Salamander Dream.
Hopeless Savages
Writer: Jen Van Meter
Artists: Christine Norrie, Chynna Clugston, Andi Watson, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Vera Brosgol
"Skank Zero Hopeless Savage (Zero to her friends) wants to be a punk musician like her parents were. When her parents are kidnapped, though, Skank and her siblings (Arsenal, Twitch, and Rat) have to try a completely different occupation. Namely, detective. Of course, the question becomes if Zero and company will be able to find their parents before they kill each other..."
Other Jen Van Meter titles: Avengers: Hawkeye Solo, Outsiders, Spider-Man: Black Cat.
Other Christine Norrie titles: Cheat, Fashion High: Breaking Up, Queen & Country (inks), Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology.
Other Chynna Clugston titles: Blue Monday, Cut My Hair, Scooter Girl, Strangetown.
Writer/Artist: Sarah Oleksyk
"Ivy, a teenager from a small town, longs to leave and pursue her dream of becoming a painter. But life isn't easy when you never know the right thing to say. After beginning a long-distance relationship with a kindred spirit, Ivy gets a glimpse of freedom too good to pass up. Only while trying to escape her troubles does she start to understand that while she can leave home, she can't run away from herself."
Killer Princesses
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Lea Hernandez
"Meet Charity, Faith, and Hope: the girls of the Tri-Omega Sorority. To some, they're the most popular girls on their campus, but to others, they're the most unstoppable, cruel, and dangerous (not to mention dumbest) assassins in the world! They might not have the highest IQ, but they sure do know how to kick the crap out of the bad guys. Join the girls as they jump, skip, and river dance their way into a military base to bust the heads of evil villains and stop a nuclear weapon from being unleashed by a terrorist's spoiled son."
Other Gail Simone titles: The All-New Atom, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Deadpool, The Fury of Firestorm, Welcome to Tranquility, Wonder Woman.
Other Lea Hernandez titles: Rumble Girls: Silky Warrior Tansie
Pantheon Books
La Perdida
Writer/Artist: Jessica Abel
"Carla, an American estranged from her Mexican father, heads to Mexico City to "find herself." She crashes with a former fling, Harry, who has been drinking his way through the capital in the great tradition of his heroes, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. Harry is good—humored about Carla's reappearance on his doorstep—until he realizes that Carla, who spends her days soaking in the city, exploring Frida Kahlo's house, and learning Spanish, has no intention of leaving."
Other Jessica Abel title: Life Sucks
Miss Remarkable and Her Career
Writer/Artist: Joanna Rubin Dranger
"In a world where what you do defines who you are, Miss Remarkable is having a hard time finding her way. Starting out with goals that are impossibly high, she despairs that nothing she does is ever good enough then vainly seeks guidance from dubious friends, demanding parents, and well-meaning boyfriends, eventually realising that only by listening to herself will she find real happiness. Joanna Dranger's vivid line drawings provide brilliant and hilarious visual metaphors for the kind of anxious uncertainty that plagues overachievers everywhere."
Winner of the Swedish Illustrator's Award in 2000 for "Best Graphic Novel".
Fish + Chocolate
Writer: Kate Brown
"Three short stories each focusing on the relationship between mother and child. 'The Piper Man' is structured around the legend of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Marie Nicholls is a single mother bringing up her two boys, who are desperately missing their father. When a strange man arrives on their street, they are inexplicably drawn to him, much to Marie's horror. 'The Cherry Tree' tells the story of a musician who finds her career at odds with being a mother, while 'Matryoshka' follows a woman's struggle with grief and loss following the death of her baby."
Three very powerful stories that will really stay with you. One of my favourite books of 2011.
Kiki de Montparnasse
Writer: Jose-Luis Bocquet
Artist: Catel Muller
"In the bohemian and brilliant Montparnasse of the 1920s, Kiki managed to escape poverty to become one of the most charismatic figures of the avant-garde years between the wars. Partner to Man Ray - whose most legendary photos she inspired - she would be immortalised by Kisling, Foujita, Per Krohg, Calder, Utrillo and Leger. Kiki is the muse of a generation that seeks to escape the hangover of the Great War, but she is above all one of the first emancipated women of the 20th century."
I'm never sure whether to classify Kiki as fiction or biography - all the facts in it are certainly true! A wonderful read.
Sadly no other titles from Muller have yet been translated: Dolor, Le Sang des Valentines, Lucy, Ma Fille.
Slave Labor Graphics
Tales from the Heart
Writers: Cindy Goff and Rafael Nieves
Artist: Seitu Hayden
"Told through the eyes of protagonist Cathy Grant, the comics detail the adventures of a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic in the mid-1980s. The work explores why so much effort by so many volunteers wrought so little change. Later stories delve into the reign of the mad dictator Jean-Bédel Bokassa."
SLG Publishing
Writer: Serena Valentino
Artist: Ted Naifeh
"Gothic fairy tales with sharp characters and dialogue, and gorgeous art grace these vignettes of romance, humor, horror, and sorrow. Unrequited love, social treachery, bad goth poetry, and monsters under the bed lure you in with daring imagery and a rich, dark atmosphere."
Other Serena Valentino titles: Enchanted, Hell's Café, Nightmares & Fairytales.
Top Shelf Productions
Chester 5000-XYV
Writer/Artist: Jessica Fink
"The Year: 1885, a time of industrial revolution and sexual frustration. The Heroine: Pricilla, a beautiful woman who knows what she wants...and wants it ALL the time. The Husband: Robert, a scientist and inventor - unfortunately, the only thing he can keep on his mind is his work. Ah, but what does a scientist love more than a problem to solve? Some gears, some springs, the proper appendages, a little extra lubricant, and a little extra love and voila! Chester 5000-XYV is born! Chester is the perfect tool to soothe Pricilla's desires... but what if Chester is more than just a machine?"
Gingerbread Girl
Writer: Paul Tobin
Artist: Colleen Coover
"There are plenty of established facts concerning 26-year-old Annah Billips. She likes sushi and mountains, but hates paper cuts and beer breath. She dates girls and boys, and loves to travel. She may have a missing sister, or she might be insane. Did Annah invent an imaginary sister named Ginger during her parents' ferocious divorce, or did her mad scientist father extract part of her brain and transform it into a living twin? In this graphic novel, a host of narrators including boyfriends, girlfriends, magicians, pigeons, bulldogs, and convenience store clerks follow Annah through a night in her life in an attempt to determine that one last fact about Annah... and the Gingerbread Girl."
Other Colleen Coover titles: Banana Sunday, Jim Henson's The Storyteller, Small Favors, X-Men: First Class.
Lost Girls
Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: Melinda Gebbie
"For more than a century, Alice, Wendy, and Dorothy have been our guides through the Wonderland, Neverland, and Land of Oz of our childhoods. Now, like us, these three lost girls have grown up and are ready to guide us again, this time through the realms of our sexual awakening and fulfillment. Through their familiar fairytales they share with us their most intimate revelations of desire in its many forms... revelations that shine out radiantly through the dark clouds of war gathering around a luxury Austrian hotel."
Other Melinda Gebbie titles: Fresca Zizis, Tomorrow Stories.
The Ticking
Writer/Artist: Renee French
"The Ticking is the story of Edison Steelhead, a boy who at birth takes his mother's life and his father's deformed face. Secreted away by his father to be raised in a remote island lighthouse, Edison relates to his surroundings in the only way he knows how--by capturing them in his sketchbook. Able to find beauty in even the most grotesque of things, Edison embraces his own unsettling appearance and sets out to confront the rest of the world."
Other Renee French titles: H Day, Marbles in my Underpants, Micrographica, The Soap Lady.
Writer: G Willow Wilson
Artist: MK Perker
"Ladies and gentlemen, there's been a change in our flight plan. You may have heard of a group called the Etesian Front -- vigilantes dedicated to taking the skies back from terrorism. Sounds like a noble cause, right? But there's more to them than meets the eye. They're after someone I know. Someone who is either an average frequent flier -- or a terrorist. And he's got a secret. Something that will change the way we fly -- and the way we see technology -- forever."
Other G Willow Wilson titles: Aces, Cairo, Mystic, The Outsiders: Five of a Kind, Vixen: Return of the Lion
American Virgin
Writer: Steven T Seagle
Artist: Becky Cloonan
"The eponymous Adam Chamberlain is a youth evangelist who believes God wants him to remain pure until his fiancée, Cassandra, returns from Peace Corps service. When he hears that Cassie has been raped and murdered in Africa, he sets aside his belief in forgiveness and seeks vengeance, accompanied by his worldlier stepsister and a mercenary they pick up in Pretoria. Besides encountering cultural differences that conflict with his neat American version of Christianity, Adam also begins seeing visions of a cheerfully topless Cassie who gently questions his biblical interpretations."
Other Becky Cloonan titles: Channel Zero, Conan the Barbarian, Demo, East Coast Rising, The Mire, True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, Wolves.
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Becky Cloonan
"Stories of conflicted teens grappling with love, loss, and the joy of finding your own way in life. The Eisner-nominated and critically-acclaimed series of self-contained short stories by writer Brian Wood and artist Becky Cloonan."
Collected as Demo, Demo Volume 2.
Other Becky Cloonan titles: American Virgin, Channel Zero, Conan the Barbarian, East Coast Rising, The Mire, True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, Wolves.
Gone to Amerikay
Writer: Derek McCulloch
Artist: Colleen Doran
"Ciara O'Dwyer is a young woman raising a daughter alone in the Five Points slums of 1870; Johnny McCormack is a struggling actor drawn to the nascent folk music movement in Greenwich Village 1960; and Lewis Healy is a successful Irishman who's come to present-day Manhattan on his wife's anniversary-present promise to reveal the connection between him and them. The mystery originates with Ciara's runaway husband, who disappeared after promising to join her in America, and carries into midcentury when Johnny, devastated by an unexpected romance and a lost shot at musical fame, gets a supernatural visitor".
Released April 2012.
Other Colleen Doran titles: A Distant Soil, The Book of Lost Souls, The Nightmare Factory, Orbiter, Stealth Tribes.
The Little Endless Storybook
Writer/Artist: Jill Thompson
"The story begins once upon a time, when Little Delirium was lost. Her protector and puppy Barnabas searched the waking world for his tiny princess to no avail. Now, Barnabas must travel to the strange realms of each of The Endless to see if Delirium's siblings have seen their missing sister."
Other Jill Thompson titles: Beasts of Burden, Black Orchid, The Invisibles, Scary Godmother books, Sandman: Brief Lives, Wonder Woman.
A Little Endless Storybook: Delirium's Party
Writer/Artist: Jill Thompson
"Upset that her sister Despair is unhappy, Delirium throws her a party and invites her Endless siblings. Each sibling brings a gift that's unique to his/her/its realm in an effort to cheer up Despair. But what could possibly cheer up the anthropomorphic representation of hopelessness?"
Other Jill Thompson titles: Beasts of Burden, Black Orchid, The Invisibles, The Little Endless Storybook, Scary Godmother books, Sandman: Brief Lives, Wonder Woman and more.
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Becky Cloonan
"Ten years after its mysterious disappearance, the space shuttleVenture returns to Earth covered in organic material, rewired withalien technology and missing all but one of its crew members. The dustin its wheel tracks indicates it has been on Mars and possibly otherplanets as well. The United States government drafts an ex-astronautbiologist, a brash young propulsion expert and a washed-outpsychiatrist to piece together what happened to the Venture."
Other Colleen Doran titles: A Distant Soil, The Book of Lost Souls, Gone to Amerikay, The Nightmare Factory, Stealth Tribes.
Sandman: Brief Lives
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Artist: Jill Thompson
"One might think that the climax of the 10-volume Sandman series would come in the last book, or even the second to last. But indeed the heart and soul of Neil Gaiman's magnum opus lies here in Brief Lives. It could be because one of the most central mysteries--that of the Sandman's missing brother--is revealed here (in fact, the plot of this volume is the search for this member of the Endless). It could be because everything that comes after this volume, however surprising or unexpected, is inevitable. But it's more because this is a story about mortality and loss, the difficulty of change, the purpose of remembering, the purpose of forgetting, and the importance of humanity."
Volume 7 of Gaiman's brilliant Sandman series.
Other Jill Thompson titles: Beasts of Burden, Black Orchid, The Little Endless Storybook, The Invisibles, Scary Godmother books, Sandman: Brief Lives, Wonder Woman.
A Sickness in the Family
Writer: Denise Mina
Artist: Antonio Fuso
"Meet the Ushers. The parents, Ted and Biddy. Grandma Martha. The three kids, William, Amy and Sam. Just a normal, middle-class family gathered around the table on Christmas Day. Until they start dying. Violent deaths. One by one. Is there a curse on their house, as recently unearthed history of witchcraft in the area would suggest? Or has one member of the Usher clan declared open season on the rest? As secrets and resentments boil to the surface, it becomes clear that more than one Usher has motives for killing off the others. But in the end, the truth turns out to be far more shocking than anyone in this ill-fated family could have imagined."
Other Denise Mina titles: #Hellblazer 216-#228 (collected as Empathy is the Enemy, The Red Right Hand).
Writer: Elaine Lee
Artist: William Simpson
"When five sexy vampire women take to the road in search of freedom and "new blood" no one is safe. "
Other Elaine Lee titles: Starstruck
Y: The Last Man
Writer: Brian K Vaughan
Artist: Pia Guerra
"This is the saga of Yorick Brown—the only human survivor of a planet-wide plague that instantly kills every mammal possessing a Y chromosome. Accompanied by a mysterious government agent, a brilliant young geneticist and his pet monkey, Ampersand, Yorick travels the world in search of his lost love and the answer to why he's the last man on earth."
2006 Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Comic Book Artist
Writers: Alan Moore, Leah Moore, John Reppion
Artist: Shane Oakley, George Freeman
"For decades, children all across the British Isles thrilled to the comic-strip exploits of their favourite heroes - The Spider, The Steel Claw, Captain Hurricane and more. But the comics, and their heroes, disappeared...Now Danny, a young student, and Penny, who claims to be the daughter of a forgotten hero, are investigating the disappearances. Meanwhile, in an isolated castle, a group of jailers watch over "criminals" with peculiar pasts and bizarre names and abilities. Is it all real? Are Danny and Penny delusional? Who has all the answers?"
Other Leah Moore titles: The Complete Alice in Wonderland, The Darkness vs. Eva, Gene Simmons House of Horrors, Raise the Dead, Sherlock Holmes, Space Doubles, Witchblade: Shades of Gray.
North 40
Writer: Aaron Williams
Artist: Fiona Staples
"The residents of an isolated rural area discover superhuman and supernatural power in their midst. But the power stops at the county line. Inside the afflicted area, something ancient and malevolent stirs and new monsters arise... The series concentrates on young Wyatt, an unlikely hero from the wrong side of the tracks as well as Sheriff Morgan (and his odd past) and town outcast Amanda. They'll have to combine their efforts to keep the county from imploding...or being eaten by mighty Cthulhu."
Other Fiona Staples titles: Done to Death, Mystery Society, Saga.
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artists: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti
"In a not-too-distant future London, Tony Ling's a Zen gangster. Rosi Blades is a bored camgirl. They've never met, but this unlikely pair is about to embark on the chase of a lifetime through the crowded streets of the city. Rosi walks through the streets of London, broadcasting everything she sees to the internet, looking for trouble to help boost her online hit count . . . and it's trouble she finds when a runaway gangster zooms past her, chased by Tony. Tony's after a stolen briefcase, and soon Rosi finds herself caught up in a war between these gangsters as the hunted flees the hunter. But what's in the case the gangster stole from Tony . . . and was it really stolen?"
Other Amanda Conner titles: Noble Causes, Power Girl, The Pro, Supergirl, Terra, Vampirella.
Slaine (Episode 1)
Writer: Pat Mills
Artist: Angie Kincaid
"Tir Nan Og - The Land of The Young - is a violent world, home to warring tribes who worship gods both benign and malevolent. One such tribe is the Sessair, brave warriors of enormous skill, and the best of them is a young barbarian named Slaine Mac Roth. In this first collection of Slaine's adventures, we meet the hero himself and his repellent dwarf companion, Ukko, and are introduced to the customs and wonders of his world - and the horrors, like the Sloughs: sinister magicians who worship death and destruction, and can raise armies of the dead to do their dark bidding..."
Angie Kincaid co-created and illustrated the first episode of the Celtic barbarian strip Slaine, but was allegedly given a hard time by editorial and did very little comics work thereafter.
Small Press/Self Published
Next up is the list of those titles that are available direct from the creators and/or from local comic book shops. Links to original vendors are provided wherever possible.
Amy Unbounded
Writer/Artist: Rachel Hartman
"Hartman self-publishes her mini-comic Amy Unbounded on a copy machine, but the deliciously imaginative series about a medieval nine-year-old girl and her friends and family has built up a devoted following. Last year, Hartman won a Xeric Foundation Grant to publish this collection of stories as her first book. It's a gently paced ensemble comedy of manners, in which Amy observes business intrigue, culture clashes, class machinations among grown-ups (which she doesn't entirely understand), has her first crush and begins reading Belondweg, her fictional country's national epic. "
Bayou Arcana
Writers: Jimmy Pearson, Darren Ellis, Corey Brotherson, Steve Tanner, Alexi Conman, Matt Gibbs, Matthew Craig, Cy Dethan.
Artists: Valia Kapadai, Davina Unwin, Jennie Gyllblad, Alex Thompson, Vicky Stonebridge, Sara Dunkerton, Dani Abram, Lynsey Hutchinson, Nic Wilkinson, Patricia Echavarri-Riego, Jenny Clements.
"There is a place deep down South where dreams come true and nightmares find flesh. A place where the oppressed discover freedom and the oppressor violent retribution. The swamp is alive with many a lost soul's tale. Bayou Arcana unlocks a universe steeped in Southern Gothic Romance and spattered with supernatural horror."
10 stories, all by male authors and women artists.
Writers: Wendy Pini, Richard Pini
Artist: Wendy Pini
"Originally published in the 1970s, ElfQuest chronicles the adventures of a forest-dwelling tribe of elves forced from their homes by evil humans. After encountering some duplicitous trolls, the band of refugees makes its way across the wilderness and finds another, previously unknown tribe of elves. The perils of the trip and the integration of the two tribes make for all sorts of dramatic tableaux. The woodland elves, who are hunters, ride wolves and court danger, while the desert elves are civilized townsfolk with elaborate social customs. The conflict is embodied in Cutter (a wolf rider) and Leetah (a desert healer); it isn't surprising that the two are destined to be together."
Other Wendy Pini titles: Wendy Pini's Masque Of The Red Death.
Writer: Anina Bennett
Artist: Paul Guinan
"Queenie and Delta share their creator's genes as well as her memories. But each of these clones has her own personality and purpose: Delta's a scientist, Queenie's a soldier. In their world, genetic engineering is an everyday event, clones are second-class citizens, and big business runs the show."
Jennifer Wilde
Writer: Maura McHugh
Artist: Stephen Downey
"At the start of the Jazz Age in Paris in 1921, young French artist Jennifer Chevalier becomes embroiled in death, espionage and revolution which takes her across the three nations of France, England and Ireland – ably assisted by the ghost of Oscar Wilde."
Other Maura McHugh titles: Róisín Dubh
Jin & Jam
Writer/Artist: Hellen Jo
"Jin is the teenaged misfit who wants nothing more than to get the hell out of South San Jose. Jam is the teenaged ne'erdowell who never plans to leave. In this first issue of Jin and Jam, these two unlikely companions meet and forge a friendship stronger than… nicotine addiction."
Other Hellen Joe titles: The Believer, Papercutter #9, Root Rot.
Writer/Artist: Jennie Gyllblad
"Mushirah did not mean to see the one thing that could get her killed. But for a Diviner, on the receiving end of uncontrolled visions, it has never been a question of choice."
Sugar Glider Stories #2
Writers: Daniel Clifford, Selina Lock, Jenni Hill, Simon Cavanagh, Gareth Webb.
Artists: Gary Bainbridge, Laura Swaddle, George Beedham, StaticGirl, Kevin 'Gio' Logue, Lee Robinson, Michael Smith, Dinobot, Sara Dunkerton, Gavin Mitchell, Amy Purdie, Jack Couvela, Jess Bradley, Nic Wilkinson, Martin Eden
"Surrounded by friends and family with it all figured out, Susie Sullivan is desperately unsure of her purpose in life. Casting ordinary pursuits aside, Susie takes to the Newcastle skyline as the crime-fighting… SUGAR GLIDER!"
Writer/Artist: Becky Cloonan
Other Becky Cloonan titles: American Virgin, Channel Zero, Conan the Barbarian, Demo, East Coast Rising, The Mire, True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.
Okay, this section is even more "in progress" than the others! Google is failing me here... drop a comment to get a webcomic with a woman creator(s) added!
The Adventures of Gyno-Star
Writer/Artist: Rebecca Cohen
"The Adventures of Gyno-Star is semi-weekly comic strip featuring the world's favorite — and possibly only — explicitly feminist superhero."
The Adventures of Superhero Girl
Writer/Artist: Faith Erin Hicks
Other Faith Erin Hicks titles: Brain Camp, Friends with Boys, The War at Ellsmere, Zombies Calling
Writer: Alex Woolfson
Artist: Winona Nelson
"Artifice is a sci-fi webcomic created by writer Alex Woolfson (me) and artist Winona Nelson that updates once a week (usually Saturdays). Like my other "Yaoi 911" comics, it looks to combine thought-provoking action-adventure with romance between guys and is intended for both women and men to enjoy."
Writer/Artist: Kris Justus
"bridges is about a group of friends centered around an ex-cheerleader, Quinn, and her unexpected relationship with another girl and how that pulls her out of her old life. At the core of the story, it's really just different kinds of misfits who've given up trying to fit in, but have formed bonds because of it. "
Children of the Night
Writer/Artist: Cat Sarmento
"Elizabeth Collins is a Victorian lady facing the problems of the time; an upbringing that inhibits her personality and an arranged marriage to a seemingly arrogant, petulant man. Books allow her to escape reality and are her greatest passion.
From a mutual love for books she befriends a mysterious stranger. As this friendship starts to grow into something much deeper, she starts losing herself to feelings she can no longer control even if they could claim her life.
Children of the Night is a tale of forbidden love and its consequences: love, joy, sadness, despair, madness."
One of my personal favourites - so pretty!
Cucumber Quest
Written/Drawn: Gigi DG
"Cucumber Quest is a comic about bunny kids going on adventures and having fun. "
Demon of the Underground
Writer/Artist: Shobana Appavu
"The story of Pogo, a big-mouthed young thief who falls through a hole in the ground and finds himself in a brutal underground world where survival is based on strength and intimidation. His only hope for escape is his telekinetic ability - and the help of a stray ferret named Annie."
Writer/Artist: S. Phillips
"Sometimes the journey home is the hardest. A webcomic about friendship, love, and parallel worlds."
Emily Carroll's Comics
Writer/Artist: Emily Carroll
Titles include: His Face All Red; Margot's Room; The Prince And The Sea; Anu-Anulan & Yir's Daughter.
Writer: Jisuk Cho
Artist: Yuki S
"Fishbones starts in the year 1999 in the fictional, east coast city of Southport. The story is about growing up, friendship, and sometimes the mob. There is no age restriction to read this comic but, since it deals primarily with criminals, it contains a lot of swearing and violence."
Girls with Slingshots
Writer/Artist: Danielle Corsetto
Writer: Jesse Bausch
Artist: Meg Gandy
"Godsend is about a failed prophecy. [SPOILER ALERT! Yeah, that's right, I can't get through the stupid summary without wrecking everything.] Dolan, the messiah, is murdered before the quest even begins, leaving behind his panicked and grieving best friend Jaime, and the neurotic wizard Simon as the world's only hope. Somehow, the pair of them must keep up the ruse of a messiah returned and thriving, even as everything starts to unravel around them."
Goodbye Chains
Writer: Alice Hunt
Artist: Tracy Williams (formerly Aisha Nasir)
"Colin Lord is a cheerful Boston Communist, and Banquo White is a cranky half-Mexican with no philosophy beyond hedonism. Somehow they have become partners in crime, spreading a reign of terror and dialectical materialism across the plains of Colorado. Follow their adventures with explosives and ladies--and, possibly, men."
Writer/Artist: Katie Cook
"Gronk is a young monster who has turned her back on the ways of monster-dom (mostly because she was too darn adorable to be scary)."
Hark! A Vagrant
Writer/Artist: Kate Beaton
Probably the most famous webcomic on the internet? Awesome stuff, and now available in book form!
Here be Voodoo
Writer/Artist: Valériane Duvivier
"Here be Voodoo is the story of Sunday, a ten-year old girl and her doll, Mojo. But Here be Voodoo isn't a story about their fun and magical adventures through a candy colored world (Well, with the word Voodoo in the title, I kind of hope you were warned). Here be Voodoo is about how far you can go to take revenge."
Writer/Artist: Hwei
"HERO is a story about a perfectly ordinary boy with no memory of the past and no urgency for the future; who one day accepts a most extraordinary offer to travel to distant places and invisible cities."
Jane Quiet
Writer: KA Laity
Artist: Elena Steier
"World of Jane Quiet, Occult Investigator. Demons, Gods, Creatures of the Dark, you name it, she's seen it. If you looking to cure a little trouble, she's the gal that you need to see."
Writer/Artist: Tracy J Butler
"It's about a gang of tenacious (if not shady) characters running a St. Louis speakeasy in the era of Prohibition. I suppose it falls somewhere in the realm of historical fiction, parody, dark comedy, and abject nonsense."
Lavender Legend
Writer/Artist: Jamie Jennings
"Lavender Legend is an online comic book (webcomic) that features fantasy, adventure, romance, and cross-dressing, among other things. "
Monster Pulse
Writer/Artist: Magnolia Porter
"Monster Pulse is an all ages adventure story about kids whose body parts transform into fighting monsters."
Octopus Pie
Writer/Artist: Meredith Gran
"Eve Ning is a grumpy post-college New Yorker who works at an organic grocery store. She can't imagine the people in her life being any more annoying. Turns out they can and always are."
Writer/Artist: Trudy Cooper
"This comic started as an attempt to make pornography. It degenerated into sex comedy pretty much immediately. Even so, there are some things depicted that are best kept away from children and work. Please click on the button below to certify you're over 18. Of course, if you are under 18, you can't legally certify anything. So if you're a minor, please get a parent to click the button which says you aren't. Thank you. (Taking moral advice from cartoon characters is probably a bad idea.)"
A favourite of mine! But very NSFW.
Overlord of Ravenfell
Writers/Artists: Rae Baade, San Roby
"Ravenfell is a fortress in the mountains made of stone and black crystal. It was created by unknown means by the Overlord Radja, and boosts the power of the Overlord who has mastered it. Beneath the fortress is a magical maze set to confuse intruders and lead them into deadly traps, or send them to the center pool to be dealt with personally by the Overlord. Some say that Ravenfell has a sentience of its own."
Writer/Artist: Francesca Ghermandi
"Pastil is the story of a little pill girl (her head is a gigantic pill of some sort, with a tiny little body attached) and her surreal adventures in a Wonderland-esque world. Flying first aid kits that you can drive like airplanes, strange doors that lead to bizarre new situations, it's all here. Add in that Pastil is wordless, and you've just added to the strange nature of the book."
Other Francesca Ghermandi titles: Grenuord
Planet Karen
Writer/Artist: Karen Ellis
An autobiographical webcomic.
Writer/Artist: Madeline Rupert
"The touching story of two brothers working at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, Japan. One is afraid of girls...the other is kind of a sociopath. "
Sfeer Theory
Writer: Alex Singer
Artist: Jayd Aït-Kaci
"Sfeer Theory is the biography of a semi-immortal wizard named Balzac whose duty is to uphold and guard an empire, by way of a magical version of Atlas. The Uitspan Era addresses the beginning of his livelihood, and the Uitspan Age addresses the possible end of it."
Writer/Artist: Jen Wang
Also go see Eat Food: http://jenwang.net/comics/touchfood
Space Case Sally
Writer/Artist: Ashley Quigg
"Sally is your average futuristic Space Age teenager with a little brother whose annoyance levels reach off of the charts. But when she's roped into babysitting the tiny terror, things go from bad to worse! Can Sally manage to keep her sanity even under the threat of vicious space aliens and extreme sibling aggravation? And for that matter, will she EVER get to the mall??"
Writer/Artist: Hamletmachine
"STARFIGHTER, everyone's favorite sci-fi yaoi."
Writer/Artist: Emirain
"Teahouse is a weekly yaoi (adult) web comic about characters living in a brothel."
Writer: Alex de Campi
Artist: Christine Larsen
"During Napoleon's retreat from Russia in the war of 1812, cavalry officers Valentine and Oscar are separated from the main army by a brutal blizzard. They think the worst thing waiting out there in the snow for them is Death. They could not be more wrong.
The two soldiers stumble across an ancient conflict between beings more powerful than humanity can imagine, a conflict which now threatens to consume the Earth and all upon it -- because those who have stood in the horror's path, the few bastions of light, are going home."
Other Alex de Campi titles: Ashes, Smoke.
Other Christine Larsen titles: Jung Fu Panda, The Lamorte Sisters, Shrek.
Writer/Artist: Ashley Cope
"Thief-brat Sette Frummagem is on a mission, and she'll lie, cheat, and steal to make sure it's a success (she'll lie, cheat, and steal anyway). Condemned to aid her in her rotten endeavours is a rotten corpse who seems oddly talented with the supernatural, and oddly not laying motionless in the dirt."
Wasted Talent
Writer/Artist: Angela Melick
"JAM, or Angela, is a mechanical engineer who draws comics (including this one). She lives in Vancouver. Likes cats, silly hats, coffee. She recently graduated from UBC and now works for 'energyWise'."
Winters in Lavelle
Writer/Artist: Kasey Van Hise
"When siblings Aiden and Kari Winters discover that an old family heirloom leads to a fantastic world, their haphazard use of the old crystal globe leaves them stranded. The two search for a way home, but discover strange abilities of their own, unlike anything found on Earth. As they become embroiled in the politics of the kingdom of Lavelle, the bickering brother and sister discover more about themselves and their family in this strange world."
Comic Strip Collections
Basically, comic strip books as opposed to comic books, think Garfield rather than Batman!
Brenda Starr, Reporter: The Collected Daily and Sunday Newspaper Strips
Writer/Artist: Dale Messick
"Created by Dale Messick, the first woman to create, draw, and write a syndicated newspaper strip, Brenda Starr successfully mixed romance ,fashion, and adventure into one of the longest running features in newspaper history."
The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley's Cartoons from 1913-1940
Writer: Trina Robbins, Nell Brinkley
Artist: Nell Brinkley
"Step aside, Gibson Girls, you've met your match! In 1907 Nell Brinkley drew cartoons for the Hearst syndicate and became a household name: The Brinkley Girls, a merchandising phenomenon, had taken over from the Gibson Girls. For more than 30 years, in pen and ink, Nell Brinkley depicted women of different races, cultures and occupations. Using her fame, Brinkley campaigned for better working conditions and higher pay for women. The Brinkley Girls collects colored full-page art from 1913 to 1940."
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For
Writer/Artist: Alison Bechdel
"Settle in to this wittily illustrated soap opera (Bechdel calls it "half op-ed column and half endless serialized Victorian novel") of the lives, loves, and politics of a cast of characters, most of them lesbian, living in a midsize American city that may or may not be Minneapolis. Her brilliantly imagined countercultural band of friends -- academics, social workers, bookstore clerks -- fall in and out of love, negotiate friendships, raise children, switch careers, and cope with aging parents."
Other Alison Bechdel titles: Fun Home
Miss Fury
Writer/Artist: Tarpe Mills
"Miss Fury was a sexy adventurer clad in a skin-tight panther costume. By day, she was socialite Marla Drake. By night... Miss Fury! In the first half of the 20th century, women cartoonists could be found in America's newspapers, but Tarpe Mills was one of the few who drew adventure comics, and the only one who drew a costumed superheroine. The Miss Fury Sunday newspaper strip ran from 1941 until 1952 and had millions of readers, among them GIs who painted the beautiful action heroine on the nosecones of their bombers."
Writer/Artist: Diane Noomin
"Glitz-2-Go finally collects nearly 40 years of comics stories by Diane Noomin, best-known for her work as cartoonist and editor of the women comics anthology Twisted Sisters. Glitz-2-Go stars Noomin's signature character, DiDi Glitz, the frustrated middle-aged glamour-puss and anxiety-ridden suburban Sisyphus. Like many women who wrote and drew underground and alternative comix in the '70s, Noomin's contribution to the form has been unjustly overlooked."
Jane's World
Writer/Artist: Paige Braddock
"Meet Jane, the hapless heroine of a slightly wacky world, where women wash up on desert islands and are kidnapped by adoring Amazons, where random ex-girlfriends morph into monkeys, where best friends are always loyal (and occasionally even lustful!) and roommates never change... Not even their socks. Now enters the heartless, hip and totally hot, Chelle, who has Jane falling head over heels over office furniture. Will Chelle ever develop a soft spot for Jane? Will Jane's roommate, Ethan, ever get a job? Will kind-hearted but aimless, Dorothy, ever stop pouring coffee and actually use her doctoral degree?!"
Laughing Gas: The Best of Maxine
Writer/Artist: Marian Henley
"Laughing Gas is a collection of Marian Henley's Maxine!, a weekly comic strip in syndication since 1981. Maxine is a ponytailed pundit who, as one editor observed, "always has her mouth open." Maxine offers an opinion on everything that matters most: love, religion, politics, philosophy, and of course, bad hair."
Life's a Bitch: The Complete Bitchy Bitch Stories
Writer/Artist: Roberta Gregory
"Naughty Bits, the longest-running solo comic by a female alternative cartoonist, came to an end in 2004 after a 14-year, 40-issue run. Beloved for the expressive scrawl of Gregory's line and her take-no-prisoners satirical approach, it was particularly notable for introducing the world to Bitchy Bitch—a woman who is eternally, magnificently, and for the most part, quite justifiably pissed off at the world around her! This extra-thick volume collects the entire first half of the Bitchy Bitch saga, and it ranges widely in her eventful life."
Other Roberta Gregory titles: Naughty Bits
Monkey Food
Writer/Artist: Ellen Forney
"Affectionate and gently ironic, Forney's popular, Seattle-based autobiographical comics strip, "I Was Seven in '75," celebrates all the wacky details of growing up middle American in the era of disco. This collection of Forney's work reads like a family scrapbook, recounting the painfully funny trials of Forney, her post-hippie parents and her freckled older brother."
Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip
Writer/Artist: Tove Jansson
"Tove Jansson is revered around the world as one of the foremost children's authors of the twentieth century for her illustrated chapter books regarding the magical worlds of her creation, the Moomins. The Moomins saw life in many forms but debuted to its biggest audience ever on the pages of the world's largest newspaper, the London Evening News, in 1954. The strip was syndicated in newspapers around the world with millions of readers in forty countries.
The Moomins are a tight-knit family-hippo-shaped creatures with easygoing and adventurous outlooks. Jansson's art is pared down and precise, yet able to compose beautiful portraits of ambling creatures in fields of flowers or on rock-strewn beaches that recall Jansson's Nordic roots. The comic strip reached out to adults with its gentle and droll sense of humor. Whimsical but with biting undertones, Jansson's observations of everyday life, including guests who overstay their welcome, modern art, movie stars, and high society, easily caught the attention of an international audience and still resonate today."
Writer/Artist: Lise Myhre
"Meet Nemi Montoya, the vegetarian, cynical/romantic, hilariously honest twenty-something goth, in this brand new collection from artist Lise Myhre! Hang out in the pub with Nemi and her friends, including her flatmate, the blue-haired Cyan; hear her opinions on romance and dating; watch her watch TV in her untidy flat; learn how she feels about birch trees, spiders and blondes; and generally experience the highs and lows of being Nemi in the modern world! "
I am a huge, HUGE, fan of Nemi.
The Sylvia Chronicles
Writer/Artist: Nicole Hollander
"For three decades, the nationally-syndicated cartoonist Nicole Hollander has channeled her ascerbic wit and razor-sharp sensibilities through the incomparable and irascible Sylvia, a Chicago original whose hilarious commentary on American life has won over millions of loyal readers. The Sylvia Chronicles presents Sylvia's singular take on contemporary politics, from the early days of Reagan to the latter days of Palin."
I mostly wanted to include these as I couldn't find any collections of Jackie Ormes' work at all. AT ALL.
Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist
Writer: Nancy Goldstein
"In the United States at mid-century, in an era when there were few opportunities for women in general and even fewer for African American women, Jackie Ormes blazed a trail as a popular artist with the major black newspapers of the day.
Jackie Ormes chronicles the life of this multiply talented, fascinating woman who became a successful commercial artist and cartoonist. Ormes's cartoon characters (including Torchy Brown, Candy, and Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger) delighted readers of newspapers such as the Pittsburgh Courier and Chicago Defender, and spawned other products, including fashionable paper dolls in the Sunday papers and a black doll with her own extensive and stylish wardrobe."
Lily Renee, Escape Artist
Writer: Trina Robbins
Artists: Anne Timmons, Mo Oh
"In 1938, Lily Renée Wilheim is a 14-year-old Jewish girl living in Vienna. Her days are filled with art and ballet. Then the Nazis march into Austria, and Lily's life is shattered overnight. Suddenly, her own country is no longer safe for her or her family. To survive, Lily leaves her parents behind and travels alone to England.
Escaping the Nazis is only the start of Lily's journey. She must escape many more times--from servitude, hardship, and danger. Will she find a way to have her own sort of revenge on the Nazis? Follow the story of a brave girl who becomes an artist of heroes and a true pioneer in comic books."
Separated from the first (fiction) list, not as a slight at all, but from a bookseller habit of keeping fiction and non-fiction separate. Well, I think it makes sense...
A Child's Life and Other Stories
Writer/Artist: Phoebe Gloeckner
"Phoebe Gloeckner's first book collects her highly praised autobiographical accounts of a teenage girl's loss of innocence through sex, drugs, rape, and AIDS. Long respected as one of the finest and most original of today's underground comics artists, Gloeckner shows both technical artistry and tremendous range—from her sly, lurid, and brilliantly colored posters for rock groups to her textbook-quality medical illustrations; from her sharp naturalistic juxtapositions for The Atrocity Exhibition (J.G. Ballard) to the signature comics for which she is best known."
Other Phoebe Gloeckner titles: The Diary of a Teenage Girl
American Widow
Writer: Alissa Torres
Artist: Sungyoon Choi
"On September 10, 2001, Eddie Torres started his dream job at Cantor Fitzgerald in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The next morning, he said goodbye to his 7½-months-pregnant wife, Alissa, and headed out the door. In an instant, Alissa's world was thrown into chaos. Forced to deal with unimaginable challenges, Alissa suddenly found herself cast into the role of "9/11 widow," tossed into a storm of bureaucracy, politics, patriotism, mourning, consolation, and, soon enough, motherhood."
At a Crossroads
Writer/Artist: Kate T Williamson
"At a Crossroads is a unique graphic memoir about the common, yet little-discussed, "boomerang years." With sharp wit and expressive drawings, Williamson illustrates the joys, disappointments, comforts, and embarrassments of life back home with mom and dad. Highlights and low points include celebrating her twenty-fourth birthday at a Hall & Oates concert with her mother; noticing the train sounds from her bedroom for the first time; battling an infestation of squirrels;discovering that the ballet class she has signed up for is actually for children, and attending anyway; getting mail from her college crush, who has developed an interest in taxidermy; wearing a chain-mail belt of her own creation to her cousin's Renaissance-themed wedding."
Other Kate T Williamson titles: A Year in Japan
Billy, Me & You
Writer/Artist: Nicola Streeten
"Nicola Streeten's little boy, Billy, was two years old when he died following heart surgery for problems diagnosed only ten days earlier. Thirteen years later, able finally to revisit a diary written at the time, Streeten began translating her notes into a graphic novel. The result, a retrospective reflection from a 'healed' perspective and gut wrenchingly sad at moments, is an unforgettable portrayal of trauma and our reaction to it - and, especially, the humour or absurdity so often involved in our responses. As Streeten's story unfolds and we follow her and her partner's heroic efforts to cope with well-meaning friends and day-to-day realities, we begin to understand what she means by her aim to create a 'dead baby story that is funny'."
Cancer Vixen
Writer/Artist: Marisa Acocella Marchetto
"'What happens when a shoe-crazy, lipstick-obsessed, wine-swilling, pasta-slurping, fashion-fanatic, about-to-get-married big-city girl cartoonist with a fabulous life finds . . . a lump in her breast?' That's the question that sets this powerful, funny, and poignant graphic memoir in motion. In vivid color and with a taboo-breaking sense of humor, Marisa Acocella Marchetto tells the story of her eleven-month, ultimately triumphant bout with breast cancer—from diagnosis to cure, and every challenging step in between. "
Can of Worms
Writer/Artist: Catherine Doherty
"Story of the author's learning of and coming to terms with her adoption."
Daddy's Girl
Writer/Artist: Debbie Drechsler
"Rendered entirely in black and white, Drechsler's meticulous brush lines gather into heavy textures that suggest the claustrophobic tension of the environment that threatens her pre-teen and adolescent female protagonists. Characters such as Lily, who can't escape her father's abuse, and Franny, a girl whose desire to be accepted leads her into dangerous territory, struggle not to be visually and emotionally overwhelmed. Both girls are rendered in chunky, rounded lines, as if they've been shaped by the oppressive weight of their blandly suburban milieu, where pretending that everything is all right and maintaining the status quo is prized above truth and upheaval."
Dance by the Light of the Moon
Writer/Artist: Judith Vanistendael
"A moving love story inspired by the author's relationship with a political refugee from Togo. It began as a response to the publication of a short story, Message from the Fortress, written by the author's father, Geert Vanistendael. In it, her father gives vent to his feelings about the relationship. At first angry with her father, the author publicly responded by reclaiming the story in this semi-autobiographical novel. Dance By the Light of the Moon is a beautiful, unexpected tale which reaches far beyond the love story that originally inspired it."
Dotter of Her Father's Eyes
Writer: Mary Talbot
Artist: Bryan Talbot
"Part personal history, part biography, Dotter of Her Father's Eyes contrasts two coming-of-age narratives: that of Lucia, the daughter of James Joyce, and that of author Mary Talbot, daughter of the eminent Joycean scholar James S. Atherton. Social expectations and gender politics, thwarted ambitions and personal tragedy are played out against two contrasting historical backgrounds, poignantly evoked by the atmospheric visual storytelling of award winning comic artist and graphic novel pioneer Bryan Talbot. Produced through an intense collaboration seldom seen between writers and artists, Dotter of Her Father's Eyes is intelligent, funny and sad - a fine addition to the evolving genre of graphic memoir."
Drawn to You
Writer/Artists: Lucy Knisley, Erika Moen
"A comic conversation between Erika Moen and Lucy Knisley about autobiographical comics, art, gender, sex and zombies. Over a six months span, Erika and Lucy passed the half-finished pages back and forth digitally, completing the panels and passing it back, as a fun project to bond two artists."
Other Lucy Knisley titles: French Milk, Radiator Days.
Other Erika Moen titles: DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary
Drinking at the Movies
Writer/Artist: Julia Wertz
"Julia Wertz documents the year she left San Francisco for the unfamiliar streets of New York. Don't worry—this isn't the typical redemptive coming-of-age tale of a young woman and her glorious triumph over tragedy or any such nonsense. It's simply a hilarious—occasionally poignant—book filled with interesting art, absurd humor and plenty of amusing self-deprecation. Box by box, Wertz chronicles four sketchy apartments, seven terrible jobs, family drama, traveling fiascos, and too many whiskey bottles to count."
Other Julia Wertz titles: The Fart Party
Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale
Writer/Artist: Belle Yang
"When Belle Yang was forced to take refuge in her parents' home after an abusive boyfriend began stalking her, her father entertained her with stories of old China. The history she'd ignored while growing up became a source of comfort and inspiration, and narrowed the gap separating her—an independent, Chinese-American woman—from her Old World Chinese parents."
French Milk
Writer/Artist: Lucy Knisley
"Through delightful drawings, photographs, and musings, twenty-three-year-old Lucy Knisley documents a six-week trip she and her mother took to Paris when each was facing a milestone birthday. With a quirky flat in the fifth arrondissement as their home base, they set out to explore all the city has to offer, watching fireworks over the Eiffel Tower on New Year's Eve, visiting Oscar Wilde's grave, loafing at cafés, and, of course, drinking delicious French milk. What results is not only a sweet and savory journey through the City of Light but a moving, personal look at a mother-daughter relationship."
Other Lucy Knisley titles: Drawn to You, Radiator Days.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Writer/Artist: Alison Bechdel
"Alison Bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father. Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the "Fun Home." It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve."
Other Alison Bechdel titles: Dykes to Watch Out For
The High School Comic Chronicles of Ariel Schrag
Writer/Artist: Ariel Schrag
"During the summer following each year at Berkeley High School in California, Ariel wrote a comic book about her experiences, which she would then photocopy and sell around school. Some friends thrilled to see themselves in the comic, others not so much, but everyone was interested."
Collected in three books: Awkward and Definition; Potential; Likewise.
The Imposters Daughter
Writer/Artist: Laurie Sandell
Laurie Sandell grew up in awe (and sometimes in terror) of her larger-than-life father, who told jaw-dropping tales of a privileged childhood in Buenos Aires, academic triumphs, heroism during Vietnam, friendships with Kissinger and the Pope. But while researching an article on her dad's life, she makes an astonishing discovery: he's not the man he says he is--not even close."
Writer/Artist: Gabrielle Bell
"Gabrielle Bell fascinatingly documents the mundane details of her below-minimum-wage, twentysomething existence in Brooklyn, New York, with a subtle humor. Her simple, unadorned drawing style, heavy narration, and biting wit chronicle transient roommates who communicate only through Post-it notes; aspiring artists who sublet tiny rooms in leaky, greasy broken-down border-house loft apartments crawling with bugs, cats, and bad art."
Other Gabrielle Bell titles: Cecil and Jordan in New York
Writer: Marzena Sowa
Artist: Sylvain Savoia
"'I am Marzi, born in 1979, ten years before the end of communism in Poland. My father works at a factory, my mother at a dairy. Social problems are at their height. Empty stores are our daily bread. I'm scared of spiders and the world of adults doesn't seem like a walk in the park.' Told from a young girl's perspective, Marzena Sowa's memoir of a childhood shaped by politics feels remarkably fresh and immediate."
My New York Diary
Writer/Artist: Julie Doucet
"In one of the first contemporary graphic novels, Doucet abruptly packs her bags and moves to New York. Trouble follows her in the form of a jealous boyfriend, insecurity about her talent, her worsening epilepsy, and a tendency to self-medicate with booze and drugs."
Other Julie Doucet titles: 365 Days, Dirty Plotte, My Most Secret Desire
Need More Love
Writer/Artist: Aline Kominsky-Crumb
"Aline Kominsky-Crumb, one of the earliest female cartoonists, presents a collection of her own highly inventive and daring artwork from over four decades, along with unusual photographs and memorabilia. The road to becoming an underground comics legend begins with Kominsky-Crumb as a nice jewish girl from Long Island, carries her to Greenwich Village in the 1960's, and to California, land of hippy cartoonists, and on to a more or less sedate life with hubby (equally legendary R. Crumb) and daughter, Sophie."
Other Aline Kominsky-Crumb titles: Dirty Laundry Comics
One Hundred Demons
Writer/Artist: Lynda Barry
"Here are 20 stories told in Lynda Barry's distinctive cartoon-narrative style that delve into the funk and sweetness of love, family, adolescence, race and the 'hood, identity — all the forces that made her the "wreck" she is today. Barry distinguishes these stories with her pitch-perfect sense of the way young people talk and think and her ability to casually render childhood's cruelties in luminous, unsparing detail."
Other Lynda Barry titles: Big Ideas, Blabber Blabber Blabber, Come Over, Come Over, Everything in the World, The Freddie Stories, The Greatest of Marlys, It's So Magic, Picture This, What It Is.
Writer/Artist: Marjane Satrapi
"Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming--both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up."
The two volumes are available separately or as a complete volume. Persepolis I is one of my very favourite comics that has a lot to teach Western readers.
Other Marjane Satrapi titles: Chicken with Plums, Embroideries
Radiator Days
Writer/Artist: Lucy Knisley
"A collection of short comics, stories, 24-hour-comics, school assignments, and other miscellaneous short comics from Lucy Knisley's early career and school years. See her experiment with various drawing forms and different storytelling techniques as her comics begin to take on a recognizable style."
Other Lucy Knisley titles: Drawn to You, French Milk.
Rent Girl
Writer: Michelle Tea
Artist: Lauren McCubbin
"Like Phoebe Gloeckner's Diary of a Teenage Girl, Michelle Tea's Rent Girl is an illustrated novel about a young dyke's adventures in and out of the sex industry on both the East and West Coasts."
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Stephanie Yue
"Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth. What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly."
Other Raina Telgemeier titles: X-men: Misfits
We Are on Our Own
Writer/Artist: Miriam Katin
"In this captivating and elegantly illustrated graphic memoir, Miriam Katin retells the story of her and her mother's escape on foot from the Nazi invasion of Budapest. With her father off fighting for the Hungarian army and the German troops quickly approaching, Katin and her mother are forced to flee to the countryside after faking their deaths. Leaving behind all of their belongings and loved ones, and unable to tell anyone of their whereabouts, they disguise themselves as a Russian servant and illegitimate child, while literally staying a few steps ahead of the German soldiers."
We Are on Our Own is the first full-length graphic novel by Katin, at the age of 63.
Will You Still Love Me if I Wet the Bed?
Writer/Artist: Liz Prince
"Will You Still Love Me If I Wet The Bed? started out as an exercise in keeping a personal comic journal of the finer points of a relationship, but quickly evolved to become Liz Prince's first solo full length comic. Described as a mix between Jeffrey Brown and James Kochalka, Liz's comic is made up of short vignettes that capture all the cute, gross, and endearing aspects of relationships."
Other Liz Prince titles: Delayed Replays
First of all, well done for attempting to take this on. I fear what you may need to do is actually start again, this time on a separate site, as something like this is never going to fit into just one blog post. And I really think you need to have these listed by creator, as well as by publisher – perhaps, eventually, there may be room to break these down further, with individual lists for writers, artists, inkers, letterers, colourists, and various end of the production end of comics, as much to show that there are lots of different ends to comics, and that there's room for women in all of them.
Another thing is, if you've only one work listed by someone under the publisher of that work, with all their other titles listed after, some of those titles will be by different publishers. For instance, Leah Moore is under Wildstorm, for Albion, but a lot of the rest of her output, which is listed thereafter, is actually for Dynamite. However, I presume this'll all get picked up as you continue to expand this.
A couple of quick additions:
Mary Talbot, for Dotter of Her Father's Eyes
CE Murphy, for Take a Chance, published by Dabel Brothers
KA Laity & Elena Steier, for Jane Quiet – http://janequiet.com/
I really think, if you do this properly, it'll become a hugely important Internet asset. So, if there's anything I can help with (despite having essentially the wrong kind of undercarriage) do not be afraid to ask.
Amy Unbounded, by Rachel Hartman – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Unbounded
I'll echo what Pádraig says, including kudos for starting an ambitious project. It might make sense to do each entry as a post and tag them according to topic, format, writer, artist etc. so you can aggregate rather than have one very long page. For example, how are you going to fit in everything from Marie Severin?!
See also http://womenincomics.wikia.com/wiki/Women_In_Comics_Wiki and you might want to talk with the Tarts: http://www.sequentialtart.com/ Pity Friends of Lulu is gone, but some of their material might still be online.
Serena Valentino, for GloomCookie
A number of things by Chyna Clugson – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chynna_Clugston
Jen Van Meter, for Hopeless Savages – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopeless_Savages
Sorry for the multiple postings – these things are just starting to uncover themselves from the deep dark recesses at the back of my brain!
I do a comic, Goodbye Chains, that is both written and drawn by ladies:
I also have plenty of lady pals who do comics:
Fishbones: http://fishbonescomic.com/
Godsend: http://www.godsend.shatterlands.com/comix/
Knights-Errant: http://knights-errant.smackjeeves.com/
La Macchina Bellica: http://lamacchinabellica.com/
Winters in Lavelle: http://wintersinlavelle.com/
Space Case Sally: http://spacecasesally.com/
Sfeer Theory: http://sfeertheory.littlefoolery.com/
Sakana: http://sakana.smackjeeves.com/
Starfighter: http://starfightercomic.com/ (NSFW)
Some others:
Templar, AZ: http://templaraz.com/
Cucumber Quest: http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/
Lackadaisy Cats: http://lackadaisycats.com/index.php
Oglaf: http://oglaf.com/
Monster Pulse: http://www.monster-pulse.com/
Unsounded: http://www.casualvillain.com/Unsounded/
There are many more, but that's good for a start?
Whoops, meant to specify "webcomics" there.
Wasted Talent by Angela Melick: http://www.wastedtalent.ca/
Planet Karen by Karen Ellis: http://planetkaren.co.uk
The Bellybuttons by Delaf & Dubuc: http://www.cinebook.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=4019
Camilla d'Errico: http://www.camilladerrico.com/
Good work, keep it up!
Great job, well done.
Seconding Oglaf, my favourite web comic, Trudy Cooper, seriously NSFW but also seriously funny.
Teahouse, one of the prettiest http://teahousecomic.com set in a Yaoi brothel, slightly NSFW
Artifice, Art by Winona Nelson http://webcomics.yaoi911.com/archive/artifice-title-page/ (a bit NSFW, but not as naughty as Oglaf, but then, what is?)
I think Hamletmonster who does http://www.starfightercomic.com/comic.php is a woman creator (NSFW)
Just one more comment for tonight, I promise!
Various things by Joyce Brabner – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Brabner
Although not a writer or artist, Lynn Varley's contribution to comics as a colourist, particularly on her ex-husband Frank Miller's work, was huge, and ground-breaking.
I've a list of women in comics in the UK/Ireland on my web site which I started last year: http://splinister.com/women-in-comics-uk-ireland I've been keeping it up-to-date.
I'd also recommend the Women in Comics Wiki: http://womenincomics.wikia.com/wiki/Women_In_Comics_Wiki If there are gaps in that database then I'd encourage people to get involved and start creating entries to make this resource as complete as possible.
I'm writing another title, Róisín Dubh, for Atomic Diner: http://roisindubhcomic.com/
There is also a wealth of Manga and other foreign language titles written/drawn by women that often get forgotten in these kinds of collections.
One immediate omission in your list is Marjorie Liu, one of Marvel's top women writers. http://www.marjoriemliu.com/
Here's some webcomics!
http://www.bob-artist.com/demon/Demon of the Underground by Shobana Appavu
http://bridgescomic.net/ Bridges by Kris Justus
http://earthboundcomic.com/ Earthbound by S. Phillips
http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/ HERO by Hwei
http://valeriane.org/herebevoodoo/ Here by Voodoo by Valériane Duvivier
http://lavenderlegend.com/ Lavender Legend by Jamie Jennings
And I do Overlord of Ravenfell at http://www.ravenfell.com with my partner San Roby
You can also find a lot at this site: http://www.tomgeeks.com/
IDW also has:
The Last Unicorn – Art by Renae DeLiz
Servant of the Bones – Art by Renae DeLiz
Angel – Art by Elena Casagrande
True Blood – The French Quarter – Art by Claudia Balboni
And Jenny Frison did covers for Angel & Servant of the Bones
I'm a dude & I don't have any additions but I wanted to say this a great list! Marzi especially looks incredibly interesting, just added it to my Amazon shopping cart. This list will be especially useful for me as I'm trying to write a woman main character, but haven't been able to find a ton of great examples in genre. Thanks again.
I'd humbly submit myself as a comics writer (Sharon Lintz, http://www.pornhounds.net)
But also Ellen Lindner: http://www.littlewhitebird.com/
She has a book out (wrote/illustrated) called Undertow, about sex/drugs in 1950's Coney Island. She also used to publish a comics paper out of London for awhile–think she's doing it from U.S. now, I know she just moved back here.
Also, Joan Reilly: http://frankeast14th.tumblr.com/
"Franky East 14th" is her webcomic, done with text taken from the journals her dad kept while growing up in the 40s in Oakland, California.
Cristy Croad: http://croadcore.org/
Several graphic novels out from small presses (I think two) and one forthcoming.
Brilliant stuff! I have a few webcomics here that my friends and myself have drawn!
Glorious Kids by Hayley anne Ryder – http://gloriouskids.smackjeeves.com/ A very dry sort of indie comic set in the 90's, just about teenage life!
Hemlock by Joceline Fenton – http://hemlock.smackjeeves.com/ a fantasy/fairy tale comic based on scandinavian folk law!
Cafe Suada by Jade Sarson – http://cafesuada.smackjeeves.com/ a shojo/comedy – super stylish and cute comic about two people going to war with their Cafe's!
Strangers and Friends by Rebecca Burgess – http://hemu.smackjeeves.com/ a horror/mystery comic which includes Hindi myth, essentially about vampire hunting!
The summer of blake sinclair by Sarah Burgess (me!) http://blake-Sinclair.smackjeeves.com/ a slice of life/social comedy about university students and generation Y!
Fruit macheine by Evelyn Hewlett http://fruitmachine.smackjeeves.com/ a romance/comedy , simply about a guy who falls in love at first sight! Very heart warming and again about teenage life really!
I hope these are good recommendations! There are so many girls comics out there that no one is reading! It's so nice to see there is a list, I'm going to get my teeth stuck in that :) how positive I feel to see this list!!
Noted, some of these are also small press, but i figured technically they should go under webcomics since they were firstly web-based :) Hmmmm, I use too many exclamation marks in my writing :Y
Ellen Lindner: http://www.littlewhitebird.com/
Cristy C. Road: http://croadcore.org/
Joan Reilly: http://frankeast14th.tumblr.com/
Two more webcomics, and good ones too:
The Meek by Der-Shing Helmer
Manly Guys Doing Manly Things by Kelly Turnbull
Great list, got some good recommendations off it for more webcomics to read. If you're still looking for more the following are webcomics I read / have read / plan to read which are written/illustrated by women and aren't on your list so far as I could see (may have missed them):
Go Get a Roomie by Cloe (link possibly NSFW because of drawn boobs):
Erstwhile and Red String by Gina Biggs:
The Less Than Epic Adventures of Tj and Amal by E. K. Weaver:
I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space, Meaty Yogurt and Yu+Me by Megan Gedris:
Hannah is not a Boy's Name by Tessa Stone:
Snap Crackle Pop by Kit Fox:
Fall on Me by Adriana Blake:
Namesake, written by Megan Lavey-Heaton and illustrated by Isabelle Melançon:
The Phoenix Requiem by Sarah Ellerton:
Indexed by Jessica Hagy (not sure if this one is a webcomic exactly, she describes it as a blog, but it is visual):
Blaster Nation, illustrated by Leslie Ortego and written by Brad Brown:
All New Issues by Bill Ellis and Dani (Danielle) O'Brien:
and Starcrossed by Erica Batton:
Well, that turned out to be more than I thought, but it is still far less than half of the webcomics I read / have read / plan to read. Hope the links are useful anyway.
Buffy the vampire slayer haunted by Jane espenson-gn
Betty swords-cartoons search for her on the comical journal site
A softer world- Emily Horne-web
ripped Emma caulfield -web
Also Susanna Clarke wrote a comic with art by Charles Bess a few years ago. While it's very rare now. Ithas been collected as a short story in the ladies of grace aideu
Sorry. A few of the words got. Mixed up,wrote this on stupid,self correcting keyboard. Comical=comics
Bess=vess.sorry again for not providing links,my kindle won't let me.
Just stumbled upon this – awesome! Just wanted to add my two cents – aka my webcomic I've been doing for a few years now – Bonnie N. Collide, Nine to Five. :) http://eatyourlipstick.com/comic/bonnie-n-collide-last/
I'm still working on adding all the ones on this list that I've missed, but check out my aStore for other print suggestions:
I'm surprised at not seeing Wandering Star, by Teri Sue Wood. She published 21 issues in print and currently has'em available on her website as she keeps on working on it and its proposed follow-up.
There's also Family Man and Bite Me by Dylan Meconis!
Her work is brilliant.
And Yuko Ota's artwork is phenomenal in Johnny Wander and her freelance stuff as well.
Just a few that I haven't seen on the list;
http://mokepon.smackjeeves.com/ by Rebecca Pugh
http://ianua.smackjeeves.com/ by Amanda Gomes and Julie Wright
http://opticaldisarray.smackjeeves.com/ by Lexie Rusnak
http://nse.smackjeeves.com/ by Anmari
Not to toot my own horn too much, but I've got a webcomic over here you can add:
http://ohumanstar.com/ (my name's Blue Delliquanti)
I can also recommend As The Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman (http://www.melaniegillman.com/) and Hemlock by Josceline Fenton (http://hemlock.smackjeeves.com/).
'Astonishers' and 'Time War', gif comics both by Chel Traynor
Thanks for making this resource! I was going to suggest a wiki but I saw the one linked in the comments. There's a _massive_ world of female manga creators out there.
A few specific comics w Western artists: Emma Vieceli has also done Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing published by Self-Made Hero, and Sonia Leong, Romeo and Juliet. http://www.rpgcomic.com is created by Stacie Ponder.
Here's my webcomic, since I'm a female creator. :)
Jennifer Zyren Smith: LaSalle's Legacy
Thanks for making this resource!
Webcomics: Altar Girl
by Kata Kane
Drawn 2002-2004, re-draw started 2012
This is a great resource. Hope the list keeps growing :)
A few webcomics you could add:
Manly Guys Doing Manly Things by Kelly Turnbull
Kate or Die! by Kate Leah
and Johnny Wander by Yuko Ota & Ananth Panagarlya
Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich
Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name by Tessa Stone
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