Summer (Reading) is Coming
 
Spring is here, but it will be summer before you know it. In fact, schools will be out before our next issue. For many of us, that means summer vacations and reflection on school year past and the year to come. (For librarians like your Noble Narrator, it means the Summer Reading Program is coming, even if registration for it isn't open yet.)
 
Well, that's also true in the comics and graphic novels this issue. Summer romance, summer with friends, summer jobs and internships, and hot summer blackouts dragging criminals to Blackgate Prison (ok, that last one was just Batman, but you get the idea). So, join us as we go to camp, go out to the country, or just go to see family for a bit...and if we happen to have a few books that would also have been good for a Pride or Immigrant Heritage Month themed newsletter, so much the better. 
Brownstone
by Samuel Teer

Left alone with her Guatemalan father for the summer while her mom goes on a once-in-a-lifetime trip without her, Almudena struggles to adjust to this new reality by getting to know the residents of his Latin American neighborhood while helping his dad fix his broken-down brownstone?—?and their relationship. Simultaneous and eBook. Illustrations.
Batman: one dark knight / : One Dark Knight
by Jock

"Iconic Batman artist Jock delivers a bare-knuckle brawl through the blacked-out streets of Gotham! All they had to do was get him across town. It was the sort of mission Batman had run a thousand times. From high above the sweltering summer streets of Gotham, Batman would escort the GCPD as the dangerous metahuman super-villain known as E.M.P. was transferred from a temporary holding cell to his permanent home at Blackgate Prison in Gotham Harbor. E.M.P.'s electrical powers posed a dangerous threat, butthe situation was well in hand. Until it wasn't. Now every light in Gotham is out, the police have been knocked into disarray, and a broken, bleeding Batman must fight his way to Blackgate, block by block, dragging E.M.P. behind him. But it's not just the gangs who want to make life difficult for him. The dark corners of Gotham contain many surprises...and E.M.P. has many more shocks to deliver before the night is through!"
Flying witch, vol. 7
by Chihiro Ishizuka

Makoto Kowata, a novice witch, packs up her belongings (including her black cat familiar) and moves in with her distant cousins in rural Aomori Prefecture, in the far north reaches of Japan, to complete her training and become a full-fledged witch. (Volumes 7 & 8 span most of the summer)
Northranger
by Rey Terciero

"In this swoony and spooky teen summer romance graphic novel set on a Texas ranch, sixteen-year-old Cade Muänoz finds himself falling for the ranch owner's mysterious and handsome son, only to discover that he may be harboring a dangerous secret"
Paper planes
by Jennie Wood

"After a life altering incident, Dylan and Leighton are sent to a summer camp for troubled youth. Can they save their friendship and protect their future while trying to survive camp?"
Girl taking over : a Lois Lane story
by Sarah Kuhn

Ambitious aspiring journalist Lois Lane is ready to tackle a summer in the city with gusto, but a cavalcade of setbacks threatens to derail her life plan, so when she uncovers a potentially explosive scandal, she must stand up and speak out for the future she deserves
Insomniacs after school vol 3
by Makoto Ojiro

Two sleepless teenagers find kinship as they escape to their school's astronomy observatory. (Volumes 3-6 cover the whole summer)
Ready or not
by Andi Porretta

Before everyone but her scatters across the globe for college, Cassie convinces her three best friends to spend August playing the game of dares and risks they invented as kids, making for an adventurous, outrageous and unforgettable summer—one she hopes will help them stay friends forever. Simultaneous and eBook. Illustrations.
The history of everything
by Victoria Evans

Best friends Daisy and Agnes have always had each other, until Agnes' mom announces they are moving and Daisy dates a drummer, in a coming-of-age story about a best friendship and how to grow up without growing apart. Simultaneous and eBook. Illustrations.
Juliet takes a breath
by Gabby Rivera

Coming out to her Puerto Rican-American family, a girl from the Bronx pursues an internship under a legendary feminist author during a summer of exploring identity, race and first love.

Links
Comics Plus: Library Edition

Comics Plus is our digital comics subscription service. Read thousands of comics on your computer, tablet or mobile device. All you need is your Houston Public Library card and a wireless connection!  
Image Comics

Image is a comics and graphic novels publisher formed in 1992 by seven of Marvel Comics’ best-selling artists. Since that time, Image has gone on to become the third largest comics publisher in the United States.
 
Viz Media

Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media) is one of the most comprehensive and innovative companies in the field of manga (graphic novel) publishing, animation and entertainment licensing of Japanese content. Owned by three of Japan's largest creators and licensors of manga and animation, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media is a leader in the publishing and distribution of Japanese manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa and is a global ex-Asia licensor of Japanese manga and animation.
Marvel 

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years.  Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing.
DC Comics

DC Entertainment, home to iconic brands DC Comics (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash), Vertigo (Sandman, Fables) and MAD, is the creative division charged with strategically integrating its content across Warner Bros. Entertainment and Time Warner.  DC Entertainment works in concert with many key Warner Bros. divisions to unleash its stories and characters across all media, including but not limited to film, television, consumer products, home entertainment and interactive games. Publishing thousands of comic books, graphic novels and magazines each year, DC Entertainment is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world. 
First Second

Is it first? Or second?
First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh.
Pressing the reset button. A clean slate. A fresh start.
Everything begins with the First Second. . . .
Yen Press

Yen Press is a US-based graphic novel publisher that releases a wide range of Japanese and Korean comics and well as a number of original English-language properties.
Otaku USA

Otaku USA is a thick, full-color magazine featuring comprehensive coverage of manga, anime, videogames and Japanese pop culture written from an American point of view. Otaku USA also publishes 32 pages of the hottest manga previews from the top publishers. Because Otaku USA is an independent US magazine, not a licensed product owned by those with an vested interest in a particular line of comics, anime, manga, games or movies, it presents the reader with objective coverage. 
ICv2

For the people on the front lines of the pop culture business, staying ahead of the trends isn’t something that can be left to chance—it’s a basic necessity for being successful. That’s why ICv2 is the #1 source of news and information for the buyers, gatekeepers, and tastemakers on the front lines. ICv2 is where trend-watching has become a science.