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Graphic Novels and Comics for adult readers January 2021
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Hello there! My name is Patrick Holt, and I'm a librarian at Southwest Regional Library and a lifelong reader of comics and graphic novels. Check out the contents of this month's newsletter in the box to the left, and get access to past editions in the archive at the bottom of the page. I hope you find these recommendations worthwhile, and please email me at pdholt@dconc.gov if you have any thoughts or questions. Image from Papaya Salad by Elise Macellari
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The Translator Without Talent
by Ryan Holmberg
From the publisher: "Despite having only two dozen manga translations, 80 essays, 50 reviews, one exhibition pamphlet, and zero solo-authored books to his name, Ryan Holmberg, PhD, is widely regarded as the biggest fish in the puddle-sized sea of alternative manga in the Anglosphere. [...] Collecting nearly 400 pages’ worth of behind-the-scenes peeks into the nitty-gritty of manga research—as well as a never before published manifesto of Dr. Mangaberg’s musings about comics translation—The Translator Without Talent is a tell-all slog through two-plus years of activity of your favorite nose-in-the-mud manga scholar. This genre-defying volume spotlights some of the best and weirdest alt-manga and gekiga artists, with extended tangents into the politics of nuclear power and social discrimination in Japan. It is perfect for anyone obsessed with obscure, amazing, and all-too-frequently retrograde manga, but does not have the patience to scroll through a lengthy Instagram feed."
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Stuck Rubber Baby (25th anniversary edition)
by Howard Cruse
From the publisher: "Set in Alabama in the 1960s, Stuck Rubber Baby tells the story of Toland Polk, a young man who is deeply in the closet and hell-bent on 'fixing' his homosexuality. Toland is not prone to making waves, but he finds himself drawn to a lively group of civil rights activists. With his new friends, he starts frequenting sit-ins and gay bars. This raises the ire of local bigots and quite literally brings the Klan to his doorstep. This painstakingly researched and exquisitely illustrated graphic novel draws on Howard Cruse's experience as a young gay man in 1960s Birmingham, Alabama. Both deeply personal and epic in scope, Stuck Rubber Baby is a rich and moving tale of identity and resistance."
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Fire Power 1: Prelude
by Robert Kirkman and Chris Samnes
From the publisher: "Owen Johnson's journey to China to learn about his birth parents eventually leads him to a mysterious Shaolin Temple. The students there study to rediscover the Fire Power, the lost art of throwing fireballs. A power they claim will be needed soon to save the world. Will Owen Johnson be the first person in a thousand years to wield the FIRE POWER?"
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The Sacrifice of Darkness
by Roxane Gay and Tracy Lynne Oliver
From the publisher: "Follow the journey of two young adults, Joshua and Claire, each individually shaped by the day the sky went dark, but drawn to each other because of it. Coming of age in this new landscape, they will be forced to confront and challenge notions of identity, guilt, and survival as the darkness grows around them. When fear threatens to envelop all hope they have left, the two discover that love, family, and finding the true light in a world seemingly robbed of any, will guide their way forward."
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The Battle series
by Richaud, Rambeau, and Gil
From Hoopla: "May 1809. Napoleon's Grande Armée has taken Vienna and is preparing to cross the Danube, but the Austrians are waiting for him in Essling. The carnage can begin … Louis-François Lejeune, young colonel attached to the emperor's staff, meets his old friend Henri Beyne in occupied Vienna. He also meets the beautiful Anna Krauss, with whom he is madly in love with. Nearby, though, Napoleon is attempting to crush the Austrian army, and organizing the crossing of the Danube for his troops on a single pontoon bridge hurriedly erected near Essling. Louis-François is forced to abandon his love and return to the front – and the coming firestorm …"
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Wonder Woman 3: Loveless
by G. Willow Wilson and co.
From Hoopla: "The 'Year of the Villain' arrives for Wonder Woman as Lex Luthor visits the Cheetah and gives her everything she needs to slake her thirst with Diana's blood once and for all-specifically, the mythological sword called the God Killer! But for Diana, even though her fabled bracelets are shattered, her will broken, is Wonder Woman...defeated? Must a world without love be one without our hero?"
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Savage Dragon Archives Vol. 10
by Erik Larsen
From Hoopla: "After aliens are outlawed in the United States, Malcolm Dragon and his family are forced to head to the Great White North and find a new home in the city of Toronto, but building a new life is anything but easy. New foes and new challenges face the newlyweds. Sex-Bots, Buffalo Men, the return of the Vicious Circle, Captain Tootsie, a reality TV show, and raging hormones make for the wildest, craziest Savage Dragon run to date, all in glorious black and white!"
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Papaya Salad
by Elisa Macellari
From the publisher: "The debut graphic novel from Thai-Italian illustrator Elisa Macellari, Papaya Salad tells the story of her great-uncle Sompong who found himself in Europe on military scholarship on the eve of World War II. A gentle and resolute man in love with books and languages, in search of his place in the world, Sompong chronicles his life during the war and falling for his wife, finding humor and joy even as the world changes irrevocably around him."
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Kimiko Does Cancer
by Kimiko Tobimatsu and Keet Geniza
From the publisher: "A moving and honest graphic memoir about the unexpected cancer journey of a young, queer, mixed-race woman. At the age of twenty-five, Kimiko Tobimatsu was a young, queer, mixed-race woman with no history of health problems whose world was turned upside down when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In an instant, she became immersed in a new and complicated life of endless appointments, evaluations, and treatments, and difficult conversations with her partner and parents. Kimiko knew that this wasn't what being twenty-five was supposed to be like ... but then, she didn't have a choice. Honest and poignant, Kimiko Does Cancer is about finding one's own way out of a health crisis.
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Spellbound
by Bishakh Som
From the publisher: "This graphic novel memoir by a transgender woman explores the concept of identity by inviting us to move through her life as she would have us see her, that is, as she sees herself. A candid autobiographical narrative gives us the opportunity to enter the author’s daily life and explore her thoughts on themes of gender and sexuality, memory and urbanism, love and loss."
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Patrick's Triangle Comics Newsletter is an irregular and incomplete list of comics and comics-adjacent happenings in Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill and beyond. If you are a comics maker, maker-adjacent, a maker of comics-adjacent things, or adjacent-adjacent, then this is the newsletter for you! Check out the latest edition here, and email the editor (me again) to subscribe.
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Do you know a kid (6-12) or teen who wants their very own Graphic Novels and Comics newsletter? Well now they do! Both newsletters are bi-monthly, and you can view and subscribe at our full list of newsletters. Tell your friends! And your kids!
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For personalized reading recommendations from Durham County librarians, try My Next 5! Simply complete an online form to tell us a little about what genres, books, and authors you like (or dislike). A DCL librarian will review your submission and reply with a list of the next five books you should read -- all ages of readers welcome!
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Want to keep up-to-date on new books at the library? on everything from Horror to Home & Garden!
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NoveList Plus is a comprehensive database of fiction and nonfiction titles for all ages, including recommendations, articles, and lists for your fiction and nonfiction needs. DCL cardholders can access NoveList Plus from any computer.
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Check out the library's top ten checkouts! Lists include top tens for adult fiction and nonfiction, movies, young adults fiction, picture books and kids' fiction.
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Links to newsletters from the past year: Image from Incidents in the Night by David B
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If you are having trouble unsubscribing to this newsletter, please contact the Durham County Library at
919-560-0100, 300 N. Roxboro St., Durham, NC 27701
librarywebmaster@durhamcountync.gov
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