A beautiful wordless graphic novel about floating trash and its effects on us and our world, a silly adventure about a boy who turns into a boat, and a real life journey to Jerusalem during the Gaza War – starting at material for kids 6 years old and working our way up to adults, these are graphic novels not to be missed.
Wednesday is New Comics Day! Each week, The Comics Observer picks three brand new releases worth checking out that should be suitable for someone who has never read comic books, graphic novels or manga before.
If you like what you see here, click the links to see previews and learn more about them. Then head to your local comic book store, or check out online retailers like Things From Another World and Amazon. Let us know what you think in the comments below or on Facebook.
For a full list of this week’s new releases, see comiXology and ComicList.com.
I'm Not a Plastic Bag by Rachel Hope Allison
I’m Not a Plastic Bag
Written and illustrated by Rachel Hope Allison
Published by Archaia Entertainment
Age Level: 6 and up / Grade level: K and up
88 pages
$19.95
“One person’s garbage is another’s story.”
Based on the real-life occurrence of The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an island of floating trash in a remote area of the Northern Pacific Ocean more than twice the size of Texas, I’m Not A Plastic Bag tells a moving story about loneliness, beauty, and humankind’s connection to our planet.
Produced in conjunction with American Forests© and the Global ReLeaf© programs, Archaia will plant two trees for each tree used in the manufacturing of this book. Presented in partnership with Jeff Corwin Connect, a global, ecological, educational and entertainment multimedia company launched by Jeff Corwin, the popular wildlife expert and nature conservationist.
Teen Boat! by Dave Roman and John Green
Teen Boat!
Written by Dave Roman
Illustrated by John Green
Published by Clarion Books
Genre: Comedy
Age Level: 12 and up / Grade Level: 7 and up
144 pages
$14.99
The only graphic novel that combines the angst of being a teen with the thrill of being a boat!
High school can be a time of terrible angst — Fs on tests, bullying jerks, broken hearts, and late-stage puberty are just some of the potential issues that all teen boys face. But what about the issues facing a Teen Boat? In this hilarious send-up of teen story tropes, the best-selling author Dave Roman and the cartoonist John Green deliver high school and high seas drama with a boatload of laughs.
Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City by Guy Delisle
Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City
Written and illustrated by Guy Delisle
Published by Drawn and Quarterly
Genre: Travelogue
320 pages
$24.95
2012 Fauve d’Or at the Festival Intl de la Bande Dessinée d’Angoulême
“[Delisle’s books are] some of the most effective and fully realized travel writing out there.” — NPR
“Neither Jewish nor Arab, Delisle explores Jerusalem and is able to observe this strange world with candidness and humor…But most of all, those stories convey what life in East Jerusalem is about for an expatriate.” — Haaretz
“Engaging…[ Delisle] highlights the very complex lives of Israelis, Palestinians, and foreign residents.” — Publishers Weekly Starred Review
Acclaimed graphic memoirist Guy Delisle returns with his strongest work yet—a thoughtful and moving travelogue about life in Israel. Delisle and his family spent a year in East Jerusalem as part of his wife’s work with the nongovernmental organization Doctors Without Borders. They were there for the short but brutal Gaza War, a three-week-long military strike that resulted in more than a thousand Palestinian deaths. In his interactions with the emergency medical team sent in by Doctors Without Borders, Delisle eloquently plumbs the depths of the conflict.
Guy Delisle expertly lays the groundwork for a cultural road map of contemporary Jerusalem, utilizing the classic stranger in a strange land point of view that made his other books, Pyongyang, Shenzhen, and Burma Chronicles, required reading for understanding what daily life is like in cities few are able to travel to. In Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City, Delisle explores the complexities of a city that represents so much to so many. He eloquently examines the impact of the conflict on the lives of people on both sides of the wall while drolly recounting the quotidian: crossing checkpoints, going kosher for Passover, and befriending other stay-at-home dads with NGO-employed wives.
When observing the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim populations that call Jerusalem home, Delisle’s drawn line is both sensitive and fair, assuming nothing and drawing everything. Jerusalem showcases once more Delisle’s mastery of the travelogue.
