Plan to tell your readers about gift books for Christmas? We recommend:
For kids
Dinosaurs Across America by Phil Yeh
Dinosaurs Across America presents fun facts about the United States in a cheerful cartoon form. A black-and-white comic-book version of the book has been reprinted eight times and sold nearly 200,000 copies. NBM has released the book in a full-color, hardbound format for just $12.95.
• “The perfect place for children to begin to study geography.” --
Chris Wilson, The Graphic Classroom
• “Ideal for older elementary-school kids.” -- The Onion
• “An entertaining way to learn.” -- Kat Kan, Booklist
The Wind in the Willows
(Classics Illustrated Deluxe, Volume 1)
By Kenneth Grahame; adapted by Michel Plessix
Classics Illustrated is back with beautiful, high-quality adaptations of classic stories. The first volume presents graphic novelist Michel Plessix’s lush adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. The 144-page book is available in trade paperback for $13.95 or in hardcover for $17.95.
Nancy Drew Graphic Novels Boxed Set
By Stefan Petrucha and Sho Murase
This boxed set -- four full-color paperback graphic novels -- contains 432 pages of suspense and detection for just $29.95. The set collects volumes 5 through 8; the first four volumes are available, too.
Hardy Boys Graphic Novels Boxed Set
By Scott Lobdell, Daniel Rendon, Paulo Henrique, and Sidney Lima
This boxed set -- four full-color paperback graphic novels -- contains 432 pages of danger and adventure for just $29.95. The set collects volumes 5 through 8; the first four volumes are available, too.
For fans of mystery and horror
Tales from the Crypt Graphic Novels
Volume 1: “Ghouls Gone Wild”
Volume 2: “Can You Fear Me Now?”
By Stefan Petrucha, Don McGregor, Fred Van Lente, Mr. Exes, Sho Murase,
Don Hudson, and others.
The king of horror comics is back with all-new stories and art for the first time in 50 years! Each book contains 112 pages of full-color terror and is available as a $7.95 trade paperback or a $12.95 collector’s hardcover edition.
The Bloody Benders
(A Treasury of Victorian Murder, Volume 9)
By Rick Geary
The newest volume in Geary’s popular graphic novel series presents the true story of scandal on the American frontier. The Bloody Benders is an 80-page jacketed hardcover priced at $15.95.
Also available are series’ other books:
Volume 1: The Ryan Mystery, the Crimes of Dr. E.W. Pritchard, and the
Abominable Mrs. Pearcey
Volume 2: Jack the Ripper
Volume 3: Lizzie Borden
Volume 4: President James Garfield
Volume 5: The Mary Rogers Mystery
Volume 6: The Beast of Chicago
Volume 7: Abraham Lincoln
Volume 8: Madeleine Smith
For the collector, the art lover, and the coffee table
The Early Years of Mutt & Jeff
(Forever Nuts: Classic Screwball Strips, Volume 1)
By Bud Fisher
The first popular newspaper comic strip is celebrating its 100th birthday! Mutt & Jeff’s first years were wild, even by today’s standards, but few living people have seen them -- until now. This 8” x 6” jacketed hardcover with 192 pages of black-and-white art (and a $24.95 cover price) makes a great gift for fans of cartoons, pop culture, and Americana.
The Art of Bryan Talbot
By Bryan Talbot
Works by the best-selling artist of Luther Arkwright, The Tale of One Bad Rat, The Sandman, and the acclaimed Alice in Sunderland, Talbot presents his best illustrations, comics, and covers in this full-color trade paperback of 96 9” x 12” pages for just $19.95.
Books from the Louvre Museum
Glacial Period
By Nicolas de Crecy
The Museum Vaults: Excerpts from the Journal of an Expert
By Marc-Antoine Mathieu
The Louvre museum is publishing its first graphic novels, and NBM is bringing them to America.
In Glacial Period, archaeologists in the far future fall upon the Louvre, buried in age-old snow. They cannot explain the artifacts that they find. What could the objects mean? Their interpretations are nonsensical, absurd, and farcical. Glacial Period is a full-color, 80-page trade paperback at a cover price of $14.95.
In The Museum Vaults, an art assessor must evaluate the Louvre’s collections in an endless, ever-deepening succession of basement levels. Marc-Antoine Mathieu, who marries Escher with Kafka, brings stinging irony to the pompousness of art history. The Museum Vaults is a two-color, 64-page trade paperback priced at $14.95.
For all ages
Li’l Santa
By Thierry Robin and Lewis Trondheim
You have no idea what Santa goes through, all the way up there at the North Pole, until you read this suspenseful and delightfully original graphic novel. It’s a 48-page, $14.95 full-color hardcover from cartoonists Thierry Robin and Lewis Trondheim (Dungeon, Mr. O).
The Castaways
By Rob Vollmar and Pablo Callejo
The creators of the bestselling Bluesman have created a 1930s-era tale of a rural runaway. A two-color pen-and-ink, cloth-jacketed graphic novel priced at $17.95, The Castaways has earned an Eisner nomination (the comics world’s Oscar) as Best Single Issue or One Shot.
