Salem Public library

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Top 10 Graphic Novels for 2008

Classic dog-story themes such as loyalty serve as a backdrop for this fictionalized account of Laika, the first living creature launched into outer space. A charming and scruffy little dog, Laika survives an uncaring master and life as a stray before becoming part of the Russian space program circa 1956, just as the Soviet Union had achieved a huge victory over American competition.

Laika by Nick Abadzis

Korean American teenager Dixie and her best friend, Avril, practice hapkido, a martial art. There is a big hapkido tournament coming up in their South Central Los Angeles neighborhood, but Dixie, who has a firey disposition, loses her focus when she develops a crush on another teen hapkido artist, Adam. She spends her contest entry fee on an exorbitant gift for him and then realizes that he has no romantic interest in her. When Dixie attempts to win a free spot in the tournament at a neighborhood (library-centered!) competition, the other contestants, who are rougher street kids, disparage her efforts.

Re-Gifters by Mike Carey

Chinese acrobat and magician Long Tack Sam overcame isolation, poverty, cultural and linguistic barriers, extreme racism, and world wars to become one of the most successful vaudeville acts of his time. So why don’t we know anything about him?  His great granddaughter , Ann Marie Fleming, tells us in this wonderful look into his life.

The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam by Anne Marie Fleming

by Ann Marie Fleming

With Ted Kord dead, the Blue Beetle scarab was discovered by teenager Jamie Reyes during the cataclysmic events of Infinite Crisis, and thus a new Blue Beetle was born for a new era.  BLUE BEETLE is one of those "smart" books that can be enjoyed by young and old alike. This is a fun book about a teenager with superpowers and anyone who is a teenager or has ever been a teenager will get into it.

Blue Beetle: Shell Shocked by Keith Giffen

This graphic novel about three teenage friends is enormous fun. Brian, the genius at video games, Brad the practical joker and the lovelorn Matt work to save their friend Amber from Dick, a bully with sexual issues. But the plot is almost beside the point—the banter among the three friends and the strange things the boys decide to do is so entertaining.

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Sidescrollers by Matthew Loux

You have just awakened to find your darkest, ugliest secret revealed to classmates who would do anything to destroy you. This is what's happened to Ichijou Mashiro, whose elite school education turns into the most horrifying experience of his life when he's enlisted by a mysterious school nurse to take an after-hours class. Only those who pass the class will graduate, and the only way for Mashiro to pass is to enter into a nightmare world... where his body and soul will be at the mercy of his worst enemies. Can Mashiro keep his life-long secret - that he is not truly a "he" nor entirely a "she" - or will he finally be "outted" in the most humiliating way possible?

After School Nightmare by Setona Mizushiro

Great Books

Twin sisters... Separated by fate... Drawn together by a horrific illness...Kasumi and her sister, Shizuku, were infected with the Medusa virus, which slowly turns the victim to stone--and there is no cure! Hope for salvation rests in Kasumi and a select few who are put into a cryogenically frozen state until a cure is found. But Shizuku is left behind, and in the not-too-distant future, Kasumi awakens to find herself in an unfamiliar world with terrifying beings roaming the terrain.  Resolving to unlock the mysteries of the disease and the fate of her twin sister, Kasumi struggles to survive in this treacherous world!

Emma by Kaoru Mori

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis

King of Thorn by Yugi Iwahara

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

In an autobiographical picture book that will remind many readers of Marjane Satrapi's memoir Persepolis (2003), Sís' latest, a powerful combination of graphic novel and picture book, is an account of his growing up in Czechoslovakia under Soviet rule. Written in several stands, the somewhat fragmented narrative never dilutes the impact of the boldly composed panels depicting scenes from Sís' infancy through young adulthood.

Tan captures the displacement and awe with which immigrants respond to their new surroundings in this wordless graphic novel. It depicts the journey of one man, threatened by dark shapes that cast shadows on his family's life, to a new country. The only writing is in an invented alphabet, which creates the sensation immigrants must feel when they encounter a strange new language and way of life.

This great series tells the story of a young Victorian/Edwardian maid and her forbidden romance with a gentleman from a large merchant house whose family has aims for him that are much higher than she.  The art is superb, with a strict attention to details and architecture. There's something about the way Mori draws that lends elegance to her character's features.