Banned (Comic) Book Week

In honor of Banned Book Week (Sep 22-28), I thought it might be interesting to see how far comics have come from the wild west of first half the 20th century to the the terror of the Comic Code Authority in the 50’s which took another 50 years to be abandoned. Shortly thereafter, a non-profit organization was set up by professionals from the comics industry to protect creators’ First Amendment rights, the aptly-named, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. While great strides have been made in comics, as in book publishing, one must be ever-vigilant to protect art from people or vice-versa. Here’s a link to a list from the CBLDF’s website for Banned Book Week last year: http://cbldf.org/2012/09/banned-and-challenged-comics-revealed/

Rather discouraging is the inclusion of Maus being banned from a Pasadena public library and Bone from a school district in Minnesota.

Snoopy and Moebius

I suggest taking a look at Incal: The Classic Collection with art by the amazing french artist Moebius if you like what you see above.

Zine Charts Are Fun!

Friend of the blog and web developer Bernard Rodriguez has created a cool chart regarding the categories of our SLCPL Zine Collection Catalog.   Check it out here.

Also find our SLCPL Zine Catalog here.

It is updated daily and should be completed in January 2014.

 

WANT.

These posters are even better than the movie. WANT.

5 Wolverine Books You Should Read

Wolverine.
Really what else needs to be said.
With a new film centered around his famous journey to Japan, we’ve got 5 other recommendations (some classic, some new) if you’d like to read more about this mutant Canuck.

Interested in reading Wolverine’s saga chronologically? Here’s a great article that can get you started on that daunting task.
Collecting Wolverine

5 Wolverine Books You Should Read

BTW these are available at the SLCPL, along with many more, in the graphic novel section under Graphic Novel Wolverine & Graphic Novel X-Men.

Photo Zines

These zines are delightful. I picked them up at Alt Press Fest 2013 from local tabler Sam Milianta. Filled with black & white photography these zines are deceptively simple. They can be found in the Zine Collection at the Main Library.

You can find Sam Milianta’s Work here.

Cover of over 1000 Zines in our collection!

But don’t take my word for it! Check some out today (that’s right! The Alternative Press Collection does circulate & you can come on down to The City Library’s Main location ( 210 E 400 S SLC, UT) head on up to Level 2 where said stuff is housed… BOOM! for REAL…

Zine Catalog Teaser

In the works, to be available at the Salt Lake City 5th Annual Alternative Press Festival: a printed listing of over 1000 Zines housed in the collection of Salt Lake CIty Public Library! This cover art/stop motion, slideshow is just a taste of deliciousness to come. YES, do come, to Alt Press Fest~ Sat. July 13, 12-6pm, 201 E 400 S at the Main Library, downtown…

Superior and The Man of Steel

With Man of Steel coming out this month, it seemed appropriate to re-visit the graphic novel Superior by the inimitable Mark Millar.

This is a nice send up of Superman, more specifically how superheroes and Superman in particular have shaped American culture and identity. Superior, like Superman represents the idealized American: he stops crime, he saves people, he fixes all of the world’s problems, and he does it without killing people. This is particularly poignant given the 21st Century backdrop–would Americans be satisfied with Al Queda being captured by a superhero and sent to maximum security prisons? While Superman and (presumably) Superior are Americans, they’re adopted Eathlings, they represent the best of humanity (at least from a Western perspective).

This begs the question: what are we to expect from the Christopher Nolan/Zack Snyder Man of Steel?  They’re clearly trying to re-invent Superman for a modern audience while trying to stay true to his core principles: Truth, Justice, the American Way.

Link

2013 has been a pretty impressive year for graphic novels thus far. Here’s some of the great books that have come out already and some coming out later in the year.

The new Sandman story has me pretty excited, a promising science-fiction love story by Jeff Lemire of Sweet Tooth and Essex County fame, and 2 new books from artist Frank Quitely.

We’re going to be getting some of these title later in the year, we do have Relish to check out here: http://slcpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1995578059_relish

For synopses of the above mentioned graphic novels and the full list of the “Most Anticipated Graphic Novels of 2013” go here: Graphic Novel Summer Reading