Insider: Graphic Novels and Manga

Published 6 times per year. Updates on the Anime and Manga collection and anime and manga-related events for teens and adults. Part of the Anime collection at the Alicia Ashman Branch funded by Madison Community Foundation.

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by Camaren Subhiyah and Kyle Hilton

Presenting a parody spin on the characters we know and love from the hit show Downton Abbey, this story is told through the eyes of the downstairs staff—especially one secretly badass valet John Gates, who turns out to be an undercover spy for Her Royal Majesty's British Secret Intelligence Agency (the SIS). Gates and several other Devonton staffers are part of a nationwide top-secret division of operatives scattered throughout country estates, all supervised by (who else?) the Dowager Countess, a close personal friend of Queen Victoria herself.
Armed with his own superpower—his limp disguises a steampunk titanium leg perfect for dispatching enemies of the crown—Gates's mission is to protect Devonton Abbey from foreign spies, assassination attempts, and traitorous household staff, all while posing as the valet to the utterly clueless Lord Samson. Action-packed antics ensue, romance blossons, and, as usual, the downstairs crew continues to run the show...and always saves the day. (from publisher's web site)

by Mike Kazaleh and Scott Shaw

Secret Agents 00-Orange and Oh-Oh-Nerville may be the best spies working on Her Majesty’s Select Produce, but they haven’t gone up against the color purple-stealing mastermind Grapefinger before! With the most insane scheme ever devised, the fate of the world is at stake. Can Orange annoy the bad guys into submission? (from publisher's web site)

by Skip Brittenham, Brian Haberlin, Gei

Earth 2717, the third golden age of man, building a better tomorrow today. The planet we call home slowly dies beneath us. Most humans now live in teeming surface "Terrarium Cities," off world colonies or orbiting space stations. All of earth's resources have been depleted. All corporations, nations, and technologies have merged into the Conglomerate, whose Enforcer Battalions now conquer whole planets to feed its shareholders' insatiable appetites.


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by Enzo Gentile, Fabio Schiavo

A subtle thread links the Beatles to comic strips. And not just because the four musicians had always been fanatic readers of those comics printed on cheap paper. Genuine icons of pop culture, like Marilyn and Coca-Cola, they were fated to meet up with the most classic means of expression, with a clear popular bent, a medium with great narrative and entertainment capacities that easily grabbed the attention of teens of both sexes.


The book for the first time investigates and documents the interest that cartoonists, publishers and enthusiasts have shown in their special relationship with the universe of comic strips; a rich and variegated relationship with thousands of publications, in every part of the world, and a production that continues to the present day. In some stories the Beatles are the protagonists, in others they make cameo appearances, while others feature their lyrics transformed into comic strips. Published on the 50th anniversary of the Fab Four first single (Love Me Do). (from publisher's web site)

by Stephanie McMillan

Can a cartoonist and millions of random strangers change the world? The initial stages of their attempt are chronicled in this book of comics-journalism and written observations.


Stephanie McMillan, long-time activist and cartoonist, has waited her entire life for the American people to rise up. Sparked by uprisings around the world, a new movement bursts onto the national scene against a system that denies the people a decent life and puts the planet at risk.


With delightful drawings, interviews, dialogue, description, and insightful reflections, this book chronicles the first several months of the fragile and contradictory movement. It situates detailed personal experiences and representative narratives within the broad context of a truly unique and historical global conjuncture. This book will stand as a record of the emerging movement in accessible comics form. (from publisher's web site)

by Jean-Pierre Filiu and David B.

It was an American who first described the “Barbary” lands of the Mediterranean basin as “the Middle East” – a region by which America, ever since its own revolutionary foundation, has always measured its power. Acclaimed historian Jean-Pierre Filiu and award-winning artist David B. here tell the story of the blockades, broadsides, and betrayals of this foreign affair – a wary co-dependency that, from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Eisenhower era, and from gold to oil, has continued to define our modern world. (from publisher's web site)

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by Pat Grant

Blue is the debut graphic novel of Australian cartoonist Pat Grant. It's a fascinating blend of autobiography and fiction with a sci-fi twist: in a seaside Australian town struggling with alien tentacle-creature immigration, a trio of aimless teenagers skip school to go surfing, chase rumors of a dead body, and avoid dealing with their own fears. (from publisher's web site)

by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart

November 1989. Communism is collapsing, and soon the Berlin Wall will come down with it. But before that happens there is one last bit of cloak & dagger to attend to. Two weeks ago, an undercover MI6 officer was killed in Berlin. He was carrying information from a source in the East—a list that allegedly contains the name of every espionage agent working in Berlin, on all sides. No list was found on his body. Now Lorraine Broughton, an experienced spy with no pre-existing ties to Berlin, has been sent into this powderkeg of social unrest, counter-espionage, defections gone bad and secret assassinations to bring back the list and save the lives of the British agents whose identities reside on it. (from publisher's web site)

by Kevin Huizenga

In Gloriana, Kevin Huizenga exposes the mechanics that underpin everyday life. His protagonist, Glenn Ganges, has conversations about dish soap and library visits that are both faithful depictions of mundane interactions and existential dissections of the units that construct our lives. Huizenga has an understated, quiet approach to story writing that allows his characters (and his readers) the self-awareness to recognize the humor and tragedy of every moment. Huizenga's much-lauded work is finely detailed, and in its innovative use of form, it explores the boundaries of the comic medium, deconstructing and reconstructing panels to express temporality and lived experience more fully. Presented in this expanded edition, Gloriana employs familiar settings and thorough, sometimes scientific explanations to reach thoughtful conclusions. (from publisher's web site)

by Frank Cho

Finally, after all this time, FRANK CHO gets off his lazy butt and collects his multi-award winning LIBERTY MEADOWS Sunday strips in one place. This book showcases the first three years of LIBERTY MEADOWS Sunday strips, fully re-mastered and digitally recolored. It also showcases never before seen comic strips and art since their initial newspaper publication.  (from publisher's web site)

by Ricardo Cortes

From the illustrator of Go the F*** to Sleep comes a history of coffee, Coca-Cola, caffeine, cocaine, secret formulas, special flavors, special favors, Harry J. Anslinger, and Prohibition. (from publisher's web site).

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