Ok the Jeff Smith interview i posted got me thinking - if you were in charge of stocking up your Graphic novel section of the local library..what would you include?

I hear libraries prefer HC..is this true Linda? They have less wear and tear right?

I would have a bunch of recognizable superhero books..plus some classic genre and licneced stuff for teens and older..has to be accesible..no continuity pron ala Infinite Crisis

So lets see:

- Ultimate Spidey, FF and Xmen all trades to date.
- Watchmen
- Dark Knight, Batman Year One, Long Halloween
- Sandman complete series
- New Frontier
- Y the last man complete series
- Planetary
- Astonishing Xmen
- Buffy trades (by Whedon)
- the terminator, aliens and Predator Omnibus by Dark Horse
- Conan Trades
- Bone (of course)
- Runaways
- 300
- Sin City

What else would you guys put in?? What would your list look like?

Fables
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Swamp Thing (starting with Alan Moore in the 1980's)
The Ultimates, Vol. 1 and 2

Good choices...Robinson's Starman too..(the new Hardcovers).

DD Born Again
Martha Washington by Miller and Gibbons
Tom Strong
Top Ten
Queen & Country by Rucka
The new Lone Ranger trades
Transmetropolitain

Lots of Miller, BKV, Moore, Ellis...

Plus some Masterworks, Essentials and showcase volumes...

I may use this thread as a good reminder what to read next. I'm working through Sandman now.

In addition to most everything listed already (but do we really need every X-Men trade to date?):

Astro City
V for Vendetta
Maus I & II
Cerebus, up through Jaka's Story
The Ballad of Halo Jones
Ronin
Persepolis

My library has almost every single thing in the first two posts (missing Planetary, the Dark Horse stuff mentioned, and Conan). They add an extensive section of DH Star Wars trades and a load of manga, which I am not the least interested in. Also, strangely, every Civil War trade except Frontline. Loads of oversized DD Hardcovers too, another strange selection. Nothing wrong with Daredevil, but there's no Miller DD there, it's all newer stuff from this decade, and NEVER checked out. Seems the space could be used for something else more popular.

In principle hardcovers are preferable for their durability. But they are so dadgum expensive! A larger library than ours with a higher volume of comics circulation would find the expense worthwhile. We really can't afford it in most cases.

You can even get library bound comics for younger readers. They are very durable, but even more expensive.

My library has many of these things.

It's cool.

Jeff Smith lives in Columbus, I wonder if there's any relation to this.

What's this interview?

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=148242

here you go bubbles.

I lived in Hawaii for a while and they have, by far, the best graphic novel selection I have ever seen in any library system.

That said, I'd have all the best known and celebrated comic books (if price were no object)--

All the hardcover Marvel Masterworks and DC Archive Editions-- the colors, betters paper, and hard-covers make them better than the Essential books, despite more content in the latter.

I'd also have all the most popular graphic novels-- Watchmen, Marvels, New Frontier, Maus, Sandman, Preacher, etc.

Finally, I'd have all the great history books like Marvel: 50 Years... and Superman: The Complete History. Books like those.

Yes, but expensive as Daphne said.


I order for a school system, so this is a bit different than what I'd stock for a library system proper:

Showcases
Essentials
Manga (kawaii only)

(The phonebooks give the best return for dollars spent ... kids LOVE them. And BTW, children don't care whether the art is new or from 50 years ago, most of them can't even tell the difference when the stories are free of topical references. Quesada has no clue what he's on about in this respect. Children are fine with black & white as well.)

I've also had good luck with the kid-friendly modern stuff. Batgirl Year One is popular, the Bat cartoon collections, Spider-Girl, Powerpuff Girls, Marvel Age, Marvel Adventures, titles like that. When they collect Tiny Titans and the new Super Friends I will definitely be ordering those.

I stock high schools as well, but after some experimentation I decided that the parental complaints and potential future conflicts weren't worth battling ... the main system is what should really be servicing kids thoroughly after childhood ... my job is mainly to get small children excited about reading.

(In the main system I would stock everything we could afford, basically.)

In theory I would be stocking a full range of materials, since this is a public library and not a school system. Unfortunately we are in such a barren area for comics that there really isn't any older readership for them to speak of. So I've emphasized works for younger readers as a way of hooking 'em while they're young.

To be honest, I can't really afford a full range of materials here anyway. Our adult fiction budget is already mostly claimed by romances, westerns, whatever's on the bestseller list, this week's Nora Roberts opus, etc.

Thanks.

Kawaii only, that's funny. You only stock cute kid's manga and no other kinds? No Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist or Dragonball Z or One Piece?

Based on what I've seen, Japanese and American community standards on what's appropriate for younger readers differ in ways that could get an American librarian in trouble if she doesn't watch herself. To be honest, I'm kind of afraid to carry manga for that reason. I'm sure I could do all right if I had more in-depth knowledge of it. But I lack the time, interest, and budget for that.

Yeh. I'm comfortable with giving children kawaii style books, but am out of my depth with the "serious" stuff (which I don't personally care for anyway). Cute is the way to go. Chibi!

Oh, and here's a preview of the IMWAN anime series debuting on Japanese television in '09:

As a kid, I personally would not have liked black and white.

But i had no problem with older stuff. Marvel Tales, Marvel Masterworks, reprints, none of it mattered. I ate it all up.

Even though most of the Marvel Masterworks stuff does have an awful lot of topical references. Stan really was focused on the Cold War in those days not to mention beatniks, hippies, the Beatles

Off the top of my pointy head...

Bone trades
Bone trades
Bone trades
Bone all-in-one volume
Tintin
Tintin
Tintin
Maus
Runaways digests
Spider-Girl digests
Persepolis
Palestine
Pride of Baghdad
Blankets
Jimmy Corrigan TSBOE
Sandman trades
Watchmen
DKR
Marvels
V For Vendetta
Fables trades

Marvel Essentials
DC Showcases

Yes Jim Y...

Astro City
Ronin

Yes Han-Zo...

New Frontier (I'm on the fence with Preacher though)

All the great history books like Marvel: 50 Years... and Superman: The Complete History. Books like those.

Hellboy
Goon
Concrete
Leave It To Chance