PW Comics Week: What are your plans for comics and graphic novels at Bowen Press?

Brenda Bowen: On my first list is Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel by C.M. Butzer. I’ve also just signed a novel in comics called Herbert’s Wormhole, written by Peter Nelson and illustrated by Ro Rao. It’s a funny book for children eight to 11 years old, about a kid who creates what Einstein only imagines—a wormhole that bores down to the future. It’s very funny.

Neither biography nor history, Devil Blues is a fictionalized manga account of the life of blues legend and mystery Robert Johnson. The myth around Johnson's musical talent is that he sold his soul to the devil to play the blues. In Hiramoto's rendition, Johnson actually does make a deal with the devil. The story progresses through the background of post-slavery segregation, Prohibition and the Great Depression, with cameo appearances by American gangsters Bonnie and Clyde as well as blues masters Son House and Willie Brown, and mentor/blues teacher Ike Zinnerman. Like Takehiko Inoue in his Vagabond series, Hiramoto conveys his narrative of Johnson's life by building a strong sense of time and place. Anchored by historical fact, the story captures the feeling and sentiment of the blues and where it was born. The book is drawn in the seinen manga style reserved for mature stories, with accurate depictions of people and places; the story and writing are more similar to that of American comics. Despite mature themes (lynching, sexual situations, nudity), it's a good book for librarians and educators to consider having at their disposal for its depiction of America under Jim Crow laws. (July)

One of the most notable alternative comics releases of the year is the collected Skyscrapers of the Midwest, Joshua W. Cotter's beguiling story of a boy growing up on the plains of the Midwest. While parts of it are autobiographical, Cotter packs the story with beautifully depicted fantasy elements, darkly comedic observations of daily life and loftier sequences about life, religion and death. Skyscrapers started out as a minicomic. It won the 2004 Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics from the Isotope, a comic book store in San Francisco, and shortly thereafter was picked up by AdHouse Books, where it expanded to a four-issue limited series.

• Batman Vs. Two Face (DC)
• Spider-Man Brand New Day Vol. 1 (Marvel)
• Finding Peace (IDW Publishing)
• What is It (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Bottomless Belly Button (Fantagraphics)
• No Pasaran Vol. 3 (NBM)
• Sundome Vol. 2 (Yen Press)
• Pendragon Vol. 1: The Merchant of Death (Simon & Schuster)
• Haridama Magic Cram School Vol. 1 (Del Ray Manga)
• Drafted Vol. 1 (Devils Due Publishing)
• Daring Students Association Vol. 1 (Udon Entertainment)

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