First Second

Gene Luen Yang -- the award-winning creator of American Born Chinese, The Eternal Smile and writer of Dark Horse's Avatar: The Last Airbender comics -- has announced his latest project: Boxers & Saints, an epic pair of graphic novels about the lives of two peasants during the Boxer Rebellion that took place in China during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Tal...

If you're a fan of Faith Erin Hicks who needs something to tide you over from the recent (and awesome) Friends With Boys to next year's release of the (also awesome) The Adventures Superhero Girl collection from Dark Horse, you're in luck: This week, First Second Publishing launched a new webcomic, Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, with Hicks adapting a young adult novel by Prudence Shen... Read Mor

Set against the disputed Iranian elections of 2009, Zahra's Paradise tells the story of a mother on a quest to find her missing teenage son, who disappeared amidst the chaos. First serialized online and later published as a book by First Second, Zahra's Paradise was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic, and has earned praise and coverage from sources around the world...

It seems like we're hearing a lot lately from writers and artists about the grim financial realities of working full-time in the comic book industry. No doubt made worse by the global economic crisis, some problems include DMZ and Northlanders creator Brian Wood's report that his income dropped by 30-40% in 2010; Batgirl and Fairest cover artist Adam Hughes' claim that drawing full comics is actua

For awhile there it seemed like Box Art Mega Man (you know, the ugly dude with the ray gun who looked like Captain Power from Mega Man 1) was poised to reclaim pop culture prominence, but then Mega Man Universe got canceled and it was back to obscurity...

On sale now from First Second Books is MUSH: Sled Dogs With Issues, a new graphic novel written by Glenn Eichler, whose work you know from The Colbert Report and a little MTV animated series he created called Daria. Illustrated by Joe Infurnari (ACT-I-VATE), the 128-page book offers a look into the office politics (and romances) of Alaskan sled dogs, some of whom live only to run and some of whom

It's frequently the case that the best graphic novels are also the most heartbreaking, and perhaps no graphic novel fits that scenario than Laika by Nick Abadzis. Published by First Second in 2007, the book tells the story of the earliest days of the Russian space program, partly from the perspective of Laika, the stray dog who became the first Earthling in space...

The more my Scot/Aussie pal and cartoonist Eddie Campbell told me about his next, The Amazing Remarkable Mr. Leotard, last summer at Comicon International: San Diego, the more I wanted to read it and share bits of what he shared with me in between insults and customers...

Seeing as today is the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik 2 launch, it seemed to be a good time to check in with Nick Abadzis, creator of the Laika graphic novel. I caught up with him last night, as he was preparing for today's Laika presentation, including a new animation and a toast to the late great Soviet space dog herself, at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) in London...

For those of you who are friends -- or enemies -- of Eddie Campbell, choose the caption that best explains -- for your amusement -- the bandage on the Maestro's noggin: 1. Thank you, Anne! 2. OK, it is a graphic novel... 3. Alan doesn't like you anymore...