Dwayne McDuffie Award for Kids’ Comics 2018 Shortlist Announced
The judges have made their selections–after reading scores and scores of comics published in 2017–and we’re thrilled to announce the finalists for this year’s Dwayne McDuffie Award for Kids’ Comics. So without further ado, we present the judges’ top ten picks:
As the Crow Flies, by Melanie Gilman, features Charlie Lamonte—thirteen years old, queer, black, and questioning what was once a firm belief in God—during a summer vacation stint at an all-white Christian youth backpacking camp.
The Backstagers Volume 1: Rebels without Applause, by James Tynion IV and Rian Sygh, follows transfer student Jory to an all-boys private high school, where he’s taken in by the only group that doesn’t treat him like a new kid, the lowly stage crew known as the Backstagers.
Garbage Night, by Jen Lee, takes readers to a barren and ransacked post-apocalyptic suburbia, where a dog named Simon—along with his two best friends, a raccoon and a deer—scavenges for food and awaits the return of the hallowed “garbage night.”
I am Alfonso Jones, by Tony Medina, Stacey Robinson and John Jennings, stars an African-American teen who loves to play trumpet and dreams of playing the lead in his school’s hip-hop rendition of Hamlet, but who becomes the victim of a police shooting, and watches from the afterlife as his family and friends struggle for justice.
It’s Treason, by George! by Steve Hockensmith, Chris Kientz and Lee Nielsen, takes four friends on a time-traveling adventure to undo the work of plotters who have turned American history upside-down and replaced over two hundred years of democracy with the rule of monarchs.
Nightlights, by Lorena Alvarez, introduces Sandy, who catches the tiny stars that appear out of the darkness each night in her bedroom, and creates wonderful creatures to play with and make drawings of…until one day a mysterious girl appears who knows all about her nighttime secrets.
Space Battle Lunchtime Volume 2: A Recipe for Disaster, by Natalie Reiss, ushers in the season finale of Space Battle Lunchtime, but finalist Peony (the only Earth contestant) is nowhere to be found—she’s been kidnapped and taken to the set of her show’s biggest rival, Cannibal Coliseum, where chefs compete to cook…each other!
The Tea Dragon Society, by Katie O'Neill, tells the story of Greta, a blacksmith apprentice, who becomes entwined in the enchanting world of tea dragons—discovering a lost tea dragon in the marketplace, and learning the dying art form of tea dragon caretaking from a pair of kind tea shop owners.
Where’s Halmoni? by Julie Kim, joins a young Korean girl and boy on a search for their missing grandmother—a search that leads them into a fantastical world inspired by Korean folklore, complete with mischievous goblins, a greedy tiger, a clever rabbit, and a wily fox.
Witch Boy, by Molly Knox Ostertag, finds thirteen-year-old Aster up against the rules of his magical family, where all girls are raised to be witches and boys grow up to be shapeshifters—for instead of conforming, Aster doesn’t shift, and continues to pursue his fascination with witchery…no matter how forbidden that might be.
*****
These books represent the great variety of comics for young readers that Kids Read Comics, the Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival, and the Dwayne McDuffie Award celebrate. And that Dwayne McDuffie himself championed in his trailblazing writing career.
We’re grateful to our three judges–Alenka Figa, Ardo Omer and Shayauna Glover–for the huge amount of time they volunteered and for their thoughtful deliberations. To give an idea of how hard they worked–and to highlight even more comics worth reading–here are the other fine titles they considered but that did not make the shortlist. Over 100 in all!
5 Worlds Book 1: The Sand Warrior, by Mark Siegel, Alexis Siegel, Xanthe Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, and Boya Sun
Adele in Sand Land, by Claude Ponti
The Adventures of John Blake: Mystery of the Ghost Ship, by Phillip Pullman and Fred Fordham
The Adventures of Kung Fu Robot 1, by Jason Bays
Alex Rider: Scorpia, by Anthony Horowitz, Antony Johnston, and Emma Vieceli, Emma
All’s Faire in Middle School, by Victoria Jamieson
The Amazing Crafty Cat, by Charise Mericle Harper
Ana and the Cosmic Race 1, by Amy Chu and Kata Kane
Anders and the Volcano, by Gregory MacKay
Andrew the Seeker, by Lee Nordling and Scott Roberts
Anne of Green Gables, by Mariah Marsden
Another Castle: Grimoire, by Andrew Wheeler and Paulina Ganucheau
Arthur and the Golden Rope, by Joe Todd-Stanton
The Baby Sitters Club 5: Dawn and the impossible Three, by Ann M. Martin and Gale Galligan
The Beautiful Game, by Jason Quinn and Lalit Kumar Sharma
Belinda the Unbeatable, by Lee Nordling and Scott Roberts
Betty’s Burgled Bakery, by Travis Nichols
The Big Bad Fox, by Benjamin Renner
Bolivar, by Sean Rubin
BroBots Volume 2, by J. Torres and Sean Dove
Cast No Shadow, by Nick Tapalansky and Anissa Espinosa
Castle in the Stars: The Space Race of 1869, by Alex Alice
Catstronauts: Mission Moon and Catstronauts: Race to Mars, by Drew Brockington
Cici A Fairy’s Tale 3: A Perfect View, by Cori Doerrfeld and Tyler Page
Cici’s Journal: The Adventures of a Writer-in-training, by Joris Chamblain and Aurelie Neyret
Cleopatra in Space Book 4: The Golden Lion, by Mike Maihack
Comeback Catcher, by Jake Maddox and Bere Muñiz
Cosmic Commandos, by Christopher Eliopoulos
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Crystal S. Chan and Nokman Poon
Crafty Cat and the Crafty Camp Crisis, by Charise Mericle Harper
Cucumber Quest 1: The Doughnut Kingdom, by Gigi D. G.
The Dam Keeper, by Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Darkwing Duck Vol. 2: Tales of the Duck Knight, by Aaron Sparrow and James Silvani
Dog Man 3: A Tale of Two Kittens, by Dav Pilkey
Dream Jumper 2: Curse of the Harvester, by Greg Grunberg and Lucas Turnbloom
ELEMENTS: Fire, an anthology edited by Taneka Stotts
Evil Emperor Penguin 1, by Laura Ellen Anderson
Fantasy Sports 3: The Green King, by Sam Bosma
Fish Girl, by David Wiesner and Donna Jo Napoli
The Ghosts in the Clouds, by Katherine Ferrier and Florian Ferrier
Good Night, Planet, by Liniers
Graveyard Shakes, by Laura Terry
The Great Art Caper, by Victoria Jamieson
Hilo 3: The Great Big Boom, by Judd Winick
Home Time 1: Under the River, by Campbell Whyte
Invisible Emmie, by Terri Libenson
The Island of Dr. Moreau, by David Rodriguez and Pietro
Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland, by Alexis E. Fajardo
Knife’s Edge, by Hope Larson and Rebecca Mock
Lint Boy, by Aileen Leijten
The Little Mermaid, by Metaphrog
Louis Undercover, by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault
Lucy & Andy Neanderthal 2, by Jeffrey Brown
M.F.K., by Nilah Magruder
Making Scents, by Arthur Yorinks, Braden Lamb and Shelli Paroline
Mama’s Boyz: In Living Color! by Jerry Craft
May’s Wild Walk, Miss Paty
Mermin Volume 5: Making Waves, by Joey Weiser
Mighty Jack and the Goblin King, by Ben Hatke
The Mighty Zodiac Voume 1: Starfall, by J. Torres and Corin Howell
The Missing Mola Lisa, by Trisha Speed Shaskan and Stephen Shaskan
Moby Dick, David Rodriguez and Ignacio Segesso
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur 2: Cosmic Cooties, by Amy Reeder, Brandon Montclare, Marco Failla and Natacha Bustos
Musnet 3: The Flames of the Limelight, by Kickliy
Naruto Chibi Sasukes Sharingan Legend 1, Kenji Taira and Masahi Kishimoto
Newsprints, by Ru Xu
Noodleheads See the Future, by Tedd Arnold, Martha Hamilton, and Mitch Weiss
The Not-So Secret Society: Tale of the Gummy, Matthew Daley, Arlene Daley, Trevor Crafts, Ellen Crafts and Wook Jin Clark
One Trick Pony, by Nathan Hale
Pashmina, by Nidhi Chanani
Phoebe and Her Unicorn in the Magic Storm, by Dana Simpson
Pigs Might Fly, by Nick Abadzis and Jerel Dye
Piper, by Jay Asher, Jessica Freeburg, and Jeff Stokely
Pix Volume 2: Too Super for School, by Gregg Schigiel
Poptropica 3: The Secret Society, by Mitch Krpata and Kory Merritt
Putuguq & Kublu, by Danny Christopher and Astrid Arijanto
Real Friends, by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham
Recess Warriors: Hero Is a Four-Letter Word and Recess Warriors 2: Bad Guy Is a Two-Word Word, by Marcus Emerson
Red’s Planet 2: Friends and Foes, by Eddie Pittman
Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo 1: The Road to Epoli, by Ben Costa and James Parks
Scarlet Rose 1: I Knew I’d Meet You, by Patricia Lyfoung
Secondhand Heroes: In the Trenches, by Justin Larocca Hansen
Secret Coders: Robots & Repeats and Secret Coders: Secrets & Sequences, by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes
Seeking Refuge, by Irene N. Watts and Kathryn E. Shoemaker
Simone: The Best Monster Ever! By Remy Simard
Soccer Switch, by Jake Maddox and Aburtov
Soupy Leaves Home, by Cecil Castellucci and Jose Pimienta
Star Scouts, by Mike Lawrence
Stitched 1: The First Day of the Rest of Her Life, by Mariah Huehner and Aaron Alexovich
The Stone Heart, by Faith Erin Hicks and Jordie Bellaire
Suee and the Shadow, by Ginger Ly and Molly Park
Super Narwhal and Jelly Jolt, by Ben Clanton
Surfside Girls 1: The Secret of Danger Point, by Kim Dwinell
Swing It, Sunny, by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
Team Taekwondo 1: Ara’s Rocky Road to White Belt, by Master Taekwon Lee, Jeffrey Nodelman and Ethen Beavers
The Time Museum 1, by Matthew Loux
Time Shifters, by Chris Grine
Toby Goes Bananas, by Franck Girard and Serge Bloch
Tucker Grizzwell’s Worst Week Ever, by Bill Schorr and Ralph Smith
Tyrannosaurus Ralph, by Nate Evans and Vince Evans
Volcano Trash, by Ben Sears
The Water Dragon’s Bride 1, by Rei Toma
Wires & Nerve 1, by Marissa Meyer and Doug Holgate
Wordplay, by Ivan Brunetti
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Congratulations alum Melanie Gillman!!
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