Fret no more, Milhouse, the fireworks factory is here! Kristin and Thomas are a little light on news this episode, but their picks are fresh and their hearts are true (and full of spite). Kristin discovers a wealth of #GraphicMedicine. Thomas implores you to watch Mask of the Phantasm, unless you rebel against recommendations.

Jay Asher Jessica Freeburg’s Piper

Graphic Medicine’s graphic novel list

School Library Journal’s Fall 2017 Sneak Peek

Mask of the Phantasm coming to blu-ray in July

Kristin’s Picks

The Sculptor 9781596435735

California Dreamin’ 9781626725461

Thomas’s Picks

On The Camino, Jason 9781683960218

Outcast 9781632150530 (related: Elizabeth Breitweiser interview)

Find a comics shop near you
Secret Stacks logo and avatar by Severin Piehl, go read his webcomic Tove
Theme song by Julie Jurgens, y’all

Secret Stacks Episode 31 for the end of May 2017! What a lovely day to talk about Conferences! Kristin went to the Medical Library Association conference in Seattle, Thomas laments about not being able to attend all the awesome comics related panels at the ALA conference this year and they both agree that socializing is the best part of any conference. Thomas also talks about his Wonder Woman movie experience (WONDER WOMAN MOVIE: PRETTY GOOD, Y’ALL, though it could have been intersectional) and of course, the picks!

Vote, if eligible, on the Eisners! Deadline midnight PDT, June 16

Desi Geek Girls Podcast

Hoopla’s LGBTQIA Collection

Richland Library’s Queer Comics

ALA Annual schedule keyword search

What Does Wonder Woman Actually Represent?

Austin Mayor Adler’s response about Alamo Drafthouse’s women-only Wonder Woman screening

Women-only screening receives legal complaint

Wonder Woman 75th Anniversary article

Reading pathways for Wonder Woman comics

Marvel’s library problem

Insane Marvel digital deals (no link necessary, as the deals have ended, but the excitement was real)

Kristin’s Picks

Bones of the Coast (not yet in print)

Woody Guthrie and the Dust Bowl Ballads 9781419719455

Thomas’s Picks

Hostage, 9781770462793

Blade of the Immortal, 9781506701240

Find a comics shop near you
Secret Stacks logo and avatar by Severin Piehl, go read his webcomic Tove
Theme song by Julie Jurgens, y’all

Free Comic Book Day stories! Pupusas! Pride Month! Comics sometimes ARE for kids? Other times they’re for church. Kristin and Thomas do not trust monopolies nor robots. They also forecast possible avenues for the next phase of the Marvel cinematic universe, followed by fresh picks from other publishers.

Pupusa recipe

Consortium distributing Indie Comics, Diamond monopoly going down?

Diamond upgrading its storage and shipping abilities, monopoly going up?

Image Comics Pride Month Variants

Kids comics sales still growing

Shout-out to Amanda Foust of In The Library With A Comic Book and No Flying, No Tights fame!

Kristin’s Picks

Love In Vain: Robert Johnson 1911-1928 9780571328833

The Property (from 2013) 9781770461154

Thomas’s Picks

Hellboy: Into The Silent Sea 9781506701431

Wonder Woman, Volume 2: Year One 9781401268800

Find a comics shop near you
Secret Stacks logo and avatar by Severin Piehl, go read his webcomic Tove
Theme song by Julie Jurgens, y’all

Kristin and Thomas discuss a variety of things this week! RFID tags, Mr. Glass from Unbreakable, the world of Stand Up Comedy and of course, the most recent Marvel PR disaster! Kristin and Thomas also talk about their picks! Enjoy!

M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable Sequel

Secret Empire, Explained

DC Comics get download codes!

Valiant incentive bonuses for pre-ordering whole story arcs

J.A. Micheline & Dave Gibbons on the nine-panel grid

Aquaman’s spork

Kristin’s Picks

Turning Japanese 9781937541163

Life With Mr. Dangerous 9780345494412

Thomas’s Picks

Empress 9781302902063

Roughneck 9781476773995

Find a comics shop near you

Secret Stacks logo and avatar by Severin Piehl, go read his webcomic Tove

Theme song by Julie Jurgens, y’all

Our recommendations this month don’t come from Marvel, but that won’t stop us from armchair-quarterbacking their recent controversies! Really popular challenged graphic novels get the official Secret Stacks endorsement well after their debuts (you’re welcome for that long tail, publishers!). We keep talking about convention culture and Osamu Tezuka. We can’t separate our nostalgia for Power Rangers from our current enjoyment of the new movie and comics. The grim reaper is breathing down all our necks, but we don’t have to despair. April is a cruel month for ending, but we can still enjoy it while it lasts.

Augusta Baker’s Dozen

Liminal Comics: Love Stories For Outcasts, Rebels & Misfits

Why Hiring Ex-Vertigo Editors Makes So Much Sense

The Outrage Over Marvel’s Alleged Diversity Blaming, Explained

Marvel “Generations”

File your complaints + corrections here

Ardian Syaf’s politics and religion on display in X-Men Gold #1

Some context and further reading from G. Willow Wilson

American Library Association’s Top Ten Most Challenged Books in 2016

Kristin’s Picks

Cosplayers 9781606999486

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? 9781608198061

Thomas’s Picks

The Complete Tales From The Con 9781534301009 (read some of the comics yourself here!)

Power Rangers 9781608868933

Bonus Picks

Drama 9780545326995

This One Summer 9781626720947

Find a comics shop near you

Secret Stacks logo and avatar by Severin Piehl, go read his webcomic Tove

Theme song by Julie Jurgens, y’all

Welcome to Secret Stacks Episode 27 for the end of March 2017! Kristin and Thomas really stay #OnBrand this episode when they talk almost 100% about libraries and comics! First they discuss the world of conventions in libraries, they have tips and tricks to share for anyone interested in putting on a con in their library. They read a lovely letter from a listener asking about some starting out as a librarian recommendations and superhero librarian discussion. And of course, their picks! Enjoy!

Marissa Lieberman episode of Circulating Ideas

Events at Clinton-Macomb Public Library

Saladin Ahmed writing Black Bolt

Free Comic Book Day

Scratch n Spin in The Daily Gamecock

What does Elyssa Kroski have for breakfast?

Kristin’s Picks

The Abominable Mr. Seabrook 9781770462670

Something New 9781626722491

Thomas’s Picks

The Adventures of Superhero Girl 9781616550844

Pyongyang 9781897299210

Find a comics shop near you

Secret Stacks logo and avatar by Severin Piehl, go read his webcomic Tove

Theme song by Julie Jurgens, y’all

Who’s looking forward to convention season? Who’s already in the middle of it? Hooray! Thomas revisits a previous stance regarding depictions of Jughead. Everyone’s cool enough to admit they enjoy Prairie Home Companion… right? Up with Shelly Bond’s Black Crown! Up with Tom Taylor’s nation-sized embargo! Whether Spring in your neighborhood means rain or shine, we hope you find time to curl up with some good books. Just don’t get… erased!

NashiCon – Osamu Tezuka panel

A Prairie Home Companion with Chris Thile

Shelly Bond Launches Black Crown Imprint With IDW

Tom Taylor’s statement about refusing to travel to America

Kristin’s Picks

Irmina 9783956400063

My Dirty Dumb Eyes 9781770461161

Thomas’s Picks

Secret Path 9781501155949

Erased  9780316553315 (the anime is really good too!)

(What’s with the disappearing children in this episode’s picks? Pure coincidence!)

Find a comics shop near you

Secret Stacks logo and avatar by Severin Piehl, go read his webcomic Tove

Theme song by Julie Jurgens, y’all

Recorded on Monday, posted on Tuesday. Whoa! Quick turnaround. How are you liking the double shots? Kristin and Thomas swear to raise the bar on comics news, just as soon as they talk about Riverdale… and Lego Batman… and a Nightwing movie… any day now! We talk about showboaters versus laborers, ex-Vertigo editors Shelly Bond and Karen Berger moving on to promising new ventures, and a graphic novel removed from a school library! Oh, and the misplaced cult of personality behind Punisher. More than 30% of this episode consists of comics news, reviews, and anecdotes about Adult Swears. We’re all going to heck. Enjoy!

Comics Beat: Only 30 Percent of the News On Comics News Sites Is Actually About Comics

SC Comic Con and HeroesCon in the Carolinas – maybe say hi to Thomas at them!

Chipper Zdoosky writing Spectacular Spider-Man

The Comics Journal’s Jack Kirby Interview (Stan Lee ain’t all that)

Punisher emblem and ‘Blue Lives Matter’ decals on cop cars… okay…

Femme Magnifique Kickstarter

Karen Berger To Launch Berger Books Imprint At Dark Horse

Stuck In The Middle removed from middle school library

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s case study on Stuck In The Middle from 2011

America Chavez sale on Comixology

Black Comix Returns Kickstarter (act fast!)

Kristin’s Picks

Motor Crush 9781534301894

Today Is The Last Day of The Rest of Your Life 9781606995570

Thomas’s Picks

The Other Side: An Anthology of Queer Paranormal Romance 9780997484700

Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire 9781506701400

Find a comics shop near you

Secret Stacks logo and avatar by Severin Piehl, go read his webcomic Tove

Theme song by Julie Jurgens, y’all

More compact episodes! We’re going to be doing two episodes a month now so let us know if you like it. We’re leaner and meaner, well not meaner, we’re pretty nice actually.

Love Is Love on Hoopla (downloads through Hoopla’s partner libraries, as well as sales, will generate proceeds for Equality Florida)

Cybils 2016 Winners (it was March: Book Three)

Roger Ebert’s Great Movies List

The Comics Alternative Podcast (aka the primary suspects in the event of our untimely deaths)

Kristin’s Picks

Beautiful Darkness 9781770461291

Incognegro 9781401210977

Thomas’s Picks

X-Men: Legacy, Vol. 1: Prodigal 9780785162490 (a great readalike for the Legion tv show)

Detective Comics Vol.1: Rise of the Batmen 9781401267995 (a great readalike for The Lego Batman Movie)

Find a comics shop near you

Secret Stacks logo and avatar by Severin Piehl, go read his webcomic Tove

Time for some hot takes from two cool cats. Thomas tore himself away from Final Fantasy XV for five minutes to get this out before episode 24 gets recorded! We’re excited about comics anthologies, plus Captain America continues planting agents in the U.S. government. YALSA’s got a graphic novel recommendation list you can count on when the New York Times lets you down. If you need more than one list per year, Kristin and Thomas are still serving up quality comics for you to read, hear, and pass along!

To punch Nazis or not to punch Nazis, that is the no-brainer

Shelly Bond’s Femme Magnifique is in the works

New York Times removes graphic novel category from bestseller lists

Melanie Gillman’s Other Side anthology free for schools, libraries, and cash-strapped teens

San Jose City Councilman Lan Diep sworn in holding his Captain America shield

YALSA’s Great Graphic Novels For Teens 2017

Kristin’s Picks

One Hundred Nights of Hero 9780316259170
Sick 9780996273916

Thomas’s Picks

Barakamon 9780316336086

Shaft: Imitation of Life 9781606907573

Find a comics shop near you

Secret Stacks logo and avatar by Severin Piehl, go read his webcomic Tove

Theme song by Julie Jurgens, y’all. BONUS: Watch & listen to her play “Hero” as a submission to NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest!