Superhero animals!

Starting Thursday and continuing until Sunday, more than 150,000 fanboys and girls will descend upon the San Diego Convention center for Comic-Con 2011. People will be dusting off their favorite costumes (that’s right, it’s a dress-up event…and I don’t mean formal wear) and running from panel to panel to find out the latest news and get coveted sneak peeks at the newest movies, TV shows, books, and of course… comics!

Some of your favorite Scholastic authors and artists will be hitting the convention floor to meet fans and talk about their work. Jeff Smith, Tom Sniegoski, Kazu Kibuishi, Raina Telgemeier, Jake Parker, Doug TenNapel, and Dan Santat will all be on hand. If you want to find out which panels they’ll be on or what else is going on throughout the weekend, you can head over to the official Comic-Con website for schedule details. And did we mention both Doug TenNapel and Raina Telegmeir were nominated for Eisner Awards, which are the Oscars of the comic book world? Awesome.

If you can’t make it to San Diego, but want to get in on the Comic-Con action, you can bring the excitement home by reading some awesome graphic novels from the artists will be at the convention this year…

What do you get when you take the creator of an award-winning, bestselling comic series and put him together with a popular author of more than two dozen novels? You get Bone: Quest for the Spark, Book One —which is the first illustrated, color Bone Novel from creator of the Bone series Jeff Smith and author of The Fallen quartet, Tom Sniegoski. BONE will be celebrating its 20th anniversary at Comic-Con! (WOW!) Jeff Smith recently sat down the Los Angeles Times and talked about the series and its big milestone.

In the Flight anthology, Jake Parker introduced readers to Missile Mouse, a secret agent for the Galactic Security Agency. Missile Mouse was so bold and so daring he needed his own graphic novels to fit his crime-fighting adventures. In Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher, Missile Mouse battles giant space slugs, corrupt agents, killer bugs, and a pair of shark-headed thugs to save the day. In a starred review, Kirkus called it “a gem in story and art.” Parker’s second Missile Mouse book, Rescue on Tankium 3, Missile Mouse is back to save the plant from the clutches of the evil King Bognarsh.

Superheroes are all the rage at Comic-Con. Wander around the convention floor and there is no shortage of Batmen, Supermen, Spidermen, X-Men, Iron Men—you name it. Every good superhero needs a faithful sidekick and Captain Amazing, the star of Dan Santat’s newest graphic novel Sidekicks, is no exception. In this daring hilarious adventure, Captain Amazing’s pets all want the coveted spot. Get ready for a sibling rivalry royale as pets with superpowers duke it out for the one thing they all want — a super family! Wired said “Santat…has a great eye for action scenes and a sense of humor that your kids (and you) will love.”

Critically acclaimed comic artist Kazu Kibuishi has created an incredible adventure series set in a magical and dangerous world filled with man-eating demons, a mechanical rabbit, deep family secrets and two courageous kids. Welcome to the New York Times bestselling, Eisner-nominated Amulet series, which follows heroic siblings Emily and Navin on a quest through a magical world. Kazu recently spoke to Pop Matters and  discussed Amulet. The series first started in 2008, with Amulet Book One: The Stonekeeper. Book 2: The Stonekeeper’s Curse was released in 2009. The most recent book in the series, Amulet Book 3: The Cloud Searchers, came out in 2010. Book 4: The Last Council hits stores in September. But you know what? We’ve got a sneak peek at it right here!

See why the Eisner Awards honored Raina Telegmeier with a “Best Publication for Teens” nomination for her graphic novel memoir Smile. A great story for anyone who has struggled to find their place in the world, Smile chronicle’s 11-year-old Raina’s frustrating journey after an accidental fall injures her two front teeth — check out the trailer here. Discovery Girls called it a “touching, funny, and super fast read.” In addition to the Eisner Awards, Smile was also nominated for a Harvey Award in the Best Original Graphic Publication for Young Readers. You might also remember Raina as one of 12 artists to participate in Scholastic’s Read Every Day. Lead A Better Life poster campaign.

If  TV’s Lost is your thing (and it is for many Comic-Con attendees), then you should run out and pick up a copy of  Eisner Award-winning artist Doug TenNapel’s newest release Bad Island. When a family takes a boating trip, the last thing they expect is to be shipwrecked on an island—especially an island with weird, otherworldly plants and animals. Now what started out as a bad vacation turns into a terrible one as Lyle, Karen, and their two kids, Janie and Reese, must find a way off the island while they dodge its strange and dangerous inhabitants. You’ll have to mark your calendars because this one’s not out until August, but you can see what SLJ’s Fuse8 Blog had to say about it in the meantime.

And finally, if you’re an educator, you can take the comic book experience beyond Comic-Con. Check out Scholastic’s wonderful discussion guide on how to bring graphic novels into the classroom.

Anyone out there into Comic-Con? – Lauren Felsenstein