In another prod to the literati to visit the graphic novel section of a bookstore or comic store for something to read while sipping their lattes, the New York Times Book Review featured a two-page spread on pages 8 and 9 this week, with reviews of six recently released graphic novel (-related) books.  

First up, and with the most ink, is Gerard Jones' Men of Tomorrow:  Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book, from Basic Books.  Reviewer John Hodgman found much to like in this history of the early comic book industry, especially the life story of Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman.

Hodgeman also likes Chris Ware, a $19.95 trade paperback from Monographics/Yale University.  'Ware's painstaking draftsmanship, beautiful hand lettering, virtuosic absorption of prewar graphic design and comics history and Rube Goldbergian paneling inspire aw, gratitude, and fear,' Hodgeman writes.

Two Fantagraphics books are reviewed.  He calls Locas:  The Maggie and Hopey Stories, by Jaime Hernandez, 'simply essential.'  And Buddy Does Seattle, the recently published 'Hate' collection also enjoys a positive description. 

Two sub-$10 releases are also mentioned:  Michael Alred's comic-book retelling of the Book of Mormon, The Golden Plates, Volume 1:  The Sword of Laban and the Tree of Life from AAA Pop; and James Sturm's Above and Below:  Two Stories of the American Frontier from Drawn and Quarterly.