children’s books
Everyone’s A Critic | A roundup of comic book reviews and thinkpieces
It Was the War of the Trenches
Peter Richardson discusses why World War I did not capture creators’ imaginations the way other wars have, and he accompanies his discussion with a beautiful counterexample, a sample from Jacques Tardi’s It Was the War of the Trenches, upcoming from Fantagraphics next month. (via Journalista)
Craig Fischer has a decidedly mixed review of The Definitive Prince Valiant Companion, but then halfway through he goes roaring off into a digression on one of Hal Foster’s possible influences, Olive Beaupre Miller’s series of children’s books titled My Bookhouse. For good measure, someone just sent Ben Towle a set. (I had these as a kid, and they are lovely.) For more about Foster, see Ng Suat Tong’s recent post at The Hooded Utilitarian.
Tom Crippen, who is no Sarah Palin fan, cries foul nonetheless on Oliphant’s cartoon showing her postcoital encounter with a moose, pointing out that it probably reveals more about Oliphant than Palin.
Vom Marlowe reviews vol. 1 of Song of the Hanging Sky, a lovely manga with a quirky plot and a few perplexing translation problems.
Brian Heater thinks Jason’s Almost Silent is a good choice for graphic novel newbies.
Frank Santoro reviews Gipi’s Garage Band at Comics Comics.
Also at Comics Comics: Jeet Heer posts some loosely related notes on John Stanley.
Larry Cruz explains why video game webcomics are a good thing at The Webcomic Overlook.
Sean Gaffney reviews D&Q’s latest Yoshihio Tatsumi release, Black Blizzard.
- March 25, 2010 @ 12:30 PM by Brigid Alverson
What Are You Reading?
The Sword, Vol. 3
Is the El Nino winter getting you down? Cheer up my friend, I’ve got just the thing. Namely, another round of What Are You Reading. I bet you’re feeling better already.
Our special guest this week is the lovely and talented Nina Stone, wife of Tucker Stone, who can frequently be found dipping her toe into the comical book waters over at The Factual Opinion, via her regular weekly column Romancing the Stone (formerly known as the Virgin Read).
To find out what Nina and the rest of the R6 crew is reading, click on the link below. But first, put on a sweater. You look cold.
- February 28, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the art | Mr. Kick-Ass and Little Miss Hit
Mr. Kick-Ass and Little Miss Hit, by Steven Anderson
Artist Steven Anderson depicts characters from Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s Kick-Ass in the style of children’s book illustrator Roger Hargreaves (author of the Mr. Men and Little Miss series). Anderson’s Flickr account features similar takes on Red Mist, Wolverine, The Hulk, Nick Fury and numerous other comic-book characters.
(via Super Punch)
- February 10, 2010 @ 12:48 PM by Kevin Melrose
What Are You Reading?
Deadman Wonderland Vol. 1
Arriving on your virtual driveway like a big, thick newspaper (remember those?) it’s time once again for What Are You Reading. Our guest this week is Deb Aoki, who runs the excellent Manga About.com site, which, if you have any interest at all in Japanese comics, you really should have that site bookmarked and/or in your RSS feed.
I’m abstaining from participating in this week’s WAYR, as a nasty cold has made it difficult to form coherent sentences. But Deb and the rest of the Robot 6 crew have a veritable boatload of interesting comics to talk about, so be sure to click on the link and see read their comments. Oh, and be sure to share with us what you’re reading in the comments section, OK?
- January 24, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the art | Santat’s ‘Oh No’
Oh No!
This isn’t exactly comics, but it’s pretty cool so I’m posting it here anyway. Using classic Japanese monster movie posters as his guide, children’s book illustrator Dan Santat turned out a really rocking cover for his latest project Oh No! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World). He blogs about putting the whole thing together here,
The best part? The cover folds out to become a poster kids can hang on their wall. (via)
- December 3, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Comics Cavalcade: Ayn Rand and Wonder Woman
Will Everyone Please Stop Freaking Out Over Ayn Rand by Peter Bagge
- November 11, 2009 @ 11:30 AM by Chris Mautner
Robot reviews: Another kids’ comics round-up
Nancy Vol. One
by John Stanley
Drawn and Quarterly, 128 pages, $24.95.
When faced with the challenge of adapting Ernie Bushmiller’s classic comic strip to longer comic book format, John Stanley’s response was simple and economical: Turn her into Little Lulu.
That’s the only conclusion I can come to after reading this collection of stories in D&Q’s ongoing “John Stanley Library” project. Nancy is pretty much Lulu with frizzier hair, Sluggo is a thinner and slightly more benign Tubby. There’s even a snotty rich kid and bratty little boy similar to Wilbur and Alvin. Stanley even repeats one of his Tubby stories involving a burglar almost note for note.
That doesn’t make Nancy a bad book by any stretch of the imagination. Mediocre Stanley is still miles above most people’s best work. The best stories here though are the ones involving Oona Goosepimple, an odd, Wednesday Addams-type girl who supernatural antics cause no end of anxiety for poor Nancy. It’s those stories where Stanley — freed of the Bushmiller formula — really gets inventive and inspired. If the ratio of Oona stories increases as the volumes do, then I’ll keep buying these books as long as D&Q are able to get them out.
Reviews of Moomin, Amulet and more can be found after the jump …
- November 6, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the art: Vice’s Where the Wild Things Are tribute gallery
Sammy Harkham's Where the Wild Things Are
We’ve said it once before, but it bears repeating: Vice Magazine has commissioned a murderer’s row of 24 alternative comics artists–including Sammy Harkham, Tony Millionaire, Matt Furie, Lisa Hanawalt, Jordan Crane, Benjamin Marra, and Vanessa Davis–for a hugely impressive comics tribute to Where the Wild Things Are, Spike Jonze’s long-anticipated movie adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic storybook. The movie comes out today, and all 24 artists’ interpretations are now live. Let the wild rumpus start!
- October 16, 2009 @ 02:40 PM by Sean T. Collins
Robot Reviews: Kids’ comics roundup
Little Mouse Gets Ready
by Jeff Smith
Toon Books, 32 pages, $12.95.
Children’s comics don’t get more basic than this. Little Mouse wants to go play in the barn with his brothers and sisters, but first he has to get dressed. He does so step by step showing readers important things like how to button your shirt (and illustrating a narrative sequence of events). Then there’s a punchline and rimshot, the end.
Smith’s art is lush and spry here. I especially liked Little Mouse’s Warner Brothers-style reaction at the end. There’s no denying it’s a cute book, made by an extremely talented guy. But this is really a book for preschoolers and those just learning to read. If you know someone like that, then Little Mouse will make a great gift. But older Bone fan, even those still in elementary school, aren’t going to get too much out of this, beyond a chuckle or two at the end.
- August 28, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: HarperCollins fall catalog
History of the Modern World Part II
One of the joys of doing this semi-regular feature, scouring through catalogs, is every so often you come across a real jewel, or at least something that makes you sit up and take notice. For example, looking through HarperCollins’s fall/winter line-up I discovered some rather interesting titles and one real notable graphic novel amidst the plethora of manga spin-offs. To wit:
- June 18, 2009 @ 09:24 AM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the art | Nilsen’s Prosper
Nilsen's 'Prosper the Turtle'
Over on his blog, Anders Nilsen talks about a children’s book he attempted to make for his younger sister, titled Prosper the Turtle, and how it led him to decide to pursue a life in comics.
- June 16, 2009 @ 09:59 AM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the Art: Terrible Yellow Eyes
Ben Hatke's Sendak tribute
Terrible Yellow Eyes is a new art blog that asks a variety of talented illustrators and cartoonists to pay homage to the Maurice Sendak classic, Where the Wild Things Are. That’s Ben Hatke’s contribution above, one of several great pieces found at the site.
- June 11, 2009 @ 09:53 AM by Chris Mautner
Thin Wallets, Fat Bookshelves: Candlewick Press’ fall/winter catalog
Sticky Burr
The children’s book publisher Candlewick Press has released their fall/winter catalog and it appears they’re stepping up their entry into the land of graphic novels with a slew of interesting titles. Let’s take a look, shall we?
Vermonia: Quest for the Silver Tiger by YoYo. 208 pages, $9.99 paperback. No, it’s not the late 80s-era rapper (though how cool would that be?) but a Japanese manga studio spinning a yarn about a group of friends who find themselves adrift in an alternate magical dimension. Hmmm, where have I heard that scenario before? Continue Reading »
- May 22, 2009 @ 11:35 AM by Chris Mautner
Robot reviews: Two from Toon Books
From 'Luke on the Loose'
Luke on the Loose
by Harry Bliss
Toon Books, 32 pages, $12.95.
This is my favorite title in the Toon Books line so far. Bliss, best known for his contribution to the New Yorker as well as children’s books like Diary of a Worm, delivers a great manic energy to this story of a boy who wanders away from his dad and ends up chasing pigeons all across New York City. I liked how the backgrounds where filled with Mad Magazine-like nonsense bits like having Tintin and Olive Oyl as aghast onlookers or the dog walker who was keeps getting pulled around the park. I liked Luke’s father’s nonchalance at losing his son and how his dialogue was frequently summed up as “boring dad talk.” I liked how Bliss uses long, horizontal panels to denote both setting and motion, as in an amusing sequence where Luke runs roughshod through an outdoor restaurant, interrupting a proposal in the process. Basically it’s speedy pace and refuse to take itself seriously or offer any sort of moral works in its favor and I think kids will get a few good belly laughs out of Luke’s adventures. I know I did.
- May 5, 2009 @ 01:27 PM by Chris Mautner
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: Simon & Schuster’s kid books for fall
Which Puppy?
Children’s book publishers haven’t exactly rushed to lead the graphic novel parade, but neither have they ignored it entirely. Case in point: Simon & Schuster, who have a handful of comic and comic-related books coming out this fall, such as:
Burn by Camilla d’Errico. The artist on that Avril Lavigne manga that came out a few years ago tells his own story, about a young man who is merged with a sentient killer robot in a futuristic world. On sale Oct. 27, 124 pages, $9.99 paperback.
The Chronicles of Arthur: Sword of Fire and Ice by John Matthews and Mike Collins. A renowned Arthurian expert — it says so in the catalog — Matthews tells the story of Arthur’s teen years with DC and Marvel veteran Collins handling the art chores. On sale Sept. 15, 128 pages, $14.99 paperback, $21.99 hardcover.
Amelia Rules! A Very Ninja Christmas by Jimmy Gownley. Amelia is looking forward to the holidays until she realizes her friend Pajamaman hasn’t been getting any presents at all for the past three years. I’m not sure if this is all new material or collects stories from previous issues. On sale Oct. 6, 80 pages, $7.99 paperback.
Which Puppy? by Kate Feiffer. Illustrated by Jules Feiffer. I’m not sure why this is in the fall catalog, as it’s in stores now, but hey, new Feiffer! This one’s about how the Obama family got their dog, I think. On sale now, 32 pages, $16.99 hardcover.
- April 23, 2009 @ 01:03 PM by Chris Mautner