Comic Book Resources

Robot reviews: Another kids' comics round-up

Nancy Vol. 1

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 ...

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Good Comics for Kids offers list of comics that 'celebrate America's cultural diversity'

Johnny Hiro, Vol. 1

The Good Comics for Kids blog, which is hosted at the School Library Journal website, has put together a list of comics that "celebrate America's cultural diversity." This is a follow-up to an earlier "summer reading list" they posted in June.

"Among the folks who responded to our Summer Reading List was a librarian who asked if we could compile a similar bibliography of titles featuring historically under-represented groups, a challenge we happily accepted," wrote Katherine Dacey, one of the blog's contributors. "Below are the results of our collective effort to identify comics and graphic novels that reflect America's real cultural diversity. Some of these titles, such as American Born Chinese and Incognegro, address issues of race, religion, and discrimination head-on, while others, such as Knights of the Lunch Table: The Dodgeball Chronicles and Blue Beetle: Shellshocked, present diversity as a simple fact of American life."

A lot of my personal favorites make the list, including American Born Chinese, Runaways, Cairo, Johnny Hiro and Static Shock: The Rebirth of Cool. If you're looking for something to read this summer, no matter what age, sex, color, etc. you may be, you can't go wrong with the choices on this list.

(Hat tip: David Gallaher)

Unbound: Hey, kids' comics!

My father loved Archie comics and Mad Magazine. He read them unashamedly in public and made frequent references to them in conversation—references that often only his kids understood.

Dad could pull that off. For one thing, he was a theoretical physicist, so it’s not like he came off as dumb—just eclectic. And he was well known for his goofy sense of humor anyway. (Even when he had advanced Alzheimer’s, he still would come out with the odd bit of Three Stooges schtick.)

For most of us, it’s not so easy. My teenage daughters react with shock and embarrassment if I bring a comic along to read while running errands. Of course, everything I do evokes shock and embarrassment from them, so I ignore that, but a lot of adults do feel self-conscious about reading comics, particularly kids’ comics, in public.

On the internet, however, no one knows you’re a grownup. Which is just as well. Some of the best comics on the web are aimed at kids, but many of them, like Pixar movies, operate on two levels, speaking to both kids and adults.

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X-Babies vs. Star Comics coming in October ... wait, what?

X-Babies

One of the announcements made at HeroesCon this weekend is that Marvel Comics is bringing the X-Babies back in a four-issue limited series by Gregg Schigiel and Skullboy creator Jacob Chabot.

The X-Babies, a set of X-Men clones created by the villain Mojo when the X-Men were believed to be dead, have appeared in various X-Men-related comic books since the late 1980s.

What's even more interesting is that the mini-series will also bring back some of the characters that Marvel published under the Star Comics banner back in the 1980s.

Star Comics was a kid's line Marvel did circa 1984-88 that featured both original creations, like Top Dog and Peter Porker, Spectacular Spider-Ham and licensed comics like Fraggle Rock, ThunderCats and Heathcliff. Chabot talked to Marvel.com about the return of some of those original creations, like Top Dog, Wally the Wizard, Royal Roy and Planet Terry:

"It was Gregg's brilliant idea to include the old Star Comics characters in the story, both to act as adversaries and hopefully update them for a modern audience," says Chabot. "I was thrilled at this concept! I pretty much got into comics through Marvel's old Star line, so this really goes back to my roots. I am doing some redesigns, but I'm trying to keep them recognizable by incorporating as many details from the original designs as I can. So, for example, if you're one of the few who remembers Top Dog from back in the day, you'll be able to know it's him when he shows up. Hint: he's the dog."

Check out some of the redesigns at Marvel.com.

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.

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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.

Robot reviews: Adventures in Cartooning

Adventures in Cartooning

Adventures in Cartooning
by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick Frost
First Second, $12.95.

Adventures in Cartooning is First Second's attempt to offer a kids' version last year's big how-to book, Drawing Words, Writing Pictures. Produced by Center for Cartoon Studies' co-founder James Sturm and two of his former students, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick Frost, it's an engaging and informative book that nevertheless feels like it sacrifices learning for fun.

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Mom protests sexy Spider-Man comic

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A Millard, Nebraska, mother is seeking to remove a Spider-Man comic from her son's elementary school library for being "sexually explicit":

The comic is part of a popular new series about Spider-Man and the head librarian of the Millard School District said it's been in high demand.

"My son looked at this and goes, 'Ohhhh!'" said Physha Svendsen.She said the book that her 6-year-old son brought home is not age-appropriate for Norris Elementary School students and wants it removed from the library.

"It has a lot of sexual undertones in here, as far as sexuality goes," she said. "They can learn this through any other place, but it's not something I allow them to learn, in my house at least."

The story never names which Spider-Man comic is causing the kerfluffle, though it does note that library officials are evaluating the complaint and will determine whether or not to keep the comic on its shelves in 30 days. Still, it would be nice to know what exactly was the problem. Did she come across that issue where Norman Osborn gets it on with Gwen Stacy? (via Dirk)

Sharing is caring: Stalkers, Sparky and Tubby

Stalker Pie

* K. Thor Jensen steps up to Smith's Next Door Neighbor bat with a piece entitled Stalker Pie.

* It's not really art-related, but I couldn't find another place to sneak in a link to the new Quotes on Comics Web site.

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