Toon Books: LITTLE MOUSE GETS READY

Toon Books Official Site

Jeff Smith + Toon Books = Inevitable

Here we have the first instructional book from Toon Books. The lesson: how to dress yourself if you're a mouse. Little Mouse is eager to visit the barn. His mother tells him to "get ready" and he can go play, thusly the rich plot unfolds. It's to Smith's credit that he makes buttoning a shirt an engaging action. This is hard work for a little mouse, but our hero is up to the task. He carefully recites aloud what he needs to do as he pulls on his pants and buttons that troublesome shirt (Sign O the times - this is the first children's book I've seen that shows kids how to fasten their sneakers, not tie them). As he dresses, his monologue is punctuated by excited speculation over what fun awaits in the barn. Fully clothed with a shirt, pants and sneakers he proudly tells his momma he's ready to go. But wait - Shyamalan plot twist! Momma delivers the punchline, "Mice don't wear clothes!" Little Mouse flies into the air, throwing off every shred of clothing at once and runs nekkid to the barn. This little bit of slapstick gets the biggest laugh out of my four year old.

The story is sweet and expertly drawn by Smith, which comes as no surprise. There is one sneaky plot hole I missed, but my little girl noticed it immediately. Her first question was, "But what did his momma mean when she told him to get ready?"

What indeed?

LITTLE MOUSE GETS READY releases September 7, but you can see a preview HERE.

Random Floppy Reviews: Captain America and This Month's Boom! Kids Titles

MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPERHEROES: CAPTAIN AMERICA
Marvel

This cover is misleading. That is to say, it's a little static and unexciting. It certainly doesn't hint at the wonderful absurdity found within this issue. It's another tongue in cheek superhero tale as Captain America and Rick Jones are literally pulled into teh internets by the evil forces of Hydra. The criminal organization traps our two heroes in their devious new website, pitting them against actual message board trolls and other avatars representing the internet's slimy underbelly (thankfully the 4chan guys aren't called in). My favorite part of this story is the look of Cap himself. He's constantly clenching his teeth and leaping into battle like a spastic maniac. But wait that's not all! There's also a short back-up story scripted by whack-job Roger (MUPPET SHOW) Landrige. It's the WW2 era cap battling a German MODOK prototype who comes equipped with clunky stovepipe arms.

THE MUPPET SHOW #4
Boom! Kids

Miss Piggy finally gets her close-up! It's hard to write a good Miss Piggy story. Let's face it, it's a man's world in Jim Hensen's imagination and the only leading lady is a vain, obnoxious shrew obsessed with landing her (frog)man. A close look at Jim Henson's treatment of Miss Piggy hints at some repressed issues. His son has gone on record as saying Jim's favorite character was Pigs In Space star Link Heartthrob, who once performed the Village People's hit Macho Man. I'm just sayin'...

Anyway, Landridge manages to deliver yet another terrific MUPPETS comic. Each issue explores the defining mission of a character. Unfortunately, Piggy's mission in life is to land her husband, that confirmed bachelor Kermit. That aside, the show vignettes are as clever as usual. And the art even manages to do justice to Miss Piggy, truly the hardest Muppet to draw appealingly.

THE WORLD OF CARS #3
Boom! Kids

Do I have to go over how much I dislike THE WORLD OF CARS for a third time? It's like reliving the same trauma over and over again (and I mean trauma like a Mickey Rourke date rape). Just go read some previous reviews and sporadically add the phrases "issue three", "remains flaccid and redundant", and "oh alcohol, please end my pain."



THE INCREDIBLES: FAMILY MATTERS #3
Boom! Kids

The Incredibles continues Mr. Incredible's tragic sexual impotency storyline. Any kind of psychosexual metaphors you attach to the movie's superhero cliches are pulled into clearer focus here. The poor guy is left to wander the house powerless as his wife goes off and has exciting, explosive adventures. Even his own daughter continues her journey to being a fully realized woman when she experiences her first kiss. For all their powers, even The Incredibles cannot escape the threat of suburban ennui.
And there are these cool looking muscle-men monsters with giant blocks for hands that can smash concrete and stuff.

Bill Wray Channels Mike Mignola

DC's CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY isn't particularly bad so much as just bland. It's uninspired title pretty much tells you all you need to know. So I don't expect this month's issue to be anything special, but dang that's a spiffy cover from Bill Wray.


A thought:

With Nick Magazine out of business, wouldn't it be great if DC could lure those cartoonists to this book? They could turn it into something really creative and special.

Incredible Kirby-esque Cover

As a rule I loathe the idea of variant covers. But I just couldn't resist sharing this killer INCREDIBLES #3 limited edition Boom Studios sent me. Dig them Kirby boots! I'll play the pimp and let you know this is available only at HeroesCon this weekend!

INCREDIBLES: FAMILY MATTERS #3
TOM SCIOLI HEROES CON VARIANT
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES

Captain America-Palooza

Fact - I was just about to write about how much I enjoyed last week's issue of MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPERHEROES: CAPTAIN AMERICA.

Fact - I've been working on an editorial piece wherein I compare Marvel's successful movie-making machine to DC's clunky contraption and how that relates to DC's superior efforts to attract young comic book readers.

Fact - The New York Daily News just "broke" the comics "story" about Steve Rogers returning as Captain America next year.

What do all of these facts have to do with one another? Synergy, that's what!

Little did I know that even that charming little 28 page comic book I enjoyed last week was all part of Marvel's three year marketing push for the Captain America movie (coming soon, Summer 2011!). But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I've been of the opinion for awhile now that Marvel considers its comic book division obsolete. That they are content to do no more than print comics for an ever dwindling market of thirtysomething males. Without courting any new readers, monthly Marvel comic books will eventually become extinct. Now with the recent price hike to four bucks an issue, that's sure to happen sooner rather than later. The majority of their profits, and the future of their superhero properties, is found in video games, DTV animation and film. That last one is their biggest cash source. Thanks to a decade of smart film making they've been able to merchandise the shit out of their characters. This makes their comics function as little more than promotional tools- a way to keep the brand out there between films and maybe stir up a little mainstream media attention over publicity gimmicks such as Obama appearances or Captain America assassinations.

Marvel has enough clout now to produce their own movies, as opposed to leasing their characters out to different studios. The geek-o-sphere is already buzzing about their upcoming Captain America and Avengers movies scheduled for 2011. Marvel laid out some teaser marketing for them at the end of Hulk and Iron Man last Summer. Since 20th Century Fox produced the only Marvel movie this summer - the unfortunate Wolverine - there was no cinematic platform available to promote Cap and The Avengers. So they enlisted the publishing division to pull out the old dog and pony show. This month sees a focus on Captain America through the aforementioned MARVEL ADVENTURES title, plus an anniversary issue of the "regular old universe" CA title, bolstered by that Daily News article. This kind of promotional push makes the Captain America brand vital. Basically they're trying to create a mainstream demand for these films by reintroducing Cap into the pop culture consciousness. It's crazy, complicated shit and Marvel has become very adept at it.

So what about that issue of MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPERHEROES: CAPTAIN AMERICA? That little stand-alone issue that's a small piece of an awesome and terrible marketing juggernaut? Well, it's pretty good. I'll post my favorable review of it tomorrow. And if that just makes me another media pawn in Marvel's promotional machine - so be it. I have no problem with helping Galactus as long as I can turn some folks on to a legitimately good comic book in the process.

UPDATE:
Retailer Brian Hibbs has a more cynical view over at The Savage Critic.

Summer Reading Assignment

Alice Cooper says school's out forever and it's time to kick back and read some comic books.

How big of a misanthropic nerd am I? Such a nerd that some of my best childhood memories are of reading comic books in the Summer. And I don't just mean the general idea of it, I mean specific vivid memories such as enjoying WEST COAST AVENGERS #2 one warm June day with a glass of Lipton's instant iced tea. Or sitting on the back porch with an oversized hardbound volume of Gladstone's THE COMPLETE TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

So let's round up a few choice selections for these crazy kids today. What follows is a little bit of the old and some new releases, just to mix things up. I tried to find some fairly dense material that can withstand rereadings. These are also all available in soft cover or disposable floppy issues. No unwieldy hardcover collectors editions here. These books are meant to travel in a beach bag or sit poolside or get dragged into the woods. These are Summer books and will therefore receive some abuse. By September you'll know if your kids enjoyed them by the beaten spines and creased covers.

JELLABY: MONSTER IN THE CITY
Official Site

Kean Soo's whimsical tale of a girl and her dragony friend concludes in the second volume of the graphic novel series. From the official site:

This second book picks up immediately where the first book ended, and will bring the story of Portia, Jason and Jellaby to a satisfying conclusion. I had always intended for Jellaby to be read as a single 300-page story, so I would suggest you dust off your copy of the first book and give it a re-read before reading Monster in the City!



TINTIN
Little Brown Young Readers Publishing

If adventure has a name, it must be Tintin. Grab a few of these oversized editions for rip roarin' good time. Not only are they long engrossing tales, but you can spend just as long rereading each page just to take in Herge's delicately detailed renderings. A kid can spend an entire day getting lost in his masterful compositions. Be sure to include a few of the Captain Haddock stories for the full blistering-barnacles experience.





LITTLE LULU:THE ALAMO & OTHER STORIES
Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse has been doing the world a wonderful service by reprinting these classic comics from the fabled land of 1950's suburbia. Did such a world really once exist? A land where kids wander the town unsupervised all day, getting into shenanigans and kerfuffles? The LITTLE LULU titles still endure because they pepper this Americana setting with plenty of sardonic wit. Not to mention the fact that solid, professional comics storytelling never goes out of style. This latest reprint trade of John Stanley/Irving Tripp era stories is in glorious color, the perfect outdoor read on a sunny day.



SPIRALBOUND
Top Shelf Productions

This is probably the closest thing to a dramatic selection (even if it does star talking animals). It's a funny and poignant story of juveniles exploring art and relationships and ambiguous lake monsters. The story pulls you in immediately as it casually follows it's characters along their days. It's thoroughly quirky and just as thoroughly engrossing. If I have one kvetch it's only that the art could do with a splash of color. I love black and white and clean line work is full of personality, but even a monochromatic color scheme could take this book from looking nice to looking exceptional. Regardless, older kids will enjoy getting to know Turnip the elephant and all of her friends.

LOCKJAW AND THE PET AVENGERS
Marvel Comics

A good limited series is always a fun way to mark the beginning and end of summer. Unfortunately, the Big Two have taken the notion of fun out of this equation. The self contained miniseries is now a decidedly unfun cataclysmic crossover event full of sturm und drang that doesn't actually end so much as fizzle out, leaving a lingering sense of dissatisfaction and self loathing. Luckily this year Lockjaw and the Thunder Frog have slipped in under the radar with the true must-read Summer event of the year. The first issue is already out and it's a fun story that avoids being overly silly. It's surely tempting to make a self consciously camp story about superpowered animals (and a dragon), but PET AVENGERS takes itself half seriously. Really, that's the only way to make such a concept work.

BATMAN: THE BRAVE & THE BOLD
DC Comics

As far as self-contained story comics go, the latest Batman spin-off is your best bet. Thanks to it's assured consistent monthly quality, this is the ideal series when you need to grab a random comic book or two on a rainy day. Each issue offers a fun guest appearance by another DC hero and the stories are dense enough to offer more than a mere three-minute trifle of a book (TINY TITANS, I'm looking in your direction).






STINKY & JOHNNY BOO
Eleanor Davis
James Kochalka

I know, I know - I said no hard covered books. But I can't resist. When you need something to read to the little ones, your best bet is STINKY and the JOHNNY BOO books. One is about playing in the woods with a monster, the others are about watching the stars and eating ice cream. You can't get more Summery than that. How much more summery can that be? The answer is none. None more Summery. You can read my reviews HERE and HERE to get the full picture.

Random Floppy review: TOY STORY #1

Boom-Kids! Official Site

The latest Boom-Studios/Pixar joint hits the comic shop shelves this week. It's a pleasant enough story, but not exactly worth the investment. Reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a strange looking plastic orb is left among the toys. Nobody knows what kind of mysterious new toy this thing is, so panicked hijinx ensue. This is basically a riff on Buzz's introduction to the fold in the original film. Problem is, it's not a story that can adequately fill an entire issue.

It used to be standard operating procedure for humor comics to have three or four stories per issue. You write a premise, fill it with a few gags and wrap it up in 8-10 pages. The old pros at ARCHIE still follow this formula and perhaps that's part of the reason why you still see those books on the stands today.

TOY STORY #1 takes an eight page story and stretches it to fill an entire issue. There are large, sparse panels with very little dialogue. It's the equivalent of listening to a bad comedian drag out a joke. This title would do well to follow the old formula. After all, there's an entire toy chest full of characters to play with. A collection of three stories plus a few one-page gag comics thrown in would work perfectly. You can even change the title to TOY STORIES. Somebody get me Mark Waid's number. We need to talk!

Preview TOY STORY #1 HERE.

Nerds With Bad News

From the LA Times:

Viacom is shutting down NICK MAGAZINE this week and will lay off about 30 staffers.

...like other magazines, Nickelodeon has suffered from the double whammy of more of its audience going to the Internet (darn those early adapters) and a prolonged advertising slump. Although the cable network remains dominant, the value the magazine provided as a marketing tool for it had faded over the last few years.

This one really sucks. It's a shame to see the supermarket stands lose more comics material. NICK MAGAZINE has long been an excellent showcase for talented new and established cartoonists. The comic stories and strips weren't just promotional items, they were their own quality products.

Even the licensed characters' stories - the ones incorporating a house style - retained the personal signature of their respective artists. Nick also published quarterly all-comic specials, many focusing on a specific characters such as SpongeBob or The Fairly Odd Parents. No official word on those issues, but since they mostly compiled strips from past issues of NICK MAGAZINE, it's doubtful they survived the scouring of the shire. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, though. The world absolutely needs more humor comics magazines. MAD can't carry the burden alone!

More info and some bittersweet comments from past contributors can be found at THE BEAT.

Random Floppy Reviews

- TINY TITANS #16
- SUPERGIRL: COSMIC ADVENTURES IN THE 8TH GRADE #6

Here are a couple of great little books for the youngest readers. The Eisner nominated TINY TITANS is cute without being cutesy. This issue casts Lobo as your average obnoxious gym teacher, which is a pretty funny way to introduce his character to a new generation of readers. The only complaint is that the story is so simple you can blow through an issue inside of five minutes. Kids will surely get more out of a trade compilation. I also recommend waiting for the SUPERGIRL trade if you haven't been following the series already. It's a quirky, girly take on the character (I mean just look at that cover. It doesn't get any girlier than that. Well, maybe if they made Streaky The Superhorse a unicorn... that would be girlier) with just the right dash of drama. But issue #6 wraps up a story arc better enjoyed in one volume.




BATMAN: BRAVE & THE BOLD #4

Now here is a good stand alone issue. It's got plenty of story to make it worth a kid's time. Plus it's got a wonderfully arrogant Aquaman. If DC runs with this incarnation Aquaman may actually get the respect he deserves. The entire Brave & Bold animated series has been delivering a silver age Batman with more charm than camp. The comic does the same.




THE MUPPET SHOW #3

Oh hey, look. Another great issue of THE MUPPET SHOW. This one focuses on Gonzo The Great as Scooter attempts to find out just what exactly Gonzo is. I guess he never saw Muppets From Space, the movie which answered that question. Personally I like this issue's answer better. It's much more poignant.




THOR: TALES OF ASGARD #1

Can kids today appreciate reprints of silver age comics? If they're by Stan The Man and Jack The King, I say hells yeah. I started reading this stuff nearly twenty years after it was originally published and now my ten year old daughter totally digs the ORIGINS and SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS collections (not to mention BRING ON THE BAD GUYS). The bold, crazy Kirby art and Lee stories of Asgard are... dare I say it?... timeless. And it's educational too. Did you know the Earth's core is hot because Surtur the Fire Demon is trapped there by the gravity of our spinning planet? Science and Norse lore- Lee was a friggin alchemist! I have two complaints: 1) The glossy paper is all shiny and junk. Kirby's bold art and the richness of the new digital colors need the matte finish of standard newsprint. 2) The cover. Sure it's nice and all, but trust the original material to sell the book, guys! You could sell twice as many issues if you put this on the cover:

Gateway Drug: IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN

I'm just going to come right out and say it:

IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN is better than WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. Oh sure, that's like saying Casino is better than GoodFellas, right? After all, both books share the same plot - a little boy has an adventurous dream filled with images tapped from his subconscious. But I'm here to tell you that NIGHT KITCHEN works the same material better. I guess WILD THINGS wins the popular vote because it's story and themes are clearer. For kids there's the thrill of being powerful and important, for adults there's the subtext of oncoming puberty. NIGHT KITCHEN isn't quite as straightforward - there's a lot of strange shit about bread dough and giant kitchen utensils going on. I'm not going to pretend I know all of what Sendak is trying to say, but I love the way he says it. And that's because he says it through the magic of comics, yay!





As with all good comics, the typography is a seamless part of the artwork. The story is told through narrative panels, the dialogue spoken in big loud word balloons. Aside from all that, this is Sendak's best illustrated book. He uses a thick black line to render each character to perfection. Not a drop of ink is wasted. The color scheme is warm and earthy with occasional spots of red that leap out and hug your brain. The panel progressions accelerate the action in a way traditional storybook formats cannot. It speeds the reader along with naked little Mikey as he falls, leaps and flies through his kitschy kitchen. And while it may not have the wonderful monsters of WILD THINGS, it has instead three wacky cannibal bakers who put Mickey into a cake. These guy's are probably Sendak's most bizarre creations, which is certainly saying something.






Funny story - I always thought the bakers were supposed to look like Oliver Hardy. I just figured that since Mikey's dream was full of things stored in his subconscious he must have watched Way Out West or something right before bedtime. But get this, it turns out they're actually a trio of HITLERS! In an NPR interview, Sendak says imagery such as the bakers' moustaches and Mickey in the oven came from his preoccupation with the holocaust. Sendak is some kind of dark, fascinating guy. I wish I could sit and talk with this cat but I'd probably be too intimidated and screw it up. Listen to THIS interview and you can hear him explain how he doesn't do book signings anymore because it's too traumatic for children to meet him.