Nerds With Kids

Brand Spanking New BILL WATTERSON INTERVIEW!

2010-02-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

There's some kind of poetic irony to this interview- Watterson's first in 15 years- appearing just days after the death of Salinger.

It's a short one and there's no info about what the Calvin & Hobbes creator is doing these days, but beggars can't be choosers. Click the quote for the entire interview as it appears in the Cleveland Plain Dealer-

Because your work touched so many people, fans feel a connection to you, like they know you. They want more of your work, more Calvin, another strip, anything. It really is a sort of rock star/fan relationship. Because of your aversion to attention, how do you deal with that even today? And how do you deal with knowing that it's going to follow you for the rest of your days?
Ah, the life of a newspaper cartoonist -- how I miss the groupies, drugs and trashed hotel rooms!
But since my "rock star" days, the public attention has faded a lot. In Pop Culture Time, the 1990s were eons ago. There are occasional flare-ups of weirdness, but mostly I just go about my quiet life and do my best to ignore the rest. I'm proud of the strip, enormously grateful for its success, and truly flattered that people still read it, but I wrote "Calvin and Hobbes" in my 30s, and I'm many miles from there.
An artwork can stay frozen in time, but I stumble through the years like everyone else. I think the deeper fans understand that, and are willing to give me some room to go on with my life.

HUGO & WIMPY HIT THE BIG SCREEN

2010-01-22T05:49:00.000-08:00

What do you call those books with too many pictures to be straight-up chapter books, but too many words to be comic books? Comics Lit maybe?

Well now you can call two of them movies!

The Beat has a trailer for the DIARY OF A WIMPY KID adaptation hitting theaters April 2.
Click it HERE to see it courtesy of Yahoo.

And my buddy George Merchan (he who built this glorious blog you see now) has some fantastic news. Martin Scorsese is ready to adapt Brian Selznick's THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET. George provides all the details HERE at JoBlo.com. Let's hope this will bolster the trend of talented directors taking on kid's literature. Or should I say comics lit?

You know what? Maybe not. When I say "comics lit" over and over it starts to sound very dirty.

MARVEL ADVENTURES Also Gets The Reboot

2010-01-14T11:36:00.000-08:00

Is Spidey getting rebranded?!

Last week internerds all across the web were gobsmacked by the news of Spider-Man's cinematic reboot. Plans are underway to send Peter Parker back to high school and focus on the web-slinger's teenage years.

Today Marvel has announced a rebooting of their Marvel Adventures line. First act of business? Send Parker back to high school! From Marvel.com:

Marvel is proud to announce a bold new beginning for the critically acclaimed Marvel Adventures line with SPIDER-MAN #1 and SUPER HEROES #1! Perfect for readers of all ages, these two all-new series are the perfect jumping on point for readers new and old with oversized debut issues, packed with a full length all-new stories and bonus back up stories, just like the comics from when you were a kid! Subsequent issues will be regular sized and priced at $2.99, perfect for everyone’s summer reading!

Doesn't that cover art look like a fine design for a new Spider-Man animated series? You know, something that could pull in the male viewers that have long eluded Disney? That's what I thought. But then I have a lot of crazy ideas.

Toon Books: LITTLE MOUSE GETS READY

2009-06-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-08T06:50:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

- 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

2009-06-04T15:33:00.000-07:00

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.

Random Floppy Review: MUPPET ROBIN HOOD

2009-05-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

Preview at Boom Kids!

This was a nice surprise. I've never been much for the Muppet spin-off movies. They range from pleasant (Treasure Island), to the abominable (Wizard of Oz). So a comic book spin-off of Robin Hood sounded to me like weak sauce after Langridge's MUPPET SHOW series. I was wrong.

It's a light and funny version of the classic story that makes clever use of the Muppets ensemble. It digs deep to find just the right characters to play each part. They even drop a couple jokes to dismiss the idea that Kermit's nephew, Robin, should play the lead. In fine Muppet tradition, they are jokes that break the fourth wall. The art has a gentle cartoony feel that conveys action and comedy well. For the most part the likenesses are successful; Kermit and Sweetums (cleverly cast as Little John) look the best. Unfortunately nobody has been able to crack the Miss Piggy dilemma yet. She looks artificial and out of place, sometimes even downright scary. The only other minor gripe I might have is that the story borrows a page from SHREK. In a parody of consumer culture, Robin returns to Nottingham to find it converted into a theme park. But that's probably the kind of thing only an old bitter nerd would notice. Kids don't carry the same pop culture baggage.

There are two variant covers. I dig the David Petersen one pictured above.

Emily The Strangely Familiar

2009-05-27T01:11:00.000-07:00

As if I didn't already have enough reason to hate Emily The Strange; the quintessential example of corporate synergy, the insipid icon of consumer culture, the sad mascot for sadder Hot Topic shoppers. For those blissfully unaware, Emily The Strange is a cartoon character designed to appeal to the tween and teenage goth crowd. She adorns merchandise with such witty bon mots as "I WANT YOU to go away." It's incredibly safe prepackaged rebellion that looks custom made for girls who are ready to let go of Hello Kitty, but may still find Wednesday Addams too provocative. She even has her own lame, boring comic from Dark Horse Comics. But it seems banality isn't Emily's worst crime. Apparently she's a shameless identity thief. Check out this comparison between an Emily bumper sticker and the classic kid's book series NATE THE GREAT courtesy of CoffeeGhost.net:

You can see other comparisons HERE.

It seems this and other blog posts stirred NATE's writer, Marjorie Sharmat, and artist, Marc Simont, to action. Cosmic Debris ETC., who own EMILY, have just responded to this attention in a most dickheadedly fashion by launching a preemptive lawsuit threatening to sue if attempt to sue them. Excerpt from Courthouse News Service:

Cosmic Debris Etc. has sued two children's book authors, claiming its "Emily the Strange" character does not infringe on Marjorie Sharmat's and Marc Simont's "Nate the Great" copyrights... Cosmic Debris asks that the defendants be restrained from recovering damages regarding Emily, and that they be prohibited from claiming that Emily infringes on their work.

This kind of thing really rubs my rhubarb. Hard. Let's hope justice eventually prevails.

Official Site: http://www.emilystrange.com/

Hey Librarians, Comics!

2009-05-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

Are libraries the best place to get comics in front of kids faces? Comics without Iron Man on the cover, that is?

All anecdotal evidence says YES!

From ICv2.com:

Nick Smith of the Pasadena Public Library writes in to offer some advice to his fellow librarians regarding building graphic novel areas in their libraries: For those of you who need ammunition in getting your administration to let you create separate graphic novel areas, I have recently received some startling circulation statistics.After a long struggle, our library got separate graphic novel labels and shelving areas for adult, YA, JRHI and Juvenile graphic novels. I have started gathering circulation statistics covering what happens, now that these areas are separate and visible.

Among other things, the increase in the circulation of the Juvenile graphic novels is astounding. From July 1 of 2008 through March 31 of 2009, the average copy of our juvenile graphic novels circulated 16 times! By comparison, the average juvenile novel circulated 3 times. That's more than a fivefold increase, which is a LOT more than I expected. For the Junior High collection, the average graphic novel circulated 6 times, compared to 3 for the comparable text novels. For the YA collection, the circulation of graphic novels is also about double that of the comparable novels. What made this interesting is that until recently, our YA novels included a lot of graphic novels that hadn't been re-cataloged. THOSE started flying off the shelves once they were moved to the Graphic Novel shelves.

It takes longer to read a novel than it does to read a comic. This may contribute to the large turnover rate* on graphic novels. But that's a plus since it means the comic is getting that many more readers. Small press outfits like First Second and Toon Books recognize the public library as a valuable resource. Where else is your average kid- one without a nerd for a parent- going to see STINKY or TINY TYRANT? Titles like that might sit on a comic store shelf for a week tops. If that shop wants to survive in today's industry it needs to give all the prime real estate to the latest CIVIL SKRULL CRISIS RAPE-APOCALYPSE crossover from the Big Two.

Let's also consider the way the industry is heading. Which, by most accounts, is straight down the crapper. But that's the traditional business model circling the bowl, the one built on weekly periodical sales. The future is in the trades and stand-alone graphic novels. Getting more of those into libraries is integral to building that new industry model.

I'm gonna be talking with a few librarians and other expert types to see if the actual data backs up my thesis. Stay tuned.

*"Turnover rate", can I say that? I just used that phrase to refer to the number of times a book is borrowed from the library. Any real librarians out there, please set me straight on this.

Nerds With News & Links - 5/22/09

2009-05-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

So now we're on that Twitter thingy. When you click the nerd bird link up in the corner you can get a buncha news and links to cool stuff on the internets. Every Friday we'll compile all the tweets for a big old weekly round-up of comic book fun and shenanigans.

Proving that they still love promoting bullshit comic book gimmicks, the mainstream media has picked up the story about Archie Andrews getting married. The Archie news blog reported that they will celebrate ARCHIE #600 by running an imaginary story that takes place five years after high school graduation. The story hit the bigger comic sites before making it to the national news. When I tweeted about it earlier this week I thought the most interesting aspect was that it's being written by Dark Knight producer Michael Uslan. But for all the normals and squares at MSNBC the big question is- who will Archie finally choose? The obvious choice is Jughead, but my money's on Reggie. That intense rivalry they shared was nothing more than misdirected sexual tension.

Bluewater Productions proved our national nightmare was still ongoing when it announced their next wretched Political Power comic book- PUPPY POWER: BO OBAMA. Yes, the story of the White House dog. This one is geared toward kids. Unlike previous issues focusing on Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama which were geared toward morons who eat up worthless "collectible" garbage.

And the biggest WTF item of the week was the announcement that Fantagraphics will publish a brand new kids comic called RIP, M.D. Now, even though they specialize in artsy, cutting edge adult fare, Fantagraphics is no stranger to kids material. Granted all of their kid friendly stuff is by cartoonists who have been dead for 50 years, but still. You see, the mind boggling part of this news is that RIP, M.D. is actually a tie-in for an animated series. This is your basic commercial franchise start-up. Crazy shit for a publishing company built on a counter culture ethos. Next you'll be telling me that MAD MAGAZINE accepts advertising.

What?

In less surprising franchise news, Disney's successful Fairies characters are getting their own graphic novel series next year with Papercutz. My daughter's read a few of the prose books and their not half bad. Maybe editor Jim Salicrup can swing some quality artists for this gig and make it more than just a piece of a corporate brand. Article HERE.

Also according to that article, Papercutz is working on their own zombie parody- DIARY OF A STINKY DEAD KID. What the article doesn't explain is why they think it's a good idea to join the zombie trend so long after it has completely played itself out. Apparently it's part of their crappy TALES FROM THE CRYPT revival series. I guess it makes sense to shoehorn a tired parody of a modern kids book into a lousy series that's 50 years past it's time.

Moving on.

There's a couple of good graphic novels out this month:

JELLABY: MONSTER IN THE CITY is the second book in Kean Soo's fun series about a girl and her monster-dragon-thingy friend. This is a fun and funny book that hasn't gotten enough play as far as I'm concerned. Check out a preview and other Jellaby stories HERE.

The one you probably have heard of is G-MAN: LEARNING TO FLY #1 by Chris Giarrusso. It's a compilation of his superhero comedy shorts that's worth checking out. And it's digest sized, which is the best format for this kind of light material.

Full disclosure: I know very very very little about manga. This is kind of a big deal since manga is immensely popular with those crazy kids today. But I'm eager to learn! To that end, I'm following this brand spanking new blog from Viz Media- http://www.sigikki.com/

From Viz's press release:

In partnership with VIZ Media and its “VIZ Signature” line of graphic novels, IKKI is bringing the works of some of its top creators to the English-language audience via a groundbreaking online monthly manga magazine.The first series featured in this launch is CHILDREN OF THE SEA by Daisuke Igarashi. Each month, new chapters will be offered online in their entirety, for free. After the completion of the online serialization of the first volume, CHILDREN OF THE SEA volume one will become available as a VIZ Signature graphic novel.

I checked out the CHILDREN OF THE SEA preview and it looks like an impressive young adult comic. See for yourself HERE.

First Second Books Review: THE ETERNAL SMILE

2009-05-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

First Second Books Official Site

Ah, youth.

There's a lot of crap from my pre-teen years that I never want to revisit ever again- puberty, sexual terror, shame. But if there's one thing I miss it's the sublime thrill of discovering remedial philosophy.

THE ETERNAL SMILE is a hopelessly, charmingly sophomoric look at the nature of fantasy and reality. It's most profound thought is simply that life is a state of mind and reality is what we make of it. Whoa.

These are three short stories, each better than the last, about a character's journey out of their own narrow realm of experience. A teenage boy, a cartoon frog and a timid young woman are all forced to face reality. Will they recede deeper into their own denial or face the world and find a happiness they never expected?

The first story is a beautifully illustrated tale of a young knight who battles these really cool looking frog people and courts a pretty princess. His life hits an all time high, but he's got this nagging feeling that something just ain't right. Here's a spoiler for those not older than twelve- It turns out he's really a teenager in a coma living the RPG life of his dreams rather than wake up and face his own shitty life. The story spends too much time building a mystery (and not enough time with those really cool looking frog men) before clumsily connecting every dot in the perfunctory exposition loaded climax. But hey, Derek Kirk Kim's art - dynamic anatomy, feather light ink lines, full attention to detail - is pretty great.

But the next one is better. In some kind of bizarre salute to Carl Barks we find Gran'pa Greenbax, a filthy rich frog in love with making money. As rich as he is, he still isn't quite rich enough to amass enough gold coins to swim through. So with the help of his wacky frog relatives he comes up with a religious scam designed to exploit a mysterious smile that has appeared in the sky. Then things get really crazy. There's frog murder and existential angst and a climax of Truman Showesque proportions. In a nutshell, froggy also discovers his life has been a lie. But where will he find true happiness?

The final and best tale speculates about what would lead a person to respond to the Nigerian Prince email scam. Aside from stupidity, that is. For a while it takes itself a little too seriously as it follows the life of lonely, meek office drone Janet. Things eventually loosen up and some comedy is introduced as she emerges from her shell. I wish the comedy had been worked into the entire story because it cuts the melodrama and makes it all a lot more charming and subversive.

I'm 37 years old and quite frankly well beyond this stuff. But there's a truth to these stories. It's a truth that any mature adult would take for granted. But the 12-year-old me would have been blown away by the deep ideas introduced. I had a similar reaction to writer Gene Luen Yang's popular graphic novel AMERICAN BORN CHINESE. He's writing a comics intro to philosophy for tweens and doing it well. This is inspiring material for a kid just beginning to realize that there's an entire terrifying, wonderful world out there.

Random Floppy Reviews: INCREDIBLES & CARS

2009-05-18T03:43:00.000-07:00

Boom! Kids Official Site

THE INCREDIBLES #2: FAMILY MATTERS

The premiere issue of THE INCREDIBLES opened with a big old superhero battle against robots and dinosaurs. Issue 2 opens with Mr. Incredible trying to open a jar of pickles. This is just as challenging for the big guy because he's mysteriously losing his super strength. As the action slows down a bit,the humor picks up. Mark Waid is capturing the cadence of the film's characters without simply retreading material from the film. You can actually hear FroZone's voice in your head as he and Incredible nosh on pickles in the family kitchen, trying to figure out the source of the problem. There's a visit to a cool sc-fi laboratory where the attending eccentric scientist type runs various bizarre tests on Mr. Incredible, then another job for the entire family complete with a school bus in peril. It's another fun issue with a clever lighthearted cliffhanger ending. This story arc should make for a good trade edition.

THE WORLD OF CARS #2

Last month I had the unfortunate duty to inform you that THE WORLD OF CARS was thoroughly lame. Issue 2 performs an amazing feat. It's actually lamer. Just look at that cover. I mean really, that's all the review you need. As with the THE INCREDIBLES, there's less action to be found in the second issue. Unfortunately there's absolutely no engaging storytelling to fill the void. It's just more boring panels of boring cars talking to each other. About boring stuff, by the way. The story further details the exciting account of how Lightning McQueen must swallow his pride in order to get corporate sponsorship. Kids love that kind of stuff. The whole corporate sponsorship plot is what made Speed Racer such a box office smash last year.

THE INCREDIBLES #2 and THE WORLD OF CARS #2 both hit the stands this Wednesday, May 20.

First Second Books Review: ADVENTURES IN CARTOONING

2009-05-18T00:05:00.000-07:00

First Second Books Official Site

The cartooning how-to book hasn't changed much over the years. From those classic treasury-sized Walter Foster books to modern manga instructionals, they all teach the same basic methods- "Sketch geometric shapes, add detail, ink!" Regardless of advancements in tools, such as with Photoshop ( DC has some cool volumes on that), basic drawing rules still apply forever.

I guess that's why ADVENTURES IN CARTOONING takes a different approach. It doesn't try to teach rendering skills. Why bother when HOW TO DRAW COMICS THE MARVEL WAY is still available? And who can compete with John Buscema anyway? ADVENTURES is all about how to tell a story through the language of comics. Authors James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost have created a beginners guide for the younger kids who are still drawing stick figures. Or maybe they're drawing more detailed figures. It doesn't really matter since this book is about storytelling.

The entire tale is told in a minimalist style that doesn't intimidate the beginner. And it is a self-contained comic book, by the way, not just a collection of dry instructional chapters. The story follows the adventure of a knight racing to save the princess from the lair of the dragon. Throughout the book a floating elf appears to instruct the knight on how to navigate the parameters of comic book panels, word balloons and gutters. He shows the knight how expanding a panel will improve his view, how a dotted line panel indicates that he's stuck inside of something and how the proper arrangement of word balloons will make it easier to understand what a group of characters are trying to tell him. It's a clever and maybe just kinda revolutionary way of teaching kids the language of comics. The simple drawings make it easy to spot all the mechanics that go into making comics. And it's a fun, fun read besides.

The authors know what they're talking about. Eisner-nominated James Sturm is the director of The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost are both graduates of the center. They gear the story to the young reader. The art is designed to look easily imitated. The lessons are reinforced by repetition throughout the story. This is the best kind of how-to book. It not only teaches, but it can inspire kids to practice and learn more.

Preview it HERE.

Random Floppy Reviews

2009-05-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

A quick look at a few issues out this month:

DC SUPER FRIENDS #15

To me, the best part about SUPER FRIENDS is that the script could have been written in the Silver Age. Batman has to solve a mystery presented by some new villain as one by one all the other Super Friends disappear around him. The only difference between this story and something from 1966 is the cartoony art style. It's a stylized look, but not at all stiff. Added fun for adults is to spot all the old school Batman references in the panels. Although I'm not sure I would ever visit a store called Finger's Toys (On Kane street!).

MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #51

By now everyone is in on the joke about how goofy a villain like Paste Pot Pete is. Even in the unjaded world of Marvel Adventures Spidey has a good laugh at Pete's expense. The villain is basically just an annoyance to the web-slinger, until he finally manages to beat Spidey and steal his web shooters. It's a fun story with a healthy load of Spidey quips and a good old fashioned ham-fisted moral tacked on the end.

Spider-Man has always been the strongest title in the MA line, but there's a change on the horizon. It looks the title is about to bring on the adolescent angst. I'm nervous because we've already seen every other Marvel title get bogged down in cheap melodrama. Let's hope the MA line doesn't lose it's charm.

MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPER HEROES #11: THOR

Louise Simonson delivers a standard life lesson framed with Norse gods and ice trolls and ass whuppings (And Tom Grummett delivers a fantastic cover. Mr. Grummett just doesn't get the credit he deserves. He consistantly delivers classic, dynamic work). Loki's latest scheme is to pit a couple of Asgardian monsters against his reviled half brother Thor. But Thor triumphs by reasoning with the troll and ultimately learns a little something about his own prejudices. The art is a touch unconventional for a superhero book. There's some bizarre foreshortening and cartoonish faces and hands, which is basically awesome.

Nerds With News & Links - 5/15/09

2009-05-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

So now we're on that Twitter thingy. When you click the nerd bird link up in the corner you can get a buncha news and links to cool stuff on the internets. Every Friday we'll compile all the tweets for a big old weekly round-up of comic book fun and shenanigans.

Behold, the week that was:

Drawn & Quarterly will be reprinting the works of Doug Wright. Who's that? Beats me. But Seth says he's one of the greatest cartoonists to ever live.

Remember Doug Wright? His cartoons ran in Canadian newspaper magazines for 35 years and a generation or two of Canadians grew up with his main character, a rambunctious little Canadian boy-cousin of Charlie Brown.

Nipper, as he was called, was born in print a year and a half before Charlie Brown and two years before Dennis the Menace. Charles Schulz and Hank Ketcham, Charlie Brown and Dennis’s respective creators, are enshrined in the pantheon of great cartoonists. Wright, on the other hand, though heralded as “Canada’s best known cartoonist” during his lifetime, has been all but forgotten.

More’s the pity because the creator of Nipper and Doug Wright’s Family was a great cartoonist, says Seth, the author of Palooka-Ville, Clyde Fans and the forthcoming George Sprott. As if it takes one to know one, Seth is a great cartoonist himself. The two facts, that the work of Wright, who died in 1983 at age 65, is great and nearly forgotten, are what spurred Seth on to bring him back into the foreground and set our cultural memory straight.

Read all about the Canadian Charles Schulz HERE.

Danger! Intrigue! Stupidity! Classic Antonio Prohias SPY VS. SPY collections on the way!

From ICv2.com:

Watson Guptill will release three Spy vs. Spy volumes, showcasing the crazed work of Antonio Prohias for Mad magazine, in August. The three Spy vs. Spy volumes, Danger, Intrigue, Stupidity; Masters of Mayhem; and Missions of Madness, are all 192-page 5”x7-1/2” trade paperbacks. Some of this work, which displays Prohias’ genius as artist, storyteller, and graphic designer, has been out of print for over 40 years. Each volume will include an introduction by Mad editor John Ficarra

So, LOCKJAW AND THE PET AVENGERS debuted this week. That's what I hear anyway. I didn't actually see it because for some reason Diamond Distributing stiffed my local comic shop. Good one, Diamond. Keep it up and he may just have to find a different distributor. Oh wait.

Speaking of monopolies, Sean Kleefeld speculates on what might happen if Marvel and DC eventually get out of the comic book biz. Basically the end of Diamond as we know it, but creating a new opportunity for scrappy little distributors like Haven. Seeing as the actual comic books earn only a small percentage of their properties' profits, I think this is almost inevitable. But where would that leave every other publisher? From Kleefield On Comics:

So, what happens to Diamond if Marvel and DC go away? If Diamond lost that much business within, say, a twelve month timeframe, they'd either have to close shop entirely or dramatically alter their operations with tons of layoffs and warehouse closures and whatnot. You can't lose over 90% of your business and continue operating as normal. There'd be lots of chaos and confusion within and around Diamond, in which case Haven (distributors) would be ideally situated to step up to the plate and help all the worried comic retailers who don't know whether or not Diamond even got the order they placed, much less will be able to fulfill it.

"Someday all of our library will be available in electronic delivery systems." -Mike Richardson, Dark Horse

Dark Horse and Archie Publications are both jumping into the deep end of the electronic publishing pool. You can download Jughead and the Terminator on your iPhone now. I'm not surprised to see Dark Horse doing this. They're always on the look out for new platforms (what with print being dead and all). But it's something of a surprising move for Archie. How many SONIC THE HEDGEHOG fans are on the cutting edge of technology?

Top Shelf Productions: JOHNNY BOO

2009-05-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

A James Kochalka comic is not a story. It is five random minutes inside Kochalka's brain.

In JOHNNY BOO: THE BEST LITTLE GHOST IN THE WORLD we find Johnny Boo, a decidely happy little ghost, playing tag with his little ghost buddy Squiggle and now they're fighting over whether or not Johnny cheated by using his Boo Power to win and then they make each other laugh and then- AIEEE- it's a one eyed Ice Cream Monster and when they run away the monster thinks they're playing tag and then Johnny scares the Ice Cream Monster but they get along after that and they dig up some melted ice cream from the ground and the monster accidentally eats Boo and Johnny tells his friend to use Squiggle Power and Boo makes the monster burp him up and some green stuff comes out too and he can't stop burping until Johnny yells "Boo" to make it stop and they all become best friends.

The End.

This is a great book to read aloud with toddlers. It's nothing but a happy romp with three fun characters.

The second book in the series is called JOHNNY BOO: TWINKLE POWER. This one is about Johnny, Squiggle and The Ice Cream Monster running around and playing at night. This is quite a departure.

But all snark aside, TWINKLE POWER does have just a little bit more of a plot. This time Squiggle, a bit jealous of Johnny's cool Boo Power, flies off to find his own inner Squiggle Power (which is weird, right?, because he used his Squiggle Power to escape Ice Cream Monster's belly the last time, but whatever). Johnny finds himself scared to be alone at night. When the Ice Cream Monster suddenly jumps out from the bushes Johnny lets out a frightened "Eek." This kind of embarrasses the little dude and he tries to cover by claiming that "eek" is his new way of saying "boo." The Ice Cream Monster, being a dullwitted buffoon, actually believes him and asks Johnny to teach him how to say "eek." Squiggle hears Johnny yelling "eek" over and over again and rushes to save his friend. This wacky misunderstanding leads to Squiggle stumbling upon his own unique Squiggle Power. Then for the next few pages The Ice Cream Monster wiggles his butt around and gets dizzy and everyone laughs, even the stars in the sky.

The End.

There's a third JOHNNY BOO book out in August. It's called JOHNNY BOO: HAPPY APPLES. It is about apples.

Preview JOHNNY BOO: THE BEST LITTLE GHOST IN THE WORLD!

Preview JOHNNY BOO: TWINKLE POWER!

First Second Books Review: THE TINY TYRANT

2009-05-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

First Second Books Official Site

Richie Rich pretty much sucked. For a kid who could have anything, his comics sure were dull.

THE TINY TYRANT takes the Richie Rich formula and makes it work by turning the little rich kid into a wonderful asshole. See, that was the problem with Richie. The kid was just too nice to be funny (or remotely interesting for that matter). But King Ethelbert, child ruler of Portocrisco, knows how to have fun with his money. He's not content to play the same old games the simple kid folk do. He'd much rather use his vast resources to bend his world to his every whim. He has his royal scientists make him his own dinosaur. He ships away all the children in his kingdom and replaces them with robot clones of himself. He indulges any crazy whim, heedless of the consequences. Basically he does all the stupid awesome stuff every kid wishes they could do themselves.

And yet he never crosses the line from puckish to straight up unlikable. TINY TYRANT is still witty and endearing fun. The kid hovers this close to being annoying before winning us over with a funny line. Or suffering a well earned humiliation after one of his capers backfires. He's Calvin with money. He's Dennis The Menace, but funny.

Lewis Trondheim's sharp writing moves at a fast clip. It must in order to keep up with the Tyrant's darting attention span. The art by animator Fabrice Parme has a terrific retro feel. Every line looks ready to dance off the page. Reading this collection of stories is like revisiting some classic cartoon from the early 60's that never actually existed.

TINY TYRANT is an excellent funny book for kids. It's a good mix of visual slapstick and clever humor writing (of the traditional set-up/punchline variety). Like an old MAD paperback by Al Jaffe or Don Martin. But in color. And with a regular cast of characters. You're just just going to have to check it out yourself to see what I mean. It's a blast.

But see for yourself. Check out a full story right HERE.

Nerds With News & Links - 5/8/09

2009-05-08T05:55:00.000-07:00

So this week we fired up the Twitter thingy. When you click the nerd bird link up in the corner you can get a buncha news and links to cool stuff on the internets. Every Friday we'll compile all the tweets for a big old weekly round-up of comic book fun and shenanigans.

Behold, the week that was:

- The new Star Trek is getting good reviews from the geeks and the normals. That's quite a feat. IDW has it's own tie-in prequel comic. But more importantly, they're also releasing a brand new Star Trek 2 adaptation. What? Star Trek 1&3 had comic adaptations, but Wrath of Khan didn't? 27 years later IDW brings Kirk's perm to comics!

Read all about it HERE.

- The King of Comics meets Sir Paul:

Read all about this historic meeting and see a Kirby sketch of Magneto blasting Paul McCartney & Wings out of the palm of his hand at the Beatle Photo Blog.

- Not a comic, but it's probably going to be the best movie of the summer. Hulu.com has a clip from Pixar's Up right HERE.

- There's a National Cartoonists Day? And it was this past Monday? Really?! Richard Thompson, creator of CUL DE SAC (one of the few funny syndicated strips out there) on what we should have done to honor the holiday:

You may be wondering, "How can I best celebrate this festive day?" You might consider:

Finding a cartoonist near you and mowing his lawn, at least the front lawn (especially the hard part with the hill).

While you're at it trim his shrubs, so the mailman can find his front door again.

Does his house need vacuuming? Well, what are you waiting for?

Who left all these dishes in the sink?

The cats; somebody feed the cats.

You could take him to lunch at the Mexican place down the street, where they're having some no doubt cartoonist-related celebration.

For God's sake laugh at his cartoons. If they appear in a newspaper, buy extra copies (or multiple subscriptions, even) and laugh at them too.

Visit his blog, Richard's Poor Almanac, for more fun and larfs.

- Dark Horse released it's latest LITTLE LULU collection, THE ALAMO AND OTHER STORIES, last week. It's from the Irving/Tripp period and is reprinted in full color. It really doesn't get better than that. Get a load of this page if you don't believe me:

- What can DC do to make me look forward to its upcoming WEDNESDAY COMICS anymore than I already am? How about a preview of some beautiful METAL MEN pencils by the legendary Jose Luiz Garcia-Lopez?

- It's kind of hard to believe there was once a time when Prince Valiant was fun and exciting. Preview Fantagraphics' exclusive limited edition PRINCE VALIANT archive. Gorgeous Hal Foster artwork, circa 1937-38, never before reprinted in this country.

- I'm baffled by the enormous success of the FEMALE FORCE line of biographical comics. I can see the Obama/Spider-Man comic turn into a popular "collectors item." I can even understand the novelty of a Sarah Palin comic attracting a lot of curiosity seekers. But Bluewater Productions has continued to sell out their awful political biographies. Who's buying these things? Clueless teachers? Misguided parents, perhaps? Anyway, Graphic Novel Reporter has an interview with the editor HERE.

And regardless of what I just said, I hope Rob Liefeld never ever stops drawing Obama comics.

Remember, you can read all this stuff in real time throughout the week on our Twitter feed. So go click that bird and follow us already!

Toon Books Review: LUKE ON THE LOOSE

2009-05-07T05:20:00.000-07:00

Toon Books Official Site

A childhood flight of fancy or a parent's worst nightmare?

A father yaks it up with another parent in a city park while his young son wanders off. The curious little boy pursues a pigeon right out of the park and deep into the heart of the unforgiving city. There's a desperate search as the child runs across busy streets teeming with traffic and climbs to the top of a water tower before collapsing from exhaustion. As the day ends and hope fades, a miraculous rescue is made and the child is returned to his devastated mother. In an ironic twist, the end of the tale finds the father and son at the park again. This time the child is constrained by a common leash as his father continues to blather on with his friend. The child's safety is secured... but at what price?

Unlike his friend the pigeon, Luke shall never fly again.

Of course that's how I read it; through adult eyes. But LUKE ON THE LOOSE wasn't written for me. It's for kids who see the fun in something as simple as racing after a pigeon. My daughter, for instance, laughed at all the chaos Luke caused throughout his pursuit. More importantly she recognized how reckless he was being. That's what made it all so hilarious.

Compared to the rest of their catalog, LUKE ON THE LOOSE is a bit weak. Toon Books puts a lot of effort into crafting quality comics for beginning readers. But LUKE feels more like a modified picture book. Harry Bliss, an accomplished childrens book illustrator, could stand to polish his comics skills. He hasn't completely captured how the narrative is supposed to flow from panel to panel. The book looks more like a series of illustrations hammered into comics form. What he does bring is a thorough knowledge of comic book canon. Look for the famous characters, such as Hulk and Captain Haddock, lurking throughout the city.

All in all this is still a fun time for kids who enjoy a little chaos. Which is to say, any kid at all.

Visit the Toon Books site HERE.

Toon Books Review: STINKY

2009-05-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

Toon Books Official Site

With all due respect to Art Spiegelman and his decades worth of revolutionary comics storytelling, his JACK AND THE BOX is only my second favorite Toon Books title.

STINKY is number one with a bullet. And it just happens to be newcomer Eleanor Davis' first published kids comic.

Hanging in the forest, noshing his pickled onions and happily shooting the breeze with his warty toad; Stinky is the coolest little monster in town. But when he sees a tree house being built (on his favorite tree, no less!) the poor little freak is beside his purple self. He spots the terrifying intruder- a young boy whistling happily as he strolls barefoot through the woods. The suburbs are encroaching on Stinky's home!

But he's got a few tricks up his sleeve to scare this kid off, starting with putting his prized pet toad into the tree house. Unfortunately this is just the first ploy that backfires. The kid loves the toad and adopts him immediately. And so it goes until Stinky learns that he and this kid have a lot in common and just might be better off as friends.

As I said, this is Davis' first published comic book and she nails it. So much so that she's nominated for an Eisner Award this year. The narrative is flawless, the images pop with color and personality and the story is completely charming. It's far too easy to make this kind of material pretentious or cutesy. But Davis' story is heartfelt. The humor is never forced, it comes organically from the character.

She makes Stinky the kind of dude any kid would want to hang and eat pickled onions with.

Check out STINKY at Toon Books HERE.

Toon Books Review: THE BIG NO-NO

2009-05-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Toon Books Official Site

Geoffrey Hayes’ THE BIG NO-NO! is his second Toon Book that follows the adventures of two little mice; Penny and her jerky brother Benny.

In the first pages we see Benny in all of his belligerent glory. Anything his sister likes Benny treats contemptuously for no discernible reason other than plain meanness. When Penny blithely tells him she hopes their new neighbor is a girl, he pulls out that wonderful old notion that girls are all “crybabies.” It’s a wonder Penny still has such a sweet personality what with having to deal with her brother’s rotten attitude all the time.

When their sand pail goes missing, Benny immediately assumes their new neighbor has stolen it. He insists that he and Penny should commit a “big no-no” and climb the fence to get it back. When they get there Penny is delighted to see their neighbor has assembled a collection of mud pies with flowers on top. Benny, of course, could care less and snatches up what he thinks is their pail. But when the new kid - a little girl mole - returns, things get ugly. Thanks in no small part to Benny’s fear-mongering, a few simple misunderstandings escalate into an all out brawl. Everyone pelts each other with clods of dirt before the siblings escape over the fence. Now it should be noted that Benny at least acts honorably here and defends his sister from attack. Once home, Penny finds the missing pail in their own yard. For a second time Benny decides to do the right thing and return the pail. The kids actually get to know each other after this and become friends.

Then the most remarkable thing happens. After hurting himself with a rake Benny cries like a banshee. The mole laughs and calls him a crybaby (oh the irony). But Penny steps up and defends her jackass brother. Even after all of his derision, even in the face of such poetic justice, Penny acts with love and charity. What a gal.

Geoffrey Hayes is an excellent fit for the Toon line. The gentle line work has a warm traditional feel. Kids who dig the art of Beatrix Potter or Cyndy Szekeres would probably respond to this immediately. This isn’t his first Toon book and I hope he makes more. Maybe a comic called PENNY AND HER NEW FRIEND GO OUT TO PLAY AND THEY LEAVE BENNY AT HOME BECAUSE HE’S AN ANNOYING JERK. I’ve got plenty more good ideas like that, Geoff, give me a call.

Visit the Toon Books site HERE.

Toon Books Review: JACK AND THE BOX

2009-05-03T00:25:00.000-07:00

Toon Books Official Site

Art Spiegelman, like many artists, has walked the path from angry young shit-disturber to brilliant innovator. Now, with decades under his belt, he steps into the role of family entertainer. Thankfully, unlike other creative geniuses such as Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy, his brand of family entertainment doesn't suck.

His offering from the Toon Books library, JACK AND THE BOX, retains his signature offbeat sensibilities. It's obvious on the first read that JACK owes much to Dr. Seuss's original shit-disturber THE CAT IN THE HAT. In it a young (rabbit) boy's new jack in the box toy turns out to be a wild and mischievous friend. Like Seuss' Cat, the Jack In The Box is a slightly dangerous, but irresistible personality.

The comic is series of four-panel vignettes telling the tale of a boy and his delightfully psychotic toy. Like Spiegelman's earliest comics work, it is all about the allure of recklessness. This makes sense as his own introduction to the medium was E.C. Comics and their many unsavory rip-offs. These were the original bad boys of comic books and they have always informed his work in some fashion. But this isn't just the young Spiegelman looking to provoke shock and outrage. He also follows the premise through to touch on consequence and ultimately responsibility.

So, will this intro to comics have the same impact on kids today that THE VAULT OF HORROR had on little Art all those years ago? My ten year old daughter's reaction while reading it was, "Okay, now that's creepy."

JACK AND THE BOX finds it's own way to be provocative.

Visit the Toon Books site HERE.

Nerds With News & Links - 5/1/09

2009-05-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Put Mark Waid in charge of your company and he'll hustle his ass off for you. Not content with simply writing and editing for Boom! Studios, he's out there hitting the pavement and bringing the old dog & pony show to the internets.

From the LA Times Festival of Books panel, with Chip Mosher:

The panel opened for questions, and a fan asked about future Disney titles. Mosher responded that in addition to THE INCREDIBLES ongoing series, BOOM! Studios will release MUPPET ROBIN HOOD, MUPPET PEG-LEG, CARS, TOY STORY and MONSTERS INC. Waid noted that writing THE INCREDIBLES has been "the joy of a lifetime" and the next arc features Jack-Jack getting an alien cold which results in a city-wide outbreak of super powers.

When asked what can be done to get more kids into reading comics, Waid responded that it's a matter of accessibility, getting comics into newsstands, drugstores, and convenience stores. Mosher also noted that making the material available digitally contributes to overall accessibility. He added that BOOM! Studios has a half-dozen graphic novels available for free online, and eventually will be digitally distributing comics on the iPhone and Google Android devices.

And here's a Nerds-With-Kids-y type quote from his epic interview at Ain't It Cool News:

BOOM! is the most exciting place in comics right now, which sounds like bullshit PR jazzhands, but that's how I see it. We're being pursued by every agency and studio in town and have allied with Fox and Sony and Disney and many others on a wide array of projects--and it's always a great fit because they let us do what we do. Our partners let us produce comic books, not thinly disguised movie pitches in comics form. Everyone in this town who's dealt with us knows I hold a very hard line editorially; you can, as some have, come in with a story idea that is tailor-made for movies or TV, but if it doesn't make a good comic book first and foremost--if it's not visual, if it's not kinetic, if it doesn't take advantage of the medium, and so forth--then we pass, even if it means Andy, Ross and I leave money on the table as a point of integrity.

Plus, we're covering all distribution bases, which few companies are. We're at the vanguard of digital distribution, having been the first to release new issues through stores and on MySpace Comics simultaneously. We just cut a newsstand distribution deal to make sure the Pixar stuff gets into the hands of kids, which is gargantuan. We have a very strong bookstore deal for our trade paperbacks and collected volumes. We've just launched a cub imprint called BOOM! Kids especially for that material, and I cannot believe the hunger for THE INCREDIBLES and THE MUPPET SHOW comics--the first issues sold about 75% more than I would in my wildest dreams ever have projected, and that's the kind of development that gives heat to everything we do.

Comic Book Resources has a full report from the Kids' Comics Con we told you about last week:

"Unlike other cons, this is totally geared towards kids and family," Simmons told CBR News. "Some people think I mean ‘Kiddies and Family.' Kids, to me, means anybody under the age of 21. We have teens here, we have tweens - we had a young girl named Jessica who came in 2007 and was just a participant having a good time." Simmons went on to explain that Jessica Weiss, age 12, returned for the second show in 2008, not only as a participant, but as an exhibitor. "Her father [contacted me] in January of 2008 just before our other con saying Jessica did her own comic and she wanted to rent a table and sell it. He asked if that would be all right," Simmons explained. "What better place for a kid to sell her own comics than a kids' comic-con? She was here last year and she's back this year with a different issue." The 12-year-old Weiss is the creator and publisher of the comic "Geezerville," and was on hand all day selling copies of her three issues.

Not only is she an accomplished writer and artist, she's a fan of comics as well. "Right now my favorite is LITTLE LULU," said Weiss. "Even now it makes sense even though it's out of date."

The type of enthusiasm and creativity exhibited by Weiss is exactly the atmosphere that Simmons is promoting with Kids' Comic Con. "Some of my friends' careers were actually determined by their comic book passions," he said. "Some of them went into science because they wanted to be Reed Richards. That field spoke to them because of their enthusiasm for those characters."

You can read the whole thing HERE.

Oh snap! The Fin Fang Four are back and they brought Doc Samson with them! Dig the preview HERE!

Previews of some new ARCHIE titles are up at their news blog including this:

ARCHIE & FRIENDS #131 "Zero to Rock Hero Part Two":

The video game battle of the bands from the previous issue rages on... but now the event is broadcast on TV! Last issue, The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats challenged one another to the hottest new videogame, Legendary Rock Heroes! Now their competition is a reality show sensation, complete with all the trappings. Can the rockers stay true to their creative roots, or will instant success turn them into an assembly line of pre-fab pop?

It used to be The Archies and Josie & The Pussycats were actual bands. They wrote their own songs, played their own instruments and performed concerts. You know, they were being creative. Now they're aspiring to be celebrities by playing a video game on TV and pretending to be rock stars? Archie Comics continues to hold a mirror to America's youth culture.

And finally, who says comics are aren't for the cool kids?

Free Comic Book Day 2009: All Things Fun!

2009-04-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

If you're a shop owner it's easy to give away free comic books. Just set up a card table in front of the store and spread ‘em out. Done.

But a lot of shop owners know they can’t let the comics themselves do all the work. Even The Fist Of Justice needs some help. Enter Ed Evans of All Things Fun, located in South Jersey.

For starters, Ed’s not content with keeping FCBD contained within his store. He and his wife, Dina, are grabbing their long boxes and taking it out to the people. They set up separate events at three - count 'em three! - different libraries.

My wife and I came out of the publishing industry and children's literacy is an important cause for us. We donate hundreds of books for the events and with two of the libraries we also arrange for Troopers from Vader's 501st to come and visit with the kids before we transport them to the store.

Meanwhile, what’s going on at the store?

We see a lot of folks that only come out on FCBD or make the circuit of stores that give away free comics. But we also will see regulars bring family and friends that may not understand what the whole"comic" thing is about.

The most common comment we hear from folks on FCBD is that they didn't realize comics could be so much fun. And that the comic retailing has changed so much from when they were children.

Now it’s always been my impression that it’s hard to pull any “normals” into a comic shop. Do you see any new faces?

As I mentioned before the mix is all over the place. We expand on FCBD and make it a real celebration. Yes, you get free comics but you can also join in the fun of learning a new game, meeting local artists, getting your picture taken with Star Wars characters and/or take advantage of a huge sale. While FCBD is an outreach program we may not see the full effect since we already carry a wide range of products. So while we may not see many new faces we may see game or toy customers taking a fresh look at comics thanks to FCBD.

This Saturday Ed and his crew will be doing their best to get comics into as many new hands as possible. If you’re in the area make sure you hit All Things Fun. Bring your child - hell, bring any child - and load them up! According to Ed, it might be one of the greatest things you ever do in your life:

Comics and graphic novels are great tools in libraries and schools in regards to helping younger reluctant readers. If you can get the right comic into the right kids' hands you can change a young person's life. And if you think I'm kidding, think back to your first comic. Most comic fans remember their very first book and how it thrust them into a whole new world of adventure (and into the hobby). How cool is it to be the guy that handed you that first book?

Get all the info about All Things Fun's Saturday events HERE.

Free Comic Book Day 2009: The WTF? Bin

2009-04-28T23:15:00.000-07:00

NASCAR HEROES

At first I thought this was some lame series about real life Nascar stars. Then I wondered who the creepy psycho on the cover was supposed to be. Then I clicked the preview and discovered it’s actually a lame fantasy series about a team of Nascar drivers who get super driving powers from a “mysterious explosion.” Then I saw that the story was entitled, “RREV!-ALATION!”

Then my eyes started screaming and I could see no more.

Preview it HERE if you must.

SHONEN JUMP PRESENTS: ULTIMO

In between shooting film cameos, Stan “The Manga” Lee found time to create a new character - Ultimo - with popular Japanese artist Hiroyuki Takei. Click the preview to dig the serious manga face Stan is sporting on the cover. Issa serious manga, issa serious Stan. According to this article, Stan speaks no Japanese and Takei speaks no English. I hope phrases such as Nuff Said, Excelsior and If This Be My Destiny didn’t get lost in translation.

Preview it HERE.

WILLIAM SHATNER PRESENTS

Just look at the satisfaction on The Shat's face. This is his universe in all of it's fiery, vaguely coherent glory and he benevolently presents it to you. Let's see George Takei do that.

Preview the magic HERE.

FIST OF JUSTICE

Anyone thinking of starting some shit in Charm City better watch his back.

Ba-dum-bump.

Nerds With News & Links - 4/28/09: Paul Pope's STRANGE

2009-04-28T06:55:00.000-07:00

This July is when DC launches WEDNESDAY COMICS, a 12-issue weekly series printed on newspaper-sized broadsheets. I kind of like the way one struggling medium (comics) is collaborating with another struggling medium (newspapers) in order to stir things up. Screw the internet and their fancy webcomics. Laying out a big old spread of Sunday funnies is one of the best ways to enjoy comics and everyone knows it.

Art Director Mark Chiarello has pulled some excellent talent into this mad scheme of his. Dig this brand spanking new preview page from Paul Pope:

ADAM STRANGE

Read all about it HERE!

Random Floppy Review: THE MUPPET SHOW #2

2009-04-28T00:30:00.000-07:00

I really hate to sound like a sycophant. After the glowing review I gave to the last issue, you would think I should tone it down a bit. But I cannot. I must gush. Make like you're at at Gallagher show and reach for the plastic.

Roger Langridge manages to top his excellent premiere issue of THE MUPPET SHOW. But how is that possible, Doug? You already said that was as good a Muppet comic as one could ever hope to make. And yet issue two proves me wrong.

Langridge delivers a tighter script that takes better advantage of the vaudevillian setting. There are classics like Pigs In Space, as well as a salute to some of the more esoteric set pieces from earlier seasons and one of Henson's favorite devices- the running gag. Plus Gonzo delivers a magnificent pun followed by a definitive sardonic aside. And as much as we all love Kermit, it's Fozzie who totally brings it this time around. The main storyline about his efforts to get back his comic mojo feels much more natural than Kermit's existential angst in issue #1. The bear is Willy Loman meets Henny Youngman, desperately searching for a schtick that can bring down the house. And of course it's that musical sage Rowlf who offers the most productive advice.

The issue doesn't hit stands until tomorrow and already a second printing has been announced to accommodate orders. So get 'em while you can. Wakka wakka wakka.

Hey Nerds, Preview Comics!

2009-04-27T02:00:00.000-07:00

I used to read a few pages of MARVEL TEAM-UP in the 7-11 to see if it was worth my fifty cents. One time the guy behind the counter actually used the this isn't a library line on me. Seriously, that's what he actually said. Even as a fifth grader I was appalled by his lack of creativity. But now thanks to this glorious series of tubes we call the internet you can preview a few pages of ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST without being harassed by a Slurpee-jerk. Just scroll down and to your left and dig all the Preview Links.

I've just added links for THE MUPPET SHOW #2 (I'll have a full review of that up for you tomorrow), MARVEL ADVENTURES: THE AVENGERS #35 (featuring Batroc The Leaper , yeah!), and a whole bunch of ARCHIE previews!

Keep coming back as we're always throwing something new in there.

Free Comic Book Day 2009: Indie Cred

2009-04-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Looking to foster your child’s offbeat sensibilities? Want something out of the realm of superheroes and fisticuffs? While everyone is grabbing up WOLVERINE and THE SAVAGE DRAGON, reach for these new indie titles and classic reprints. I promise you’ll find something different and wonderful. Just be sure to let your kids read them too.

NANCY & MELVIN MONSTER

This is a must-have as far as I’m concerned. Of all the popular comic book genres, the humor comic is the most timeless. When it comes to fun and funny comics, John Stanley was one of the greats. These stories were written in the 50's and 60's, but somehow comedy has a longer shelf life in comics. Perhaps it has something to do with the timelessness of funny drawings and jokes that rely on simple wordplay.

The retro cover designs really make my socks jump up and down as well.

Preview it HERE.

OWLY & FRIENDS

While most owls in kids’ stories are all like “Harumph I’m old and wise and grumpy I’m gonna go kill a mouse!”, Owly is the happiest, sweetest damn bird in the forest.

Preview it HERE.

COMICS FESTIVAL!

Another example of the sampler format, indie edition! Keep your eyes peeled for this one. All of the artists involved specialize in quirky, funny comics for kids. Of all the offbeat titles, this promises to be the most offbeatiest.

Preview it HERE.

Official Site: Free Comic Book Day

Kids' Comic Con 2009

2009-04-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Every year Wizard World comes to Philadelphia and every year I think about taking my daughter. Then I think about all the half naked models and the din of ultraviolent video games and the Lou Ferrigno. Most importantly, I think about how even your average issue of Fantastic Four is rated T+, which means it's inappropriate for anyone not in high school. That's the team with a scientist named Mr. Fantastic who can stretch himself into the shape of a trampoline, by the way. That book isn't written for kids anymore. It's difficult to find anything a child will enjoy at any major comic book convention. That's because most comic books are made for the people of my generation who grew up with them and still like to read about superheroes. But apparently since we're so mature now we need to see the heroes slaughter the villains and we need every heroine to look like a blow-up doll in fetish gear... because that's mature entertainment. This would be fine if it weren't for the fact that this stuff dominates the entire market. Blame Nintendo all you want, but the biggest reason kids don't read comics anymore is because it's so damn hard to find a comic they can enjoy. A comic that isn't full of joyless heroes and floating watermelon boobs and twenty years of convoluted continuity that pretends to be epic drama.

That's basically why I started this site; To help parents find the good stuff that's out there and to seriously explore the art form.

And that's why the annual Kids Comic Con could be the most awesome thing since ever. From their press release:

The KIDS COMIC CON 2009 is set for April 25th at Bronx Community College (181st Street & University Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453). And yep, even though the economy is struggling like Superman surrounded by Kryptonite, the KIDS' COMIC CON 2009 is still FREE for children 17 and under (and hey, Mom and Dad, its just $5 for you - making the KIDS' COMIC CON one of the best entertainment values around).

This isn't just a place to see new and interesting comics. It's also full of workshops for adults that examine the art and industry of kids comics. And there's twice as many workshops for kids about creating comics.

KCC creator and founder Alex Simmons:

“Our primary goals at the KIDS' COMIC CON are to promote reading and creativity in kids’ lives,” Simmons said. “Now more than ever it is imperative that we supply kids with a continuous flow of positive ideas, skills, and outlets for their thinking as well as self-esteem building activities, like creating from their own imaginations. No matter what path a kid’s life takes, having a solid habit of reading and being able to think, synthesize ideas, and come up with new concepts or fresh ways of looking at things will help them succeed. That’s what we do here, and it is all fun.”

Still need more incentive? Hows about a few names from the guest roster?

Chris Giarrusso, artist of Mini Marvels characters
Danny Fingeroth, writer
Dave Roman, of Nickelodeon Magazine
Jim Salicrup, Editor-in-Chief of Papercutz
Scott Cunningham, writer of kids’ comics for Archie, DC, etc.
Scott Gimple, creator/executive producer of Disney’s Fillmore cartoon series

Oh and these publishers:

Toon Books
Archie Comics
DC Comics (Credit where is due - while half of the Marvel Adventures titles read like halfhearted pandering, the DC Kids line offer a lot of fun and creativity. DC seems a lot more interested in cultivating a younger readership.)
Random House for Kids
Museum of Comics and Cartoons (MOCCA)

So this Saturday grab your kids or your sister's kids or any other kids you know and take them to the Bronx. They'll thank you for it.

Visit the official site for all the info:

http://www.kidscomiccon.com

Free Comic Book Day 2009: The Big Two

2009-04-23T02:00:00.000-07:00

DC KIDS MEGA SAMPLER - This one looks like loads of fun. It’s nice to see DC putting out an effort to attract an audience under 30. The sampler issue is really the best way to go. As my old publisher Dan Vado once told me - nothing sells a comic better than the comic itself. Just put some good stories in the kids’ hands and they’ll want more.

Preview it HERE.

BLACKEST NIGHT - And for the adult kids they offer what seems to be little more than an advertisement for this summer’s annual crossover bullshit.

AVENGERS - Looks like a lot of confusing nonsense for anyone who hasn't already been reading Marvel comics for at least ten years. What’s the point?

Preview it HERE.

WOLVERINE - Wolverine reveals a new mutant ability - blandness. C’mon Marvel, try to get into the spirit of things here!

Preview the vanilla HERE.

Free Comic Book Day 2009: As Seen On TV

2009-04-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

FCBD is a way to get comics in the hands of these people at no cost to them. The tricky part is to get the uninitiated into the comic book shops. I believe that publishers who have comics that feature familiar characters from the movies and television (Star Wars, Spider-Man, X-Men, Batman, The Simpsons, etc.) are crucial to the success of FCBD.

-Bill Morrison, Bongo Comics

Saturday, May 2 is the annual Free Comic Book Day. Honestly, I never thought this thing would last. But it’s been seven years since the first FCBD and it’s still going strong. I love it when I’m wrong.

For any nerdly parents not in the know, Free Comic Book Day is an annual event where comic shops give away free issues. The giveaway comics are specially made by publishers for the event. The idea is to introduce non-fans to what’s out there now and entice them back for more.

Touching on Bill Morrison’s quote above, here’s a preview of a few licensed titles to look for next Saturday. With so many super heroes moving from comics to other more successful platforms, it's cool to see these television properties lure kids back to world of word and pictures. Prolific writer Chuck Dixon delivers a taste of THE SIMPSONS, THE TRANSFORMERS and GI JOE. Chuck is one of the old school pros who can deliver a tight action or comedy tale for any character. He’s a good fit for these books. Dark Horse Comics has thrived on it's catalog of STAR WARS spin-offs. This year they bring THE CLONE WARS, which, I'm told, all the kids love.

You can preview it HERE.

You can preview it HERE.

You can preview it HERE.

I’ll have more previews and info over the next few days.

You can find out which stores in your area are participating at the official site: http://www.freecomicbookday.com

Gateway Drug: ELEPHANT & PIGGIE

2009-04-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

Here we have an excellent comic book disguised as an excellent children’s book.

Mo Willem’s ELEPHANT & PIGGIE books have won Geisel awards. They are vetted by early-learning specialists. They are immensely popular and just downright awesome. What nobody talks about is that Willems has crafted a perfect batch of comic book primers. Now I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but he does hail from the animation industry. So at the very least he’s been having some fun with an art form he’s surely familiar with.

In any given volume we find Gerald the elephant and his best friend Piggie (the pig) playing a game or trying to fly or simply having a conversation about what to wear to a party. The stories are told entirely through the dialogue between the two friends with the occasional cameo from a squirrel or some other mammalian passerby. Willems really knows how to use the language of comics to set a rhythm. Each page works as a panel and he doesn’t waste a single one whether it’s a silently thoughtful moment or a loud elephanty outburst. Piggie and Gerald interact on page like a couple of stage performers who have spent years honing their act to comedic perfection. The simple renderings manage to capture certain subtleties of emotion as well as laugh out loud facial expressions.

And there’s this one book where Piggie wears a big cardboard box and a colander on his head and she walks around like a robot. Now that’s the kind of stuff that wins Geisel Awards.

I learned firsthand what a fun and effective learning tool these are. After a few bedtime readings, my three year old daughter was reciting the dialogue and sound effects back to me every time. She quickly associated each picture with the accompanying word balloons. She even yelled at the top of her lungs when the word balloons were appropriately huge ( but I like to think she learned that from my own expert line readings).

You can see all of Mo Willems other popular books HERE.

Sure, everybody is all like “Oh, his pigeon on the bus book is the best thing ever!” but - and this is in no way meant to disparage the pigeon - Gerald and Piggie are truly where it’s at.

Archie Comics: An Unstoppable Juggernaut

2009-04-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

I'm absolutely fascinated by the Archie Comics line. I read them as a kid and I still own a larger number of Archie digests than any healthy adult should own (the number a healthy adult owns, by the way, is zero). Today they continue to sell a dozen different titles and digests each month, mostly through newsstand outlets. I've got to set up an interview with Victor Gorelick and find out how they do it. How do you sell a monthly SONIC THE HEDGEHOG comic book (200 issues and counting)in this day and age?!

Sabrina The Teenage Witch, one of the satellite characters who lives outside of Riverdale, got a manga makeover a few years back. In classic Golden Age tradition, her title is being handed over to supporting character Salem without altering the issue count. This is an old trick used to keep comics on the stands. Editor Mike Perrelito explains in an interview from www.comicsworthreading.com:

Q: Why keep the Sabrina title if you’re going to change the premise, the creators, the main character, the art style… It seems the only thing continuing is the numbering! Wouldn’t it make more sense just to put out a Young Salem title?

A: We changed the premise and the art style when Tania took over Sabrina and gave it a manga influence and kept the numbering. It never seemed to be an issue. Archie has done what a lot of critics have said all comics should do by staying on the newsstand and not giving up on the mass market. The costs of doing business on the newsstand are monstrous and not always the best environment for a new title. If we came out with a new series for 4 issues on the newsstand, the costs are, as mentioned, enormous, and the direct market doesn’t have that same fanatical approach to our books. At least the good comic stores know what’s up, but not enough stores. Doing Young Salem this way gives us the mass-market reach of the newsstand and helps us target the comic stores too.

We originally wanted to launch Young Salem as the first issue of an “Archie Presents” title and keep the newsstand distribution intact. The plans changed, and with Tania’s run ending at 100, it seemed logical to put the four-parter in Sabrina. It wouldn’t fit in Archie or Betty & Veronica. So Sabrina 101 is where Young Salem started.

Q: What happens in issue #105? What’s next for the Sabrina title?

A: 105 is up in the air for now. If Salem turns out to be as big a hit as it is capable of, some more stories seem a natural.

You can read that entire interview HERE.

You know, Marvel did the same thing last year when HERCULES took over THE INCREDIBLE HULK. I guess this economy has forced even The House Of Ideas to resort to old school methods. Maybe they should get Archie Comics on the phone and find out what else they can try.

Farewell, MAD KIDS. We Hardly Knew Ye.

2009-04-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

A few months ago the usual gang of idiots at MAD magazine took a hit. MAD was reduced to a quarterly publishing schedule and the brand new MAD KIDS was taken behind the woodshed and shot twice in the head. It's kind of a modern miracle that MAD still exists at all, especially as a magazine. After The Onion made the move to the WWW. it took MAD's place as the nexus of cultural satire. But MAD magazine still serves an important purpose - keeping comics on the newsstands. There are precious few comic magazines left in the world.

With that in mind, I recommend heading out to your local hometown B&N Big Box Bookstore and buying the last issue of MAD KIDS while you still can. It's got some old school Don Martin, an iCarley interview and even a scathing look at the lives of the Obama girls entitled Cool And Not So Cool Things About Living In The White House. They still don't care whose toes they step on!

Preview the historic last issue of MAD KIDS HERE.

Lo! There Shall Come A Reprint!

2009-04-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

Thor has been getting the full court press from Marvel recently as they try to push his movie through pre-production. Newsarama.com has a preview of THOR: TALES OF ASGARD and it looks glorious. It's a collection of the classic short stories by Stan "The Man" Lee, Jack "King" Kirby and various bullpen inkers including none other than Don "What The" Heck. It's tricked out with digital coloring and new covers by Olivier Coipel. The colors are nicely done- they strengthen the depth of Kirby's compositions and never overwhelm the lines. The covers are fine on their own, but the style clashes with the interiors. And is that Aquaman hanging out near Thor's thunder crotch?

Ride the Rainbow Bridge to glory HERE.

Nerds With News & Links - 4/15/09: 80 Page Giant Superhero Editon

2009-04-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

For no particular reason, here's a collection of super hero items:

- Newsarama.com asks some creators how they think super hero comics can get back into more kids' hands these days. Props to Chuck Dixon for telling them to go to the library. Read it HERE.

- Happy 50th anniversary to SPIDER-MAN ADVENTURES! Dig it - A kid friendly series of self-contained stories has made it to fifty issues and lead the way for an entire line of similar titles. Congratulations, Wall Crawler. Now go get yourself something to eat. Yeesh.

- TINY TITANS #15 is out today. It's recent Eisner nomination is earning it some attention. Check out the Newsarama.com interview with the writers HERE.

- After careful consideration, I've decided that no artist can draw exciting panels of cars sitting around talking, even if they are transforming alien robot cars. EVIDENCE.

- How cool is SUPERGIRL: COSMIC ADVENTURES IN THE EIGTH GRADE? Read a preview HERE to find out.

- MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPER HEROES #10 is out today and - Damn that's a big ant! -

- Next week's BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #4 gets the WTF Award for this stunning depiction of Batman jumping into the mouth of a T-rex as Aquaman arrives in his golden chariot. Of course.

- SUPER FRIENDS #14 - How cute; lookit the Super Pets with their little capes. But why are you so sad, octopus? Oh, you have no cape!

2009 Eisner Award Nominations

2009-04-13T06:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a rundown of the nominees for this year's Eisner awards. Half of the kid-specific choices look worthy enough. Following those I've cherry picked the kids stuff from some other catagories. You can see the complete list of nominees HERE.

Best Publication for Kids:
- STINKY, by Eleanor Davis (RAW Junior) - This is my pick for “should win.” It’s the best title yet from the already impressive Toon Books.

Check it out HERE.

- PRINCESS AT MIDNIGHT, by Andi Watson (Image) - Not to take anything away from Watson’s considerable talent with a brush and ink wash, but these kind of fantasy tales ache for a splash of color.

- AMULET BOOK 1: THE STONE KEEPER, by Kazu Kabuishi (Scholastic Graphix)
- COWA! by Akira Toriyama (Viz)
- TINY TITANS, by Art Baltazar and Franco (DC)

Best Publication for Teens/Tweens:
How sadly apt that this list of nominees would be a mostly unfortunate selection of halfhearted attempts. Only SKIM offers something interesting and heartfelt. CORALINE’S good, but it’s P. Craig Russell’s art that justifies it’s existence. Since Gaiman’s script can’t compare to the prose of his original novel, the comic works as more of a nice companion piece.

- CORALINE, by Neil Gaiman, adapted by P. Craig Russell (HarperCollins Children's Books)
- CROGAN’S VENGEANCE by Chris Schweizer (Oni)
- THE GOOD NEIGHBORS, BOOK 1: KIN, by Holly Black and Ted Naifeh (Scholastic Graphix)
- RAPUNZEL’S REVENGE, by Shannon and Dean Hale and Nathan Hale (Bloomsbury Children's Books)
- SKIM, by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood Books)

Best Short Story:
- "Freaks," by Laura Park, in SUPERIOR SHOWCASE #3 (AdHouse) - A fine tale for any teenager who feels out of place in the world. There must be a few of those reading comics.

- "Murder He Wrote," by Ian Boothby, Nina Matsumoto, and Andrew Pepoy, in THE SIMPSONS' TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #14 (Bongo) - Frankly I’ve never been a big fan of THE SIMPSONS. But I’m glad Bongo Comics exists and that kids can find them on the newsstand circuit. I’ll have to find this issue and see what I’ve been missing.

Best Continuing Series:
- ALL STAR SUPERMAN by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC) - No surprise here. Morrison’s mellow salute to DC’s silver age deserves the nomination.

- USAGI YOJIMBO, by Stan Sakai (Dark Horse) - Another perennial favorite. For decades Sakai has been consistently producing one of the best comics in the industry. He’s like the Hernandez Brothers, but with samurai and rabbits instead of lesbians and wrestlers.

Best Limited Series:
- GROO: HELL ON EARTH, by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier (Dark Horse) - Not the best GROO comic, really. But it’s another old favorite since the 80’s so yay!

Best Humor Publication:
- HERBIE ARCHIVES, by "Shane O'Shea" (Richard E. Hughes) and Ogden Whitney (Dark Horse) - I love me some old school tomfoolery and Herbie was a dry-witted master.

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips:
I think the best thing about producing these hardcover editions is that it gets this material into public libraries. These are all some great collections. Need I say NEMO deserves the win?

- THE COMPLETE LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE, by Harold Gray (IDW)
- LITTLE NEMO IN SLUMBERLAND, Many More Splendid Sundays, by Winsor McCay (Sunday Press Books)
- SCORCHY SMITH AND THE ART OF NOEL SICKLES, (IDW)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books:
- HERBIE ARCHIVES, by "Shane O'Shea" (Richard E. Hughes) and Ogden Whitney (Dark Horse) - Oh snap! Herbie again! He’s the Mickey Rourke of the Eisners!

Best Writer/Artist:
Best Painter/Multimedia Artist

- Scott Morse, TIGER! TIGER! TIGER! (Red Window) - If kids owned coffee tables, this is the kind of book you would find on them. Not a story, but a nice collection of ideas and images that can provoke thought and conversation.

Check it out HERE.

- Jill Thompson, MAGIC TRIXIE, MAGIC TRIXIE SLEEPS OVER (HarperCollins Children's Books) - Could be Thompson’s best work to date. Certainly the best layouts and watercolor work, as well as an effortlessly quirky story.

Check it out HERE.

Nerds With News & Links - 4/10/09

2009-04-10T00:30:00.000-07:00

Did you know Mickey Mouse starred in a version of Dante's Divine Comedy? Man, you can get away with all sorts of crazy shit in Europe! If EuroDisney park had a Mickey's Inferno ride it would have cleaned up.

Read all about it here: [THE BEAT]

You can get that issue, translated to English, through the Amazon link below:

The back-up feature is back, baby! DC counters the recent price hike by kicking it old school and adding 10 page back up features to select titles: [The New York Times]

The one that's making my socks jump up and down is METAL MEN by J.M. DeMatteis. I love DeMatteis, I love robots, and I love quirky silver age throwbacks. Here's what he had to say to Newsarama.com:

"There's a real sense of fun and play with the Metal Men," the writer said. "You know going in that this isn't going to be Unrelentingly Grim. That doesn't mean we don't take the characters seriously — we do — just that it's clear the moment you see this team of goofy robots that it's going to be a fun ride."

The writer said the 10-page stories will have an over-arching story that continues from issue to issue, but the creators want to keep each individual story to one or two parts.

"It's actually very refreshing. Not a lot of pressure. Go in, do your song and dance for 10 pages, and then get out," he said. "I also think that many of us have been overindulged by the Grand Comic Book Epic. It's nice doing shorter pieces and stand-alone one-off stories. And, in some ways, it's more challenging. You can't drag the thing out for twelve issues and work out your plot problems six months down the line."

You can read the whole interview here: [Newsarama.com]

MY MOMMY IS IN AMERICA AND SHE MET BUFFALO BILL - Maybe not for kids, but this preview looks wonderful. The pages shown here could fit in the YA category. I'll let you know as soon as I read it: [New York Magazine]

Random Floppy Review: THE MUPPET SHOW #1

2009-04-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

And now we have the crown jewel of the BOOM! Kids collection. The Muppets franchise has successfully used many different platforms- film, animation, and even comic books. But not one of these various spin-offs has ever topped the original show. The series' freewheeling fun and variety remained unduplicated. The first movie came close (and featured one of the greatest special effects ever committed to film), but ultimately the conventional story requirements of a feature film couldn't match the manic energy of the television series.

Roger Langridge now steps up and attempts to deliver a comic book worthy of Jim Henson's legacy. Not just worthy of the entire Muppet franchise, which has seen it's ups and downs, but specifically the lightning in a bottle charm of the original show. Packed into one issue are all the familiar characters, plenty of sight gags, a song or two, and Pigs In Space. There's also an ongoing backstage tale concerning a mystery that's troubling Kermit The Frog. In short, the comic plays out as any classic episode would.

Even if they missed his earlier Muppet comics from Disney Adventures digest, fans of Langridge will not be surprised to see beautiful the art looks. As live action muppets, Kermit and Fozzy are funny and charming. Turning them into pen and ink drawings can easily rob them of the lifeforce that comes from a human puppeteer. Accommodating for that by making them look more organic would just be creepy and wrong. Langridge's precise and consistent style serves this material well. He carefully recreates the characters as muppets and still manages to instill in them their own life. It's not as subtle and nuanced as Henson's live action work, but it's as close as one has ever gotten in this medium. His eye for detail and ornate backgrounds suit the old vaudeville theater setting. The backgrounds are richly detailed and occasionally reveal him to be a knowledgeable fan of the show. Check out this close-up of a two page spread where George the Janitor, a more obscure character from season 1, meets his replacement, Beauregard:

Earlier this week I talked about how cool it was that the BOOM! Kids titles were getting newsstand distribution. Another old fashioned method they're employing is subscription service. Now this is usually unheard of in the financially uncertain world of independent comics. But I guess when Disney has your back you can afford to guarantee a full series run.

You can subscribe to THE MUPPET SHOW, THE INCREDIBLES or THE WORLD OF CARS through BOOM!'s website right here. Which is kind of great because what kid doesn't like having something show up in the mail box for them?

Random Floppy Review: FRANKLIN RICHARDS APRIL FOOLS SPECIAL #1

2009-04-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

A long long time ago in a Marvel universe far far away (the 80's) the son of Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman was a little boy whose future looked ominous. Every now and then a sinister look would cast over his face and destructive energy would emerge from his eye sockets. What kind of offspring was this, produced by the union of two people exposed to mysterious radioactive rays?

Years later we finally have the answer. Franklin Richards is Bill Watterson's Calvin. A red haired boy genius brimming with curiosity and demonstrating a destructive streak. His Hobbes is that leftover from the 70's cartoon series HERBIE The Robot. Together they get up to all sorts of shenanigans in the Baxter Building while mom and dad are off fighting Annihilus in the Negative Zone. It's a fun idea but it could stand to be a bit less derivative. The more blatant attempts at aping Calvin & Hobbes serve only to remind readers that they could be reading Calvin & Hobbes instead.

As a back up feature in The Fantastic Four, Franklin Richards worked well. The stories are fun but slight. Unfortunately the standard floppy format doesn't work well for this material. The art is too simple to fill the traditional six panel spread. Since there's not a lot going on kids will burn through an issue in less than five minutes.

I recommend it, but try one of the digest compilations. The smaller format suits the art better and you get the most for your money.

Nerds With News & Links - 4/8/09

2009-04-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

What could be better than Dark Horse Comics' series of LITTLE LULU trade reprints? How about reprints of every other wonderful thing John Stanley has done, from MELVIN MONSTER to NANCY & SLUGGO?

- Drawn & Quarterly starts to bring it all back this month. Stanley is one of the old school greats. Read all about it here: [Newsarama]

- Only in a recession can someone have the balls to complain that a Pixar movie should compromise quality in the name of commercialism: [guardian.co.uk]

- Fleischer's Superman cartoons are finally getting a proper DVD release after years of public domain knock-offs. Here's a taste in case you forgot how influential these shorts still are today: [CBR]

- My buddy Rob has more blogs than Veronica Lodge has shoes in her closet (Yeah, Archie joke!). Of particular interest is one called Hey Kids Comics which collects childhood anecdotes about - What else? - comic books. You should check it out and read an embarrassing tale from my misspent youth: [Hey Kids, Comics!]

- Why doesn't this new WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE poster show a Wild Thing?

What? It's where?

Oh.

Random Floppy Review: THE WORLD OF CARS

2009-04-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

Damn shame about this one. It just doesn't work on any level.

Granted the source material is Pixar's weakest film. Despite that, the CARS franchise continues to reap the studio's largest pile of merchandising cash. This comic is just another piece of licensing - another toy or sleeping bag.

The script is a rehash of the film's Hero-Learns-Humility plot. Whereas the movie could at least fall back on some kinetic thrills to pad out the story, the comic fails to bring these speeding cars to life. It's panel after flat panel of static images with banal word balloons pasted in. Dig these pages at www.boom-studios.net if you don't believe me. That first page loaded with type and head-on medium shots is sure to capture kids' imaginations. After that we have the supposed money shots of Lightning McQueen tearing up the raceway, but it just doesn't flow as it should. They look like toys sitting on the page. The coloring? It doesn't help. The best I can say is it looks like a coloring book completed by someone very good at staying inside the lines. I can't even say anything nice about the lettering when you have such confusing balloon placements as this:

This is truly the weakest of the new line. With THE INCREDIBLES and THE MUPPET SHOW* you can tell the creators have been inspired by the source material to make something exceptional. The inspiration for THE WORLD OF CARS has obviously come from Disney's merchandising department.

*Review coming Friday. Spoiler: It's awesome.

Random Floppy Review: BILLY BATSON & THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #4

2009-04-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

So this is the last part of a four issue story arc by Mike Kunkel. It's excellent stuff, but you would really do well to pick up the previous three issues or wait for the inevitable trade. Let this review, then, serve to let you know it's a terrific series. We need to see more of this type of comic.

Jeff Smith ret-conned the Big Red Cheese's origin a couple years back in SHAZAM! THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL. His version, balancing the whimsy of CC Beck's original stories with some modern revisions, was a tough act to follow. Kunkel manages to do so by taking the silly spirit of Shazam and cranking it up to 11. Kunkel's animation background is obvious. Each page resembles a storyboard densely packed with funny and dynamic images. Imagine a superhero comic told entirely in Sergio Aragones' Mad Magazine marginals. Or better yet, see for yourself:

Earlier this week I complained a bit about large, vacant page layouts so common in comic books today. Kunkel proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that exciting storytelling can be the size of thumbnails.

As for the story, he manages to have it both ways. It's a superhero tale full of fisticuffs and exploding monsters. But then Batson saves the day by using brains to trump mindless violence. A cynic might call it exploitive- laying on the fight scenes before saying, "No but really kids, violence solves nothing! You gotta use your brains!"

But isn't that the best kind of superhero comic? Shazam yeah, it is!

Mike Kunkel's blog, full of tasty bits.

Random Floppy Review: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #589

2009-04-07T07:50:00.000-07:00

Marvel has done it again. Yet another silly villain from the past has been given the MATURE AUDIENCE makeover. This time they've taken the obscure Spider-Man foe- The Spot, a scientist with a suit covered in those portable holes from the Looney Tunes cartoons- and made him a bloodthirsty bad-ass.

I found this preview at Newsarama.com and quickly began formulating my indignant reaction. Some random thoughts I jotted down included -

Created by Al Milgrom in the 80's The Spot was one of the last of the seriously silly villains. His full bodysuit of teleportation holes was so ridiculous he couldn't be seriously enjoyed by anyone over the age of ten. Now he uses his Acme Brand portable holes to shove a knife into a guy's throat. I feel personally insulted! In their endless search of obscure nostalgia to exploit, Marvel has plundered my childhood bedroom, found this issue and smeared poop all over it.

But then a funny thing happened a few days later. I bought and read the entire issue and - you know what? I kind of liked it. It's tightly written by Fred Van Lente who remembers to pepper Spidey's dialogue with plenty of his traditional witticisms. Paulo Siqueira's art is clean and dynamic.

And I was particularly struck by this brilliant sight gag -

Oh sure, The Spot is still a psycho-killer and there's bloody stabbings and neck snappings, but it's not delivered with the kind of heavy melodrama found in most of Marvel's flagship titles. The story acknowledges how silly the Spot is, how bizarre it is to find him working as a hired killer and finally manages to end on a bittersweet note.

This still isn't for kids you wouldn't take to a PG-13 movie, but it's a fun read for yourself.

More info about The Spot courtesy of Marvel.com

Gateway Drug: THE MONSTER AT THE END OF THIS BOOK

2009-04-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

What was your first comic book?

If you named any 28 page stapled floppy I'll bet you're wrong. I only recently realized my first comic was also a beloved children's book. I'm talking about the classic THE MONSTER AT THE END OF THIS BOOK. Grover's literary opus is actually a meta head-trip of a comic book (and not just thanks to the vintage 70's art and typography). Here we have Grover breaking the fourth wall and talking directly to the kids. Oh sure this has been done before in comics and it's standard operating procedure for Sesame Street. But Grover takes it to the next level. By simply turning the pages the kids themselves are breaking the wall (sometimes quite literally) and having a direct effect on the plot. Grover's interaction with the reader is the story.

Could this have been done so well in any other medium? No way, I sez! The comics style - the word balloons and immediacy of the panel progression (in this case the panels are all two page spreads) - provide maximum intimacy between reader and character. It's a form of comics that still infiltrates childrens' picture books today.

Ethan Long follows Grover's lead in his popular 2004 book TICKLE THE DUCK. In it the reader propels the story by tickling Duck's bumpy feet or hairy armpit causing him to break out in hysterical laughter after each page progression. DUCK utilizes all the same strengths as MONSTER plus it successfully adds the touch-and-feel gimmick.

Ironically the direct sequel to MONSTER misses the point of the original. ANOTHER MONSTER AT THE END OF THIS BOOK adds that rock star Elmo to the mix (apparently not satisfied with co-opting half of Sesame Street, he must also insinuate himself on his costars' past achievements) while replicating the look of the original. This time Grover is pleading with Elmo not to turn the page, leaving the reader to merely observe the action. This takes a lot of fun out of the original premise.

The duck also has his own follow-up book called STOP KISSING ME (or more accurately, STOP SEXUALLY HARASSING THE POODLE). Like the Elmo version, STOP KISSING ME brings another character into the story. The reader still gets to push a button and produce a cool slobbery kiss sound effect whenever Duck smooches the poodle, but this kind of involvement isn't as direct. In TICKLE the reader gets to "control" the action. With KISS it's more of a Rocky Horror brand of audience participation. According to Long's website there's a third Duck book on the way that apparently involves a working light switch. The advancements in touch-and-feel technology are accelerating at a remarkable rate!

At any rate, both Duck books are worth your while. Aside from laying the groundwork for brainwashing your children, they also happen to be a lot of fun. And dude, that duck's face cracks me up.

You don't need me to tell you that THE MONSTER AT THE END OF THIS BOOK is worth your while. I'll just assume that if you're reading this you own it already. Right?

But don't bother with ANOTHER MONSTER because - You know what? - screw Elmo. Such an attention whore.

Yes, Kids Still Like Comic Books!

2009-04-06T00:30:00.000-07:00

Everybody knows kids today don't read comics. With the Nintendo DS and the Xbox and the internets stealing away their attention, it was inevitable that Marvel Two In One would fall by the wayside. Kids today aren't interested in static words and images. Right?

Balderdash, I tell you!

I present my irrefutable anecdotal evidence:

As part of my ongoing crusade to indoctrinate the youth of America, I gave my neighbor's son a Marvel Adventures Spider-Man digest for his fifth birthday. Now, this kid is already predisposed to superheroes. He's got enough costumes to outfit the Avengers and wears a different one every day. He already has a base knowledge of Marvel and DC thanks to Cartoon Network and DTV cartoons. But his mom was telling me that the few comics he owns were too old for him. To help her out, I immediately rattled off a list of age appropriate titles and publishers in such a rapid fire nerdly fashion that I surely overloaded her poor civilian mind. Not that it would have helped if she retained any of the data I regurgitated. Knowing what's available is only half the battle. The other half is actually tracking down a comic shop to get a good title. But I digress. I'll rant about accessibility another day.

Anyway, fast forward to the birthday party. He opens the Spidey digest and half the kids in the room are immediately drawn to it. One by one I watched kids pick it up and flip through, stopping to read a few pages. Quite a feat when you consider all the other distractions at a birthday party. I hope it holds up to his scrutiny later on, because unlike video games, the trance is broken if the story doesn't deliver. Video games are a lazy medium. They don't require the same level of work as reading. But reading, be it comics or literature, delivers much higher artistic returns. As I saw at that party, the allure of comics is there. The medium itself - the art, the panel progression, the typography - is still an effective hook all by itself.

All we need to do is find the quality titles that can hold their attention. How hard can that be?

Random Floppy Review: THE INCREDIBLES

2009-04-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

BOOM! Studios must be the only publisher making money this year. While everyone else is cutting back they're crazy enough to launch a new line of Disney licensed titles. The BOOM! Kids imprint consists of three new titles all out in comic shops this month - THE INCREDIBLES, THE WORLD OF CARS and THE MUPPET SHOW. They've also signed on with Kable Distribution Services to make sure the titles get some good old fashioned newsstand distribution. Just think, these comics will actually be available to kids everywhere and not just comic shop customers. Speaking of, THE MUPPET SHOW and THE INCREDIBLES have already sold out of specialty shops and are going into second printings. This is all great news for BOOM! Studios specifically and the comic book industry in general. But are the books any good? This week I'll review all three first issues, starting today with THE INCREDIBLES -

THE INCREDIBLES - FAMILY MATTERS #1

It's hard to find a better working superhero writer than Mark Waid. He's delivered some of the best modern superhero tales for The Big Two. Since he's now the editor-in-chief of BOOM! Studios it would be downright criminal to give THE INCREDIBLES to anyone else. As expected, he's up to the task. Issue 1 hits the ground running with the family immediately taking on the villainous robot Futurion and his dinosaur army. I'll say that again - Futurion and his dinosaur army! This is the kind of battle every kid dreams of while playing with their action figures. The story balances this kind of action with the suburban family humor as adeptly as the film. It's a quick read and by story's end we're left with a traditional cliffhanger as Mr. Incredible confides in his best buddy Frozone that he is rapidly losing his super powers (a secret he doesn't want to share with the wife). Is our hero manifesting signs of sexual impotency brought on by an existential crisis as he grapples with his role of banal suburbanite or is there some really cool villain stealing his powers with a radioactive Extracto-Ray or something? We'll have to wait and see.

The storytelling is simplified in large sparse panels with few words. Normally I kvetch and gripe about this type of thing as it's usually used to stretch out a tale to as many issues as possible. But there's no cynical grab at maximizing sales here. It's a stylistic choice utilized to welcome five-year-olds into our cult of superhero fandom. That's not to say Marcio Takara's art couldn't stand a bit of a tweak. It's very loyal to the design of the cartoon. And the cartoon designs are very awesome indeed. But it lacks it's own personality. Look at the covers to see what I'm talking about (There are FIVE variant covers. Who says the 90's are over?). Mike Oeming's four-part cover series pictured above adds a vibrant and original flavor to the design. Mrs. Incredible's pa-dunk-a-dunk is spectacular!* A little more creative license on the interior art could take this series from very good to incredible (Ohhh! You see what I did there? With the word and the thing?). All in all, THE INCREDIBLES makes for an excellent intro to superheroes.

*Full disclosure: I've known Mike personally for years, but seriously - look at those covers? Am I lying?

The Wizard Of Oz Shops At Hot Topic

2007-09-05T06:55:00.000-07:00

As far as I'm concerned, Todd McFarlane retired sometime in the mid 90's. He's been spending the past ten years dabbling in toys and such the way senior citizens dabble in watercolors or square dancing. Now he's dabbling in film again and the results promise to be as original as Marilyn Manson's ooo!-scary take on Alice In Wonderland.
McFarlane is teaming up with writer Josh Olsen (A History of Violence) to make a film Variety calls "...a revisionist take on the L. Frank Baum books that hatched The Wizard of Oz." This is not to be confused with that other announced "reimagining" of Oz starring Zooey Deschanel. This version is presumably inspired by McFarlane Toy's bizarre line of Oz S&M figures.
Here are some pearls of wisdom from the same creative genius who brought us Spawn Vs. The Pedophilic Ice Cream Man: "My pitch was ‘How do we get people who went to Lord of the Rings to embrace this?’ I want to create (an interpretation) that has a 2007 wow factor. You’ve still got Dorothy trapped in an odd place, but she’s much closer to the Ripley from ‘Alien’ than a helpless singing girl."
Clearly this man has a firm grip on what makes Baum's classic work.
Now, as I said, the screenwriter is the same man who adapted A History Of Violence, so this may not suck. From Variety's article- "I saw those toys, and Dorothy as some bondage queen isn’t something I want to do. The appealing thing about the Baum books to me is how wildly imaginative they are. There are crazy characters from amazing places. I want this to be ‘Harry Potter’ dark, not ‘Seven’ dark."
Here's the aforementioned McFarlane Toys figure of Dorothy as bondage queen:

You know, I may not mind seeing Zooey Deschanel in this version after all.
Find the full Variety article HERE.