First Second Books Review: THE ETERNAL SMILE

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.

First Second Books Review: ADVENTURES IN CARTOONING

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.

First Second Books Review: THE TINY TYRANT

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.