Dec 12 2006
Comics, Comics and More Comics
Well, I can blame it all on Lissa. She wrote this great post about comics and happened to mention Mouse Guard. I have been looking for books that might grab Jason’s attention and comic/graphic novels are definitely up his alley (very visual obviously and not as intimidating to read).
So I tracked down the nearest comic book store (which happened to only be about 10 minutes away – great find!). Turns out that they had Issues 1, 3, 4, and 5. Issue 1 and 2 are difficult to find (I got the last Issue 1 and am still on the hunt for Issue 2). These comics are gorgeous and about sword fighting mice, so what is not to love! It is going to be hard to wait until Christmas to give these to him.
While at the comic book store, I happened to find this wonderful graphic novel…the 2nd volume in the Owly series called Owly: Just a Little Blue. What is unique about this novel is that there are no words. The entire story (all 128 pages) is completely told in pictures! It is a sweet story about an Owl and his friend Wormy. They decide to build a birdhouse, but the birds do not want to come. I really think that Kyle will like it (although it is supposedly for slightly older kids), especially that he can read it himself. And I am sure that Jason will like it too.
So of course, I had to come home and jump online to see what I could find. No luck in finding Issue 2 of Mouse Guard, but I did find Volume 1 and 3 in the Owly series on half.com (actually found more then those but needed to exercise some self-control!)
In reading up on the Owly series on amazon, I found a link to the graphic novel Bone which I had heard about on the Children’s Literature email list I am on. I checked it out (amazon had an excerpt) and it is awesome! Funny, well written, interesting with a dragon to boot. So back over to half.com and I found the first 3 volumes. I contemplated getting the complete one book set (13 years worth and over 1,000 pages!) but decided that it was a bit too hefty and could not imagine Jason lugging that much of a brick with him. Again I exercised some restraint.
Now I can’t wait to get the books…I may need to give them a read through before they go under the Christmas tree…what fun!
Anyone else out there have any favorite comics or graphic novels? Jason loves Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side, but it is kind of fun to discover lesser known comics too.
~Stephanie
3 Responses to “Comics, Comics and More Comics”
My oldest son (19) is an avid “The Amazing Spiderman” comic collector. He has all his comics in protective cases and knows the value of them. The Mouse Guard sounds interesting. Jabem has not been able to think of a gift for GB, so I may suggest this series. He can easily pick it up the next time he heads out to his favorite comic store. Thanks for the review.
I just found a Bone game demo on-line the other day when looking for information about when Sam and Max are going to be on the Wii.It is at telltalegames.com/bone. I downloaded it but it didn’t work. I should try again.
Simon really likes Asterix and Obelix. Comics in the UK are so very different from comics in the US. I get my folks to send comics for Christmas and the like. Linnaea loves Archie (which I loved, but now I just get irritated at the way Archie treats Betty) and some of my old Harvey comics. Oh, and there are a few Shrek comics that she really loves.
[...] Jason got the first three books in Bone graphic novel series by Jeff Smith for Christmas. He absolutely devoured them (I have enjoyed them too!) and we followed up by getting the next two. Here is his review. [...]