Fairy Tale Comics: Classic Tales Told by Extraordinary Cartoonists, edited by Chris Duffy

Premise: Gather a selection of classic fairy tales, pair each of them with different cartoonists, and you get this collection of visual interpretations of many commonly known stories, with a few obscure ones for good measure.

Fairy tale classics like Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and Rapunzel are set along with other lesser known stories such as Azzolino’s Story Without End and The Boy Who Drew Cats. Each of them is unique in their own right, especially interpreted for this collection.

Themes: Fairy tales are ways of telling legends to children, but the stories remain with us through adulthood. Often they remind us how the perseverance of goodness ends in triumph over wickedness. And even when things don’t quite turn out right, doing good will still bring happiness and prosperity. At least, that’s what we want to believe, which is why these stories continue to endure.

Pros: The artwork is fantastic for every story, but there are several that stood out to me. I liked the bold cutout style of the simple yet colorful Little Red Riding Hood by Gigi D.G., especially contrasted by the drab brown and gray color palette in Luke Pearson’s The Boy Who Drew Cats. Brett Helquist’s painting like quality is beautiful in his rendition of Rumpelstiltskin. I also appreciate how Joseph Lambert interpreted music through his art in Rabbit Will Not Work. One of my favorites is because of how Graham Annable managed to tell Goldilocks and the Three Bears without a single word. The facial expressions are just whimsical. One of the best things about Fairy Tale Comics is that in just about every story the art adds to the telling of the story, making it more accessible to the reader.

Cons: Reading some of these stories anew reminded me that many fairy tales, especially from the Brothers Grimm, are pretty inappropriate for too young an audience. Some of the interpretations use language I don’t really want my child using, with words like “stupid” and “dumb” and “idiots” that should not be in a child’s vocabulary as long as can be prevented.

Recommendations: While most of the stories are retold versions from the Brothers Grimm, Fairy Tale Comics brings in some fairy tales that I hadn’t heard before. Each of these adaptations is unique to each artist, but as a collection they are visually stunning, making the sum of the whole even greater than the individual stories themselves. While it is really meant for an older audience than Nursery Rhyme Comics, Fairy Tale Comics is a book that comes nicely on its heels. I might wait until your child is at least old enough to read for themselves so that they can appreciate the artistic nuances as they enjoy the story. Just be mindful of swears, witches, and giant rats.

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I received a copy from the publisher to write this honest review.

 

Boxers/Saints by Gene Luen Yang

Premise: Little Bao is a Chinese peasant tired of the Western missionaries that are infiltrating their country and corrupting it with their religion and ideals. The Westerners are also converting some of the Chinese people to their religion and gaining protection from the Chinese government. Bao creates a rebellion, energized through the visions of Chinese gods, that turns out to be incredibly successful, storming through the countryside and gaining strength as they fight for Chinese values.

At the same time, a young Chinese girl is taken in by some of the missionaries in a search for identity and acceptance. She is the fourth girl of the family but the only one to live, so instead of giving her a real name, her family names her Four-Girl, four being a Chinese homonym for death. It is with the missionaries that she finds love and a forgiveness she dreams for, including a new life with a real name: Vibiana. She faces the Chinese rebellion with an unexpected decision of faith, one inspired by a great Christian follower from the past.

In this two volume series, we see that there are multiple sides to every conflict. When stories intersect, the greatest of decisions are made, and the smallest influence can make all the difference in the world.

Themes: Religion is all over both Boxers and Saints, especially in the way each perspective comes across to the other. Bao sees the Christian missionaries and the Chinese who convert as devils by their corruption and abuse of villagers, while Vibiana converts to become a “devil”, finding the forgiveness and acceptance she was actually seeking all along. When given both perspectives, we can see that it is the individuals who are corrupt or good, not necessarily the religion itself.

With each protagonist being the hero of their own story, perspective becomes key as both Bao and Vibiana experience the conflict with their own histories. How they see people is colored by their past, and when those beliefs are really challenged they learn what true strength, bravery, and compassion are really about.

Pros: Visually, these two books are stunning, with drab browns and grays highlighting the contrasting stunning colors of the Chinese rebels in Boxers and the illuminated gold of the ghosts in Saints. These stories give some perspective on opposing viewpoints that can cause the reader to consider how they judge others. It also emphasizes the damage of war on a country and the terrible things that can be justified on any side of conflict. I liked the way the character stories intersect and come full circle as you read both books, especially mirroring each other in juxtaposition for mercy and compassion for others in the end.

Cons: Compared to Boxers, Saints is a little short. The missionaries come off as unlikeable and evil, even in their own book. The protagonist in Saints has motives that seem genuinely naive for her interest in the Christian faith, though it is hard to believe the missionaries wouldn’t have made it clearer the truths of their religion earlier on in their studies. The connection between Bao and Vibiana seemed a little too open-ended at the end of Boxers, making up for it a little by the decisions they both make in Saints. Most importantly, it’s hard to imagine reading one of these without the other. I’m not sure why these are even offered for purchase separately.

Recommendations: The Boxers & Saints duology infuses an air of fantasy into an historical account of the Boxer Rebellion as we get both perspectives of the rebels in Boxers and the Chinese Christians in Saints. While both of these volumes are interesting on their own, the most impact is made when they are put together as contrasting stories, giving the reader more to consider about worldview and religious beliefs, especially in the context of war. Boxers and Saints are insightful stories that can expand how we perceive the beliefs of others, including for someone with a strong grounding in their own beliefs. If you are going to consider a purchase, make sure you get both books, perhaps in the boxed set.

Gene Luen Yang’s website
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I received a copy from the publisher to write this honest review.

 

Mastering Comics: Drawing Words & Writing Pictures Continued by Jessica Abel & Matt Madden

Premise: Many artists have the desire to create comics but might not know where to begin when it comes to layout, style, or the techniques necessary for creating print and digital art. Mastering Comics is a textbook covering topics including character and reader perspective, storytelling, artistic techniques, conversion to screen, penciling, inking, lettering, and much more.

Themes: One of the main things covered in Mastering Comics is creating thumbnails as a sketch of what an artist is going to eventually make into a more detailed drawing through penciling, inking, and shading or coloring. The thumbnails are there as a guide as you go about telling the story without having to worry about spending too much time adding detail before the story or artistic details have been thought out.

Mastering Comics takes time talking about layout, especially as it pertains to how people will see the pages individually, as you turn the page, and as the composition as a whole. It looks at the visually pleasing aspects as you look at the page, as well as the natural progression of reading through dialogue boxes and narration, color schemes, and artistic style.

Another topic covered is considering the digital realm of publication. Mastering Comics talks about how to draw for the screen, especially with what resolution to scan at, how to save your documents for adding ink, color, and shading, and also for thinking about how it will be viewed on the screen when compared to the printed page.

Pros: Not only does Mastering Comics cover a wide array of topics for artists, it manages to do so in an easy to understand way. The artistic examples in the book are fantastic. I like that they offer extended examples and content on their website, especially if you haven’t read the previous book or are simply looking to expand your artistic knowledge. Having not read the previous book, I still felt like there was plenty of help in the drawing aspect to help a beginning artist, such as with perspective and size and placement relationships between people and objects.

Cons: Mastering Comics makes some assumptions about your level of artistic ability and knowledge, though it is fairly forthcoming about those assumptions. The authors give references to the previous book for guidance on art and beginning drawing techniques, though they don’t always go into much detail with those references. Some of the step-by-step instructions on creating computer graphics are not as clear as they could be (or should be in some cases).

Recommendations: This “definitive course in comics narrative” lives up to its claim. If I were going to look for a definitive place to research cartooning as a career or as a serious hobby, Mastering Comics would be a perfect starting place. There is so much in this book to talk about, it can’t be covered in a review, but must be experienced from reading through the examples and working through the exercises. After reading this textbook it made me want to get into starting a comic. I enjoyed going through Mastering Comics so much that I forgot I was reading a textbook.

Drawing Words and Writing Pictures website
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I received a copy from the publisher to write this honest review.

 

Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists, edited by Chris Duffy

Premise: What happens when you take fifty of today’s cartoonists and you have them interpret and illustrate fifty classic nursery rhymes? You get a collection like this of reimagined stories for people of all ages.

You’ll see familiar stories such as Hey, Diddle Diddle, Little Boy Blue, and Jack and Jill, along with not so familiar (at least to me) such as The Donkey and For Want of a Nail, but each one puts a fresh spin on a classic story in only a few frames.

Themes: Many classic nursery rhymes have themes of doing right and fearing punishment for wrongdoing, political satire, and propaganda. While this is true for some, most are rhymes either spoken or set to music simply to help children go to sleep. Rhymes and music can also help children with reasoning and learning ability, helping to improve math and reading skills.

Pros: At first I thought this would just be another book of nursery rhymes, but as I flipped through the pages I realized the work and artistry that went into each story. Some of the stories, such as Hector Protector, took four lines of source material and elaborated it into an even more interesting story than I would have ever thought. Many of the rhymes are reinvented, such as the clones of One, Two, Buckle My Shoe or the rock band babysitting of There Was An Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. Others, such as The Itsy Bitsy Spider, were straightforward illustrations of the nursery rhyme we already know. Quite a few of the stories were funny, and every page is pretty.

Cons: A few of the stories have language that will be difficult to understand for young readers, and in some cases, as with The Owl and the Pussycat, the changes in language over time can be confusing or vulgar by today’s standings without the appropriate explanation. In at least one story, Jack Be Nimble, there is a word that I wouldn’t want my child saying (stupid).

Recommendations: I found Nursery Rhyme Comics to be a visually stunning collection of humorous and inspiring interpretations of classic rhymes for people of all ages. I think I enjoyed it even more than my son. A few of the stories might be a little more mature than intended, using language that is either inappropriate or antiquated, but discerning parents can easily skip over them or help younger readers understand them better. I am glad this book is in our home to be read as my children grow, but also so I can enjoy these stories with them. I love this collection. Do yourself and your family a favor and get a copy to read to your kids before bed.

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Dear Creature by Jonathan Case

Premise: Dear Creature is a graphic novel starring Grue, a sea monster living in the remains of an atomic submarine who is the only one of his kind. His inclination is to feed on young lovers, with sarcastic crabs urging him on to eat his leftovers. But when he starts finding pages of Shakespeare in soda bottles he learns the flowing language and begins to yearn for finding the person sending out those pages as his kindred soul. He finally finds her, but Giulietta is an agoraphobic recluse living in a broken dry dock boat with her sister and nephews, afraid to go out into the world.

Our poetic sea monster goes to her and she immediately opens her heart to him until she discovers that he had something to do with the death that Joe, her nephew, is being blamed for. Her sister, Zola, wants justice for her son, and Henry is a policeman who will do whatever it takes to follow through with that, even if it means giving up his badge. Grue is captured and Giulietta is put in an institution until the conclusion of the story that you’ll just have to read for yourself.

Themes: The most obvious theme in Dear Creature is the passion of romantic love and the extent one is willing to go to for it. Grue must overcome his monstrous desires to close the gap between him and Giulietta (as in Shakespeare’s Juliet), but it means facing his past deeds and the obstacle of their obvious differences.

Our poetic sea monster must make a moral decision and choose between succumbing to his hunger or becoming the more civilized and loving being that he wishes to be. With Giulietta being his motivation, he uses the inspiring language of Shakespeare to express his desires to her while the scavenging crabs urge him on to his more base inner cravings.

You would think that this story is all about Grue and his inner struggle, but Giulietta, who is considered crazy by just about everyone, is actually the character who makes the most impact on people’s lives. Giulietta is the one who reached out to Grue with Shakespeare and changed him from a monster to a poet. Giulietta goes with Zola and Robert to come to America and finds a love for poetry with him, but she stays with Zola after Robert never returns, and holds out for her sister to eventually help her find a husband. As she explains to Grue:

“My bottles brought you and Zola got a husband. That’s all I wanted.”

Pros: It wasn’t until I got to the end and I read the humorous Invertebrate’s Guide to Iambic Pentameter that I realized that Grue was actually speaking in iambic pentameter the entire time. It was done so fluidly that I had to go back and reread more of his dialogue to make sure. It makes me appreciate the subtleties in this story, with interesting characters and beautiful language to match the stunning art. My favorite parts were of the crabs playing the part of the devil on our hero’s shoulder, pressing his buttons to get him to kill, but mostly irritating him at all times. They brought humor to the dark side of Grue’s nature as a sea monster.

Cons: I loved the illustrations, but after seeing the cover I wanted the entire thing to be in color. This isn’t really much of a con because the whole thing has the look and feel of an old newspaper comic, but I just liked the color palette of the cover enough that I wanted more.

Recommendations: Dear Creature is an enchanting visual story that said many profound things in so few pages, and it even left me with a greater appreciation for Shakespearean poetry. It is odd to use so many different words to describe something, but this story is dark, romantic, humorous, and inspiring all at the same time. There was just a true sense of humanity in every character that I hope to see more from Jonathan Case.

Dear Creature on Goodreads
Jonathan Case’s website
Dear Creature website
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