Comicsgirl

(I’ve been dealing with awesomely fun dental issues this week, which is why this is a little delayed.)

The people at Toon Books were kind enough to send me review copies of this spring’s upcoming two releases, Benny and Penny in The Big No-No by Geoffrey Hayes and Luke on the Loose by Harry Bliss. Both are, as expected, wonderful. Like before, the fact they’re “comics” seems pretty secondary to that they’re just great books for young readers.

I haven’t read the first Benny and Penny book, but the title characters of Benny and Penny in The Big No-No are an adorable pair of brother and sister mice. The dynamic of big brother/little sister is clear from the beginning as the two sneak into the neighbor’s yard to steal back Benny’s pail. Or at least what they believe to be Benny’s pail. Instead, they make an enemy — but then a friend — of their new neighbor, a little girl possum named Melina. The playground conflict of judging someone before you know them is sweetly and simply presented. Hayes’ soft, colored-pencil artwork recalls a lot of the children’s books I read as a kid — Beatrix Potter and Mercer Mayer are obvious ones, but there is some of the wholesome nostalgia of Tasha Tudor. This will become many children’s favorite book.

Bliss’ Luke on the Loose, however, is much more wacky fun in comparison to the quiet innocence of Benny and Penny. Luke is a 4-year-old who decides chasing pigeons is much more interesting that his father’s boring adult conversations. This is one part Peanuts strip and one part classic Sesame Street. Bliss’ New York is lovingly idealized and safe — the kind of world that city kids grow up in — and he fills the book with plenty of joyful visual gags. I loved the sequence on pages 18-19 as pigeons — then Luke — go flying past a man trying to propose to his girlfriend at a sidewalk restaurant. The faces of the couple, the waiter and a fellow diner are wonderfully expressive. The book is a comedic delight and one that adults will love as much as the children they’re reading it to.

Both books are set for release on April 15. Buy these for the children in your life. Or just buy them for yourself. They are both remarkably lovely.

Publishers Weekly brings us What a Girl Wants is Often a Comic, which is partially about writing goddess Jane Yolen‘s upcoming comic for Dark Horse, The Last Dragon with art by Rebecca Guay (where has she been all my life?), but it’s about comics for girls in general and, well, just comics.

I liked Minx and I was sorry to see it go, but the article brings up the good point that teenage girls are pretty smart and often resist blatant marketing attempts toward them.

I think Umbrella Academy, which is discussed here, is a good example. Girls like Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance — why wouldn’t they pick up a comic by him? But it wasn’t specifically marketed as “a comic for girls.” Dark Horse just presented it as being a comic.

I think Dark Horse also does interesting things with their product lines — I have more than one stationery set from Dark Horse and a couple of journals. No, they’re not comics and often not even comic-related, but there’s something to the name recognition. They’ve created a brand that feels more inclusive.

Mostly, though, the major point here is that teenage girls, like most people, just like good stories. Sometimes that’s different that what boys like, but it doesn’t have to be (and I’m glad SLG president Dan Vado mentioned that teenage girls do like Johnny the Homicidal Maniac quite a bit. It’s not what most people would think of as a “comic for girls” but lots of them like it, just the same).

So: The way to get girls to read comics is to make good ones. Maybe not every girl is going to pick up a comic but I’m delighted that more and more are doing so.

(Uh, didn’t I say I’d write a review tonight? Um. I said “possibly.”)

Image from Rebecca Guay’s website. Yes, I want comics that look like that.

Somehow in all the chatter about Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book winning the Newbery (which is undoubtedly awesome and amazing and I think a lot of us had a moment today in the office were we looked around trying to find someone who was going to care so we could share the news and failed miserably), I somehow missed that Stinky from Toon Books was named one of the best books for beginning readers (and I have no issue with Mo Willems winning because Willems’ work is delightful).

I have two more Toon Books to review, which I should to get to this week (tomorrow, perhaps).

OK, so it was personal to about 10,000 of his Twitter followers, but look, I can pretend.

This is his favorite trailer for Coraline:

I was very grumbly and ambivalent on this movie at first — mostly because it wasn’t going to be my vision of Coraline (it’s probably the book of Neil Gaiman’s I most related to) but then I was won over by how awesome it looks. I am very excited to see it.

(And I will, one day soon, review P. Craig Russell’s comic version of it. When I remember what pile of books it is in.)

And he probably says it better than anyone else I’ve read on this subject.

Here’s the summary — Avatar: The Last Airbender is a cartoon that, while ostensibly for children, is much loved by many adult types who enjoy awesome animation. It draws a lot on Asian culture and mythology, but it’s always handled well. It’s a rich, beautiful show with a diverse cast of characters, none of whom I’d really describe as being “white.”

M. Night Shyamalan, who I wouldn’t describe as being “white” either is directing the live-action version.

The cast of which is full of white people, including Jesse McCartney.

So yeah, people are upset because this is ridiculous. I can’t imagine it’s that hard to find one or two Asians to put in the cast (and someone who’s not Jesse McCartney for Prince Zuko).

While out of the handful of main characters on the show, only two were voiced by Asian actors (the late, the great Mako as Uncle Iroh and Dante Basco as Prince Zuko), there were plenty of guest star turns by Asian actors, including the omnipresent James Hong and the godlike George Takei as well as plenty of others — Takayo Fischer, George Cheung, Sab Shimono and Jennie Kwan, to name a few — that had recurring or extended roles on the show. The show always felt lovely an inclusive to me.

I think everyone should be able to recognize themselves in the media that they like. The Last Airbender live-action movie just took that chance away from a lot of people.

(Link taken from The Beat.)

Image of Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender because she’s angry. Yes, she’s always angry, but it works.