The title story is Hilda, an adventurous girl who along with her pet dog/fox Twig save a family of gnomes from a runaway yard. Yes, you hear me, a patch of grass grew legs and stole a home of magical creatures! As odd as it may seem, this escapade opens Hilda and her friends up to a world of magic, delights, and danger.
Then we have a story starring Akissi and her brother Fofana. They are a pair of siblings who live in a town in Africa and are one of the few families that have a TV. To earn a little pocket money, the duo are charging admission to see the latest episode of everybody's favorite superhero Spectreman. But when Dad unexpectedly shows up early from work, Akissi and Fofana will have to work fast to clear out the makeshift movie theatre or they're going to get busted!
Lastly we have a story called Fantasy Sports. Here, a young girl scores the winning homerun in what appears to be a game of gladiator baseball. But when the ball comes back, it opens her up to unimaginable (and unseen) dangers. I didn't like this story by Sam Bosma. Well, that's not fair, I didn't understand it. I didn't understand really what the strange game the girl was playing, nor why her baseball came back. It doesn't help that the story jumps over a large period of time in which the girl is now older, complaining about stinking fish, and accompanied by a volleyball playing wrestler.
Hilda by Luke Pearson and Akissi by Abouet and Sapin were both really good and I want to read more of their exploits. There was a charm to Hilda's story and Akissi was laugh out loud funny. (See the third to last panel- it's brilliant!) The two stories, though very different from each other, opened my eyes to two new worlds that I really would not mind visiting again and again.
If you are interesting in reading more about these characters, you should look no farther than Amazon, your local comic book shop, or library. All three books are published by Nobrow Press. Akissi has been available for several months and Fantasy Sports is a series that started last year and now has 2 volumes. But Hilda, under the series title Hildafolk has been around since 2010 and about 7 books have been published.
Hilda, Akissi, and Fantasy Sports are reccomended for readers aged 6-11 but adults will enjoy these tales. I highly praise Hilda and Akissi. But the jury is still out for Fantasy Sports and the implied amount of violence may be objectionable to some parents. So, reader beware and use your best judgement on that one.
Hilda- Worth Consuming. Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
Akissi- Worth Consuming. Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
Fantasy Sports. Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.
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