The G-Man Super Journal: Awesome Origins by Chris Giarusso (Family Comic Friday)

   

A little bit of sage advice about kids and reading- sorry about the language...

  

Page Example of Awesome Origins.

 Parents, I get it. You want your child to read and you want them to enjoy it. Comics are a great way to get kids reading. But you also don't want them to read nothing but comic books. Especially since schools will be requiring them to read chapter books for reports and summer reading assignments.

    So why not combine the best of both worlds with the G-Man Super Journal? Part prose book, part comic book: this will delight readers who love superheroes but need to start reading those pesky chapter books. The Super Journal reads like the ultra-popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Only, the pictures are replaced with comic book panels. 

Cover to Volume 1.

    Awesome Origins is exactly what the title says it is. Inspired by the G-Man comic book series by Chris Giarusso, it tells how G-Man and his friends all got their superpowers in the form of a creative writing journal that the title character must keep for English class. Along with a cast of zany teachers, parents, and grown-up superheroes, this book answers many question about the series that I've always had such as: 

Why is Eddie Delta's only superpower the ability to change color?

What made the material of G-Man and Great Man's outfits magical?

And just what does the 'G' in G-Man stand for anyway?
 Awesome Origins is intended to be the first in a series of G-Man chapter books. I'm completely on board with Giarusso writing more Super Journals. I just hope he doesn't stop publishing the awesome G-Man comics that made me such a fan of his characters and work.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.   

G-Man, Volume 3: Coming Home

  

   G-Man, his older brother Great Man, and friends return to print AND earth after their adventures of the Cape Crisis. The pair of heroic has been missing all summer and presumed dead (though it was only  a few hours for the young heroes and their stay in Magic Mountain. ) But not everyone is happy with their return as the leader of an intergalactic police force wants the boys captured so that the cape and belt that give them superpowers (and neutralizes the policemen's suits) can be destroyed.                        

    I really like G-Man, but I had to go back and review volume 2. It's been a while since I last read this series and I needed a refresher course. I'm not sure if it was my being lost as to what happened in the previous book, but I didn't enjoy the first couple of chapters so much.                                                      
  
   Series creator, Chris Giarusso ( Mini Marvels) did a good job telling of the young heroes return. Yet this volume didn't get back to that level of quality I expected from this series until the boys took on the space police with the help from the Color Guardians. By the fifth and final chapter, when the boys save their new baby brother from the Stork, I was laughing my head off. The oddball humor of having the Stork act like the mythical Sphinx was what I DO EXPECT from Giarusso's all ages series from Image Comics.            

    One thing that didn't change was Giarusso's deft cartoonish style and bright color palette. It's iconic and super clean. So clean, the art along with this book's content will make even the pickiest moms smile.    

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.