NewsPrints (Family Comic Friday)

   NewsPrints, the debut graphic novel by Ru Xu, was an exciting journey of steampunk and mystery. Young Blue is a newsboy in the port city of Nautilene. As Blue’s homeland is in the middle of a war, it is the newies’s duty to sell papers extolling the efforts of it’s troops overseas.

    But Blue is a child of mystery. Like Blue’s pet canary, mystery seems to follow the child everywhere. There's the mysterious inventor who makes Blue his apprentice. What about the homeless waif crow who has amazing control over birds. And what is the deal what that young reporter who thinks Blue's friends are somehow connected? There are secrets throughout the city of Nautilene just waiting to be uncovered.

    This 2017 graphic novel was full of whimsy, adventure, and like I mentioned earlier, mystery. The enigmas of NewsPrints are not scary. However there are some mighty big words used in the book. So while this is considered an all-ages type of read, those in grades 3-6 would probably benefit the best reading it alone. But that doesn’t mean a grown-up can’t read along to this and explain those fancy words!

     I really enjoyed the artwork. The style of Ru Xu (creator of the webcomic Saint for Rent) is a fanciful mix of early 20th French cartooning and modern Manga technique. For a story full of back alleys, empty warehouses, and flocks of birds, Xu’s drawings were amazingly clean. Add to it the rich color palette of Blue and sepia, there was such a nostalgic tone to this book that I really enjoyed.

     I don’t think this is the end of Blue’s story. At least I hope not. NewsPrints ends in such a way that it has a definite ending. Yet, there’s also an encouraging slant that implies further volumes chronicling Blue and the war effort could happen sometime in the future.

     One of the best young adult graphic novels of the year!

    Worth Consuming

    Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Maddy Kettle: The Adventures of the Thimblewitch (Family Comics Friday, 2015 Halloween Edition)

My first selected reading for Halloween, 2015 is Maddy Kettle: The Adventure of the Thimblewitch. This book from 2014 is the first work by up-and-comer Eric Orchard. His prose is whimsical and his art style is very quirky. There's also a slightly eerie tone and a light sweet air to this book, which is set up as the first in a series. However, it's been over a year since the first book was released and Amazon does not have a listing for a book two set to be released anytime soon.

   Orchard's artwork is reminiscent of the films 'James and the Giant Peach' and 'Coraline' with its steampunk stylings. The Thimblewitch's army of Scarecrows and Maddy's animal friends are crafted in such a way that I'm positive that the artwork from Baum's OZ books were a direct influence as well. I just wish that Orchard had continued to use some of those characters a little more extensively, like the very funny snake Maddy meets at the beginning of her quest.

    So, I've covered the tone and artwork, but what is the book about?

  

  Maddy Kettle is a young girl who used to work in her parent's bookstore until the faithful day when the supposedly nice Thimblewitch turns Mr. & Mrs. Kettle into mice. The family end up on the run from the creepy spider-goblins who eventually kidnap Maddy's parents and her pet flying moon-toad, Ralph. Determined to get her family back, Maddy enlists the help of the cloud cartographers Harry and Silvo, a bear and raccoon who just happen to have a wonderful balloon ship that can take Maddy to Thimble Rock, the home of the now rotten Thimblewitch.

      There are some spooky moments in this book, especially involving the Spider-Goblins. But this is the type of book that while a little scary at first, ends on a pleasant note. It's also the type of book that if your child asked you to read it again, when you acted like the scary parts were frightening again, they'll just explain why it's not a scary book anymore. Plus, the Thimblewitch is more like those in Wizard of Oz and less like the one's in Harry Potter, so parents, you should have to worry about this book being a tool of 'occultism.' (Personally, I don't think Harry Potter is an instrument of Satan, but there are those parents who will not allow their children to read anything heavier than the Wicked Witch of the West, thus my previous analogy.)

     Maddy Kettle is a great graphic novel that on paper should be an instant classic. But for some reason, maybe it's lack of word-of-mouth or poor distribution, it just hasn't caught on like a Captain Underpants or a Geronimo Stilton. I found this book in the new section of the all-ages graphic novel section (though it is over 1-year old.) Available on Amazon and eBay, this is a great seasonal read that will delight readers aged 7-11 during the build-up to Halloween.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Steam Wars

  In a not too distant galaxy, not too very long ago the rebel leader, Duchess Imeon, has stolen the formula to making warp coal. This fuel is what powers the massive ships of the Hegemonic Crux, an evil empire lead by the mysterious Lord Baron. The Duchess escapes with a space cowboy and his giant bear copilot in their spaceship, the Twentieth-Century Fox.

   It looks like the Duchess is to become the evil Baron's captive when the Fox is shot-down. But her salvation comes in the form of the last laser-sword swinging Dragoon, Bo! But can the young mud farmer be trusted when it's revealed that Bo is actually the estranged son of Lord Baron?

     If this book sounds an awful lot like the adventures of the crew of the USS Enterprise from the Star Trek franchise- you're not very far off...

     Okay- I kid. But you know what sci-fi franchise this series is really based on. Just substitute junkyard chic with steampunk and craft it in the style of manga and you have Steam Wars. I just want to know how artist/ author Fred Perry and the folks at Antarctic Press got anyway with this?!

     As such an obvious twist on a timeless classic, this book is clearly an homage to the original Summer Blockbuster. There are a few funny moments in Steam Wars, but it's not a parody of the movies in which this book reboots. So, I don't see how this manga series could be covered under federal parody law. Plus, since Disney now owns the rights to that original property and Disney has been know to threaten lawsuits against pre-schools that paint Mickey Mouse murals on their wall, how did Steam Wars ever see the light of day?

     I'm not really a fan of manga but based in the source material I just had to give this a go. Thankfully, I enjoyed this book and though it borrows heavily from that other series, it doesn't copy it 100%. There are some changing plot threads and really neat differences that made this book seem exciting and new. Plus, if you are fans of a certain bounty hunter, I think your going to enjoy the fresh new take on him.

    If you can find this book, it's Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Steampunk Halloween 2013 (#3)

Great Cover, Bad Comic...

Can you consider something to be a Halloween special if it doesn’t pertain in any way to Halloween? Maybe; but I think it’s a stretch. Does having a band of zombies in the plot constitute a Halloween story? No, not really. So explain to me how a comic book that takes place on a deserted isle, set sometime around the 1700s, starring a shipwrecked crew along with a young girl and her robot that looks an awful look like Legolas from LOTR is a Halloween special?

 This book was a major disappointment. If the story I talked about was just one of several stories contained in a Halloween special, I could make allowances. I’ve read many a Christmas themed special that has one or two stories that take place during winter but do not involve any sort of festive spirit. But this special has only 1 story and it’s not really all that scary and doesn’t even have candy in it!

The worst thing about this book was how excited I was about it. Look at the cover- there’s a Christopher Lee looking vampire being discovered by Holmes, Watson, and a robot cop! That’s what I was expecting in this book. Why, even the pin-up at the back of the book that’s of Steampunk Ghostbusters would’ve been better suited for this special than the story I got.

Lastly, the story itself was weak. The art was a quasi-manga style work. It wasn’t bad but it was lacking depth. Then you’ve got the crew who turn into zombies for some reason. There’s mention of a lord of the undead but you’re not even sure if that’s really what’s behind the zombie attack or did some of the crew drink some bad grog? And then there’s our heroine who makes an ambiguous statement to one of the crew members that ‘mother would’ve been proud.” Where these two brother and sister? Was the girl older than she looked and this boy’s mother only he didn’t know?  It’s left very vague and I hate it when books end like that.

If I didn’t get this out or a grab bag or bargain bin, I think I would’ve written the company to demand my money back. This just isn’t such a great comic. There are 2 more specials in this series. Based on my disappointment, I’m not even sure I’d pursue them and I’d seriously consider passing them up if found in a dollar box.

So much of this book could’ve worked. Why it didn’t is beyond me.

Not Worth Consuming.

Rating: 3 out of 10 stars.