It’s getting harder and harder to determine if a new series is all-ages friendly or not. Case in point is today’s Family Comic Friday review, Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits. Being published by Image Comics should have been my first guess that the book wasn’t suited for all. But it’s written by Justice League legend, Keith Giffen. And it has bunnies!
I could have decided to not review this book under the FCF tagline. But then I remembered that there’s many, many classics that the whole family enjoy even though not rated for all. Examples of this are Star Wars, E.T., Harry Potter and the films of DC and Marvel. So, let’s take a look at this home for wayward bunnies…
Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits #1
Written by Keith Giffen
Art by Benjamin Roman with additional art by Chris Sears
Published by Image Comics
Auntie Agatha is actually rated Teen. But I didn’t even know the rating until I got to the back cover. Comic Books are not known for having relevant information about the story like the back of a regular book. Generally there’s an ad for Hostess Twinkies or bodybuilding with Charles Atlas. In other words, I forgot that Image likes to put artwork and the rating on the back of their comics.
Wayward Rabbits is about a young girl named Julie. She is the caretaker of her aunt’s preserve for special needs rabbits. One such coney has OCD. Another has trouble speaking unless it’s in jumbled forms of TV ads. Meanwhile, the guard dog wears a bunny mask, trying to get in touch with his inner rabbit.
The story starts with Julie dealing with a another resident of the refuge, Sawyer. This rabbit has some anger issues. This time, Sawyer is tired of being served the same old rabbit food. So Julie shows him the alternative and opens the bunnies eyes to a secret conspiracy... And a crazy rat!
The first issue ends on a cliffhanger with a pair of odd twins visiting the home. They wish to meet with Auntie Agatha, who has been absent so far from the entire story. What is the secret to Auntie Agatha’s whereabouts? And how will this affect Julie and the rabbits of the facility?
Aside from Stan Lee, writer Keith Giffen was responsible for crafting a large chunk of my childhood. A DC guy, Giffen wrote and created such characters the Ambush Bug, The Legion of Substitute Heroes and the epic 1987 retooling of the Justice League. Giffen’s style is off-the-wall, zany and down right bizarre. It’s no wonder why I have turned out the way I have. This new series from Giffen and Benjamin Roman is no different from his other creations.
As for the artist, Benjamin Roman, I am not familiar with him at all. His art style has touches of Frank Quitely (Jupiter Rising). Roman has an amazing eye for the littlest details But his drawing of humans is similar to that of those Disney Pixar films. It doesn’t quite look right.
As for the age appropriateness of this book. The first about 20 pages are fine. Then you’ve got two swears. They’re not big ones but they are there. There’s also one panel of very shocking violence. It’s about the level of that in Oliver Twist. But it’s against a child and could warrant a discussion with young readers.
Auntie Agatha is funny. There’s some great one liners in this book. The characters are fleshed out quite well for a first issue. Plus, I am really interested in knowing what happens next in issue #2. But it’s not for everyone. I’d say you could safely allow the right readers of about the age of 10 at the youngest to read this. However, if the young reader in your life is at the right level of maturity, then I highly recommend you open your hearts up to these little bunnies in need of a good home!
Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits #1 debuted in print and digital platforms on Wednesday, November 7th.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
It's a book chock full of Halloween fun with your friends Ren and Stimpy!
The boys are working the graveyard shift in a graveyard. It gets kinda weird and spooky at night. So Ren tells a story to help pass the time. Set in the 1940s, when a piece of chewing gum gets hit with a massive burst of radiation, the world is terrorized by Goo-Gum, The Living Candy!
I love Ren and Stimpy! They were funny, gross and actually a lot smarter than you think. There were lots of inside jokes, clever puns, and just brilliant moments of madcap insanity. I miss that show!
Finding issues of The Ren & Stimpy Show comic book is like finding never-before-seen episodes! The comics are designed like the cartoon was with multi-part stories spread throughout, fun parody ads, and even Ask Mr. Stupid!
I often find these issues for a dollar or less at a local thrift store. I've even found an autographed issue or two. Somebody was a big fan and had almost the entire series run, along with annuals and one-shots. This issue was a great read for a Halloween night done in the Nick Toons style! Marvel Comics, you were a master at getting this title right!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
I got this comic book at last year's Halloween ComicFest. But it's from 2014! I'm wondering if the store I went to found some leftover books in storage. Otherwise, the only other way I ended up with this book involves some sort of time warp.
There's two different stories in this book. It's not a crossover, despite the very cute cover. In the first story, a group of six cats with special powers, use their abilities to help a little girl who got lost during trick-or-treating. Then in the Princeless tale, the heroine and her friends run afoul of pirates... on land... in a steak house!
I thought the Hero Cats tale was just darling. All 6 characters are unique and funny. They interact how I imagine my furry babies. There's a mysterious and probably evil entity at the end of this story. It plays into the Hero Cats graphic novel and it will be on my radar for a forthcoming Family Comic Friday review.
Princeless was not quite what I was expecting. Creator and writer Jeremy Whitley lives in central NC, When he published his very first Princeless comic book, I meet him and got an autographed issue. I meant to read it and just never did. Then Princeless became the juggernaut and I've been afraid to read it since the book has skyrocketed in value. Regardless, for being a Halloween ComicFest freebie and the Halloween cover (and the Halloween theme of the Hero Cats adventure)- why wasn't the Princeless tale Halloween themed?
Does the holiday not exist in the Princeless universe? Okay, I could buy that. But why wasn't this story at least spooky in some way involving a ghost or monster of the sort?
That first story was perfect. The second just wasn't scary in the least. Good art. Clever writing. Just not the right fit for a HCF free comic book.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
I've wanted this collection for quite some time!
Back in the 1980s, when you got either a Masters of the Universe action figure or vehicle/playset, you got a free mini-comic. Generally what happened was on you way home from the store, you would read the minicomic in order to learn more about the item you have just bought. (Yes, I realize now that these books were basically 8-12 page ads. But they were so much fun to read!) Once you got home, you'd take your new toy and act out the adventures in the book. Or you'd nag your parents to buy the missing characters from the book.
Over the years, finding those minicomics would become a mission for many fans such as myself. I don't have room to display dozens of action figures and playsets. But I have a couple of inches of space in one of my long boxes to house a complete run of minicomics.
Turns out that the minicomics are even harder to find than the figures. That's because the minicomics would get lost or thrown away or damaged. In the over 10 years plus I've been collecting as an adult, I've only found one He-Man mini comic. It was only a couple of bucks but not in the best of shape with some apparent water damage.
Thankfully, someone at Dark Horse decided to hunt down those lost treasures. And they went above and beyond including not just the complete run of MOTU, but the inserts from She-Ra, Princess of Power, the 1989 space reboot of He-Man, the original storybook set of 4, and some never before published minis as well!
This collection is massively small. It has well over 1100 pages. Yet, it's just slightly bigger than the size of the mini-comics. So the transferring of original works to copies prevents the artwork from looking stretched-out!
This massive volume includes early work from some of the industries legends such as Bruce Timm, Lee Nordling, Stan Sakai, Mark Texeira, and Robert Kirkman!
It's really hard to complain about this book. Yes, some of the stories are quite silly, if not ludicrous. (They were written for kids aged 5-10!) The volume, it's got just about everything a MOTU minicomics collector would want- except for the final 8 minicomics produced for the He-Man classics line. I'm not sure why those weren't included unless Dark Horse was afraid that the book and it's costs were getting too out of hand.
This book, from 2015, originally retails for $29.99. If you are patient, like I was, you can find it for a very good deal on Amazon. If you are wanting to revisit the wonder of being a He-Man fan back in the 80s, this is the perfect MOTU collection for you! And it will save you money and time for something else instead of trying to complete this set individually.
Now if only DC Comics would release a collection of the Super Powers minicomics, my mirco-sized comic book searches would be complete!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
Every Halloween ComicFest, Aspen Comics does something for kids. While I think it's great to appeal to the next generation of comic collectors, Aspen isn't really known for it's all-ages titles. What appealed to me was the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' aspect of the title. As a child of the 80s, I was in love with those paperbacks that allow you, the reader, to control the plot of the story.
Marvel has been perfecting this type of story over the past couple of years. They seemed to be the only publisher doing such comics. So to see another publisher finally tackling the concept intrigued me. Unfortunately, this is NOT a Choose Your Own Adventure comic book.
In this 2017 special, an amateur magician accidentally sends a group of wild and mystical animal pals into two places unknown. As the two groups try to get home, you the reader help them on their quest by solving puzzles, riddles, and other cool activities.
While writer Vince Hernandez builds the activities up as helping to forge the destinies of the animals, there's nothing here to alter their outcomes. Usually with a Choose Your Own Adventure, the reader must decide to that the character left or right. Going left might result in finding the lost treasure. While going right might cause the protagonist to fall into a pit of vipers.
By saying something like 'help the animals through a maze' doesn't change the characters' destinies. That's not the case here as this really more of an activity book. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of an activity book comic book. But don't sell me a Choose Your Own Adventure if there's nothing in it that if left up to me to decide.
This comic offering from Aspen had promise but it lied. Still, it was a fun read. The characters were adorable and the fun and games was something I would have killed for as a trick-or-trick prize. The book is just not what I was sold on.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
Though it was released on Halloween day, at least Marvel got in the spirit of the season and produced this special. Marvel, earlier in October, did produce an all-ages Halloween special, which I reviewed as a Family Comic Friday selection. However, in the recent past, the House of Ideas has been quite the Scrooge when it came to doing holiday one-shots of any type.
The Avengers Halloween Special has 5 short stories, some of which are quite eerie. Case in point- the first tale starring Daredevil. It has Matt Murdock undergoing an eye transplant. But when the bandages come off, he is terrified by visions of the dead!
Next up we see a world where Doctor Doom might be the good guy! It has tones of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and I would love to see this explored further in an issue of What If...
Then Tony Stark goes to the Antarctic to recover a project that his father was working on during World War II. If this sounds a lot like a certain John Carpenter film starring Kurt Russell, give yourself a pat on the back!
The fourth story takes place in France during the 1800s. In Jay Baruchel's writing debut at Marvel, he puts forth an epic in which asks what if the Punisher became the Phantom of the Opera?
Lastly, we go to upstate New York for a ghost story that involves a pair of trick-or-treaters, the destroyed remains of a school for gifted youth and a still functioning Danger Room.
The Daredevil and Doctor Doom stories were the best! I was truly creeped out in the first tale. It was quite horrific with an ending that rivals some of the twists of an EC Comic. The Doctor Doom story as I said earlier is so good and brilliant that it merits a return story in the pages of What If...
The X-Men and Punisher accounts were very good. They had gothic tones but weren't scary. Plus, they had good art. But they just weren't as perfect as the previous adventures I've mentioned. Besides, I thought doing direct tributes to works of literature was DC's Elseworlds kinda of thing to do... (Maybe someone needs to inform Jay Baruchel.)
Then we have the Thing/Iron Man fusion. It should have been good but it was flawed. For one thing, we've got Deadpool and Colossus added to the mix. I only thought these two characters were friends in the Deadpool films. Yet, they're buddy-buddy here. Then there's several deaths that just do not seem plausible based on the method of how they die. I really wish I could expound more, but that would be giving up some massive spoilers. One thing I will say is that if you like the ending of Carpenter's The Thing, you'll love the ending of this thriller.
This special is hyped as the Avengers Halloween Special. But really, they're not even a part of this one-shot. You've got individual characters who have at one time or another been Avengers. (Has Doctor Doom or The Punisher ever even members of the World's Mightiest Heroes?) What was wrong with calling this a Marvel Halloween Special? That being said, does that mean December's X-Men Holiday Special is not going to have the X-Men in it?
This Halloween release had some great scares as well as so-so moments. I would have liked this to have dropped the week before Halloween so I would have had a chance to read this before All Hallow's Eve. But better late than never I guess. OR you can wait until next Halloween season to give this comic a read.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stories.
Well, we made it through Halloween. But before we jump right into November, we’ve got one more Halloween treat to review. From the mind of Jim Davis, we’ll be taking a look at KaBoom’s newest special starring the world’s laziest cat. It’s Garfield: TV or Not TV?
Garfield: TV or Not TV
Written by Mark Evanier, Scott Nickel
Art by David Alvarez, Antonio Alfaro
Cover by Andy Hirsch
Published by KaBoom!
There are two episodes to this one-shot. I call the stories 'episodes’ as there is a very episodic feel to this comic book. The spirit of the stories is very much in the vein of the Garfield and Friends cartoon from the Saturday mornings of the 80s; especially the Mark Evanier yarn.
Evanier pens the title tale. It has the Arbuckle household going to Hollywood to star in a reality series. The TV producer reminds me a lot of Binky, a deranged clown that would scare the bejeezus out of Garfield on cartoon series. Mark Evanier adds a touch of intelligent charm to this story. It's actually one of the few in which Jon isn't a complete buffoon.
Unfortunately, Nermal, the world's most annoying cat was added to the mix. I'd rather have more Odie or Liz than Nermal. His presence literally adds nothing to the story. Plus, there's not enough of Garfield berating the little gray snot. It's basically the only thing that makes Nermal's presence tolerable in a Garfield narrative.
The back up feature thankfully drops Nermal and adds Liz and more Odie to the plot. This Scott Nickel adventure is set during Halloween. Jon is hosting a costume party. During set up, lightning hits the TV, causing a monster to escape into the real world. Of course hijinks ensues as people think that the monster is just a decoration. But Garfield and Odie know the truth!
While this was a funny story, it also features a scary looking character. Garfield has not been shy to use some intense imagery. 1984’s Garfield: His 9 Lives had a controversial short in which Garfield becomes possessed by a cat demon and attacks his owner. True, the monster in this special isn't as scary as that. But it still might be a little eerie for younger readers.
Kaboom really did a nice job on this one. Previous Garfield comics have been hit or miss. Either the plots are too silly or the art looks nothing like the Jim Davis brand. TV or Not TV? excels in both regards.
I know that I'm a couple of days too late reviewing this book in time for Halloween. But only one of the capers in this book is set during the holiday. So consider this a Fall special that can still be enjoyed during this time of year.
People read Bunnicula year round and it's set at Halloween. So are several episodes of Stranger Things. Yet I don't hear fans complain that they can only enjoy the show during the month of October. Besides, any comic book store worth its salt is not going to pack up this book until next year’s fright fest. Though this book dropped two weeks ago, TV or Not TV? is still going to be available on store shelves this weekend.
Plus for you digital lovers, it's currently available on several online comic book sites including Comixology. Although for some reason, it's listed as issue #2 on the site. Everywhere else I look, this title is listed as issue #1.
TV or Not TV? was an enjoyable read that can be enjoyed by the whole family. Though you may want to wait until the young reader in your life is maybe 7 or older if scary characters aren’t their thing yet. There’s also some moments of slapstick but the violence level is a lot tamer than the Three Stooges. Overall, it’s got a wholesome charm and it perfect for any Garfield fan!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
This review was concurrently published on Outrightgeekery.com.
