Saturday, May 14, 2011

Garfield Comics: Two books, Three Pictures and A Few Words

Article by Scott Tingley

Papercutz was nice enough to send me their first two Garfield & Co. hardcover comics/graphic novels to review, but I let my kids have them for the drive home from the post-office and I've barely been able to get at them since. I was finally allowed to read one of them as a bed time story, but then they were taken back so that each of my two kids could read them as they fell asleep.

In the limited time I was allowed to have them in my hands I saw that they were pretty good adaptations of the new Garfield cartoon, the one with the computer animation. My kids like t
he cartoon fine, but they really liked the comics. Each book had three stories which were just wordy enough to tell the story with little unnecessary fluff to bump the word-count (needlessly wordy comics get removed from the bedtime reading rotation - I'm looking at you, JUGHEAD).

I was pleased with the reaction and I won't mind reading the Garfield & Co. comics as a bedtime story again sometime soon.

Both are available this May. See more HERE.

GARFIELD & Co #1 Fish to Fry: 6 1/2 x 9, 32pp., full-color hardcover: $7.99 ISBN 978-1-59707-266-3

GARFIELD & Co #2 "The Curse of the Cat People"" 6 1/2 x 9, 32pp., full-color hardcover: $7.99 ISBN 978-1-59707-267-0

Please check out my other sites:
http://www.thechesscomic.com/
http://wefightrobots.blogspot.com/

Comment below or contact me at: comicsintheclassroom at gmail.com

Friday, May 6, 2011

Free Comic Book Day is Here at Last! PART 2

Article by Scott Tingley, May 05, 2011




Since not many stores let you take one of everything, I will now justify getting most of the books a week early by briefly talking about a lot of them. BTW, thanks Gamezilla!



In no particular order (I’ll just take them from the stack), here are the comics:

Star Wars / Avatar: The Last Air Bender


I only flipped through this one, so far, but i like the look of it. This is Dark Horse Comics’ YOUNGER READERS comic for this year. The Star Wars looks aimed at fans of the cartoon (even though it is not in the same art style). There is an alien slug thing killed by a Sith, but that kind of thing happens in Star Wars.

The Avatar: The Last Air Bender (think the cartoon, not the Air Bender movie out last year) is very nicely illustrated and appealing to younger readers.

This is a win. Flip through it for yourself – if it doesn’t appeal to you or your kids then pass, but I think you will like it if you like this sort of thing at all (a bit non committal, I know, but I’m dealing with a broad crowd on this piece).

Crimminal Macabre / Baltimore

This is Dark Horse Comics’ BOOK FOR OLDER READERS and I enjoyed it a lot. C.M. is an occult detective series and I found it funny and well illustrated. It is written by the author of the 30 Days of Night series, Steve Niles. Baltimore is by HellBoy series creator, Mike Mignola (he drew the cover for this story as well).

One thing I’m going to do tomorrow at my comic shop is to look for a Baltimore book to buy. I really enjoyed this little tale. I’m not much for “supernatural horror”, but good is good.

Pick it up.

Green Lantern FCBD Special Edition.

Did you know that there is a big-budget Green Lantern movie coming out this summer? Did you know there was a superhero named Green Lantern? Did you know you could get a GL primer comic on Saturday? Great writer, great artist = a win. I would pick this up, but if you aren’t interested in superhero stuff then this likely won’t win you over (Not like ATOMIC ROBO!!!!)

Rated For Everyone: Power Lunch and Sketch Monsters

Two very nice tales for the younger readers here. This is a nice surprise. The Top Shelf comic, OWLY usually wins for Best FCBD for young readers (in my mind), but its got some stiff competition in this book (I don’t have the Owly book yet, but I WILL. Pick it up – it is bound to be good, as always).

Sketch Monsters: A little girl draws monsters and they come to life, hilarity ensues.

Power Lunch: If Joey eats anything but white coloured food he gets super powers, hilarity ensues.

Pick it up, it’s good.

Super Dinosaur Origin Special

Super Dinosaur fights Mad Scientists. There is nothing more to say.

This isn’t aimed specifically at younger readers and I think the whole family can get into this (One arm is tastefully bitten off..seriously).

Young Justice / Batman Brave and the Bold Sampler

If you or your kids like these two cartoons then you will likely enjoy this comic. Even if you don’t like the cartoon I think you will like it. Good superhero actiony fun. It’s no Atomic Robo, but it’s good.

Richie Rich and Kung Fu Panda

I liked it, but if you only have two kid-picks, go with the others on this list.


See all the comics HERE.

Please check out my other sites:
http://www.thechesscomic.com/
http://wefightrobots.blogspot.com/

Comment below or contact me at: comicsintheclassroom at gmail.com

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Free Comic Book Day is Here at Last!

Article by Scott Tingley, May 05, 2011

Since not many stores let you take one of everything, I will now justify getting most of the books a week early by briefly talking about a lot of them. BTW, thanks Gamezilla!

In no particular order (I’ll just take them from the stack), here are the comics:

 

The Amazing Spider-Man

Written by Dan Slott and Drawn by Humberto Ramos = a win. A two page run-down of the Spidey origin and a rip-snortin’, no-holds-barred slug-fest between Spider-Woman (who is being controlled by The Mandrill...a super-villain talking monkey.

I have to stop there because I’ve reached my quota for awesomeness and hyphens. Great for teens and up, and not too bad if a younger kids gets his/her hands on it.

 

The Tick

The story is a mostly an ad for various Tick collections now available. Although I have not enjoyed the newer Tick material I LOVE the original stories (Tick: The Complete Edlund) and the Man-Eating Cow series (Man-Eating Cow & The Chainsaw Vigilante, The Complete Works), so this being an advertisement for those books and more isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I wouldn’t spend a pick on it. I would, however, walk over to the counter with it and order a couple of the collections from it.

Bongo Comics Free-for All

AKA: The Simpsons Comic

If you like the Simpsons this is the book for you. If you don’t, it isn’t.

The FCBD Simpsons books are always well done, so worth a pick if you like the series.

 
Pep Comics Featuring Betty and Veronica

The Archie FCBD comic.

Just like with the Simpsons book, if you like the Archie gang you will likely want to pick this up. Once again Dan Parent wrote and drew the comic – to me he is reminiscent of the old-school Archie artists and the best the company has at the moment.

 

 


Captain America and Thor: The Mighty Avengers

An all ages, well written and illustrated comic perfect for a summer featuring big-budget movies for both these characters. In my opinion this would be a good pick for younger or older readers. If you like superhero adventures this is a done-in-one comic you might want to spend a pick on.

Mouse Guard / Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal (flip book)

I’m not a huge Fantasy fan, but The Dark Crystal is beautiful looking, likely worth a pick on its own if you are a fan of the genre.

The Mouse Guard portion of the comic makes it the biggest pick for my FCBD and I haven’t even read it yet. I love the Mouse Guard books too much to rush through it - I am going to wait, but you shouldn’t.
Go line up now for it. Beautiful painted artwork, great storytelling and mice with swords. Win! If you like adventure stories and epic battles you should like this.

Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures / Top 10 Deadliest Sharks

Brought to you by The Discovery Channel...that’s what I said - The Discovery Channel!

Who knew?

The dinosaur story is beautiful and monsterific. The Shark side of the book tells the tale of one of the worst non-fatal great white attacks. Lots of blood and other cool stuff. I think the ten year old me would have absolutely loved this comic. Vicious and educational. Perfect!






Atomic Robo

THERE'S AN ATOMIC ROBO COMIC!!!  If you only have one pick - make this it....This or Mouse Guard...or this.

I don't have it yet  - but I MUST!



More selections coming tomorrow.  See all the comics HERE.

Please check out my other sites:
http://wefightrobots.blogspot.com/

Comment below or contact me at: comicsintheclassroom at gmail.com

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Riverside Consolidated School Fundraising Comic Book Available NOW

Instead of making a give-away comic for this year's Free Comic Book Day the Riverside Consolidated School Comic Book Club has created a fundraising comic that is now for sale.  For $2.50 you can help support those people that go out of their way to help us.

To get your own copy of the RCS Volunteer Fire Department (for Alma, Riverside-Albert and Hillsborough detachments) and IWK Children's Hospital fundraising comic you can visit the three comic stores in Moncton as well as FolioBooks (next to "Why Are You Cooking?" on St.George, Moncton) and Cover to Cover Books (in Riverview). As of Wednesday afternoon they will be in most of the stores in Hillsborough and they will be available in Riverside-Albert and Alma as well.

To order a copy you can email me at tinglsco@nbed.nb.ca or call the school at 882-3002.

Cover illustrations by Eric Dyck.

Scott Tingley

Please check out my other sites:

http://www.thechesscomic.com/
http://comicsintheclassroom.net/
http://comicsintheclassroom.blogspot.com/

Comment below or contact me at: comicsintheclassroom at gmail.com or ChessComic at gmail.com