Taking a seat in first class aboard the graphic-novels-for-preteens train, this import features a carrot-topped lass who travels the starways with her piratical uncle Yellow Shoulders, foiling the plots of Supermuscleman, nefarious Chief Executive Dictator of the Universe. Presented in small sequential panels of brightly hued cartoon art and spacious dialogue balloons, Sardine’s adventures take her from the space prison Azkatraz to Planet Discoball (for a dance contest presided over by Empress Laser Diskette and her offspring, Prince Beejeez), from encounters with deadly, as well as thoroughly nerve-wracking, Honkfish to a deliciously violent round of “No-Child-Left-Behind-School II,” a virtual game. With nonstop action, humor geared to multiple levels of cultural awareness and the promise of more episodes to come, even readers stubbornly resisting the trendy format’s lure will find that, as Supermuscleman sneers shortly before gorily blasting his own foot, “Resistance is futile.” (Graphic novel. 7-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-59643-126-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: First Second/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2006
Young space pirate Sardine checks in for a dozen more mini-adventures, in most of which she, her sidekick Little Louie and hulking captain Yellow Shoulder get the better of evil Supermuscleman and his rubbery orange minion Doc Krok. Along with occasional side trips to play soccer with a giant Dunderhead’s detachable navel or to rescue Yellow Shoulder, the heroic pirates sabotage Supermuscleman’s child brainwashing machine, treat him to an explosive set of Christmas presents and engage in a high speed chase along the Milky Way that ends suddenly when the Milk turns. In one episode that edges perilously close to over-the-top, a pair of his stuttering star thieves briefly captures them. All related in cartoon panels, printed on coated paper to brighten the colors and featuring easily legible lettering in big dialogue balloons, these episodes might seem a touch repetitious to adults, especially those familiar with volume one (May 2006), but they will keep the younger audiences to whom they’re actually addressed chortling. (Graphic novel. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-59643-127-X
Page Count: 128
Publisher: First Second/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006
When evil, oversized alien rabbits land at Dingdale Elementary chool (the “S” has fallen off the sign so often that custodian Fuzzy Dustin refuses to fix it any more), it’s up to young Hercules Smith and his slobbery pooch Sheldon to save the Earth—or at least the student body—from being transformed into carrots. Luckily (or maybe not), a pair of the titular Wuv Bunnies, heavily armed with kisses and truly toxic jokes, arrive from the Outers Pace Galaxy to help out. Elliott and Long milk this premise for all it’s worth, dishing up a Captain Underpants–style mix of text and wild cartoons—the former well-stocked with authorial asides, the latter filled with big-toothed bunnies sporting antennae and high-fiving each other after each gag. Capped by a gratuitous barrage of extra jokes (“What did the duck say when she bought some lipstick? Just put it on my bill. HA! HA! HA! HA!”), this is all perfectly pitched to its audience and guaranteed to garner groans from the grown-ups. (Fantasy. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-8234-1902-9
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2008
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