Thirty-one graphic artists pay homage to newspaper cartoonist Winsor McCay.
In the early 1900s, Winsor McCay’s “Little Nemo in Slumberland,” a comic strip about a young boy’s fantastical dreams, was a hit for the New York Herald. A century later, Locust Moon Press commissioned 118 artists to draw fresh takes on “Little Nemo”—31 of which are collected here. Each contribution riffs off the signature elements of McCay’s work, including the cast of characters, the full-color art nouveau drawings, and the imaginative paneling and layouts. (The collection is practically a master class in the structural possibilities of graphic storytelling.) The comics will work best for slightly older readers. While young children will enjoy some of the stories (Maris Wicks and Joe Quinones’ amusing comic takes Nemo through a dinosaur’s digestive track), strips by Bishakh Kumar Som, Marc Hempel, and others have an adult sensibility. Also, because these works were commissioned at a much larger broadsheet size and later shrunk for this showcase, some feel slightly crowded on the page and require a little extra patience to read. Fans hungry for more should investigate the complete collection, Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream (2014), in its massive, oversized glory.
Inventive work by some of comics’ most distinguished artists makes these tributes a triumph. (foreword, introduction, contributors’ bios, bibliography) (Graphic anthology. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-935179-87-0
Page Count: 72
Publisher: TOON Books & Graphics
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
Categories: GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS
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A grandmother shares her story of survival as a Jew in France during World War II.
As part of a homework assignment, Julian (Auggie’s chief tormentor in Wonder, 2012) video chats with Grandmère, who finally relates her wartime story. Born Sara Blum to a comfortable French Jewish family, she is indulged by her parents, who remain in Vichy France after 1940. Then, in 1943, after the German occupation, soldiers come to Sara’s school to arrest her and the other Jewish students. Sara hides and is soon spirited away by “Tourteau,” a student that she and the others had teased because of his crablike, crutch-assisted walk after being stricken by polio. Nonetheless, Tourteau, whose real name is Julien, and his parents shelter Sara in their barn loft for the duration of the war, often at great peril but always with care and love. Palacio begins each part of her story with quotations: from Muriel Rukeyser’s poetry, Anne Frank, and George Santayana. Her digital drawings, inked by Czap, highlight facial close-ups that brilliantly depict emotions. The narrative thread, inspired by Palacio’s mother-in-law, is spellbinding. In the final pages, the titular bird, seen in previous illustrations, soars skyward and connects readers to today’s immigration tragedies. Extensive backmatter, including an afterword by Ruth Franklin, provides superb resources. Although the book is being marketed as middle-grade, the complexities of the Holocaust in Vichy France, the growing relationship between Sara and Julien, Julien’s fate, and the mutual mistrust among neighbors will be most readily appreciated by Wonder’s older graduates.
A must-read graphic novel that is both heart-rending and beautifully hopeful. (author’s note, glossary, suggested reading list, organizations and resources, bibliography, photographs) (Graphic historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-64553-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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Opening episodes of a comic-book series created by an American teacher in Japan take a leap into chapter-book format, with only partial success. Resembling—in occasional illustrations—a button-eyed, juvenile Olive Oyl, Akiko, 10, is persuaded by a pair of aliens named Bip and Bop to climb out her high-rise bedroom’s window for a trip to M&M-shaped Planet Smoo, where Prince Fropstoppit has been kidnapped by widely feared villainness Alia Rellaport. Along with an assortment of contentious sidekicks, including brainy Mr. Beeba, Akiko battles Sky Pirates and video-game-style monsters in prolonged scenes of cartoony violence, displaying resilience, courage, and leadership ability, but not getting very far in her rescue attempt; in fact, the story cuts off so abruptly, with so little of the quest completed, and at a lull in the action to boot, that readers expecting a self-contained (forget complete) story are likely to feel cheated. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32724-2
Page Count: 162
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
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