Cat Kid Comic Club

The Kiddo bought this at the Spring book fair at our school in Shanghai, China.

Title: Cat Kid Comic Club
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2020
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey
Letterer: Dav Pilkey
Colorist: Jose Garibaldi, Aaron Polk
Editor: Ken Geist

Lil' Petey (AKA Cat Kid) and Molly the telekinetic tadpole (see Dog Man: Fetch 22 for her origin story; my review is here) hold the first meeting of their new comic club. But the other tadpoles are not making things easy. There's the issue of bickering to deal with, but an even bigger problem is that no one has the confidence to get started on making a comic.

The plot here is simple, but the point of this book is more inspiration than story. The message is that there is no wrong way to make a comic, and the Comic Club drama is interspersed with samples and previews of comics in all kinds of styles: Stick figures, b/w, color, collages, photo comics, haiku comics (photo haiku comics, actually!), and comics made with clay, cardboard, and recycled toys.

The examples are lots of fun, and the message is a great one for young comic creators who might not be ready for something like Understanding Comics (my review of that one is here).

There are some funny moments, but it's the creator's obvious love for comic creation that really shines through in this book.

Rating: 7.5/10

Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild

This was released on Christmas Eve, 2018. Bought it on the day of release at Barnes & Noble in Manchester NH. This is the special Barnes & Noble exclusive edition with a bonus coloring poster!

Title: Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: January, 2019
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey
Colorist: Jose Garibaldi, Rachel Polk
Editor: Ken Geist

Dog Man has been framed! And he's sent packing to dog jail!

While his friends band together to solve the mystery of who really committed the crimes that Dog Man is accused of, Dog Man must battle against his own self-doubt as he wonders if he might really be a misfit, even in dog jail.

This took a little bit to get going, but the final climactic battle was loads of fun, and it was nice to see pretty much every member of the supporting cast get their moments in the spotlight.

There were the usual bad (by which we mean brilliant) puns, a sprinkling of classical literature references, plenty of flip-o-rama, some gross jokes that the Kiddo enjoyed, and "That Living Spray Factory Outlet Over There".

The setup took its time, but there were plenty of laughs to be had.

Rating: 7/10