Big Nate: Revenge of the Cream Puffs, classic comic gets better

Growing up, the comic strips in our daily newspaper were our go-to source for laughter. Big Nate has been in that mix since 1991. Comic strips, especially ones that are legitimately funny are a rare breed and to have one that’s celebrating its 25 anniversary is a true unicorn.  What makes Big Nate special is that the character is immediately seen as a peer to kids as young at elementary school, yet makes adults laugh with as much, if not more. Big Nate Revenge of the Cream Puffs is the 23^rd book that collects strips from this classic and continuing to improve comics.

Nate is an 11 year old middle school student and he’s got a steady crew of characters around him. His father, Martin, is divorced, sometimes doesn’t understand his son and typical of some dads out there. His grandparents, uncle and older sister also rotate in and out of his life to be his foil or add to the story.

If you’ve read Big Nate before then this book is hilarious. This is a meeting again of good friends being silly, family being weird and cats scaring Nate like there’s no tomorrow. After a couple decades of reading about Nate and his friends you feel like you personally know them. They’re just drawings in a square box, but they remind you of someone that you know. It’s as if Lincoln Pearce is looking at the porthole to your life as a kid and updated the technology to contemporize it.

Even if you or your young reader have never read Big Nate this book, and series is easy to enjoy from the get-go. At their core, kids are the same as they’ve always been. Big Nate perfectly captures the way that kids think, what they find funny, how they interact with their friends and what makes them anxious.

In Revenge of the Cream Puffs Nate plays baseball, goes to a school dance, deals with teachers and writes a book, among other things. As a creative entity it’s amazing that a four panel strip can be produced six times a week and a bigger version on Sunday; can be done with such consistently high results.    Do that for a year and it’s great. Do that for 25 years and it’s a classic, legendary comic strip.