All Age Comic Books | Daddy Mojo

Barb and the Battle for Bailiwick nails the all-age graphic novel tone

The audience, it’s all about the audience and finding to whom it’s speaking. I’m teaching an AP Language class now and that’s a key trait that we’re discussing about certain texts. In Barb and the Battle for Bailiwick the audience for this graphic novel entry is crystal clear. If you’re eight-years-old and like to read, this is your jam. If you’re eight years old or older and a reluctant reader, because reading isn’t cool and you’re parents are content to let your brain turn to Minecraft mush, then this is your jam. If you’re looking for an action-packed all-age graphic novel that screams with enthusiasm, runs with energy, and has humor for days, then this is your jam.

Barb and the Battle for Bailiwick, the third book in this all-age graphic novel series, is the action and humor antidote for (reluctant) readers to avoid a bad time.

This is the sign your looking for, go no farther

Are You Gonna Eat That?, minimalist cartooning at its best

Sublime. If you wanted to make lots of money, and if such an index fund actually existed, I would invest in the patent that manufactures Sublime t-shirts. To a lesser extent, it would also include Nirvana and the Rolling Stones, but by the grace of the ska gods, they seem to be the most prevalent. You can walk into any middle or high school across America on any given day and see at least a dozen Sublime t-shirts. For a band whose posthumous career has exceeded their actual record-producing years by about 10:1, their ability to stay in the teen mainstream eye is stunning. I tried teaching sublime as an adjective to describe humor the other day to a class and the lesson took off like a lead balloon. Are You Gonna Eat That? is sublime, minimalist comic art at its best. It’s a compendium from The Essential Collection of They Can Talk Comics by Jimmy Craig and is just on this side of voodoo from capturing the soul of animals.

The hilarity and joy of dry, sublime humor in comic strip form

Batter Up, Charlie Brown!, a Peanuts graphic is new, nostalgic awesomeness

The graphic novel genre is huge. It’s a massive cross section of books that can span any interest and are for any age. As proof of this, Batter Up, Charlie Brown!, it’s in the Peanuts Graphic Novels series on Simon Spotlight, and joins Snoopy Soars to Space and Adventures with Linus and Friends. There’s a timeless, classic aura that permeates every panel on every page of Batter Up, Charlie Brown! It’s comprised of six new, original stores that are punctuated with classic Sunday comics that Charles Schultz created.

Batter Up, Charlie Brown! is a Peanuts graphic novel that collects six new stories, some classic Sunday strips and reminds ages eight and up why it’s one of the best.

Timeless and classic, even when the stories are newly published

Fann Club: Batman Squad, big laughs in text and art for this all-age winner

Fann Club: Batman Squad is not a story that exists in the multiverse. There also isn’t a typo in the book’s cover. Once you see the cover it’s obvious that it’s a graphic novel intent on making elementary school-age readers and up laugh, which it succeeds at very quickly. Our sometimes surly 13-year-old picked up Fann Club: Batman Squad, plopped himself on the sofa, and proceeded to read it. This is worth noting because he’s an avid reader, but mainly sticks to mglit. “This is from the Catwad guy, isn’t it?”, he asked. Yeah, some readers might know Jim Benton from that, but they also might recognize his work from the Dear Dumb Diary book series, Franny K. Stein books, Victor Shmud or his cartooning work. For me, the most entertaining was Attack of the Stuff, which was criminally ignored and still is by most elementary school libraries that I visit. Fann Club: Batman Squad is a Jim Benton book because it’s his style, set against the background of a young boy who knows everything about Batman.

Fann Club: Batman Squad is an original graphic novel that aims at elementary school ages, but covers ages eight and up.

Proof that great IP can cross demographics and still entertain.

Schnozzer & Tatertoes: Take A Hike!, is the start of something wonderful

This is the start of a beautiful friendship. When you read Schnozzer & Tatertoes: Take A Hike! you might be reminded of when you first dug into Dog Man or InvestiGators. When you read both of the first books in those series, especially the latter one, you immediately wanted more once the last page turned over and the book was finished. Schnozzer & Tatertoes: Take A Hike! leaves you with that same desire. Take A Hike! operates in that early graphic novel space that lower to upper-elementary school kids crave. It’s relentlessly silly, has chapters to provide confidence to those young ages, full-color illustrations, and effortlessly entertains readers whose minds can easily be distracted.

Schnozzer & Tatertoes: Take A Hike! is an all age graphic novel that’s enjoyable from the first read and will produce repeat giggles for elementary ages.

Scoot to the store and get this silly all-age graphic novel already

Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels, Book Two, beautiful art with a smart story

There is a reason why successful intellectual properties cross over to different mediums and it all comes down to the fact that we’re busy. I was too busy to read the book, but I saw the movie or television show and really liked that. As a matter of fact, I liked it so much that I read the next chapter in the book when it came out. Enola Holmes is an example of this occurrence. Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels, Book Two is out and it compiles three graphic novels of Ms. Holmes’s happenings.

Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels Book Two, collects graphic novels 4, 5 and 6 in this beautifully illustrated and smart series that follows the books.

Come because of the Netflix movie, stay for the art and then read the books

We The People!, a graphic novel smart enough to be simple

Prior to reading We The People! I had no idea about the woman who was the first Second Lady and the second First Lady. Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams, the first Vice President and second President of the United States. Abigail Adams is also the narrator in Big Ideas That Changed The World, We The People! The Big Ideas That Changed The World graphic novel series is from Don Brown and absolutely nails the intersection of education and entertainment down to the floor. We The People! gives people a deep, yet entirely accessible, dive into American democracy and how it came to be.

We The People! is a non-fiction graphic novel from the Big Idea series that makes the complex topic of democracy interesting and approachable.

Fun and education need not be separate

The Underground Abductor Bigger & Badder Edition is also better

How do you make the already good, even better? That beautiful bacon, spinach, and garlic pizza is great when it’s small, but when you make it a medium or large and it reaches a new level. Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales, The Underground Abductor-An Abolitionist Tale was good, but the Bigger & Badder Edition is just that. All of the books in the Hazardous Tales graphic novel series that we’ve read have been entertaining and educational to some degree. Ironically, it was their initial size always left us wanting more. Imagine seeing a painted or drawn work of art that is great, but one whose small stature handicapped its enjoyment.

The Underground Abductor, Bigger & Badder Edition is the bigger version of the engaging and excellent non-fiction graphic novel by Nathan Hale.

It’s ok to not know everything, as long as you’re open to learning more…