We’re in the middle of an amazing era of comics for children and teenagers. There’s truly something for all interests and reading levels right now with more and more comics coming out every week.

Still, as much as both children, parents and educators are embracing comics, some still view them with some doubt and suspicion. Growing Up With Graphics at Politics and Prose on April 27 tried to answer some of these lingering questions and enlightened the audience about this medium.

Moderated by the Washington Post’s Michael Cavna, the lineup of creators was diverse, in both subject matter and audience. Eleanor Davis is known for both her Stinky books for Toon Books and Secret Science Alliance. Nathan Hale is illustrator of Rapunzel’s Revenge and Calamity Jack and creator of his own series, Hazardous Tales. Andrés Vera Martínez is probably best known for Little White Duck, based on his wife’s childhood in China. While Mark Siegel is a comics creator in his own right (like with last year’s Sailor Twain, which as was pointed out at several times during the panel, is not for children), he’s probably more significantly known as the editorial director of First Second.

Cavna offered some background and context for the panel with a story about his daughter having a book report rejected because it was about David Small’s Stitches. The teacher decided since it was a comic, it was not a “real” book. He then had the panel introduce themselves by saying how they got into comics.

Davis said she grew up with comics. Her parents really liked classic newspaper strips so they were always around. In junior high school, she started reading manga and by high school and later, developed an interest in zines, minicomics and self-publishing. Hale said since he didn’t have a comic book store in his town, his only exposure to comics were through newspaper strips and it was his interest in illustration that lead him to comics. Siegel talked about growing up in France, where comics are much more accepted, and how his family had a set of Tintin books that got passed down through the generations.

Martínez’s story was more at the heart of what the panel was about. He said he was a reluctant reader and his uncle introduced him to Marvel Comics. He was attracted to the art initially and the majored in art in college. He did some illustration work and storyboards for ad agencies (which he called “comics on speed”). His agent found him the job working on Before They Were Famous: Babe Ruth and while the subject matter didn’t particular interest him, the artform of comics did.

Cavna noted that all of the panelists had collaborated with someone else, and most with a family member or spouse. He asked what the best and worst parts of such collaborations were.

Martínez said his wife didn’t think her stories were interesting enough to be shared, so she took some convincing. But, he said, once the book found a publisher and he told her their trips to China could be tax write-offs, she got more and more excited. Probably the best part of it, he said, is when they got to be on NPR and his wife was starstruck by the whole experience.

Davis said that while Secret Science Alliance is “technically my book” she kept showing pages to her husband Drew Weing and getting his advice on them, that it got to the point where she wondered if she needed to give him credit. As it turned out, she ended up facing a time crunch and had him ink the book for her.

She said it was pretty great working with him and it was “a relief to work with someone you can fight with.” She said she loved that she knew there was one other person who was as emotionally involved in the book as she was.

Cavna then asked what obstacles they face when creating comics for children.

Siegel said that he thinks when it comes to booksellers and librarians, the battle has been won. There are so many comics for children right now, they can fill bookstores on their own. Hale said that while a few educators may not be fans, reluctant readers usually turn them around.

Davis said that she felt the people who say comics aren’t “real” books just don’t like comics, period. She said it’s “like me talking about video games” – that’s just not something she’s interested in. Her attitude seemed to be that not everyone was going to enjoy comics regardless of what anyone did and that was OK.

Martínez said technology has helped – with PowerPoint and projectors, you can bring comics into classrooms and to school groups and everyone gets to see what they’re about and how the children react to them. The children tend to love it and he likes visiting them.

There was then a discussion about comics literacy – that some people, especially adults, find comics hard to read. Hale mentioned he only started reading comics when he was 19 or 20 and he struggled a bit initially. He said it’s more like watching a movie with subtitles.

Siegel agreed that prose and comics do different things and use different circuitry in the brain. He said “you read the words and you read the pictures” and sometimes that can be a difficult skill for people to learn.

Cavna then asked about demographics – both in terms of age groups and gender.

Siegel said First Second tries to have something for all age groups each publishing season – from younger readers to teens. He said that graphic novels do need to be sold into a specific age category, for good or bad.

Davis said she thinks that reading comics gives children a lot of confidence and they don’t mind reading above or below their age level as long as the comic is good. She said she has older children who like Stinky and younger ones who like Secret Science Alliance.

As far as gender goes, she said when she started reading comics “it was a boys’ club” and the general consensus was there was “something about girls that makes them hate comics.” The manga boom proved that to not be true, though, and she’s delighted at how many great comics there are right now for girls.

Martínez said he did set out to make his wife a role model for girls and he did have his daughter in mind when doing that. He wasn’t trying to write for a specific age with Little White Duck but liked that having everything take places through a child’s eyes made the events and history more accessible.

Hale said that while his publisher markets Hazardous Tales toward boys, girls like it too, especially the dark and gross parts. He said his next one is about the Donner Party and it was the girls who wanted to know everything. “Little girls are morbid,” he said.

Cavna asked how they balance the growing digital market when it comes to their comics. Davis laughed and said “I pray every day my younger readers don’t find my online stuff.” Martínez agreed and mentioned he did some comics for the TV show Dexter, which he has tried to bury a bit (lest you think he’s ashamed, he also laughed and said “Dexter bought us a car!”) Hale said his online site is very clean and he finds it good for exercising his skills but he likes print more.

Siegel mentioned his experiences serializing Sailor Twain online before it was published. He said it was good for research and gave him time to revise and work things over and it led to other things that may not have happened if he had just published it in book form.

Cavna concluded by asking what memorable things people have said or written about them. Martínez bowed out, saying GoodReads and such was too scary.

Hale laughed and said a review said his art was “wobbly” and he suffered from “same face syndrome” which he didn’t even know it was a thing until he read that.

Siegel told a story about the Prince of Persia graphic novel First Second published. He said he read on a video game message board that someone wrote “The art sucks! It looks hand drawn!”

After that, the panelists tookquestions from the audience (I couldn’t stay for this portion, though).

The four creators did make a good case for comics and their abilities to reach a wider audience of readers. I’d like to think skeptical members of the audience were convinced and will be happily buying titles by them and others for the children in their lives. At the very least, I think everyone left with the impression there is clearly something to this whole comics-for-kids thing, and I couldn’t ask for anything else.

• Guess who’s going to San Diego for Comic-Con? That’s right — me. I will be there covering it for Geek Girl on the Street and I’m very excited. And well, perhaps a little overwhelmed. Or at least, I will be. And since I’ve already purchased my plane tickets, there’s no backing out now. (I’m flying out of Richmond, because even after paying for gas, it’s cheaper and I don’t have to worry so much about how I’d get home from BWI at 6 a.m. Monday morning since I have a very wonderful mother to pick me up in Richmond.)
• I didn’t know there was a Tamara Drewe movie coming out until today. I enjoy when movies get made of non-superhero comics (and about that, I clearly agree with TOON Books that we should just call them “comics.” I do, generally) and I’ll be seeing this one once it wanders over here.
• I did not go to the Trickster signing. Because I’m dumb. And moving. But the book looks absolutely wonderful and it’s on my list to purchase as things settle down a bit.
• And here’s a cool interview with Dave Roman about The Last Airbender: Zuko’s Story, out tomorrow. Some of us are much more excited about this than the movie itself (which I don’t think I’ll be seeing). And I’ll leave off with this quote from Roman (because it’s relevant to something mentioned above):
  

  I think that at the end of the day, it’s all comics. I think that comics as a whole always have name issues. There are people who love the phrase “comics” and there are people who hate the phrase “graphic novels.” And in the same way, there are people who hate “American Manga” as a term. There have always been always been so many names for these things, and no one is ever completely happy with them — but a lot of times the label is just to help sell books.

Benny and Penny in
The Toy Breaker

I love Toon Books and I would love to see them on every child’s shelf. It delights me that they’re getting plenty of honors reserved for children’s books because they absolutely deserve it. So you can probably tell in what direction these reviews are going to go in.

Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker
This is the third in Geoffrey Hayes’ stories about two mice siblings — Benny and Penny. Brother Benny is a little older than sister Penny, but the two (for the most part) get along. This has them trying to hide their toys from their cousin Bo, the “toy breaker” in the title.

Bo means well, but he’s a kid who hasn’t quite grown into himself yet and so he’s more destructive than he means to be. Benny and Penny are a little mean to him, excluding him from their games since they’re fearful he’s going to ruin their toys. By the end, though, the siblings understand how harsh they’ve been to Bo and they all find a way to play together happily.

It’s a sweet story told in language kids can relate to. I think we all knew a kid who tended to break things accidentally (Hayes himself mentions a neighbor, Skippy, in the back, who did that very thing) but Hayes pushes for understanding rather than exclusion. His art remains forever adorable — the little animals that populate this book are cute without being cloying. His art reminds me of classic comic strips and the retro feel of the book is appealingly innocent. The seeming simplicity of this book belies a great message for kids without ever being preachy.

Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework Buy at Amazon.com

Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework
The first Zig and Wikki book, on the other hand, is a little bit different for Toon Books. Written by Nadja Spiegelman with art by Trade Loeffler, it follows two aliens named Zig and Wikki as they try to find a creature on earth to complete Zig’s homework. In the process, they learn about diets and eating habits of various creatures as well as the food chain. Readers learn about each as facts appear on Wikki’s screen.

As far as a beginning science book goes, it’s a lot of fun and I can imagine the content appealing to boys quite a bit. Zig and Wikki are odd-looking (Zig has one eye and tentacles for arms and Wikki is basically a monitor) and the animals they encounter — flies, frogs and more — are of the “gross” kind. Loeffler’s art is cartoony and playful, but it’s almost too cute in some cases — his adorable raccoon trying to eat an adorable frog is a bit jarring, even though that’s reality (luckily, the frog escapes). Spiegelman incorporates the “educational” parts into the story easily and I think even I managed to learn something. I hope we get to see more of these two aliens and their adventures in the future.

Toon Books’ offerings continue to be strong and they’ve already created an incredibly impressive catalog. Buy these for the children in your life. Or yourself. I am obviously far out of the target age range, but I love them.

Review copies provided by the publisher.

The people at Toon Books were kind enough to send me review copies of this spring’s upcoming two releases, Benny and Penny in The Big No-No by Geoffrey Hayes and Luke on the Loose by Harry Bliss. Both are, as expected, wonderful. Like before, the fact they’re “comics” seems pretty secondary to that they’re just great books for young readers.

I haven’t read the first Benny and Penny book, but the title characters of Benny and Penny in The Big No-No are an adorable pair of brother and sister mice. The dynamic of big brother/little sister is clear from the beginning as the two sneak into the neighbor’s yard to steal back Benny’s pail. Or at least what they believe to be Benny’s pail. Instead, they make an enemy — but then a friend — of their new neighbor, a little girl possum named Melina. The playground conflict of judging someone before you know them is sweetly and simply presented. Hayes’ soft, colored-pencil artwork recalls a lot of the children’s books I read as a kid — Beatrix Potter and Mercer Mayer are obvious ones, but there is some of the wholesome nostalgia of Tasha Tudor. This will become many children’s favorite book.

Bliss’ Luke on the Loose, however, is much more wacky fun in comparison to the quiet innocence of Benny and Penny. Luke is a 4-year-old who decides chasing pigeons is much more interesting that his father’s boring adult conversations. This is one part Peanuts strip and one part classic Sesame Street. Bliss’ New York is lovingly idealized and safe — the kind of world that city kids grow up in — and he fills the book with plenty of joyful visual gags. I loved the sequence on pages 18-19 as pigeons — then Luke — go flying past a man trying to propose to his girlfriend at a sidewalk restaurant. The faces of the couple, the waiter and a fellow diner are wonderfully expressive. The book is a comedic delight and one that adults will love as much as the children they’re reading it to.

Both books are set for release on April 15. Buy these for the children in your life. Or just buy them for yourself. They are both remarkably lovely.

I have two more Toon Books to review, which I should to get to this week (tomorrow, perhaps).

And sure, they need to stop writing these articles, but they make me a little sad for other reasons.

Kids like comics. Kids deserve comics. You know you had more than a few Archie Comics digests lying around and you probably enjoyed your share of Disney comics. This was long before you picked up any of the superhero stuff. You liked comics as a kid.

While there’s some exceptions, while everyone was busy trying to make comics all serious, people forgot about making comics for kids, or began to view them as somehow less interesting and inferior to the adult stuff.

Art Speigelman, whose Maus is often cited in those “comics aren’t for kids!” articles, and his wife Françoise Mouly, created Toon Books, comic-book style books for the youngest of readers, ages 4-8. And they are really awesome. I know I am often accused at having the same tastes as a 5-year-old, but I absolutely loved these. I was delighted to be provided with review copies of all three.

Spiegelman’s own Jack and the Box is probably for the youngest end of the target age group. It’s definitely a beginner’s book, with lots of repeated words and sounds as we follow Jack the rabbit as he plays with his new toy, a jack-in-the-box. Spiegelman creates plenty of inventive silliness with his bold art and color palette of muted primary colors. I found the jack-in-the-box to be a little scary looking, but there is still a playfulness to him. This reminded me quite a bit of the spirit of Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat and that’s not faint praise. This belongs on your child’s shelf.

Despite the word balloons, Eleanor Davis’ Stinky feels like a classic children’s picture book. It brought back memories of Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad series for me. Our title character, Stinky, is a troll-like creature who likes everything that smells bad. He has a pet toad, lives in a swamp and dines on anything pickled. He gets scared when a new boy, Nick, approaches his forest. It’s a neat reversal of roles — the monster being afraid of the human — and Stinky, despite his habits, comes across as pretty sweet. Davis’ art is adorable and round, giving the story a gentleness. There are also funny visual gags, like sleeping bugs and a hedgehog with a clothespin over his nose. The ultimate lesson of not judging people (or monsters) by appearances is always a good one. I giggled a lot at this book and was quite charmed by it. While I know some children who I should probably share this book with, I may be keeping it for myself.

Mo and Jo Fighting Together Forever, written by Jay Lynch with art by Dean Haspiel, feels the most like a comic book out of all three. It’s probably for the older readers in the age range, too. Mo and Jo are squabbling siblings who are given a super-suit by the Mighty Mojo. After they rip it in half, their mom creates two new suits from it for each of them, each with different powers.

In true comic book style, the brother and sister pair each decide they have what it takes to fight Lizard-like Saw Jaw. Mo uses her stretchy arms and Jo uses his magnet boots, but neither can defeat Saw Jaw alone. So of course the siblings learn they have to work together in order to beat the bad guy. While that outcome was pretty obvious to me from the start (I am, of course, much much older than the target demographic of this book), getting there is fun. Haspiel has a great understanding of super hero conventions and enjoys playing with them. Lynch’s dialogue is snappy and the siblings’ exchanges ring true as they try to outdo each other. This is the perfect book for the budding superhero comic book fans in your life, and maybe they’ll learn something along the way.

When I wrote about the children’s comic panel at SPX, I joked that I hoped there would be articles proclaiming “comics aren’t just for adults anymore.” I love that there are more and more great comics out there for children now. Don’t get me wrong — I like that there are more serious and mature comics out there, too, but I think there’s plenty of room for all of it. I love that imprints like Toon Books are dedicated to that cause.