I’m finishing my quick look at all 29 of these kid-friendly books with books #21-29 in alphabetic order by title, giving a short “What’s Cool About It” that jumped out at me for each one. I’m not going to give a specific numeric rating to them because I’m not necessarily the target market. It’s more important that we examine what’s available out there that you can use to get kids excited about reading & comics. Many of these have downloadable previews from the Free Comic Book Day website, I’ll link to them where they are available.
Rob M. Worley (A) Jason T. KruseWhat’s Cool About It
Fun stories for kids who love cats, Scratch 9 is a cat who can summon manifestations of his 9 lives (like a sabretooth tiger) to help get out of jams.
Georgia Ball, Jason M. Burns (A/CA) Amy MebbersonWhat’s Cool About It
Great for younger kids/beginning readers who are fans of the TV shows.
What’s Cool About It
I’ve never really understood the allure of the Smurfs, but they are very popular, so if you’re into Smurfs, here they are! I liked the backup story “Ariol”, apparently based on a French cartoon series, about a tween donkey living in a standard anthropomorphic cartoon world, the short here was pretty witty.
Ian Flynn (A) Ryan Jampole & Various (CA) Ben BatesWhat’s Cool About It
Sonic is super popular, the Archie Sonic series is up to issue 248 as of this writing, one of the highest numbers of any comic being currently published (Archie probably has a lock on the majority of the series with high numbers after Marvel/DCs recent spate of reboots). Even the spin-off Sonic Universe is at #51, a higher # than most Marvel/DC books. This flip book has “Part Zero” of the Worlds Collide” series running in the Sonic & Mega Man comics and is a “must read” for fans of these series.
Derek Drymon, Maris Wicks (A) Graham Annable & VariousWhat’s Cool About It
If you like the SpongeBob cartoons, you’ll like this. Another good example of using a media property that kids can sit passively and watch turned into a more active experience where they can read the stories. Recommended fare for getting younger kids to read.
Erik Burnham (A) Dario BrizuelaWhat’s Cool About It
As with SpongeBob, you can leverage a kids love for cartoons into a love for reading. An added audience here are the parent who themselves grew up on the Turtles who can rediscover these new adventures right along with their kids.
What’s Cool About It
This has a whole bunch of kid-friendly fare. It starts out with a sample of the words-free and award-winning series Owly. This is perfect for pre-readers since the stories are told primarily though pictures. Second up is Korgi, another words-free series focusing on a little korgi dog. Charming stories and appropriate for the very young as well as older readers who want to recapture a youthful feeling. Describing the panels back-and-forth with a child would be a wonderful bonding experience. Another notable story in this edition is the sample from the 181 page “Monster on the Hill” full color graphic novel coming in July 2013. This looks like a real “all ages” book. I can see adults & kids enjoying this equally.
David Horvath & Various (A) James Kolchaka & VariousWhat’s Cool About It
In the Ugly Doll universe “ugly” means unique and different, it’s all about celebrating who you are inside instead of just on the surface. There are also sample of Hello Kitty & Pokemon, this will work for fans of any of these franchises.
What’s Cool About It
Going strong after 70 years of continuous publication, Archie has changed over the years but continues to present kid-friendly stories about teen life that are enjoyable for kids & nostalgia-seeking adults alike. Close to 100 pages, this gives you the most content between it’s covers of any FCBD book and also samples Archie’s popular “digest” format. Well worth checking out, are there comic readers who’ve never cracked open an Archie at some point in their lives? If you never have, you need to sample some.
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