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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
Michael Rex has made a career of sorts out of spoofing classic children’s books of yore. As such, [b:Goodnight Moon|32929|Goodnight Moon|Margaret Wise Brown|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327922269s/32929.jpg|1086867] becomes [b:Goodnight Goon|3194431|Goodnight Goon A Petrifying Parody|Michael Rex|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255637730s/3194431.jpg|3227483], [b:Runaway Bunny|58922|The Runaway Bunny|Margaret Wise Brown|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1298428926s/58922.jpg|2039654] is [b:Runaway Mummy|6511937|The Runaway Mummy A Petrifying Parody|Michael Rex|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255650715s/6511937.jpg|6703679] and [b:Curious George|420297|Curious George|H.A. Rey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174589346s/420297.jpg|561754] is the stellar [b:Furious George Goes Bananas|7573217|Furious George Goes Bananas A Primate Parody|Michael Rex|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1277062437s/7573217.jpg|9924989]. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but parody ain’t nothing to sneeze at. Now Mr. Rex switches gears a little. You can go on spoofing picture books until the cows come home but why limit yourself? If you’re going to rework a classic go big or go home. Go for the gold. Take on a classic in the best sense of the term. You don’t need to have read Conan the Barbarian to enjoy Mr. Rex’s new graphic novel series Fangbone! Third Grade Barbarian but knowing the books won’t hurt your appreciation either. Basically, if you’ve been waiting around for a series about third graders with swords and deadpan deliveries your prayers have been duly answered.
A warrior never shirks from danger, even if that warrior is just a kid. When the fate of the world (universe?) depends on Fangbone!, a pint-sized expert at arms, to take a supernatural object (a baddie’s big toe) to another dimension (our own) he literally leaps at the chance. Finding himself at Eastwood Elementary School he immediately attaches himself to a good-natured if slightly ADD kid named Bill and places himself in class 3G. There he begins his plan to defend the toe from supernatural baddies and to build an army. Neither task is easy, but with Bill at his side every step of the way Fangbone quickly becomes a force to reckon with in a world gone weird.
Recently small one-color graphic novels have been making a mint. The credit goes entirely to [b:Babymouse|476909|Babymouse Queen of the World! (Babymouse, #1)|Jennifer L. Holm|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320410236s/476909.jpg|2670091], a series whose pink and black (sometimes orange and black, sometimes red and black) interiors changed the game. Suddenly you had books like Jarrett Krosoczka’s [b:Lunch Lady|6277757|Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute (Lunch Lady, #1)|Jarrett J. Krosoczka|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320460406s/6277757.jpg|6461275] series (canary yellow and black) and Ursula Vernon’s [b:Dragonbreath|6055161|Dragonbreath (Dragonbreath, #1)|Ursula Vernon|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266482600s/6055161.jpg|6231138] books (green and black) following in its footsteps and raking in the change. The advantages to this kind of printing cannot be stressed enough. The standard line is that kids won’t read black and white comics (not true, but that’s the general wisdom) so by using a single color you avoid that pitfall while also keeping your printing costs low. Fangbone! is very much along the same lines with an orangish-yellow accompanying the standard black. You might notice that it’s not full color for half a second there. Yet it will only take about a panel or two for you to get sucked into the story and to make you forget.
Plus it's hard to resist. The cover of Fangbone pretty much says it all. Here you have a dead serious, sword-toting, furry underwear sporting, 8-year-old (or so) warrior standing next to a goofy redhead grinning over some tasty hot wings. Fangbone’s tunnel vision regarding his quest and complete lack of a sense of humor is oddly refreshing. There’s a weird comfort in his utter disregard for elementary school politics and niceties. When he brushes off the school bully as immature it’s very satisfying. Rex also has a great sense of deadpan. There are moments when Fangbone will give the reader a half-lidded blank look that appears to be straight out of a Bloom County comic strip. He’s also good at capturing how kids operate. The “special” class that Fangbone and Bill are in contains the kinds of outsider kids you might well recognize. There’s the one that always says that things are “dumb”, the one who wants to be a robot, the one who keeps taking off his shirt . . . they’re realistic without being tropes you’ve seen a million times before. And yes, there’s the requisite gross out humor as well. A toilet discussion, a dismembered big toe that keeps making an appearance, booger eating, etc. It’s considerably less than you’d find in your average copy of [b:Captain Underpants|207266|The Adventures of Captain Underpants (Captain Underpants, #1)|Dav Pilkey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172685944s/207266.jpg|3234368] but enough to attract a certain kind of boy readership (though girls, I have no doubt, will get a kick out of this book as well).
Basically this is a story where a stranger comes to town bearing a toe (not his own) and brings together a ragtag group of misfits. It’s like Shane meets The Bad News Bears with some hound-snakes and dirt devils thrown in for spice. [b:War and Peace|656|War and Peace|Leo Tolstoy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1222897284s/656.jpg|4912783] it is not, but I have a vague suspicion that someday some of the kids who read this book might stumble on some old Robert E. Howard short stories about Conan the Barbarian and try it out. And as crazy as that sounds, I think that would be a fantastic use of their time. Long live crazy pulp classics! Long live incredibly amusing graphic novel sagas! Long live Fangbone!
For ages 6-10.
A warrior never shirks from danger, even if that warrior is just a kid. When the fate of the world (universe?) depends on Fangbone!, a pint-sized expert at arms, to take a supernatural object (a baddie’s big toe) to another dimension (our own) he literally leaps at the chance. Finding himself at Eastwood Elementary School he immediately attaches himself to a good-natured if slightly ADD kid named Bill and places himself in class 3G. There he begins his plan to defend the toe from supernatural baddies and to build an army. Neither task is easy, but with Bill at his side every step of the way Fangbone quickly becomes a force to reckon with in a world gone weird.
Recently small one-color graphic novels have been making a mint. The credit goes entirely to [b:Babymouse|476909|Babymouse Queen of the World! (Babymouse, #1)|Jennifer L. Holm|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320410236s/476909.jpg|2670091], a series whose pink and black (sometimes orange and black, sometimes red and black) interiors changed the game. Suddenly you had books like Jarrett Krosoczka’s [b:Lunch Lady|6277757|Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute (Lunch Lady, #1)|Jarrett J. Krosoczka|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320460406s/6277757.jpg|6461275] series (canary yellow and black) and Ursula Vernon’s [b:Dragonbreath|6055161|Dragonbreath (Dragonbreath, #1)|Ursula Vernon|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266482600s/6055161.jpg|6231138] books (green and black) following in its footsteps and raking in the change. The advantages to this kind of printing cannot be stressed enough. The standard line is that kids won’t read black and white comics (not true, but that’s the general wisdom) so by using a single color you avoid that pitfall while also keeping your printing costs low. Fangbone! is very much along the same lines with an orangish-yellow accompanying the standard black. You might notice that it’s not full color for half a second there. Yet it will only take about a panel or two for you to get sucked into the story and to make you forget.
Plus it's hard to resist. The cover of Fangbone pretty much says it all. Here you have a dead serious, sword-toting, furry underwear sporting, 8-year-old (or so) warrior standing next to a goofy redhead grinning over some tasty hot wings. Fangbone’s tunnel vision regarding his quest and complete lack of a sense of humor is oddly refreshing. There’s a weird comfort in his utter disregard for elementary school politics and niceties. When he brushes off the school bully as immature it’s very satisfying. Rex also has a great sense of deadpan. There are moments when Fangbone will give the reader a half-lidded blank look that appears to be straight out of a Bloom County comic strip. He’s also good at capturing how kids operate. The “special” class that Fangbone and Bill are in contains the kinds of outsider kids you might well recognize. There’s the one that always says that things are “dumb”, the one who wants to be a robot, the one who keeps taking off his shirt . . . they’re realistic without being tropes you’ve seen a million times before. And yes, there’s the requisite gross out humor as well. A toilet discussion, a dismembered big toe that keeps making an appearance, booger eating, etc. It’s considerably less than you’d find in your average copy of [b:Captain Underpants|207266|The Adventures of Captain Underpants (Captain Underpants, #1)|Dav Pilkey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172685944s/207266.jpg|3234368] but enough to attract a certain kind of boy readership (though girls, I have no doubt, will get a kick out of this book as well).
Basically this is a story where a stranger comes to town bearing a toe (not his own) and brings together a ragtag group of misfits. It’s like Shane meets The Bad News Bears with some hound-snakes and dirt devils thrown in for spice. [b:War and Peace|656|War and Peace|Leo Tolstoy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1222897284s/656.jpg|4912783] it is not, but I have a vague suspicion that someday some of the kids who read this book might stumble on some old Robert E. Howard short stories about Conan the Barbarian and try it out. And as crazy as that sounds, I think that would be a fantastic use of their time. Long live crazy pulp classics! Long live incredibly amusing graphic novel sagas! Long live Fangbone!
For ages 6-10.
Entertaining, but not my favorite recent graphic novel. My sons both adored it, though - so clearly it fits the needs of the target audience.
Not great literature, but certainly a whole lot of fun. Fangbone is a barbarian boy who time-travels into the present day in order to help his clan protect the Big Toe of Drool. You know those "what's in your wallet?" commercials? Kind of like that.
Fangbone is a natural leader. He also has really smelly feet, which come in handy when he's fighting off dung trolls. Hand sanitizer works just as well for Bill.
Five hundred winters ago, the greatest evil that ever lived ruled over Skullbania. Venomous Drool was his name. He built an army that swept through the lands and almost wiped out the clans.
Many battles were fought, and many great warriors died to keep his evil from spreading. Finally, Drool was defeated, and cut into many small pieces. The pieces were separated and taken to different lands so that Venomous Drool could never rule again.
But since my birth, a new army of Drool worshipers has been moving through Skullbania, collecting the pieces one by one, and rebuilding Drool. The only piece they do not have is his big toe! My clan was put in charge of protecting the big toe because it is the most evil, cursed, wretched part of his body.
I was given the toe and sent into your world. Venomous Drool and his army will never find me here. He will never get his big toe back! For I am Fangbone! Protector of the Big Toe of Drool!
And that's how the new student in class 3G introduces himself--while dressed in a cape, leather boots, forearm bracers, fir kilt, horned helmet, and a sword slung across his back--after Bill adopts him as a friend. Fortunately, in 3G "everyone learns at their own speed" and individuality is accepted, so the teacher and class take Fangbone in as one of their own.
His classmates soon learn more of Fangbone's world, as mystical creatures keep popping up to attack him and steal the big toe, and Fangbone decides he will prove his mettle to the warriors back in his world by crafting them into his very own army. Of course, to earn their respect and win them to his cause, he must first help them stand up to the school bullies in the Beanball Games.
Imagine Dav Pilkey's Ook and Gluk dropped into George and Harold's school, shave a slight (just a slight) bit of silly off, and add in the tiniest amount of sincerity and heart. Most fun.
Many battles were fought, and many great warriors died to keep his evil from spreading. Finally, Drool was defeated, and cut into many small pieces. The pieces were separated and taken to different lands so that Venomous Drool could never rule again.
But since my birth, a new army of Drool worshipers has been moving through Skullbania, collecting the pieces one by one, and rebuilding Drool. The only piece they do not have is his big toe! My clan was put in charge of protecting the big toe because it is the most evil, cursed, wretched part of his body.
I was given the toe and sent into your world. Venomous Drool and his army will never find me here. He will never get his big toe back! For I am Fangbone! Protector of the Big Toe of Drool!
And that's how the new student in class 3G introduces himself--while dressed in a cape, leather boots, forearm bracers, fir kilt, horned helmet, and a sword slung across his back--after Bill adopts him as a friend. Fortunately, in 3G "everyone learns at their own speed" and individuality is accepted, so the teacher and class take Fangbone in as one of their own.
His classmates soon learn more of Fangbone's world, as mystical creatures keep popping up to attack him and steal the big toe, and Fangbone decides he will prove his mettle to the warriors back in his world by crafting them into his very own army. Of course, to earn their respect and win them to his cause, he must first help them stand up to the school bullies in the Beanball Games.
Imagine Dav Pilkey's Ook and Gluk dropped into George and Harold's school, shave a slight (just a slight) bit of silly off, and add in the tiniest amount of sincerity and heart. Most fun.
3.5 stars.
Fangbone is a young barbarian boy who strives to participate in the same battles as the adult warriors of his clan. They mock him and laugh at him, though is hopes aren't dashed. He volunteers to protect an evil toe, and finds himself in present day Earth, and soon after, in a third grade classroom. Here Fangbone battles monsters from his lands as he tries to assemble his army, all the while passively influencing his classmates to emulate his barbarian ways.
The flow of the frames and story is smooth, and the artwork is clear and nicely done. I'm not a big fan of the color style, but it wasn't overly detracting. It's not color, it's not black and white, it's more a sepia, with lots of orange, I suppose.
A fun read for elementary-aged kids.
Fangbone is a young barbarian boy who strives to participate in the same battles as the adult warriors of his clan. They mock him and laugh at him, though is hopes aren't dashed. He volunteers to protect an evil toe, and finds himself in present day Earth, and soon after, in a third grade classroom. Here Fangbone battles monsters from his lands as he tries to assemble his army, all the while passively influencing his classmates to emulate his barbarian ways.
The flow of the frames and story is smooth, and the artwork is clear and nicely done. I'm not a big fan of the color style, but it wasn't overly detracting. It's not color, it's not black and white, it's more a sepia, with lots of orange, I suppose.
A fun read for elementary-aged kids.
3rd grade boys would enjoy reading about Fangbone and how he must protect the Big Toe of Drool. When Fangbone the Barbarian gets transported to modern day, things get really humorous.
read the first & third books of the series,now on the second,yes I know I am reading them out of order.
it was very nice graphic novel series.
it was very nice graphic novel series.