Marvel Rocket and Groot: Stranded on Planet Shopping Mall by Tom Angleberger

Book review: I loved this book because it was fast-paced, had plenty of humour – including lots of surreal stuff such as toilets that try to eat you and a talking tape dispenser – and the layout was great too.

Prior to getting the book, I had not seen the film from which Rocket and Groot come from, but I still got into this book right from the off. Originally I got the book because of the Marvel logo on the front cover. That meant I expected it to be more of a comic book format than it is in but the format here works equally as well.

The book is the transcript of a recording (or an audio-log) of Rocket and Groot’s adventures after they find themselves stranded with "no ship, no guns, no money, no food and no water" on a planet that is totally covered by one big shopping mall where the shops are manned by robots (maybe a vision of Earth’s future?). The recording is done by a tape dispenser (with a recording facility) hence the tape dispenser is often referred to through the book as the “totally awesome tape dispenser”.

Pretty much the whole book is dialogue, just with descriptions of sounds in between, e.g. “sound of moment of silence”, “sound of 5.5 feet of tape dispensing”, “sound of large tree man wrapping a small woodland creature’s head with 5.5 feet of tape”. The tape dispenser also has a touchscreen so that Rocket can doodle their adventures too, these doodles being dotted throughout, as well as one doodle by Groot too.

The dialogue format works because Rocket uses the tape dispenser’s recorder to deliver captain’s logs which allows the story to be told, in parts, as a monologue. This is a similar approach that was taken in ‘Allo ‘Allo episodes where René Artois would start the episode by addressing the camera as to the plot so far.

Also, in this book, every character’s dialogue is in a different format so it is obvious who is talking at each moment. For example Groot’s text looks wooden (and he only says “I am Groot” anyway), the sound effects are in text which appears over a soundwave graphic, the tape dispenser’s speech is on tape and always starts with (Bing) and so on.

This is aimed at 8-12 year-olds. For that age group, the book works well and should appeal even to reluctant readers with its readable format, pictures and humour. But 36-year-olds can, and do, enjoy it too. Now I will share it with my 10-year-old daughter.

Available on AMAZON HERE for just £4.

Electrigirl and the Deadly Swarm by Jo Cotterill and Cathy Brett #bookreview

Book review: I got this for my nearly 10-year-old daughter. She read the first book in the series about a year ago and absolutely loved it so getting this was a no-brainer.

This book brings back some of the same characters from the previous, including of course the evil Professor Macavity, and includes some new characters too, with useful introductory profiles at the beginning of the book. 

This time Holly, the main character aka Electrigirl, goes on vacation only to discover that Professor Macavity has hatched a new scheme hiding a deadly swarm of robotic insects that sting you and give you a love for danger. Holly sets out to destroy them all, but there are too many. Will she succeed?

My daughter liked the story, the pictures - which included comic style parts for some of the dramatic parts of the story just like in the first book, and that the hero is a girl. Indeed most of the characters are female - this book has some true girl power!

AMAZON UK LINK: ELECTRIGIRL AND THE DEADLY SWARM

Gum Girl: Countdown to Destruction! by Andi Watson

Book Review: "Countdown to Destruction!" is the third book in the Gum Girl series. It is a comic book consisting of three stories. In each story schoolgirl Grace Gibson, or Gum Girl, uses her gum to foil some nasty villain who is up to something naughty.

In "Gum Girl in Time Trial" she takes on Doctor Tick Tock and his baby assistant Mr Higgins as they steal time. In "Gum Girl in Roller Grrlz" she takes on "the Roller Raider" who wants to blow up the city and replace it with a more roller skate friendly town, "No stairs, no hills, no uneven pavements..." Then in the final story "Gum Girl in Space Cadets" she has to stop "a member of the Evil Genius After-School club" blasting an anti-gravity ray from a space probe.

The colour scheme uses a limited palette, with mainly pinks, greens and yellows. so it has a distinctive style which should appeal to girls. The drawings are clean and there are some good jokes in the stories too.   

It is interesting that this is a comic aimed at girls as you might expect boys to be more interested in this type of format but my eight-year-old daughter liked this.

Release date: March 2013

Amazon UK link: Gum Girl: Countdown to Destruction!

Asterix Omnibus 3 by Goscinny and Uderzo

This book combines the seventh to ninth Asterix adventures into one volume. 

The seventh Asterix adventure is Asterix and the Big Fight, which is possibly one of the best. 

There is one village in Gaul that holds out against Roman rule. The Romans hatch a plan. "There's one custom that might come in very useful... it's called THE BIG FIGHT!" The big fight happens when the chief of one village wants to take over another village. He challenges the chief of that village to a big fight, like a boxing match, and the winner takes charge of the other's village. The Romans line up "collaborator and as colossal as the Colosseum" Cassius Ceramix of the village Linoleum for the job.

But because of the magic potion, brewed by druid Getafix, chief Vitalstatistix is invincible, so Cassius Ceramix refuses. The Romans then take out the druid, inadvertently as he gets knocked out by a menhir and loses his memory. Therefore the big fight goes ahead. Of course it is down to Asterix to get things right again and there is a lot of fun and jokes along the way

Then it is Asterix in Britain. At the book's beginning Caesar invades Britain. "All Britain was occupied... All? No... one village still holds out against the invaders." Sound familiar? Anyway they can't hold out for much longer so Anticlimax, a second cousin, once removed of Asterix, goes in search of the famous magic potion. A barrel is made and Asterix and Obelix escort Anticlimax and the barrel back across Britain with the Romans hot on their trail.

Maybe there is too much stereotyping of certain things in here, tea for example, but all-in-all another great Asterix story.

Then lastly is Asterix and the Normans. 

Justforkix is the nephew of the village chief Vitalstatistix and is sent to the village from his native Lutetia (Paris) because he is soft and needs toughening up. Obelix suggests thumping him but Asterix disagrees. Meanwhile the Norman chief is concerned that his Normans don't know the meaning of fear so goes off to Gaul in search of it. Unfortunately the village they end up at is Asterix's village and they also don't know the meaning of fear. It's just as well Justforkix is there, "an expert on fear".

Along the way there is a lot of fun and jokes, from start ("Why, there's Postaldistrix the postman!") to finish. There is a kidnapping in the book too, which features in a lot of Asterix stories, but still a great Asterix story.

Trouble now is you'll want to read the others. 

Purchase on Amazon: Asterix Omnibus 3

Asterix and the Normans by Goscinny and Uderzo

This is the ninth Asterix adventure and this time Asterix meets the Normans.

Justforkix is the nephew of the village chief Vitalstatistix and is sent to the village from his native Lutetia (Paris) because he is soft and needs toughening up. Obelix suggests thumping him but Asterix disagrees. Meanwhile the Norman chief is concerned that his Normans don't know the meaning of fear so goes off to Gaul in search of it. Unfortunately the village they end up at is Asterix's village and they also don't know the meaning of fear. It's just as well Justforkix is there, "an expert on fear".

Along the way there is a lot of fun and jokes, from start ("Why, there's Postaldistrix the postman!") to finish. There is a kidnapping in the book too, which features in a lot of Asterix stories, but all-in-all another great Asterix story.

Original publication: 1966

Purchase here: Asterix and the Normans

Asterix in Britain by Goscinny and Uderzo

This is the eighth Asterix adventure and this time Asterix is in Britain.

At the book's beginning Caesar invades Britain. "All Britain was occupied... All? No... one village still holds out against the invaders." Sound familiar? Anyway they can't hold out for much longer so Anticlimax, a second cousin, once removed of Asterix, goes in search of the famous magic potion. A barrel is made and Asterix and Obelix escort Anticlimax and the barrel back across Britain with the Romans hot on their trail. 

Along the way there is a lot of fun and jokes, although maybe too much stereotyping of certain things, tea for example, but all-in-all another great Asterix story.

Original publication: 1965

Available at Amazon UK: Asterix in Britain

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

This is the book that started the "dairy of a ..." phenomenon and is the first in the wimpy kid series. It stars Greg Heffley as the wimpy kid as he writes his diary, or journal, complete with cartoon images throughout, over a whole school year.

I read it with my 7-year-old daughter over a few bedtimes and she really liked it. You could tell because she was picking it up between readings and reading it herself. And at the end she said she wanted more. I would say that the book is probably aimed for someone a little older as it has bits about wanting the girls to like him but most of it was good for her.

The story is really funny in places and I was laughing as I read it to her. It has a theme of friendship. It is written in American English (soccer, Phys Ed, third period etc.) but is fine for an English audience. If it were consistently really funny then I would have rated it 5 stars instead of 4.

Publication date: 3 July 2008

Amazon UK link: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Asterix and the Big Fight by Goscinny and Uderzo

This is the seventh Asterix adventure and possibly one of the best. 

There is one village in Gaul that holds out against Roman rule. The Romans hatch a plan. "There's one custom that might come in very useful... it's called THE BIG FIGHT!" The big fight happens when the chief of one village wants to take over another village. He challenges the chief of that village to a big fight, like a boxing match, and the winner takes charge of the other's village. The Romans line up "collaborator and as colossal as the Colosseum" Cassius Ceramix of the village Linoleum for the job.

But because of the magic potion, brewed by druid Getafix, chief Vitalstatistix is invincible, so Cassius Ceramix refuses. The Romans then take out the druid, inadvertently as he gets knocked out by a menhir and loses his memory. Therefore the big fight goes ahead.

Of course it is down to Asterix to get things right again and there is a lot of fun and jokes along the way, as well as the normal clever puns and wordplay. All-in-all another great Asterix story.

Amazon UK link: Asterix and the Big Fight

Publication date: 1964

Asterix Omnibus 2 by Goscinny and Uderzo

This book combines the fourth to sixth Asterix adventures into one volume. 

The fourth Asterix adventure is Asterix the Gladiator. Odius Asparagus, the Prefect of Gaul, is going on leave to Rome and wants to take a present for Caesar. "I have a brilliant idea! Why not take Caesar one of the invincible Gauls?"

The least intimidating of the indomitable Gauls is Cacofonix the bard so he is the one kidnapped and taken to Rome. Asterix and Obelix are hot on their heels though to tryand get their bard back. While in Rome they find out that Caesar wants to throw him to the lions at the next games in Circus Maximus, and "only condemned men, lions and gladiators get into the circus," so they train to be gladiators.

The book features fights galore, at which Obelix collects helmets of the people (mainly Romans) he beats as part of a competition wqace with the liberating Roman Army, except this one little village of dissidents."

After he fails to battle them into submission he has another idea. "We shall isolate the Gaulish village from the outside world. You'll have to be self-sufficient and live on the produce of your own village! The outside world will forget you."

Asterix has other ideas though and makes a bet that he and Obelix will be able to escape, go on a tour of Gaul and return with all the local food specialties from all over Gaul as proof, serving them in a big banquet.

"And this is the start of the famous tour of Gaul."

The plot is a bit busy, I feel, and it would be most appreciated if you knew France and the stereotypes of its people. However there are still some good jokes in here, mainly relating to Obelix's weight and some of the character names, such as a guy they meet who betrays them called Unpatriotix, and two highwaymen they encounter, Villanus and Unscrupulus. The pirates feature again, and Dogmatix is introduced, although not by name.

Overall maybe not the best Asterix but that is because of the high standards of the other ones, including the next one: Asterix and Cleopatra which is one of the best.

Cleopatra makes a bet with Caesar to prove that Egypt is a great nation. “In three months’ time I’ll have a magnificent palace built for you in Alexandria!”

Cleopatra gets local architect Edifis to build it but three months is not enough time, although he has an idea. He can use the magic powers of his friend the druid Getafix.

So Asterix, Obelix and Getafix, or as Caesar describes them, “an old druid with a white beard, a cunning little one and a stupid great oaf” go to Egypt to help build the temple.

Of course things aren’t plain sailing with Edifis’s rival architect Artifis doing his best to scupper their efforts, and Caesar himself interfering, but in the end the job is done. 

There are lots of jokes in this one with clever use of hieroglyphics in speech bubbles for example. All-in-all this is one of the best Asterix stories. Trouble now is you'll want to read the others.

Amazon UK link: Asterix Omnibus 2

Charlie Merrick's Misfits in Fouls' Friends' & Football by Dave Cousins

"FOOTBALL - it's all I ever think about" begins Charlie Merrick at the beginning of this book. And if that is you too then this is the book for you.

Charlie Merrick is captain of North Star Galaxy under-12s. Trouble is most of the team from the previous season has left to form a new team, and all the players left are "misfits". Charlie himself says his "feet are not quite as good at football as his brain" for example.

Charlie sees a competition - "Would your team like to take part in a pre-match tournament at this summer's world cup finals?" and enters North Star, which involves writing a diary about his team's season (essentially this book), complete with pictures throughout as he is also a budding cartoonist. This means things like player cards and statman facts based on real-life football facts appear along the way, plus bits of comic strip, which helps break up the text for young readers and leads to the comparisons between this book and the Tom Gates books for example. The text itself is in a child friendly font too.

Anyway the first match report sees an 11-0 loss, but as the manager says, "Remember lads, football's not just about winning" which is just as well for the misfits. Other clever things in the book include splitting it into two halves, just like a football match, and little details like that that will appeal to football fans.

Ultimately the story is about friendship and teamwork and has an excellent crescendo with funny moments along the way. It would suit children who love football but as a 33-year-old football fan I too found it unputdownable and finished it within the day.

Publication date: 1 May 2014

Amazon UK link:  Charlie Merrick's Misfits in Fouls, Friends, & Football

Asterix and Cleopatra by Goscinny and Uderzo

This is the sixth Asterix adventure and possibly one of the best. Cleopatra makes a bet with Caesar to prove that Egypt is a great nation. “In three months’ time I’ll have a magnificent palace built for you in Alexandria!” 

Cleopatra gets local architect Edifis to build it but three months is not enough time, although he has an idea. He can use the magic powers of his friend the druid Getafix. 

So Asterix, Obelix and Getafix, or as Caesar describes them, “an old druid with a white beard, a cunning little one and a stupid great oaf” go to Egypt to help build the temple 

Of course things aren’t plain sailing with Edifis’s rival architect Artifis doing his best to scupper their efforts, and Caesar himself interfering, but in the end the job is done.

There are lots of jokes in this one with clever use of hieroglyphics in speech bubbles for example. All-in-all this is one of the best Asterix stories.

Amazon UK link: Asterix and Cleopatra

Publication date: 1963

Asterix and the Banquet by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo

This is the fifth Asterix adventure. Roman General Overanxious is on a special mission from Caesar. "All Gaul is at peace with the liberating Roman Army, except this one little village of dissidents."

After he fails to battle them into submission he has another idea. "We shall isolate the Gaulish village from the outside world. You'll have to be self-sufficient and live on the produce of your own village! The outside world will forget you."

Asterix has other ideas though and makes a bet that he and Obelix will be able to escape, go on a tour of Gaul and return with all the local food specialties from all over Gaul as prove, serving them in a big banquet. 

"And this is the start of the famous tour of Gaul."

The plot is a bit busy I feel and would be most appreciated if you knew France and the stereotypes of its people. However there are still some good jokes in here, mainly relating to Obelix's weight and some of the character names, such as a guy they meet who betrays them called Unpatriotix, and two highwaymen they encounter, Villanus and Unscrupulus. The pirates feature again, and Dogmatix is introduced, although not by name.

Overall maybe not the best Asterix but that is because of the high standards of the other ones.

Original release date: Feb 7th 1963

Amazon UK link: Asterix and the Banquet

Asterix the Gladiator by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo

This is the fourth Asterix adventure. Odius Asparagus, the Prefect of Gaul, is going on leave to Rome and wants to take a present for Caesar. "I have a brilliant idea! Why not take Caesar one of the invincible Gauls?"

The least intimidating of the indomitable Gauls is Cacofonix the bard so he is the one kidnapped and taken to Rome. Asterix and Obelix are hot on their heels though to try and get their bard back. While in Rome they find out that Caesar wants to throw him to the lions at the next games in Circus Maximus, and "only condemned men, lions and gladiators get into the circus," so they train to be gladiators.

The book features fights galore, at which Obelix collects helmets of the people (mainly Romans) he beats as part of a competition with Asterix. The pirates also feature for the first time in the Asterix series.

The story involves a kidnapping, just like the previous adventure Asterix and the Goths did, but this doesn't detract from the story here. The strong, well-defined characters make for some really good jokes, including plenty at the expense of the bard and his bad singing. This is another excellent Asterix story.

Amazon UK link: Asterix the Gladiator

Publication date: First published 1964

Happy Graffiti: Street Art with Heart by Jenny Foulds

This book was born from a website of the same name. The website is a photo blog of “happy graffiti” the author of this book has photographed, or someone else has submitted. This book has some of the best artworks from there.

The foreword talks about how “Happy Graffiti” is the kind of graffiti that grumpy commuters might see from the train station and be cheered up by, and how some of the phrases used are like poetry.

The introduction then talks about how graffiti has a bad name and how positive graffiti can bring a smile to people as they go around their daily lives, and how the book is intended to do the same for the reader.

Then it is the photos, plus some artist profiles, although not well known artists such as Banksy. And some of the bits of graffiti do make you smile, which is exactly what the author wanted.

Mission accomplished.

Publication Date: 7 October 2013

Website: Happy Graffiti

Link to Amazon: Happy Graffiti: Street Art With Heart

The Mirror Classic Cartoon Collection by Mike Higgs

This book starts with a short written introduction (three paragraphs) before going straight into the cartoons, each with the tiniest of introductory text themselves, and in this way the cartoons are made to do the talking, which is the way it should be.

First up are 2 serial stories following the escapades of Garth, the space-travelling human, one from 1957 and one from 1969. They are by different artists and have different styles. The first is more of a prim and proper 1950s style whilst in the second one Garth sports longer hair, and takes part in a very sexist, of-the-era story.

Next is 10 pages of Andy Capp cartoons, with a couple of intro paras of course describing his origins. The cartoons evolve from 1-panel to 3-panel affairs. And you get to see why Andy Capp has become so popular as the strips here are simple, yet genuinely funny.

It’s onto longer serial strips again next, this time for Romeo Brown, a ladies-man detective. These are much more light-hearted than the Garth “adventure” style stories from before, with two tales full of fun as Romeo Brown gets into all sorts of scrapes involving a healthy dose of danger and women.

Useless Eustace is next. His intro talks about his “extremely round and extremely bald head” leading me to think of Karl Pilkington. Perhaps Useless Eustace was the Karl Pilkington of his day.

A few pages of Calamity Gulch single-gag cartoons follow, Calamity Gulch being a little Western town, with Cowboys and Indians featuring.

Then to finish is Scorer, a story strip again, about footballer Dave “Scorer” Storry, a scorer on and off the pitch it seems. This particular story sees him have a psycho female fan on the warpath for him, causing him a lot of off-field aggro, whilst also off the pitch he meets his girlfriend Ulrikka for the first time. Meanwhile on the pitch he helps Tolcaster reach his first Euro final. 

So all-in-all a selection of the Mirror’s cartoons over the years that, although a non-Mirror reader, I found enjoyable with good artwork and good fun plentiful.

This book is out of print but is listed on Amazon HERE.

World Cup Final in Danger featuring Naranjito by Lynne Bradbury and Graham Marlow

This is a comic strip story about Naranjito, the 1982 World Cup Mascot, and his friends, who appear to be other fruits.

The caper starts with them watching football on the TV only for the transmission to be interrupted because the evil Dr. Mantis wants to announce to the world that he has some dastardly deed lying in wait for them, as you do. Naranjito and his friends then go about solving it, and they are very clever which leads them to the Madrid football stadium. However Dr. Mantis has some spies out who capture them and take them to Dr. Mantis’s James Bond villain-esque base. Yet they still manage to escape and save the day so that the World Cup final gets played.

The comic strip is very primitive in the way the drawing and colouring is done. The story though is very fast-moving and suspenseful although things do conveniently happen (one of the friends happens to be a pilot, they easily slip out of some ropes they’re tied in, they have some useful gadgets …) and they are too clever for their own good easily getting to the bottom of something much faster than anyone would. But for a bit of World Cup memorabilia it might be worth getting if you can track down a copy.

(It is listed on Amazon here.)

Asterix Omnibus 1 by Goscinny and Uderzo

This book combines the first three Asterix adventures into one volume, thus it is the ideal place to start if you're new to his stories.

The first is Asterix the Gaul which introduces many of the themes that follow in the following 30-odd books: the premise of a Gaulish village resisting against the might of the Roman army; the Romans getting a good biffing from those villagers whenever they attempt to take it; Asterix's craftiness; the magic potion as produced by the druid, Getafix, that gives those who drink it great strength; Obelix who has permanently high levels of strength due to falling into the potion as a boy and he can never have it again as the consequences would be tragic, yet he does want it; Obelix's love of wild boar...

The story is good too. It tells the tale of the Romans sending a spy into the village to find out where their great strength comes from which leads to a kidnap plot on the druid, and Asterix gets involved too, but all ends happily with a great banquet to celebrate (another theme carried through into the other books).

The drawings themselves are a little cruder and less refined than the later books, which is understandable given this is the first.

The second is Asterix and the Golden Sickle. Getafix the druid breaks his golden sickle so Asterix and Obelix need to travel to get it from the only sickle maker Getafix considers worthy. That means a trip to faraway Lutetia (Paris). Trouble is that when they arrive the sickle maker can't be found and the only golden sickles they can buy are on the black market at over-inflated and unaffordable prices. This is all bad news because Getafix needs it urgently for the imminent annual druid conference.

The drawing style is still developing at this stage in the series, and the big village feast image at the end is not there (although the customary feast still takes place) but this is still a classic Asterix tale featuring barbarians, bandits, Romans and much more. What more do you need?

The third Asterix adventure is Asterix and the Goths. It starts with Getafix getting ready to leave the village for the annual druid conference (which is what he was getting ready for in the previous book, although both are still stand-alone). Unfortunately Getafix ends up getting kidnapped by the Goths who need a druid to help them invade the Roman-invaded France. It is down to Asterix and Obelix to rescue him.

A great story with the Goths talking in Gothic text, and lots of humour too what with all the running battles going on and such. The village feast scene returns at the end too. A classic Asterix tale to end this trio of stories. Trouble now is you'll be wanting to read the others.

(This book is listed on Amazon here.)

Asterix and the Goths by Goscinny and Uderzo

This is the third Asterix adventure. It starts with Getafix getting ready to leave the village for the annual druid conference (which is what he was getting ready for in the previous book Asterix and the Golden Sickle, although both are still stand-alone). Unfortunately Getafix ends up getting kidnapped by the Goths who need a druid to help them invade the Roman-invaded France. It is down to Asterix and Obelix to rescue him.

A great story with the Goths talking in Gothic text, and lots of humour too what with all the running battles going on and such. The village feast scene returns at the end too. A classic Asterix tale.

(This book is listed on Amazon here.)

Asterix and the Golden Sickle by Goscinny and Uderzo

This is the second Asterix book after Asterix The Gaul. Getafix the druid breaks his golden sickle so Asterix and Obelix need to travel to get it from the only sickle maker Getafix considers worthy. That means a trip to faraway Lutetia. Trouble is that when they arrive the sickle maker can't be found and the only golden sickles they can buy are on the black market at over-inflated and unaffordable prices. This is all bad news because Getafix needs it urgently for the imminent annual druid conference.

The drawing style is still developing at this stage in the series, and the big village feast image at the end is not there (although the customary feast still takes place) but this is still a classic Asterix tale featuring barbarians, bandits, Romans and much more. What more do you need?

(This book is listed on Amazon here.)

Asterix the Gaul by Goscinny and Uderzo

This is the first Asterisk novel, thus it introduces many of the themes that follow in the following 30-odd books: the premise of a Gaulish village resisting against the might of the Roman army; the Romans getting a good biffing from those villagers whenever they attempt to take it; Asterix’s craftiness; the magic potion as produced by the druid, Getafix, that gives those who drink it great strength; Obelix who has permanently high levels of strength due to falling into the potion as a boy and he can never have it again as the consequences would be tragic, yet he does want it; Obelix's love of wild boar...

The story here is good too. It tells the tale of the Romans sending a spy into the village to find out where their great strength comes from which leads to a kidnap plot on the druid, and Asterix gets involved too, but all ends happily with a great banquet to celebrate (another theme carried through into the other books). 

The drawings themselves are a little cruder and less refined than the later books (just look at Obelix on the cover and compare him to the way he looks within), which is understandable given this is the first, but this is the ideal place to start if you’re new to Asterix.

(This book is listed on Amazon here.)