All age comic books for June 19

Another new comic book day is upon us and this week has three of the go-to all age comic books. You can pick up any issue of these comic books and it’ll be entertaining (and appropriate!) for elementary aged readers and older. Over in the podcast we’ll chat about Rainbow Brite, Snow White, Scooby Doo and a couple others. For the record: the three go-to comic books that are out this week are Lumberjanes, Scooby Doo Where Are You? and Marvel Action Spider-Man TPB, Vol 1-A New Beginning. Now let’s look at three all age comic books that those in elementary school and older will enjoy.

Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

This Snow White mini-series is for the fans. It’s from Dark Horse Comics and tells the familiar story of Snow, but from her perspective. This is 32 pages of gorgeous art with a story that folks know, but from a slightly different angle. It’s a comic book that those in upper elementary school and older will enjoy mainly due to the vocabulary. This is jammed with lots of words that those younger than 8 might not have the patience to read with their abilities. They’ll love the art and the story, but reading it on their own will be challenging.

Usagi Yojimbo, #1

Usagi!!! Usagi Yojimbo is one of the best all age comic books on the market. This is a reprinted mini-series from our favorite ronin rabbit warrior, but this time he’s in color! It’s a beautiful comic book that will entertain kids in elementary school and up. The violence, albeit with a rabbit ronin warrior, might be too much for those early elementary readers. It shows some mild ninja type, sword violence, but it’s more likely the reading that’ll scare away kids. This isn’t a word heavy comic book, but you do need to be able to read in order to really enjoy it. Ages 9 and up who like action, sword play, ninjas and a great story should check out Usagi Yojimbo.

Rainbow Brite, TPB

Friendship, action, color, a decided lack of color, friendship and curiosity are the keys to Rainbow Brite. This trade paperback from Dynamite Entertainment will enthrall girl readers aged 8 and up. Someone is stealing all of the color and it’s up to a normal girl to discover her super self to save things from becoming a pale shade of white.

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All age comic books for June 12

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It’s new comic book day and that means that some cool new all age comic books are out also. As we’ve previously discussed, some of these comic books are good for middle schoolers, while some will be great for early elementary ages. Use your judgment, ask the person at the comic books store or tweet us @daddymojo for specific questions. We also go over some of the comic books in greater detail on the podcast. Speaking of which, this week we’re talking about Disney Incredibles (and Comics), Star Trek Vs. Transformers, Goosebumps 2, Jim Henson Sirens and more. Here though, are three great comic books for ages as young as 7.

Marvel Action Spider-Man #5

Kraven the Hunter is enough to bring us into a Spider-Man comic book. Marvel Action Spider-Man from IDW Publishing is a beast unto its own. This monthly comic book is flat out awesome for ages 7 and up. It has the action that those ages want, the content that makes it OK for parents to approve and manages to do it all so that it doesn’t love street cred with the middle school kids. Even better, this all age comic book has Miles Morales, Spider-Man and Spider Gwen in the same book.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #45

We’ve always thought of Unbeatable Squirrel as a middle school companion to Deadpool. She’s a superhero, but left of center and this monthly comic book perfectly captures the superhero world. Granted this superhero has the powers of a squirrel and is a teen. This is not the battle, superhero stuff that will appeal to traditional MCU people, most likely. In this comic book, we have a fabulous story with great art that sometimes joins the Marvel Comics story arch. Issue #45 is a War of the Realms tie-in and it doesn’t matter if you’re following that summer story. Unbeatable Squirrel Girl entertains audiences in upper elementary school and up who are looking for fun, wrapped in great story with jamming art.

Plants Vs. Zombies, Volume 13, Snow Thanks

Plants Vs. Zombies is in a tie for THE intellectual property that our nine year-old loves now. He started playing the video game, but gave up playing that and now goes absolutely mental for these comic books or graphic novels. The monthly comic books stopped a couple of years ago. Thankfully, true to their word, they’ve been producing new, original graphic novels that have that Zomboss spirit. This graphic novel series is great for kids 8 and up who want humor, action and just a dose of age appropriate zombie.

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Superhero Action/science-fiction

Meet Forky & play games at the #ToyStory4 RV Summer Road Trip #Alpharetta

There’s a little movie coming out soon, you might have heard about it. Toy Story 4 opens Friday, June 21 and there’s a way to catch some of the gang on the road and out in the wild. The Toy Story 4 RV Summer Road Trip Party is a one-day event that’s stopping in Alpharetta at Avalon from 3-7.

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The Toy Story 4 RV will have a chance to meet Forky and get a photo with him. This will be the only chance to meet Forky in-person, unless you’re headed to a Walt Disney theme park. Bring the cameras, set the googly eyes to roll and save this photo for those year-end cards that’ll be sent out in December.

There will also be some carnival games including “There’s a Snake in My Boot” snake toss and “To Infinity and Beyond” rocket ring toss. Plus, it’s got that Toy Story 4 vibe that you’ve been feeling since the sequel was announced. Also, we’re giving away passes to the Atlanta sneak preview of Toy Story 4.

The Toy Story 4 RV Summer Road Trip Party is free. All you have to do is go, be happy, channel your inner spork or Forky, snap a pic, play some games and it’ll shake up the Summer Tuesday afternoon quite nicely. This is one day only in Alpharetta at Avalon from 3-7.

For our family, #MomoCon gets better each year

There are a couple of things every year that our family earmarks and looks forward to each season. For the boys and I MomoCon has been on that list for the past four years. They’ve loved every minute of it but always left with the same question, “When can mom come with us”? This year the schedules aligned and mom was able to attend MomoCon with us.

It’s important to point out that she’s not really into comic books, anime, cosplay, roleplay or video games. She enjoyed going to MomoCon because of how much fun the kids have had in previous years. Our boys are 9 and 7, they’ve seen a couple movies in the MCU and don’t know too much about anime, other than dad used to live in Japan and has some copies of that magazine in his office.

What they and the parents that I spoke with enjoyed about MomoCon is the atmosphere. During the daytime it’s great for all ages, has cosplay that is out of this world, but still OK for those younger audiences. Granted, there were some creepy clowns that gave out kids the willies, but they were the exception and even those costumes weren’t graphic in nature.

There were many instances of families that cosplay together; some as young as little geeklings who were being pushed around in a stroller or carried by mom or dad. Our two boys stayed for five hours the first day and four hours the second day and had a different, but equally fabulous experience each time.

They love the game area. There is every board game in the world at MomoCon for you to check out and play while you’re there. We started to play a Super Mario themed version of Trouble before the boys got distracted by some costumes and wanted to walk around. A couple hours later we came back through the gaming area and played Jenga.

Right beside that area is the video game area. This year it was broken up into classic arcade games and Asian video games. When it came to playing the games they were all in about the classic games. However, with an eye towards the future they spent more time watching the Japanese console games. They were peppering me with questions about how to play them, but I kept referring them to one of the multitudes of people who were lined up to dance, pound drums or touch cubes as quickly as they could.

Our kids are also 100% down with Con protocol when it comes to vendors. They should touch nothing, ask lots of questions if they’re interested and compliment those who are cosplaying near the tables. The merch was jammed with all manner of KPOP, Japanese manga, anime and statues that pronounce their enthusiasm towards it.

And it was all 100% family friendly. We heard worse language on the train to the event than we did at MomoCon. There are some night time events that skew towards college ages and up, they’re certainly a bit more risqué, but well past the bedtime of a 9 year old. Perhaps it’s something that they’ll enjoy in 10 years when they’re in higher education.

MomoCon happens in Atlanta ever year over Memorial Day Weekend. It’s the friendliest con for families that you’ll encounter because it has the real cosplay that elementary and middle schools will recognize, without the gore or sexuality that might populate other cons.

Extraordinary Birds sneaks into the minds of middle school readers

Twice a year, each year I get insomnia for a couple of nights. It’s due to the spring or fall allergies and I just can’t sleep. This year the spring incarnation of this sleepless paradise snuck up on me and my usual cadre of new science-fiction books were nowhere to be seen. Close to the nightstand was Extraordinary Birds by Sandy Stark McGinnis. From the cover it didn’t seem like the kind of book I would seek out, but you know how the saying goes. True to form, Extraordinary Birds completely defied my expectations and left me concerned, hopeful and wondering if December really is able to fly.

Extraordinary Birds starts out with December, a teen aged girl talking to herself. She’s also high up in a tree.

First thought: she’s suicidal, this book isn’t for me.

However, just as I think that we learn that her foster mother is talking to her and trying to convince her that she is not able to fly.

Second thought: she’s a superhero-this book is like Glass and she’s the Samuel L. Jackson character.

No, it turns out that December has done this before. She’s bounced from foster home to foster home and believes that she has the physical ability to fly like a bird. It’s just that her bird parts haven’t developed or her mental processes haven’t broken through the plane that allows her to transcend what most believe is a reality.

However, her penchant for frustrating foster homes has broken another potential forever home and she’s dispatched to live with Eleanor. She seems like a nice lady, but December has been through this rodeo before so she’s just biding her time until she’s 18 or her bird lady parts develop, whichever comes first.

Eleanor is a different type of foster parent. She gives December her space, allows her to develop her own personality and lives on farm. Eleanor also volunteers at an animal rescue organization.

Third thought: Eleanor brings out December’s inner superpowers.

No, just stop I told myself. Extraordinary Birds lives up to the first name in its title because it plays things very close to the vest and does not go for the cheap story line. This is a well paced and beautifully told story about growing up, being slightly different and trying to figure out the world.

Fourth thought: this is an aviary version of The Breakfast Club.

No, just stop and reread the third thought I had to remind myself. This is a great book that made me not want to go to sleep, despite my insomnia. Alas, true to form, I read for about two hours and then fell asleep with a book on my chest. However, this session of insomnia was different; I didn’t mind not sleeping as I was in good company.

The lessons and morals in Extraordinary Birds will be appropriate for upper elementary school readers. Most likely its sweet spot are those middle school readers who want to get lost in a great book about growing up and learning about how to navigate those mental images and feelings that you think nobody else will understand.

Win tickets to the #Atlanta sneak preview of #ToyStory4

Toy Story 4 is easily one of the most anticipated films of 2019.  Forky is just the character that’s needed right now. It’s true to the way that kids play. Any parent or child will attest to the fact that there is always one homemade toy that manages to work its way into the inner circle of the toy coven. The sneak preview of Toy Story 4 is happening Tuesday, June 18. If you want to win a pair of passes to this movie event and be one of the first ones (outside of Disney brass or Hollywood) to see it, here’s what you need to do.

How to enter: Leave a comment in the blog post letting us know what your favorite toy was growing up. We have 15 pairs of tickets to give away to this sneak preview.

You can also RT this:

This sneak preview of Toy Story 4 is in Atlanta on Tuesday, June 18 at Atlantic Station. We’ll email the winners with complete details so that you’ll be able to plan accordingly. This giveaway will end on June 14 at 9PM. Important: this giveaway is for passes to the sneak preview. You’ll need to arrive early in order to secure your seat as everybody and their brother wants to see Toy Story 4. This showing will be 100% full.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 review

 In an alternate universe Disney PIXAR hasn’t made it acceptable, nay, enviable for an animated feature to be accepted as high entertainment for the entire family. Back then times were simpler, toys were toys and not used as characters to make us ugly cry in movie theaters in front of our children who aren’t sure why we’re crying during a film about toys. In that universe, The Secret Life of Pets 2 is high craft and the sort of entertainment that kids and adults will equally enjoy. Alas, in this universe, The Secret Life of Pets 2 is the sort of kid-only entertainment that those in elementary school will enjoy to ridiculous levels.

Were it not for the presence of Rooster, voiced by Harrison Ford, as the cranky, old time dog who lives on the farm the film would’ve felt like a direct-to-DVD release. It’s not that Ford is entirely the Dwayne Johnson of this film. It’s that the character he portrays is a needed counter balance to the rest of the characters.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 is a hodgepodge of a movie that has three loosely connected plots that eventually come together. Older audiences or those that saw the first one will recognize the format and outlay of how the different ones are constructed and can already place how they’ll come together. At times the film felt like a series of sketches, more akin to a Saturday Night Live five-minute bit, than a feature length film and the three story vignette set up doesn’t help this vibe.

There is the dog trying to learn to be a cat. The dogs that are riding in the car. The humorous Captain Snowball kind of breaks free from this mini-story feeling, but only for a minute.  It’s almost like they had the joke of something happening and then wrote the story around each bit.  Also, ‘feature length film’, is a bit of a stretch for The Secret Life of Pets 2 as it only clocks in at one hour and twenty six minutes. We have a rule of thumb that if a movie can’t hang in there for 90 minutes and be entertaining then it’s not worth being made. To that end, this film utterly fails our test.

As disappointed as we were with the film, our kids, aged 9 and 7 did like it. They liked Captain Snowball, enjoyed the action sequences and laughed at the parts that they should’ve laughed at-that were all shown in one of the trailers that have been released.

Parents: it’s OK. You don’t have to enjoy every film that your children like. My parents sure didn’t like The Apple Dumpling Gang, but I did and that’s OK.  However, the later didn’t cost $80 million to produce. And, The Apple Dumpling Gang has earned $37 million since its 1975 release. Let’s presume that it had a $3 million production cost (which is impossibly high) and that film still has yielded an amazing amount of return. The Secret Life of Pets 2 will not see that amount of return as a percentage or in actual profits, in 35 years.

It’s also worth noting that producers couldn’t have kept Louis C.K as the voice of Max due to the pressure that they would’ve faced. However, Patton Oswalt has a needier, more dependent characteristic about his performance that was immediately noticed by me and other adults. Louis C.K’s version was smarmy and lovable, where as Oswalt’s was more apt to whine and be annoying.

Some audience members will identify with the independence and lessons that are taught in the film. We saw them, but they were all encompassed by Rooster, who did so with fewer words and more humor. The Secret Life of Pets 2 is great for kids, but those over 12 will want to wait until they can stream it.

All age comic books for June 5

It’s new comic book day and we heard something interesting this week that made us think. The premise of their post was the term ‘all age comics’ or ‘all age comic books’ shouldn’t be used. They posited that, in its truest form, an all age comic book is something that can be enjoyed by any age. There are middle school readers, emerging readers and many different levels that can further make that term more confusing.

For the record, what we list here on the post are comic books or graphic novels, in which, some of them will be OK for kids as young as three or five. In the podcast we’ll break down the ages that are best for each of the books that we’re highlighting. Here in the post we’ll also mention the youngest age that would enjoy or for whom the book would be appropriate.

So ‘technically’ all of the comics that you see here aren’t all age comic books. We will provide guidance and presume that you won’t give your kids a Vampirella issue and have them be on their way. Now, over in the podcast we’ll chat about some nice Disney releases, DC Superhero Girls, Science Comics: Cars and more. For now, here are three comics that will interest readers as young as 7.  

Disney/PIXAR Toy Story 4

This is the graphic novel adaptation of stories that happen before and after the events in Toy Story 4. It won’t offer any spoilers about the film, but it’s the same characters that you know, love and will most likely do the ugly cry that you’ll try to hide from the kids this summer.

Marvel Action Avengers #5

Marvel Action Avengers is one of the go-to action/superhero comic out there today. It captures the action, fun and imagination of comic books that will appeal to readers who are 7 and up. This is action that is age appropriate and fun for all, yet being A-OK for those younger elementary aged fans. It’s classic stuff that you’ll save so that your kids can read it in 30 years.

Star Wars Adventures #22

Star Wars Adventures is a close second to being a go-to all age comic book. First off, you have to like Star Wars or science-fiction. If you like either of those then this is one of your go-to comic books. There is action and humor in this Star Wars series, so if you like your Star Wars all Force and no humor, this might not be for you. However, if you’re 7, like action, want a basic primer on the Force and are down with meeting any and all people in the Star Wars universe this is for you.

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Action/Science-fiction

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