Clerks (The Lost Scene) by Kevin Smith

Title: Clerks (The Lost Scene)
Author: Kevin Smith
Publisher: Oni Press
Rating: WORTHY!

Penciled by Phil Hester
Inked Ande Parks

For those familiar with Kevin Smith's movies, this will be standard boilerplate stuff. It's not really a lost scene - merely one they couldn't afford to pay for when they were making the movie Clerks, so it was cut from the script. I believe it was included in the animated series, which I've not seen. Now, using Kevin Smith's script and artwork by Hester and Parks, it lives, if only in static pictorial format.

If you're a huge fan of the movie, which I'm not (although I do think it worth watching), then you might enjoy this. Otherwise it probably won't be of much utility to you unless you're really into Smith and/or gross-out comics. It is funny, I admit!

The story is of Dante and Randal (the two clerks from Clerks, of course) going to Julie Dwyer's funeral, and an unfortunate incident with some mislaid car keys and an open casket. There's a three page intro featuring Jay and Silent Bob, followed by 17 pages of story and finally a one page outro, and that's it. The artwork is grey-scale, and it and the script are very average, but I do recommend it for fans.

Viminy Crowe's Comic Book by Marthe Jocelyn & Richard Scrimger

Title: Viminy Crowe's Comic Book
Author: Marthe Jocelyn & Richard Scrimger
Illustrator: Claudia DáVila
Publisher: Random House
Rating: WORTHY!

DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review.

"After the best morning of his life, Wylder Wallace faced a big decision. French fries or onion rings?" so begins this charmer. Wylder is at the Toronto Comic Con, but unfortunately for him, he doesn't realize he's about to run into Addy, who is equally unaware that she's about to step into the very comic her uncle just finished writing, samples of which were supposed to be distributed at that same comic con.

Wylder Wallace and Addy Crowe meet by accident in the food court of the Toronto comic con, and instantly dislike each other, but Wylder is attracted by her latest edition of Viminy Crowe's comic book starring Flynn Goster, suave, er gentleman of fortune, and Isadora Fortuna, lady adventurer. He can’t understand how she got this comic ahead of its official release, until he figures out that she's actually the niece of the comic book's creator. Before long, both of these kids end-up inside the comic, and their very presence precipitates problems aplenty, with characters acting in character, but doing things they were never originally drawn to do. Soon the whole world of the comic is chaotic!

Viminy is depending upon the success of this, the third comic in his new series, to finally dig him out of the financial hole he was in, so it’s essential that Addy and Wylder figure out what’s gone wrong and put it right, which of course, they inevitably do, but not without a string if adventures and mishaps along the way. They both end-up inside the comic accidentally, but resourceful as they are, they soon figure out how to navigate within it, although they do have some amusingly unexpected incidents as they learn. They also learn how to work together, and naturally come to value and depend upon each other, and as they do so, they appreciate the contribution each makes to their success. A lot of YA authors could learn how to write relationships based on this one between Addy and Wylder.

My biggest complaint was that this story went on too long. I think 300-plus pages was a bit too much for the story to bear, and for me it began to drag somewhat after page 200 or so. Other than that, I have absolutely no complaints. The writing is hilarious, the adventures fun and plausible within the framework of the story. DáVila's artwork is perfect; I wish I had the skill she exhibits in creating the look and feel of the comic that we’re reading about. The villain is suitably villainous, and his mad inventions delightfully mad. The plot is perfect and reasonable for the story and age range. It's nothing earth-shattering but appropriately villainous, which is exactly what it needs to be. In short, and apart from the length, it was as perfect a story as you could write in my opinion.

Addy is a treasure: she's strong, feisty, fearless, resilient and determined - a female character to be proud of. Again, YA authors please take note! She has a pet rat, which is actually fine. Too often in this kind of story there's a pet which is so saccharine as to be sickly, but the rat was perfect; then again I'm biased. I adore pet rats! If such an animal had not evolved some 70 or so million years or so ago, we humans wouldn’t be here today. Respect the rat!

Note that this is a novel, and not a comic book, but there is a frequent and welcome intrusion of the comic illustrations into the text - with comic action words (zap! Thwip!) appearing at various points, and comic panels shamelessly appear, sometimes singly, sometimes a whole page. In some ways it’s reminiscent of Christopher Woodson's Havoc and its predecessor, Malice, but I think this is done better, with the text and comic portions better integrated and not as clustered.

This comic is aimed at a pre-young adult audience, but I read and enjoyed it and I'm not afraid to admit it - and I'm nowhere near that age group! I recommend this as a fun and inventive read, and which contains some valuable lessons, and not only for the children in the age group at which it’s aimed, but also for would-be writers who want to find out how it’s done and done well.

Plants vs. Zombies: Lawnmageddon by Paul Tobin and Ron Chan

Title: Plants vs. Zombies: Lawnmageddon
Writer: Paul Tobin
Artist: Ron Chan
Publisher: Diamond Book Distributors
Rating: worthy
Other Credits:
Matthew Rainwater - colorist
Steve Dutro - letterist

DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this graphic novel nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration of any kind for this review. Since this is a new novel, this review is less detailed so as not to rob the writer of their story.

This is a great story for a younger audience. It's really funny and commendably depicts a young boy and girl working as a team, co-opting the mutant plants the girl's somewhat loopy uncle has developed, to fight a massive plague of zombies. The pants are inventively created, as are their attacks, and the zombies are charmingly menacing. The girl is Patrice Blazing, who introduces herself (in Nate's tree house) as a professional tree house investigator. In turn, Nate Timely introduces his self as an aspiring cowboy astronaut. They hurry around their home town thinking up ways to beat the zombies, their brains constantly in peril of either exploding from all the hard thinking they're doing, or of being eaten by the zombies. Eventually they win the day, of course, through pluck, inventiveness, cooperation, ad wise-cracks, and in doing so, and pass on a lesson about the importance of promoting healthy plant growth and fighting pollution. By why do the trees get no mention? Hmm? They're plants too!

In conclusion I recommend this highly, both for its important sub-textual message regarding the environment, and for its good entertainment value.