Marc Jackson’s latest comic is an all ages tale about a cat named Cat Stevens, a pizza delivery boy, and a monster who orders pizzas to get a nice meal — that consists of delivery boys and not the pizzas. It’s an all ages book like his last comic (which we loved) and it comes out at the MAAC-POW! comic art festival July 1st. We got our hands on a copy to give you the review you deserve!
So what’s it about?
Check out our preview to see it!
Why does this book matter?
Told in a comic style not unlike Hanna-Barbera cartoons, Jackson offers a colorful and cartoony world for kids and adults to enjoy. His use of alliteration and silly plots gives it a charm that’s hard not to love.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
This is definitely an all ages book and probably more for the young teen set. Even younger kids will dig it, but some of the humor might go over their heads. The general plot is simple, but fun, and it tells a story that makes it easy to turn the pages and see what comes next. Told via mostly two panels per page, Jackson’s book has a slower and easy going pace. That makes the story feel slow at times, but also focuses your attention on the dialogue.
Aside from the art, Jackson’s dialogue is particularly striking due to the lettering and silly Saturday morning cartoon vibes. That includes characters making obvious remarks on what is happening and generally being a tad kooky.
The design of the characters is quite good with a simplistic style that does a lot with little. Cat Stevens for instance, has a five o’clock shadow and wears a red leather jacket like he’s some kind of cool guy from Grease. The monster is silly looking and not at all scary with a bird-like charm. Kids will enjoy the visuals and there’s good use of colored backgrounds (always one color even when there is detail) to allow the characters to pop off the page.
The visual style is quite nice.
It can’t be perfect can it?
The slower pace–due to the two panels per page storytelling–does move at a glacial pace at times. Characters seem to stand around talking not pushing the plot forward which can be boring. I found myself wishing it’d get on with it already.
The general premise of the book is all ages, which means it’s not for those looking for complex character work or details on the world. It’s a fun and good looking book, but I doubt anyone would want to read it more than once.
Is It Good?
Jackson offers up a new tale with the same great visuals of his previous book. The overall work is fun and will be loved by the younger crowd and the older crowd should have no trouble enjoying the art.
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