Comics Squad: Lunch!

This second volume of Comics Squad features some pretty heavy hitters in its line-up. Most of the stories within are humorous, but a few are actually pretty serious. In all, I liked the range of stories and art styles, and I felt this book would be a great introduction to comics for many young readers. Or, because it features so many established creators and characters, it would be a great read for more ardent comics fans as well.

I felt that the standout story was by Cece Bell, about a young girl who is very picky about her meals and particular about her lunch routine. I would like to say that she learns to branch out from her ways, but instead I was treated to one of the weirdest manifestations of nut allergies I have seen.

Other standout stories come from the Holm siblings who gave us another fun and funny Babymouse tale.

I also really enjoyed Jason Shiga's take on a choose-your-own-adventure story that reads like a kid's version of Meanwhile. Though I have to admit in the end I kind of had to cheat on the premise, because I could not get the darn tubes to match up with the stories (I blame operator error). And it is worth noting that this story had some funny bits but not a happy ending.

Humor is also mostly absent from the short Hazardous Tales entry from Nathan Hale, but I still appreciated his version of a peculiar World War II naval battle. He makes great nonfiction, and it is good to see such work rounding out this collection.

Among the other tales here include Jeffrey Brown's "Cave Soup" featuring Lucy & Andy Neanderthal, which acts as an introduction to a forthcoming book (series?) and a look at Lunch Lady when she was just a kid. The only real clunker in the bunch was the Peanuts piece, which made me a bit sad. There are so many good Schulz stories, but this one was a studio-created one that I found insipid. More an 8-page commercial for Snoopy than a story really.

Almost every review I have read about it had great things to say about this book. Andy and Gwen commented that "The eight stories collected in the anthology are relatively short, making them ideal for reluctant readers or for readers who are new to comics." Kirkus Reviews summed it up as "One rotten apple aside, a second helping of tasty treats." The Mayor of Bookopolis called it "the ultimate 'sampler platter' of graphic novels."

Comics Squad: Lunch! was published by Random House, and they have some more information about it here.