The New Brighton Archeological Society
Scott says: The New Brighton Archeological Society by Mark Andrew Smith and Matthew Weldon, published by Image Comics, is one of the very best all ages graphic novels in years. It proves that there can be an outlet to introduce kids to the world of picture-based story telling without pandering to them or horrifying their innocent sensibilities. A recent review by Optimous Douche at Ain't It Cool News effectively captures the spirit of the OGN:
To build this world Smith put a brilliant spin on past literature ranging from children’s tales like Peter Pan, fantasy lore like Lord of the Rings and even a nice smattering of some tales from eastern cultures. Despite the fact I had read most of the source of material, his imaginative take on telling these tales through the eyes of a child made all of the concepts feel as fresh and exciting for me as a reader as they were for the new Brighton Archeologists.The New Brighton Archeological Society
the latest
latest episodes
Bought it for mah baby on Free Comic Book Day after Scott recommended it to me when we were all at your place on x-mas.
It's totally fun.
"horrifying their innocent sensibilities"
Personally, some of my best childhood memories were when my "innocent sensibilities" were horrified.
Looks like a neat book to me, but from what I can tell, it's something that teenagers and adults would like more than the kids it's intended for.
That's not to put it down, (I'm going to order a copy and give it a read!) but rather just a sad commentary on the fact that "all-ages" books are generally not developed for kids, but rather, a vague notion of what adults think kids like.
As a kids' comic book creator myself, I was stunned, when I did my research in the field, to find that kids aged 8-12 prefer photorealism to cartoons and nonfiction to fiction. But as I've studied Piaget and other childhood development observers, I've realized that it's due to the changes kids go through during those years that make them want to eschew things that are "childish" and imitate the adults around them.
@seanjordan: I was thrown by the phrase "an outlet to introduce kids to the world of picture-based story telling" for a bit, but you seem to have closed the cognitive gap.
I still have an image of the toddler in its play pen, holding up a dog-eared volume of Proust to a grownup in exchange for a Dr Suess book. "Hmmm," it thinks, "telling a story with words -and- pictures, what an interesting concept!"
@3 Hmmm... I wonder is that's universal, because at least of here in Europe most of the all-ages comics are cartoonish. Ducks: Anthormophic cartoons, TinTin cartoonish, Luke Luke and Asterix, cartoon/caricature. There's plenty of "realistisc" comics, both home drawn and importet (Marvel, DC, but those physiques became horrible caricatures), but those have an older audience.
seanjjordan: That may be true, about adults liking these books as much if not more so than kids, but I think that that has something to do with the deplorable state of "mainstream" (i.e. superhero) comics, that are allegedly produced for adults but are really created for, and marketed to, a certain sort of arrested-development fan. Marvel Adventures and Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade are much more entertaining than their "regular" counterparts.
Super cute art. Sort of reminds me of Gunnerkrigg Court- I'd love to read this.