If you’ve been into the store lately, maybe you’ve noticed our new “All Ages” comics section. In addition to that, Tracy (mom, teacher, and avid comic reader), Sarah (third-grader, age 8 ) and Shelby (fifth-grader, age 11) Edmunds have graciously given us permission to post some of their all ages comics columns here! Our plan is to post one review a week, so check back soon for more!

The Mighty Skullboy Army by Jacob Chabot (Dark Horse)

Tracy: We discovered Jacob Chabot and his Mighty Skullboy Army mini comics at the San Diego Comic-Con as he was sharing a table with Chris Giarrusso (Mini Marvels, G-Man, and the best website ever). Then, Chabot went on to win the Dark Horse new talent competition which has resulted in a trade of Skullboy goodness – yay! The girls will give you a good idea what it’s all about, but basically Skullboy is the world’s most evil elementary student, who, assisted by robot Unit 1 and monkey Unit 2, attempts to rule the world. Throw in a bunch of other fun characters – Mod Dog, Booger Ralph, Kevin the intern, Brutus the bully, Decoy Double #17 – and you get fun for everyone.

Sarah says: This is about this evil guy that’s a skeleton but is a kid and runs an evil corporation but he still has to go to school. The other major characters besides Skullboy are Unit 1, a robot, and Unit 2, a monkey that was made in a science lab to be extra smart but he’s really not. He’s extra dumb. I think that Skullboy and the Units are very cute characters. They look cute, but they don’t act cute – they just try to rule the world. Skullboy just wants to be evil and that’s it. My favorite character is Decoy Double 17 who is a clone of Skullboy. I like him because he is nice, but I feel sorry for him because everybody hates him.

Shelby says: Skullboy is basically a kid with a skull for a head. He has to go to school as he runs his evil corporation. He has two assistants who are a monkey and a robot. The robot is called Unit One and is very smart but very mean to the monkey, yet everyone in the corporation is anyway. The monkey (called Unit Two) was supposed to be the most intelligent animal there ever was but it didn’t happen. He can’t talk and messes around a lot. These three characters terrorize everyone, make a new unit for the corporation (which is a radish that goes psycho and attacks), compete each other with lemonade stands, and get (almost) demolished by the school bully. The art is very simple but it somehow works. I think this is a book for anybody ages 8 and up.

Tracy: Skullboy is right up my alley as I’ve always loved a good mashup of cute and evil. Chabot’s character designs are so yummy, I’m even going to preorder the Skullboy vinyl figure. This is a fun book for all ages and would fit well on library and classroom shelves.

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