Late For School?

By Mike Pellerito

LATE FOR SCHOOL?

At this point most students have settled into there fate and are hopefully doing well in school. The last of the thoughts of summer fun are now fading to anticipation waiting for winter break. The transition from summer freedom to the confines of school was always rough personally speaking. However, a couple of really great reads almost make one wistful for those bygone school days. Almost.

Last April Alex Simmons tapped into a quite revolution in comics these last few years. After so many years of kids comics being pushed around, and in some cases almost being pushed out of comics, kids comics pushed back. The event was held at a place of higher learning, Bronx Community College. Ironic because for so many years comics were the last thing schools wanted in their hallowed halls. Now they stock the libraries shelves with comics.

Alex and his Kids Comic Con will be back for more this march. You can read the press release below.

Kids Comic-Con Set for March
The second annual Kids Comic-Con will return to the campus of the Bronx Community College in New York City, Saturday, March 29, 2008 featuring a day of comics events designed for young readers. Kids Comic-con founder Alex Simmons also announced that next year the show will launch the Kids Comic-Con Comics Awards to honor the best comics for kids and their creators; and he also announced that the New York Comic-Con will become a sponsor. Once again, Simmons emphasized that KCC will focus on bringing young people, comics professionals, parents, librarians and teachers together to have fun with comics, but also to learn more about educational potential of the comics medium. And once again Simmons emphasized that there will be “no gore, extreme violence, nudity, or vulgarity. Just tons of funs.” The Bronx Community College is located at University Ave at 181 Street in the Bronx. ---

Now is the time to start the clarion horns a blowin'!!!

Alex

It was a great event and it will certainly include Archie Comics and yours truly again. Maybe this is the place to do the most brilliant convention gimmick ever:
CLICK HERE


The first Kids con was really great. The amount of wonderful talent there plus so many great projects that were great to learn about was a real eye-opener. Not to mention a comic convention that actually had lots of kids.

The Kids Love Comics organization was there too. It was one of the first meetings face to face with KLC (Kids Love Comics.com) John Gallagher (Buzzboy), Rich Farber (Roboy Red) and Jane Smith Fisher (WJHC). That last one turned out to be the most fortuitous of the lot.

WJHC happened to be something one of the Archie boses was interested in. Despite virtually no support from the traditional comic outlets this series was doing very well in schools and especially in libraries. A lot of favorable comparisons to Riverdale’s own teens were being made and maybe there might be an opportunity for something.

Things turned out pretty well Archie and Jane traded some ideas on how both of our comic kids could reach a larger audience and how we could work together. So far things are going well, and you can expect to see a Jane Smith Fisher Archie tale in the near future. Of course, more on that later. In the meantime here is a quick look on the first two WJHC graphic novels.

WJHC VOL 1- ON THE AIR!
Reading WJHC you might come to a sad realization, that Jackson Hill High School is probably a lot more fun than any school any of us ever went to. The main cast Janey (the catalyst for most things), Ciel (the super trendy), Tara (She is better than you and will tell you), the Skate (he is the one so untraditionally uncool that he is the coolest), Roland (he cause the problems Janey doesn’t) and Sandy (super genius) fight to get the opportunity for a little free speech and express themselves. They get a school radio to do it, although not with out some problems. Think popular teen shows like Hannah Montana and Zack &Cody and you get a pretty good idea of the types of trouble these kids get into. Usually far out adventures lost in the wilderness to brushes with celebrity. If you have a young one who loves reading you find this is right up their alley. With a good mix of strong diverse quirky characters just about everyone has something familiar to latch on to. Jane and her penciler Kristen Petersen, plus inkers Adam Dekraker, Ravil Lopez, Phil Avelli Jr and colorist/letterer John Green help bring this bunch to life.

WJHC VOL 1- ON THE AIR!
W.J.H.C.com
Price: $11.95
Format: 96 pages Color
ISBN-10: 0974423505
ISBN-13: 978-0974423500
Diamond Item Code: SEP032602
Age Level: All Ages - Ages 9-12
Concerns: None

WJHC VOL 2- HOLD TIGHT!
While WJHC vol 1 is a fun read, vol 2 is ridiculously good. Joe Staton is one of the better artists working in comics and is well known for everything from Green Lantern and super powered action to comedy comics like Scooby Doo. His addition to the team really helps solidify the comic and make the enjoyable stories even better. The kids move out of their familiar territory and the adventures get much zanier and more interesting. The radio station is in danger of being shut down, the kids enter a survival reality tv show, and an all out fashion war. Oh, and what do you do when you find your teachers rocking out at a concert? Don’t worry WJHC has the answers.

WJHC VOL 2- HOLD TIGHT!
W.J.H.C.com
Price: $11.95
Format: 96 pages Color
ISBN-10: 0974423513
ISBN-13: 978-0974423517
Diamond Item Code: MAY053163
Age Level: All Ages - Ages 9-12
Concerns: None


Next Tuesday we begin our two-week countdown to perhaps one of the greatest kids holiday-Halloween!


As always if you have a great All Ages project let us know.
Get in touch: mikep(at)silverbulletcomicbooks(dot)com

Check out some new All Ages and Younger Reader comic reads on sale this week:

AUG073384 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #183 $3.69
AUG073399 VERONICA #184 $2.25
AUG073451 SIMPSONS COMICS #135 $2.99
AUG070288 BATMAN STRIKES #38 $2.25
AUG070286 CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #18 $2.25
JUL078179 SHOWCASE PRESENTS TP WORLDS FINEST VOL 01 $16.99
AUG072235 MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS #17 $2.99
AUG072233 MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #29 $2.99
AUG072238 MARVEL ADVENTURES TWO-IN-ONE #4 $4.99
AUG072301 SPIDER-GIRL VOL 9 SECRET LIVES DIGEST TP $7.99
DEC041799 RUNAWAYS VOL 3 GOOD DIE YOUNG DIGEST TP $7.99
JAN072433 RUNAWAYS VOL 7 LIVE FAST DIGEST TP $7.99
JUN073584 DISNEYS DUCKTALES BY MARV WOLFMAN SCROOGES QUEST TP $15.99
AUG074112 ALTER EGO #73 $6.95



Also, check out some great All Ages comic reviews here at Silver Bullet Comic Books. Thanks to reviewers Ray Tate, Robert Murray and Penny Kenny!

Sonic the Hedgehog #180
CLICK HERE

Betty & Veronica Double Digest #155
CLICK HERE

Justice League Unlimited #38
CLICK HERE

Gargoyles #6
CLICK HERE

Amazing Spider-Girl #13
CLICK HERE

Archie & Friends #113
CLICK HERE

PS238 #26
CLICK HERE