Thursday, January 21, 2016

Batman, Superman And Origami

Comic books are bigger than ever.  Movies, TV shows, toys, games, apparel-anything and everything have jumped on the super hero bandwagon.

DC Comics characters can be seen everywhere.  Superman, Batman and other DC Comics heroes and villains have become pop culture icons.

DC Comics are some of the most popular in the world.  New readers sign on every day.  It's a veritable super hero cornucopia.   There is one problem however.

Most DC comics are written for older readers.  The art, while stunning, is extremely detailed and not all of it is kid appropriate.  Comic books have grown up and have almost left their original audience behind-young children.

Capstone/Stone Arch Books has remedied that problem with its delightful new series of Chapter, You Choose and Adventures books specifically designed and written for young readers.

Each book features simple to read text (written for the very young to young reader) and simplified but beautiful artwork reminiscent of the animation art seen on the WB DC various animated series such as Batman and Superman.

The clean, less cluttered art makes it simple and enjoyable for young readers to follow along in each story.

Recently Capstone/Stone Arch Books sent me a sampling of their DC Comic Book titles and I have to say I am impressed.

As a longtime comic book reader I enjoyed looking through each book.  I was immediately struck by the quality of the art, the engrossing text and the overall high standard of printing and binding.

Two Batman Comic Chapter Books and six Batman You Choose Books capture the look and feel of the Dark Knight's adventures.

The two Chapter Books have full-color comic book pages intermingled with high-adventure text and include bio pages of the main characters along with a comic book art breakdown. 

Adventures follow Batman against Man-Bat and Poison Ivy and Batman versus the Scarecrow.
Batman You Choose adventures pit Batman against Bain, Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, the Joker, the Riddler, Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze.

Each book offers young readers multiple outcomes for each story depending on what selection they choose.  It allows young readers to take part in the story and creatively draw out a conclusion. 

Full-color, full-page illustrations move each story along.
Like the Batman Chapter Books the Superman Chapter Books intermingle full-color, full-page, multi-panel comic book pages with the text stories.

Superman faces off against Lex Luthor and the Parasite and Darkseid and his minions.  Both books are exciting and real page-turners. Four Amazing Adventures Of Superman mini-books are chapter books written by Benjamin Bird.

The text is simple, written for very young children and the spot art, once again, look very much like the WB animated style.  Colorful sound effects text blurbs are sprinkled throughout the text.

The four books spotlight Bizarro, Aquaman and Black Manta, Supergirl and Shazam! and Mister Mxyzptlk.  Young kids are sure to love them.

For something completely different check out the DC Super Heroes Origami book featuring 96 pages of illustrated origami for perfect folding projects for Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, other DC villains and heroes, weapons, vehicles, symbols, and more as only origami master John Montroll can provide them.

Easy-to-follow instructions allow kids to put together these exciting origami projects.  It makes for hours of fun and a great way to improve children's dexterity and assembly skills.