HOW TO MAKE AWESOME COMICS

A cheerful guide offering a beginner’s course in designing comics.

Wearing a crisp lab coat with a pen in the pocket and horn-rimmed spectacles, Professor Panels, an anthropomorphized speech bubble, and simian assistant Art Monkey delve into the nuances of making comics. Broken down into 21 “awesome” lessons, they cover such topics as drawing instruction, gathering ideas, structuring a story, character development, and constructing a comic book. Contained within each lesson are activities to be completed within the book, alongside others that can be done beyond its pages. Appendices offer readers a few extra drawing how-tos. Professor Panels is the straight shooter who presents the basic ideas and is delightfully offset by Art Monkey, who keeps the tone light with an occasional fart joke. With each lively lesson spanning only a page or two and splashed with a vibrant palette of colors, the instructions are simple and inviting. Seasoned comics veterans might fare better elsewhere; covering the most rudimentary of steps from having a writing utensil to how to fold paper to create a pamphlet, this lighthearted manual is best suited for a younger audience or those who are totally new to comics and looking for a jumping-in point.

A friendly and engaging orientation for emerging comics creators, although the activity pages make this one for home collections rather than library use.