THE HAPPY SHOP

Cartoonist Brittany Long Olsen will be having a new graphic novel for middle grade readers, THE HAPPY SHOP, released by Eisner and Havey award winning publisher Oni Press in February 2024. It is promised to be a heartwarming story that tweens and teens are sure to be able to relate to. Do you have a middle grade reader in your home. If so, keep an eye out for Brittany Long Olsen's THE HAPPY SHOP.

In THE HAPPY SHOP, eleven-year-old Darcy is feeling sad and alone after she moves to a new country when she accidentally stumbles into a magical store that sells happy feelings. But when Darcy witnesses a sad feeling accidentally being sold at work, she begins to wonder. Is happiness really the only emotion people need?

“THE HAPPY SHOP shines a light on the deep importance of experiencing a whole range of human emotion, not just happy feelings, and building community with the people we care about,” Brittany Long Olsen commented to ageekdaddy.com about the graphic novel release.

“The story features a contemporary setting with just a light touch of magic," added Oni Press Editor Grace Scheipeter. "And much of that magic is in the dynamic cartooning of Brittany Long Olsen, whose graphic novel is a delight and inspiration."

Brittany Long Olsen is an author, illustrator, and editor. She has lived in three different countries over the past ten years and made comics about her adventures (and culture shock!) in each one. Her happy jar would contain videos of unlikely animal friends. She currently resides with her partner and their dog, Jetpack, near Portland, Oregon.

CARTOONSHOW

Originally released as a web comic strip, CARTOONSHOW from Adventure Time artist Derek M Ballard is coming to print via an Oni Press graphic novel. It will be available in hardcover for $21.99 at Amazon.com on August 2, 2023. Cartoonshow follows the real-life challenges of being a single dad with insightful humor and satirical reflection of contemporary American life.

Derek is a solo parent raising three kids in the American South while trying to make art. Told in a series of free-flowing and often hilarious comic essays, Cartoonshow gets to the heart of the struggle to be a creative person in a society that doesn't value anything other than how much it can grind out of you. Covid, poverty, the failing social safety net, predatory lenders, and literal acts of God can't stop our hero!

“This book of cartoons is a whole slew of dumb, funny, embarrassing, and true things that happened to my kids and me. Stuff that befalls average families every single day,” Derek M. Ballard remarked to ageekdaddy.com. “Oni Press made it possible to support my family while I brought my uncompromised scribbly vision to the page. That's a big deal. Unbelievable really!"

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Cartoonist Attempting to Draw a Star Wars Illustration Every Day Between New Year's Day & Opening of New Movie

To highlight himself as a super fan and promote his twitter feed, cartoonist George Folz kicked off his "Darth Days" campaign on New Years Day with the goal of drawing and tweeting out a new Star Wars illustration from the beginning of the year until Episode VII is released in theaters on December 18, 2015.  You can follow along and look for his drawings at @GeorgeJurard on twitter.  Here's a look at his most recent post that he tweeted out today:

#StarWars #darthdays 11/365 is in the bag. This is my new favorite-- The Emperor is a blast to draw! pic.twitter.com/7NQAqg1JsW
— George Folz (@GeorgeJurard) January 11, 2015

Star Wars fans who want a fun way to count down the days until the next movie debuts should give George Folz a follow and keep an eye out for his original artwork (like the Tatooine Dusk above and Jabba's Slave Girl below) as he tweets his illustrations that pay homage to the artistic vision of another George with the last name of Lucas.

Jeffrey Brown wonders what Middle School would be like as a Jedi in new book

Cartoonist Jeffrey Brown who recently brought us the books "Star Wars: Darth Vader & Son" and "Star Wars: Vader's Little Princess" has a new book set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away coming out in September 2013.  In Chronicle Books' Star Wars: Jedi Academy, after being turned down for a spot in the Pilot Academy's Middle School program tween aged student Roan Novachez is taken under the wing of Yoda who trains him in the ways of the Jedi instead.

While Brown's Darth Vader & Son and Vader's Little Princess are filled with colorfully illustrated humorous sketches similar in characteristic to Gary Larson's The Far Side work but with Star Wars themes, characters and references; Jedi Academy is a vastly different book from his previous two Star Wars ventures.

Jedi Academy in contrast to the artwork shown above from Darth Vader & Son and Vader's Little Princess is more comparable to the style of Matt Groening's Life in Hell comic strips and books.that he created before coming up with the Simpsons. Jedi Academy is mostly in black and white and sketched out as if it was drawn as a journal personally by the main character Roan Novachez.  The artwork appears sketchy and amateurish but that is the creative goal of the author as he portrays the story as coming from the real journal of a middle school jedi ... somewhat like Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets Star Wars.  There are pages of "hand written" journal entries and copies of school documents (admission letter, report cards) to go along with Novachez's sketches and cartoons.  There are also some "photographs" that were either mailed to Novachez or that he took during his adventures and added to his journal and look more like the work in Brown's previous two Star Wars books and show how the author is intentionally providing drawings in this story meant to provide perspective from a tween's view.  A nice touch to the book was the ending which encourages young readers to create their own journals and provides them with tips to what to include in one.

Jedi Academy would be a great book for kids age 8 - 11 to enjoy.  This book is geared more for children  and I personally really didn't find the book that interesting or enjoyable of a read from an adult perspective.  Fans of Brown's previous Darth Vader books need to know this book takes a very different approach to its artwork and layout than those other two books, which I personally really enjoyed reading both with my kids and by myself.  The cover artwork for Jedi Academy appears similar to the artwork in Brown's Darth Vader books so it is important for people to understand that this is not a sequel book to that series but rather a stand alone book that is completely different. That being said I believe this is a cute fun romp of a story with some nice life lessons for younger readers and any book that encourages an appreciation of reading with kids is a plus for this geeky daddy.  Keep an eye out for Jedi Academy for that young padawan  in your life.

DISCLAIMER:  I received a complimentary digital advance pdf copy of "Jedi Academy" from the publisher. The opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive compensation for this review.