Eric Colossal

What is an adventure chef you might ask? Well think of your typical hero/warrior that goes out to make a name for himself and encounters magic and adventure and perhaps some good friends and probably bad (or at least edible) food along the way. And you’re kinda of on the right track. Our hero, Rutabaga, is a young chef who wants to explore the world and find all manner of unique creations and concoctions to cook with and make. He’ll travel to the deepest parts of the jungle to find show more mushrooms that only grow on ancient powerful artifacts. He’ll make soup out of king’s head squash and he’ll travel with his trusty companion pot (a walking magical pot of course!) And since Rutabaga is a serious chef he can make a dish out of just about anything. And that’s where the second twist comes in to the story as we get to find out just what he can make.

Rutabaga is just a fun character to see and follow his adventures. He’s funny, engaging, and even though he’s a serious chef, he’s kinda of the everyman, someone that we can all relate to. I mean think about it if you ended up in a hero/warrior’s barbarian story who would you rather be? The dude that gets to fight the dragon? Or the one that gets to figure out how to cook the dragons eggs? Me? I’m going with the dude that gets to figure out how to cook the dragon, even though it isn’t easygoing at all. I mean how do you feed a lizard that doesn’t eat??? Even better we get little recipes to see what he’s doing! Granted we can’t really follow along, because we don’t have access to the same ingredients, but…if we did we could cook along with him.

The artwork, while relatively simplistic, works really well for the story and I enjoy seeing the character designs (especially the cuddly lizard). The character design is where Eric puts most of the focus, which I find a great thing. I love seeing how he plays off the stereotypes to give us characters that we kinda of expect…that then go somewhere completely different. Take Rutabaga for example. When we first see him we think Indiana Jones/warrior and then we’re led somewhere completely different. The same thing happens with the king who appears gruff and majestic…and then starts asking one of the characters to put in a good word with his mom for him. The characters just come to life on the page. The backgrounds are relatively minimal and when Eric does have backgrounds they can sometimes…overwhelm the characters a bit. But that doesn’t happen often thankfully. Overall the artwork is really enjoyable.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that takes a bit of inspiration from hobbits and has three breakfasts a day. Or anyone that just likes a different twist on an old tale. You won’t regret giving this comic a read. I give it four out of five stars for a great adventure!

ARC provided by NetGalley show less

Lily and her friends stumble upon a haunted mansion and spend their whole summer trapping ghosts, helping them to resolve their unfinished business.

This book was interesting in its concept but less appealing (to me at least) in its execution. The story had two seemingly disconnected plotlines that end up connecting thematically. One is a realistic story about Lily being upset that her family is going to move out of town at the end of the summer, with her big fear being that she will lose all show more her friends. The second is the story of the ghost who the friends find in the mansion and how he came to not only be a ghost himself, but also how he turned the whole town into a giant ghost trap. The storylines both resolve by the book's conclusion, and Lily learns to let go of the past and look forward to the future after seeing how Oleander didn't do that, resulting in all this chaos.

So, that's all super lovely and makes me want to rate the book much higher. What I didn't like was the cartoonifying of such a story. It's more than just the illustration style, which is completely unrealistic and overdoes emotions by having a character's mouth or eyes take over their entire face in expressive moments. It's also the style of storytelling, which is superficial on character development for everyone but Lily and, to a less extent, Oleander. I couldn't remember the names of Lily's friends, or rather which name went with which character, but it didn't actually matter because they were all less than one note. In fact, a running joke is that a pair of them are identical twins that no one can tell apart, even though they wear shirts with their initials blazoned on them. The whole thing read like a frenetic cartoon -- exactly the kind I don't like to watch.

That being said, that level of energy and ridiculousness are probably exactly why kids will like this book. And the story itself does have some good messaging ultimately, so there are worse things for them to pick up. But for me personally, it just wasn't my cup of tea. show less

Ok, first in the interests of absolute honesty, I have to admit that the first thing that came to mind when I read this is a book called Wonton Soup by James Stokoe, which is absolutely NOT appropriate for children.

*pause while you all go google it*

So, moving on! The story opens with a mysterious, round-headed fellow searching the deepest, darkest jungle for a legendary sword...on which grow Legendary Bell Topped Mushrooms! Delectable! He's Rutabaga, the Adventure Chef, and after a little show more explanation to the adventurers searching for the sword (really, he just wants the cool mushrooms) joins forces with them. They're trying to save their town from a marauding monster, he's just looking for new tastes and exquisite dishes. What can a chef with nothing but a magical pot do to help?

This is a fun, silly, story with equal amounts of recipes and monster-slaying. The ARC was in black and white, but the final book will be in color and, judging from the cover, Rutabaga at least has darker skin (although honestly he looks rather more like his namesake than a person anyways...). The art is busy with lots of thick lines and vigorous activity. It grabs the eye and moves the reader on to the next chapter of the story immediately, although struggling readers may find it more difficult to follow the action.

Verdict: Fans of adventure/fantasy with a touch of comedy will enjoy this quirky graphic novel. It's hard to think of a really good read-alike to compare it to, since it's fairly unique in my experience, but it should be a hit with older middle grade kids who want something fun to relax with over the summer.

ISBN: 9781419713804; Published March 2015 by Amulet/Abrams; ARC provided by publisher at ALA Midwinter 2015; Purchased for the library show less

I always like discovering new webcomics to read (and keep up with) and one that I was recently introduced to was Rutabaga the Adventure Chef. I can’t remember who introduced me to it, but whoever it was thank you! Because this is one webcomic that I’ve really enjoyed reading and has a rather unique characters, awesome story lines, and a sense of humor that you probably won’t find in too many other places. I had the chance to meet Eric at TCAF and was absolutely thrilled that he has a show more print collection of this comic that I could take with me to enjoy. Plus it has bonus features! I’m really happy to have the chance to review this comic for y’all.

What is an adventure chef you might ask? Well think of your typical hero/warrior that goes out to make a name for himself and encounters magic and adventure and perhaps some good friends and probably bad (or at least edible) food along the way. And you’re kinda of on the right track. But with some exceptions. First of all our hero, Rutabaga, is a young chef who wants to explore the world and find all manner of unique creations and concoctions to cook with and make. He’ll travel to the deepest parts of the jungle to find mushrooms that only grow on ancient powerful artifacts. He’ll make soup out of king’s head squash and he’ll travel with his trusty companion pot (a walking magical pot of course!) And since Rutabaga is a serious chef he can make a dish out of just about anything. And that’s where the second twist comes in to the story as we get to find out just what he can make. Even better we get little recipes to see what he’s doing! Granted we can’t really follow along, because we don’t have access to the same ingredients, but…if we did we could cook along with him.

The artwork, while relatively simplistic, works really well for the story and I enjoy seeing the character designs (especially the cuddly lizard over to the left). The character design is where Eric puts most of the focus, which I find a great thing. I love seeing how he plays off the stereotypes to give us characters that we kinda of expect…that then go somewhere completely different. Take Rutabaga for example. When we first see him we think Indiana Jones/warrior and then we’re led somewhere completely different. The same thing happens with the king who appears gruff and majestic…and then starts asking one of the characters to put in a good word with his mom for him. The characters just come to life on the page. The backgrounds are relatively minimal and when Eric does have backgrounds they can sometimes…overwhelm the characters a bit. But that doesn’t happen often thankfully. Overall the artwork is really enjoyable.

I highly recommend this webcomic (and the book) to anyone that takes a bit of inspiration from hobbits and has three breakfasts a day. Or anyone that just likes a different twist on an old tale. You won’t regret giving this comic a read. (Just as a side note chapter 3 hasn’t been posted online yet, but probably will be shortly.) show less