Doug TenNapel

Summary: Frank Gallows works sending wayward ghosts back to the afterlife. But one day he makes a mistake and accidentally sends back a living boy - although Garth, the boy in question, isn't too worried, as he's dying of a terminal illness anyways. As Garth finds his way around the afterlife, and learns to navigate the various factions of creatures that inhabit it, Frank has to enlist the help of old allies - and a few old enemies - in order to bring Garth back to the land of the show more living.

Review: Again, imaginative and fun, with a solid emotional core. Some parts I really liked: Garth's relationship with his long-deceased grandfather was touching, the metaphysics of the way the world of the dead interacted with that of the living were neat, and Benedict Arnold made me laugh. Some other parts were maybe not so great: I thought the ending of Frank's story was pretty predictable, and I could have done without the Christian allegory, although at least it's subtle and not particularly in-your-face as it could have been. But overall, it was a creative, entertaining story, with bright, vivid artwork. Plus, what's not to love about a story that has a skeleton horse who becomes one of the most sympathetic characters? 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: This one read a little older than Cardboard, but I'd still recommend it to fans of graphic novels of pretty much all ages, particularly if they like ghost stories or afterlife-y type adventures. show less

Ratfist is your basic average guy. I mean he’s got a girlfriend he’s about to propose to, a steady job,a pet rat, and of course he’s a hero of the city. Well mostly. But he’s about to give the hero biz up after one last case, so that he can marry his girlfriend. But this last case has nothing normal about it. He discovers the Space Tiki who can take the souls out of one creature and give them to another. Which is how Ratfist comes to really look like a rat, with a tail and show more everything. He travels 4 years into the future, again courtesy of the Space Tiki, and discover that the world has drastically changed. And in order to make things right he may have to give himself up entirely.

Doug TenNapel has this habit of creating characters that seem mostly normal, but with flaws (you know the type the ones that you could meet in real life) and by the end of the book they’ve learned some type of lesson. And I love it. Even though the characters can go a bit overboard, I mean this one is a guy dressed in a rat suit, he’s easy to relate to. You can understand why he does what he does, even if you don’t agree with his methods. Even the battles between the heroes and the villains are more battles of gray than black and white. The story has a nice easy to pace to get into and I love the special visit from Earthworm Jim (one of Doug’s other creations) and even that Doug himself appears in the book.

I love Doug’s style and this book is no exception. He has a blocky, line style that really reminds me of some of the old German Expressionist woodcuts that just creative this evocative feeling of movement within the work. Normally Doug’s art is black and white, but this one has the added bonus of having color, just to help make the characters stand out even more. One of my favorite scenes is where Ratfist jumps from the rooftop down into the building below, and while the composition is simple--Ratifsit and no background but vertical lines--the colors make it really stand out and come alive.

If you’re a fan of Doug already this is a must have book. If you aren’t a fan of Doug...why not? Go ahead and pick this one up and give it a read for a rousing good tale. 4 out of 5 stars show less

Cardboard by Doug TenNapel was on the long list for the 2013 Cybils. TenNapel returns to the theme of family bonds being strained as the catalyst for a fantasy adventure. Here, it's a widower and his son, trying to scrape a living out of what's left of the post housing boom construction work.

When it's the son's birthday, the father can only afford to buy a cardboard box but he hopes he and his son can have some making some toys from it. Of course, this being a TenNapel graphic novel, it's a show more magic cardboard box and it's dangerously powerful. Cam and his father's creation comes to life and he instantly becomes a welcome member of their family.

But next door, there's Marcus — the neighborhood bully, whose family situation is even more strained than Cam and his father's. Marcus is full of pent-up rage. Anger plus magic, makes for a potential disaster which Cam, his father, and eventually, Marcus, have to stop.

As with the other TenNapel graphic novels I've read, the artwork is the biggest draw. His drawings are bold, colorful and eye catching. He could easily do a wordless graphic novel. The recurring them of family is another appealing factor, as is the oft-times bizarre fantasy elements. Magic cardboard, isn't something that pops up on a regular basis. All these pieces come together to make TenNapel's books memorable and satisfying. show less

Nnewts: Escape from the Lizzarks by Doug TenNapel is another summer reading selection for middle grade readers. This is the first in a series of graphic novels which follow the adventures of Herc, a Nnewt, who is on both a literal and figurative journey of self-discovery. From the beginning, the reader is launched into this fictional world of creatures called Nnewts and their enemies the Lizzarks. There was a sense that one should already be familiar with characters and backstory. The show more narrative seemed to be all over the place which compounded the issue. I feel like the author was trying to put a spin on the classic 'underdog who surprises everyone to come out on top' but it was all a bit rushed in my opinion. Also, if this is a series I see no reason why the pacing had to be so hurried. I went into this one with fairly high hopes as the first couple of pages seemed quite interesting but this is one of those books that just didn't work for me. However, I'm betting it will appeal to a younger audience. (It is after all not marketed for me so this makes perfect sense.) It will probably come as no surprise to any of you that I have no plans to continue this series but I have recommended it to some of my younger readers who like a lot of blood, guts, and gore. No complaints thus far. :-) The best thing I can say about this particular book is that the color illustrations were very imaginative but the rest of it left quite a bit to desire. 2/10

SPOILER: Straight out of the gate most of the characters are killed off and I feel like this was a lazy way to move the hero's journey ahead. Also, because it happened so early on there was really no emotional attachment or buildup so it served very little purpose (at least from a reader's perspective). show less