Nana Kumi-Amankwah and Nick Vollmer’s Lil’ Hero Artists #1 (of five), new this week, is a fun little story for kids who want a very Western alternative to traditional manga.

Featuring a group of characters who sort-of resemble 1980s cartoon characters (like the Shirt Tales, The Power Rangers or Voltron, they take a theme–in this case they’re all artists–and base their superheroic powers and adventures on those properties), the first issue of Lil’ Hero Artists is an origin story in which Jason and Jamie Deroga, twin brother and sister, gain powers after an encounter with a mysterious raccoon-man in a trench coat and fedora.

The series is the runer-up from Alterna Comics’s 2007-2008 submissions contest, and has garnered some really kind comments from Alterna’s editors and other creators (Michael S. Bracco of Novo and Birth is credited on the back comparing the book to Bone, which might be a bit over the top).

Like much of what you see in manga, these characters have animalistic features, and while some characters appear clearly as a raccoon, a cat or something else, some are harder to pinpoint (mouse ears and a tiger tail on one?), and the Derogas are entirely human.

At the start of the issue, we’re introduced to a pair of the Deroga’s friends–Sally and Ken–who appear at an opportune moment to assist Jason in becoming a cat-looking superhero after his sister is abducted by Mr. Raccoon.

Before the story ever gets into our heroes, it’s explained that these powers come from an alien race of artists who accomplish everything through art, rendering war and violence moot. Of course in fantasy fiction, a peaceful and violence-free society is always easily subjugated by nasty, nasty villains as there is simply no means to fight back against a powerful and evil dictator.

With well-rendered, minimalist art, a beautifully-colored first issue and simple-but-nifty character designs, this should be a fun diversion for very young kids, although the preposterous and predictable story (so far and, from what I can see, forthcoming) will make it a tough pill to swallow for anyone much older than six or seven. Realistically this is a great “teaching your kid to read” comic, or at least a great “teaching your kids to read comics” comic, as the panel structure is simple, clean and direct and it’s always clear what’s going on and who’s talking.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 1:25 am and is filed under News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.