Form-4 Books

I have two daughters, ages 12 & 7. Their brother has enjoyed the classic Marvel comic book reprints for years. But have you ever looked for comics for young girls that are worth their reading? Slim pickings! Happily, it's Little Lulu to the rescue!

Both of my girls have had a ball reading and rereading these paperback volumes collecting the classic strip of a bygone era. Even my little one, whose reading skills are just emerging, has her nose in these books constantly (sometimes reading them out loud to me).

They're clever, clean, and genuinely entertaining. My only wish is that they were reproduced in color, instead of b&w. (That would probably triple the price of each installment, though). There is one special color issue, so be sure to snag that one.

I have all the Little Lulu books. I grew up reading Little Lulu comic books and now my children are reading them. Besides being great fun, they tell stories usually involving morals and have great storylines. Why don't they make comics like this anymore?

I recently finished plowing through the collected paperback editions of the classic 1950s "Little Lulu" comics, and wanted to put in my vote... yes! yes! yes! True, it's a little disappointing that the strips are reprinted in black-&-white and not in the original color versions, but the real genius of these works is in the draftsmanship of artists John Stanley and Irving Tripp, and once you get onto their wavelength, even these half-size B&W reprints are a pure delight. They can say so much with such economy -- a single panel of Lulu's unbridled mischief can have you laughing your head off, and here, in this multi-volume collection, you've got a real treasure trove of some of the best graphic-art humor produced in the 20th Century. Great stuff, highly recommended, and major kudos to Dark Horse for making this artwork both available and affordable.

The numbering and publishing order of Dark Horse's "Little Lulu" series is rather confusing. Although "My Dinner with Lulu" was their third release, it is labeled Volume #1 in the series. This is because it reprints the first comic "books" featuring the character; Dell Four Color #74, #97, #110, #115, #120 (published over a two year period, 1945-1946). All 52 pages of content from these five books is included, unfortunately the covers and advertisements are not. And the reprints are black and white, which makes the volumes very affordable if poor substitutes for the original four-color pages.

John Stanley did all the pencils and some of the inking for these five books, in partnership with Irving Tripp. Cartoonist Marge Buell created the characters in 1935 for the Saturday Evening Post and the early comic books had to secure her approval before publication. Judging from the obvious style differences, it is likely that several of Buell's multi-panel one-page SEP stories were included in the comic books and reprinted in this volume.

The 1945-46 drawings are more faithful to Buell's style than later Lulu issues. Note that the characters' mouths are only shown when they are speaking and they have only a single eyebrow line going across their foreheads. Despite this both Buell and Stanley are able to convey an amazing number expressions and emotions.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

While this is 'volume 3' of Dark Horse Comics' reprint series of Little Lulu, it actual reprints the first 5 of the 10 "Four Color" Little Lulu comics (#74, 97, 110, 115, 120) which were published before Little Lulu got her own title. Hopefully volume 4 of the series will reprint the last 5 of the Four Color issues.

Any of Robert Munsch's works are awesome! The kids giggle through his stories, as well as their mom :)

My son is only three and he love all of the Munsch stories in this book. He especially loves Stephanie's Ponytail and Angela's Airplane. Robert Munsch has a unique style of captivating his reader's attention with the right amount of humor and wit. This is a great book to have if you are a Munsch fan.

My daughter is 2 1/2 and she loves all three of the Munsch treasuries that we've purchased. We like all of the stories in all of the books!

Just like the rest of Robert Munsch's books this one is fantastic as well. I don't know who enjoys the book more my daughter or me.

Robert Munsch is my classes favorite author! He is a really funny man.He tackles really strange topics(farts, peeing, etc) and has my class in hysterics. He is a wonderful author for teaching classes to read. He has a lot of predictable text in his books so the classes can read along.One of the nicest things about Robert Munsch is the fact he answers the children's letters. I have written to him at least four times with four different classes and he has written back each time. The reason I like the Munschwork books some much is the print is bigger and the pictures are bigger so the kids can see the both a little bit easier. He has written at least twenty books so I can have a Munsch break every day after lunch. If you want your class to enjoy story time buy Robert Munsch!

I am definitely charmed by Lilian Moore poems, but I also want to tell few words about illustrations.
First thing I noticed about illustrations was... that I could not find them. They just were not separable from the poems in the book. One body and soul, one true love, one poetic story of the city (big or small) for a child (big or small). And this very fact, I suppose, is the greatest success of Roman Karas - extremely gifted artist, who managed to not only reveal his artistic talent but also do it in a very "understanding" manner. Neither did he overpowered nor yielded to the strength of Lilian Moore's poetic images - but matched and mingled his own into, creating, this synthetic artwork, that is greater then just text plus illustrations.
As the good theater starts from garderobe, this book captures the reader from the title pages. No poems were read yet, but the story has started with the image of the house-book - very poetic and very precise concept of the whole book. The book in which turning the new page is like opening new door (painted wood in the background is another grate tip carefully left by illustrator). The house, that opens it's pages letting out it's characters so resembling yourself. Or may be you are the one to step into?
I want to thank Roma for this creak of old doors, smell and touch of old paint, fairy tale of window reflections, that adds it's voice to the poetry of the book.

The Mural on Second Avenue reminds me of the beautifully illustrated poetry books I had as a young child in the 1950's. I remember the pictures inspiring me to memorize, recite and fantasize about the poetry. The Mural on Second Avenue has that same quality. The illustrations using wonderful colors and textures contain little surprises at every turn. A truly charming book for all children.

We liked poems very much, and how artist, Roma Karas,illustrated
them. "Mural on Second Avenue" looks very colorful and "fresh".
We are very glad that we ordered this book.

A delightful book for the whole family. Beautiful illustrations by Roma Karas bring wonderful poetry by Lilian Moore to life. Feel the "silence in the city hushed by snow," look at "how roofs design a sky," "fling yourself into the tree's great pool of shade." Enjoy!

This amazing book happened to be the last for poet Lilian Moore (who died at the age of 95 in 2004) and the first for a young artist Roma Karas. No wonder it combines wisdom and youth, experience and freshness, mystic and realism. Written for kids, the poems and images will remind you of your own childhood, no matter how old you are. You will recognize your own native town in images of New York, no matter what part of the world you were born in. And you will smile at the end of this book, no matter what...

It seems like nearly everyone who has an opinion about nude art has read this seminal work. Sir Clark's arguments are well-formed, thought-provoking, and amply legitimized by references to other sources. If you are interested in the debate surrounding nude art, then you should absolutely read this book, and John Berger's "Ways of Seeing," which includes a chapter where he specifically debates Sir Clark's book. If only our modern politicians could express themselves with such grace and consideration for each other!

Would you want to read someones recollections on art gone by, I doubt it. Perhaps you want to hear the love-less dissection of art by an academic, probably not. Maybe you'd like to see someone capture the beating heart in a subject that by it's very nature evokes stares, of course you do Malcolm. Lord Clark draws you into his diction, not because he wants you to bear witness to the eloquence of his analysis, but because he has remembered that there is more to seeing than meets the eye.

Whether you are a student of the arts, religion, history, or life you will learn from this work. Mr. Clark speaks with the authority of an educated and thoughtful expert on the subject and with the voice of a formidable author as well.

His work is as densely packed with meaning as you might expect to find in the writings of Reinhold Niehbur yet is possessed of a wonderfully literary mask. The writing is so well done, one might accidently read right over the meaning in the haste of seeing what will come next.

If you're the highlighting or underlining type, I'd recommend saving such marking for the second read as more of the true significance bubbles to the fore. Put aside your expectations of a "typical" art history text and prepare for an incredible enlightenment.

Enjoy!

THE NUDE: A STUDY IN IDEAL FORM, a classic investigation and summation, is one of scholar/historian Kenneth Clark's finest works - and that is high powered praise in view of all of his contributions to literature. Few writers inform with such dignity of prose, style, and warmth as Clark and THE NUDE is no exception. This handsome and illuminating volume dates back to 1953 and is based on six lectures given by Clark for the A. W. Mellon Lectures in Fine Arts at the National Gallery in Washington, DC. Clark opens his book with a lyrical treatise "The Naked and the Nude" in which he not only introduces his manner of examining the use of the nude as pictorial image for artists from ancient Greece through the Renaissance to the present, he wraps his scholarly information with personalized psychosocial commentary that is uniquely his own and allows the reader to settle in for the exploration ahead.
Approaching first the male nude ["Apollo"] from the Kouros of 600 BC through the vases, sculptures, reliefs, and paintings from all periods of history, he then moves to two views of the female nude - Venus I [the celestial female form] and Venus II [the woman of earthly form]. Having laid the foundation for the use of the nude in general, he then addresses the artistic emotions of Pathos, Energy, and Ecstasy in a manner that is near novel-like in reading. He closes his lecture series/book with a thought-provoking discussion of how man has viewed the nude through history, vacillating between laud and honor to the depiction of guilt, of the human stain. And finally he demonstrates in "The Nude As An End In Itself" both the occult appropriation of repeated forms and the acknowledged plagiarism of the nude studies from the earliest to the current. The Book is generously illustrated but in the paperback version available the illustrations are in black and white only. This profound and warmly human book is a must for artists and art lovers alike. Highly Recommended. And as is so often the case, Amazon.com does its readers a great service by finding ways to make books of such importance as this available to the public.

THE NUDE: A STUDY IN IDEAL FORM is one of scholar/historian Kenneth Clark's finest works - and that is high powered praise in view of all of his contributions to literature. Few writers inform with such dignity of prose, style, and warmth as Clark and THE NUDE is no exception. This handsome and illuminating volume dates back to 1953 and is based on six lectures given by Clark for the A. W. Mellon Lectures in Fine Arts at the National Gallery in Washington, DC. Clark opens his book with a lyrical treatise "The Naked and the Nude" in which he not only introduces his manner of examining the use of the nude as pictorial image for artists from ancient Greece through the Renaissance to the present, he wraps his scholarly information with personalized psychosocial commentary that is uniquely his own and allows the reader to settle in for the exploration ahead.

Approaching first the male nude ["Apollo"] from the Kouros of 600 BC through the vases, sculptures, reliefs, and paintings from all periods of history, he then moves to two views of the female nude - Venus I [the celestial female form] and Venus II [the woman of earthly form]. Having laid the foundation for the use of the nude in general, he then addresses the artistic emotions of Pathos, Energy, and Ecstasy in a manner that is near novel-like in reading. He closes his lecture series/book with a thought-provoking discussion of how man has viewed the nude through history, vacillating between laud and honor to the depiction of guilt, of the human stain. And finally he demonstrates in "The Nude As An End In Itself" both the occult appropriation of repeated forms and the acknowledged plagiarism of the nude studies from the earliest to the current. The Book is generously illustrated but in the paperback version available the illustrations are in black and white only. This profound and warmly human book is a must for artists and art lovers alike. Highly Recommended

This book is actually one of the best book in the Calvin and Hobbes series. Since tis one praticullar book is not a treasury colection, the comics in this book are basically "new." The comics in this book are really funny and most of them have good points to them. Basically what I'm saing is that this book is great.

It is my feeling that Bill Watterson had enough integrity and ethics to prevent the syndicate from cranking out endless meaninglessly repetitive compilations. Of course, he did quit partly because he was becoming disgusted with many of the commercial aspects of his work. With most comics, even good ones, the collections get stale after a few. Watterson's collections dont. There are a dozen or so C&H compilations/collections, but you wont be dissapointed with owning the whole shebang, especially since Watterson frequently did a lot of extra work to ensure that each collection had something new to offer. Even without this extra stuff, Watterson's body of work is extensive enought to warrant owning all these collections. He was steadily cranking out great material for a decade or so, and if you are like me you will be reading some C&H weekly for as long as you are on this earth, so tons of books is not a bad thing. Basically, I wholeheartedly reccomend all the books. If you like one you will like them all. They only get better as you get to know the characters. Watterson never goes for the cheap laugh by having any of the comic's principals act out of character. As you progress through the years with C&H, and I do reccomend reading them in order, you will see how art progresses and grows when the artist is committed to excellent work. So, go get the first one, titled simply Calvin & Hobbes, and then start down the enjoyable road to making Calvin and his tiger a pleasant little chunk of your life.

I haven't heard about this collection until my friend accidentally left hers in my house. Anticipating a lousy cartoon strip compilation, I was pleasantly surprised that it was very interesting & hilarious. As an adult, it gave me an overview of how a child's mind works. I have forgotten how imaginative & creative a child could be & realized how repressive I have been acting towards my daughter, just like Calvin's parents.

We all have been like Calvin in our earlier lives. We had a Hobbes as a best friend, a Susie whom we loved to annoy but loved as well, a transmogrifier & a babysitter who scared the hell out of us. We daydreamed in class, we played 'pretend' & lived life to the fullest.

It is so refreshing to witness such naivity once again. & though adult lives have robbed us of our youthful innocence, Calvin & Hobbes takes us back to those pure, clean fun days in a child's life.

Calvin and Hobbes are the funniest comic strips ever created. Although Watterson has retired and does not write them anymore, it's still great to have the collections.

"Something Under the Bed is Drooling" is a collection of earlier Calvin and Hobbes stips. The old ones are the best, I think. Every page is guarenteed to make you laugh. The book is hillarious, and is fun to watch Calvin in action as he takes on his grumpy teacher, monsters, the deranged babysitter, the girl from next store, and of course, his aggravated parents. One of the funniest strips in the book is when Calvin is writing on a sheet of paper and Hobbes asks him what he is doing. Calvin tells him that he is writing his autobiography. Hobbes is confused and tells him that he's only six. Calvin simply answers, "I only have one sheet of paper."

With great comics like Calvin and Hobbes, no one is too old to enjoy them. I say buy them all while you still can. They're great to read over and over again.

In my opinion, Bill Waterson is the greatest cartoonist I've seen. This was my very first C & H book and I thoroughly enjoyed it: one of the best. Unfortunately, Mr. Waterson has retired from cartooning, and Calvin & Hobbes is no more - one of the saddest tragedies of the century. In this book and many others, he could magically bring the cartoon to life, as only few others could do (Jim Henderson and Charles Schulz among them). Definitely worthwhile, gives a whole lot of laughs and perhaps a new view of life. I will always love Calvin and Hobbes as great cartoon characters and admire Bill Waterson for his talent.

Five stars, easy.

My mother had bought all nine volumns of The Saga for a person we knew who was struggling with peer pressure and drugs. She used these Christian comics as a tool to reach him and save him. The day she brought them home I sat down to read volumn 1. After that I couldn't stop until I read them all. I spend the entire evening reading them to my daughter as well. Soon I was at the book store buying all nine volumns for myself to keep as a collection. Some of the pictures are graphic and scary but the reality is that it's TRUE, not only are we at war in the Middle East but there is a closer war right here among us all. It's a spiritual WarFare. These comics explain in scripture and how we have a choice not to be victimized by evil. These comics are an excellent tool to express how much you care about someone by sharing this colorful illustrations and true to life story line with them. Highly recommended.

really enjoyed these comic books. Would love to see more!!!! Great for teenagers and adults alike. Hurry with the next issues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think archangels is great. It show the lives of many teenagers who have difficult times in their lives and they usually turn away from everything even God! Then angels come in from god to help them. I recommend this book to teenagers.

These comic books have good Messages and morals for teenagers,and adults alike.A great comic series!

This a wonderful book with great photographs. The shapes are presented simply in black and white across from the color photograph. This helps children first learn the shape and then find the shape in the architecture. My one less star is because the depicted oval is really an ellipse. This happens often in children's books for some reason. An ellipse always has two axes of reflection; an oval has one or more. So, an egg-shape is an oval, but not an ellipse.

As an architect, I enjoy giving these books as gifts because they are different from your run of the mill children's books. I like how they use building pieces to teach about basic shapes and colors. It is not a book that highlights popular or historic architecture - its more about the components.

The book shows basic shapes through line drawings and on the facing page different architectural elements of that shape, mainly photos of windows. My twins are 13 months old and they choose this book as one of their favorites. The photographs are crisp and reality based (no cartoons), the typeface is large and clear, and the shapes are bold and basic. The twins like it read to them as well as flipping the pages themselves. We may soon need another copy as it is getting a lot of use. I would recommend this book to any small child, beginning reader, or even a little older.

The book shows basic shapes through line drawings and on the facing page different architectural elements of that shape, mainly photos of windows. My twins are 13 months old and they choose this book as one of their favorites. The photographs are crisp and reality based (no cartoons), the typeface is large and clear, and the shapes are bold and basic. The twins like it read to them as well as flipping the pages themselves. We may soon need another copy as it is getting a lot of use. I would recommend this book to any small child, beginning reader, or even a little older.

'Mr. Sixties' features the creme de la Crumb, executed while he was still a wide-eyed rube, lost in the hubbub of Haight-Ashbury and the Summer of Love. Featuring lots of psychedelia (Crumb started dropping acid in '66), Crumb's work in 'The East Village Other', 'Yarrowstalks' and the ground-breaking 'ZAP Comix' #0 & 1 immediately appealed to the anti-Establishment Flower Children. These were harmless cartoons- innocent fun and a far cry from such later controversial pieces as 'Jumpin' Jack Flash', 'Dicknose' and 'Joe Blow'. Also included is the Crumb/ Gibbons' publication, 'The Sad Book'. Well recommended. Note to Parents: Although (at first glance) Crumb's work appears to be harmless 'kid's cartoons', these comix are definitely meant for ADULTS ONLY!

I have to object to the previous review--this book includes the material that created a new audience and inspired countless artists. While it may not ultimately be Crumb's best work--he was very young at the time that it was produced, and other collections, like "Carload of Crumb," offer a better cross-section of his early work--it still offers real pleasure to the interested reader. The previous reviewer's slap against the publisher, Fantagraphics, is especially egregious: they have an impeccable track record of high-quality editions of comic art worth preserving, and this classic is no exception.

This collection of strips includes quite a number published elsewhere, with nine starring Mr. Natural, including "... Encounters Flakey Foont", "...the Zen Master", "...in Death Valley", "...Visits the City"; in addition to stories such as "Meatball"; "It's Cosmic"; and a series of images from greetings cards. Selections are from "Evo", "Head Comix", "Yarrowstalks", "Zap Comix" etc...This isn't necessarily Fantagraphics fault as overlap with the more comprehensive "R. Crumb's Carload o' Comics" is because THAT collection was published by J.B. Rund of Kitchen Sink Press.

The book also contains an introduction by Crumb eulogizing his late friend Marty Pahls, and photographs of Crumb, wives Dana and Aline, sister Sandra and friend Pahls.

I'd say it's a decent retrospective for anyone wanting an example of the master of the undergrounds.

The review above says this is not Crumb's best stuff, and not to buy anything from "This Publisher." This makes NO SENSE, because Fantagraphics is publishing THE COMPLETE WORKS of ROBERT CRUMB, in order, from his early years right up to the present. Crumb supervises each release and writes the introductions to each volume. Furthermore, Fantagraphics is one of the best publishers of quality comix in the world.

If you like R. Crumb, this collection is pretty much the best you can get. Unless you just want a "greatest hits" which is fine to. In any case, Volume 4 is my favorite collection, but there is quality stuff in each one. The review above is sort of akin to someone blasting the Riverside Shakespeare because it includes stuff like Pericles or The Two Noble Kinsman. It's the COMPLETE WORKS, guy! It contains the BEST and the WORST, but everyone will disagree about which is which.

Reading through my old Far Side collections like this one leaves me with two thoughts. The first is how funny The Far Side is. The other is how much I miss it. Until Gary Larson comes to his hilariously heightened senses and decides his long break is over and actually begins drawing his legendary series again, trips down memory lane will have to do, and do nicely. As for The Curse of Madame "C" it's among Larson's funniest and best anthologies, and one of the greatest parts is its prologue wherein we learn with a wink and a nudge exactly why The Far Side is so populated with bovines. Just a great little book to own and keep for a rainy day.

The cartoons in this collection are hysterical, my favorite by far is on page 56. The setting is bathroom stalls from the front and we can see two pairs of feet under two adjacent doors. One pair is wrapped in bandages which are coming off. The caption reads: "It was an innocent mistake, but nevertheless, a moment later Maurice found himself receiving the full brunt of the mummy's wrath." I roared at this one, it is one of the funniest cartoons I have ever seen.
Larson is one of the best cartoonists ever, his diagrams are never cluttered and they generally are a combination of visual and verbal puns. I can read and reread his cartoons several times and never fail to get a chuckle. Which is what I did with this collection.

This story tells the tale of Gary Larson's journey into madness, when he confronts an evil gypsy cow that curses him to forever entertain people with riotous cartoons. The start of the book relates his adventures against "Madame "C"", a molevelent cow. It is a wonderful, (and thankfully short), tale concerning his frightful encounter in a smooth color cartoon over several pages.
The rest of the book details, in b&w cartoon format, the humorous trials and tevails of various critters such as worms, pigeons, and cowhands. If you haven't read a "Far Side", you won't know what I'm talking about and you've had your head in the sand for the past 20 years or so. Buy the book, for the love of Mike!

Yet another from the pen of Gary Larson. This is an incredibly funny book, but if you are a Far Side fan you probably do not need to be told this fact. They are all incredibly funny. The Curse of Madame "C" begins with the story of how the Far Side began. The story is a humorous take on An American Werewolf in London. It shows how a young Larson met all of the characters he would later write about and how he would be cursed with a need to write cartoons.

After the story ends the zany cartoons begin. From longcows to cow field trips. Mummies, aliens, neanderthals, and much, much more. This book will make you laugh from start to finish. You'll want to read it again and again. You'll want to loan it to all of your friends. You will love it.

This was my favorite of the two volumes that I own. Great for sharing with younger generations. It provides easy reading, short stories in a family friendly context. The best part of all is the laughter. Thank you, Mr Romero, for sharing your stories and those of others like you.

the stories in this book are humorous, real to life, easy ready, great to share with family; i reccomend this book to anyone that like family life and real life situations

Very Funny stories. Makes you realize what the term "scarred for life" means. I enjoyed every story in the book, it is nice to see that everyone has similar experiences while growing up. I totally recommend reading this book.

Hilarious stories. As a parent I really enjoyed them, especially seeing how parents cope with the outrageous, silly, and sometimes annoying things kids do. My kids (ages 13, 12, and 9) really like reading the stories also, and seeing they are not the only ones that do silly and sometimes stupid things. GREAT BOOK!