STAFF PICKS :: BENNY BREAKIRON HC VOL 02 :: SEPTEMBER, 25 2013
JUSTIN’S PICK :: BENNY BREAKIRON HC VOL 02 MADAME ADOLPHINE: While I’ve never been a huge fan of the Smurfs, I find the work of their creator – Belgian cartoonist Peyo – to be very rich and admirable. Benny Breakiron is one of Peyo’s more obscure characters, a polite little French boy who possesses superhuman strength (unless, of course, he catches a cold). The first book in this new, translated series from Papercutz, titled The Red Taxis, was an absolute delight, with wonderful characterization and a surprisingly complex plot. The art was the bait, the story the hook, and I can only guess at what hijinks little Benny will find himself in in this second volume. I’d heartily endorse this book to any parent, or any comic strip enthusiast, animation buff, etc.
In previous Feast Your Eyes posts we’ve looked at IDW’s jaw-dropping Artists Editions. This time we’ll turn to another side of the medium. Let’s look at  the great comic strips of old.  Fantagraphics under the editorship of comic historian Richard Marshall offers up a beautiful over-sized showcase of Johnny Gruelle’s near forgotten fantasy masterpiece Mr. Twee-Deedle.  Gruelle became world-famous at the turn of the century for inventing the iconic characters Raggady Ann and Andy.  In 1911, when it came time for the New York Herald to find a suitable front page replacement for Little Nemo, they smartly turned to Mr. Gruelle who developed a on-going strip about a a pixie named Mr. Twee-Deedle. It ran for almost seven years. The strips collected here (with a fascinating intro by Mr. Marshall) are a delightful selection of strips- a beautiful blend of story and art.  And this over-sized  book is an ideal showcase for this masterpiece.  Just look at this breath-taking example:
