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Review: Little Lulu: Lulu Goes Shopping
Little Lulu: Lulu Goes Shopping
Writing and Layouts by John Stanley
Finishes by Irving Tripp
Published by Dark Horse Comics. $9.95 USD
What, a grown man can't review a collection of Little Lulu?
One thing I'm proud of is that I really do try to expose myself to a lot of different kinds of comics, and I roll out the welcome mat for lots of old comics that are still being published today, as I find in many cases they do stand the test of time in whole or in part. The thing I'm not so proud of is that I just plain buy too many books than I can read, and if I piled all of them up that I've purchased and haven't read in the past couple years, it would reach the ceiling and then some. This is the only Lulu book I've purchased--there have probably been a dozen or more to be released since this one--but as I was packing up a box of books for an upcoming move, I decided to read a story or two, and ended up reading the whole book tonight.
These stories were from the '50s Dell Comics series by Stanley, a spinoff from Marge Buell's single panel cartoons from the '40s that made the little girl with the brown ringlets a household name. Of course, in those days, a boy wouldn't be caught dead reading a comic starring a girl, but these stories really aren't gender-specific at all. Lulu is a nice enough girl who often gets into trouble. Sometimes it's because of a scheme of hers; other times it's trying to help her equally trouble-prone pal Tubby Trimble, who seems to get along fine with her as long as there aren't other guys around--isn't that always the way? And sometimes the trouble comes from creepy Alvin, a bullying little jerk who nonetheless ingratiates himself with Lulu's mother in an Eddie Haskell way: she probably doesn't like him any more than June Cleaver liked Eddie, but one mustn't be impolite to guests, because it's the '50s.
The art invariably follows six or eight panel grids and the inking is thin and flat, though not without its charm. The cover art shows a fatter, juicier line that perhaps was reserved for covers or promotional artwork, or it might be from a later period in the comic; who knows? Lulu is an unusual character design because every element of her is boiled down to the most basic lines--except those ringlets and the rest of her hair, which must've been time-consuming. Still, it works to set her apart from the other characters, who don't have any similarly fussy elements to them.
The humor is mild but not cloying, all involving kids being stinkers either deliberately or not. Unlike, say Dennis the Menace, Lulu doesn't really take pleasure in causing her parents any problems; she's more often trying to fix something before they find out about it. When she does get into intentional mischief, it's usually to foil Tubby and the other boys as payback. Pretty much every story in here--and each one is only a few pages long--is good for a chuckle, and good for all ages.
Writing and Layouts by John Stanley
Finishes by Irving Tripp
Published by Dark Horse Comics. $9.95 USD
What, a grown man can't review a collection of Little Lulu?
One thing I'm proud of is that I really do try to expose myself to a lot of different kinds of comics, and I roll out the welcome mat for lots of old comics that are still being published today, as I find in many cases they do stand the test of time in whole or in part. The thing I'm not so proud of is that I just plain buy too many books than I can read, and if I piled all of them up that I've purchased and haven't read in the past couple years, it would reach the ceiling and then some. This is the only Lulu book I've purchased--there have probably been a dozen or more to be released since this one--but as I was packing up a box of books for an upcoming move, I decided to read a story or two, and ended up reading the whole book tonight.
These stories were from the '50s Dell Comics series by Stanley, a spinoff from Marge Buell's single panel cartoons from the '40s that made the little girl with the brown ringlets a household name. Of course, in those days, a boy wouldn't be caught dead reading a comic starring a girl, but these stories really aren't gender-specific at all. Lulu is a nice enough girl who often gets into trouble. Sometimes it's because of a scheme of hers; other times it's trying to help her equally trouble-prone pal Tubby Trimble, who seems to get along fine with her as long as there aren't other guys around--isn't that always the way? And sometimes the trouble comes from creepy Alvin, a bullying little jerk who nonetheless ingratiates himself with Lulu's mother in an Eddie Haskell way: she probably doesn't like him any more than June Cleaver liked Eddie, but one mustn't be impolite to guests, because it's the '50s.
The art invariably follows six or eight panel grids and the inking is thin and flat, though not without its charm. The cover art shows a fatter, juicier line that perhaps was reserved for covers or promotional artwork, or it might be from a later period in the comic; who knows? Lulu is an unusual character design because every element of her is boiled down to the most basic lines--except those ringlets and the rest of her hair, which must've been time-consuming. Still, it works to set her apart from the other characters, who don't have any similarly fussy elements to them.
The humor is mild but not cloying, all involving kids being stinkers either deliberately or not. Unlike, say Dennis the Menace, Lulu doesn't really take pleasure in causing her parents any problems; she's more often trying to fix something before they find out about it. When she does get into intentional mischief, it's usually to foil Tubby and the other boys as payback. Pretty much every story in here--and each one is only a few pages long--is good for a chuckle, and good for all ages.
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