Looking to make a list. Any recommendations? Preferably ones you orkids you know have had some experience with, and not traditional superhero.

I've got

Bone
Dragonball
Lumberjanes
Nimona
Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur
Mouse Guard
Yotsuba&!
Princeless
Diesel
Anya's Ghost
Fantasy Sports
Hilda & the Midnight Giant, et al
One Piece
Peanuts
Calvin & Hobbes

>Any recommendations?

Sure

>Preferably ones
>you or kids you know have had some experience with, and not
>traditional superhero.

Plenty of good superhero stuff for kids and tweens. (I have problems withthe 'all-ages' label simply bc a lot of 'all-ages' stuff is not truly 'all-ages,' but more aimed at teens and up. Meanwhile, at least some stuff that is not inappropriate for kids gets labeled M. It's wacky.)


>Bone

Jeff SMith's 'Tuki: Save The Humans!' is also great, especially if the kids are into paleontology, but he only got 4 issues in.

>Dragonball

Same creator did another book called Sandland I thought was perhaps a little more age-appropriate for younger readers, and good fun

>Mouse Guard

david Petersen also did an illustrated Wind in the Willows... amazing artwork (though not a comic)

Additional suggestions
1. Younger kids
A. the Art Baltazar/Franco comics:
-Patrick the Wolf Boy
-Tiny Titans
-Tiny Titans/Lil' Archie (hilarious)
-Superman Family Adventures
-Aw Yeah Comics!/Action Cat & Adventure Bug
-Itty Bitty Hellboy/The Mask

B. Sholly Fisch's writing for DC
-DC Superfriends - formulaic, but a great age-appropriate intro to the DCU
-Batman The Brave & The Bold/All-New Batman the Brave & the Bold - very similar to DC Superfriends
-Scooby Doo Team-Up - The Gang teams up with characters from the DCU or less impressively the Hanna-Barbera extended family

C. Roger Langridge's work is consistently excellent
-Snarked! is my favorite, set in the the Lewis Carroll U and involving the Walrus, the Carpenter, and a feisty young princess
-His Muppet Show books were excellent and really captured thhe Muppets vibe. Came out from KaBoom! in the years before the Muppets went to Disney so no idea if they're still available.
-Abigail & the Snowman is charming charming charming

C. Other books & series for reading aloud or kids on their own
-Zita the Space Girl - simply charming
-the Little Lit & Toon books (my favorite was the Folklore & Fairy Tales collection, but plenty of good stuff for elementary school ages.)
-My older boy is a game nut so he's particularly enjoyed the various Mega Man and Sonic series. His favorites are the Mega Man manga - Megamix, Gigamix, NT Warrior. He also really liked the Archie Comics crossover minis with Sonic and Mega Man.
-Feathers (Jorge Corona)
-Owly (no words, good for very young kids)
-Korgi (no words, beautiful art, might get a little scary for youngest readers as the brave fire-breathing Korgi does battle with creepy crawly monsters and aliens)
-James Kochalka's books (Dragon Puncher, Johnny Boo) are hilarious
-My youngest (7) is really enjoying the Grumpy Cat comics... *shrug*
-Amulet: wears its influences on its sleeve, but still a fun story

2. Middle school stuff
Easy for me to lose track of what's good because my kids are trying to read any manga they can get their hands on, including stuff I'd rather they not read (mostly junk like Soul Eater, Bleach, Magi, blah blah blah) but I can recommend a few American comics
-Power Up (BoomBox!) by Kate Leth - a little bit gender bent (the bearded macho hero's costume turns out to be a tutu type getup and tiara) but so good my 12 year old boy didn't care
-the Raina Telgemier books - Smile! is good for younger kids, Drama is more middle school
-The Crogan series (interesting pockets of history)
-Surprised you had Moon Girl but not Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, which I prefer. Funny and good MU breadth.
-Runaways is another Marvel property good for middle-schoolers. New #1 recently in advance of an upcoming TV show. And my 11 year old daughter wants to be Molly Hayes for Halloween.
-DC's been a little slower on YA type titles. My boy loves Blue Beetle (but prefers the original Jaime Rayes run to the current one).
-I think GOtham Academy might be a little better.
-A little bit more out there, my oldest (12) has read the complete Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind manga 3 times. It's his favorite movie ever and he loves the book.
-Gunnerkrig Court: a bit fantasy, a bit steampunk, a bit romance... pretty charming. My kids went crazy for it.
-Courtney Crumrin: not quite as popular with the kids but they like/read it.
-the Jim Henson's The Storyteller series - perfectly captures the vibe of the old TV show. Anthology series, so content can be up or down but is mostly amazing - the two volumes we read were Witches and Dragons. Ok for younger kids too but a little creepy and/or violent at times.
-Joe the Barbarian (Grant Morrison/Sean Murphy) - haven't tried this on my own kids yet, but think it would be a good fit
-Stuff of Darkness: the Boogey Man kidnaps The Boy, and his toys go into The Dark in search of him. Adventure ensues.
-Mr. Stuffins - awesome teddy bear turned secret agent story

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, obviously. Hope some of these are qhat you're looking for.

-------
so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

i only said not superhero because i'm writing a separate article on that and i have more of a handle on those and licensed titles. Parents tend to automatically gravitate to those since the characters are recognizable so i'm interested in shining some light on others.

-El Deafo - Newberry Honor from a few years back, very thoughtful look at being a deaf kid

-Sardine - my kids haven't gravitated to this so I can't really vouch for it, but I like both Guiubert and Sfarr a good bit so can't imagine the books aren't quite good

-Monster on the Hill (grades 2-4 maybe, really enjoyable)

-PX! (been a while since I read it since my binding fell completely apart, but recall it being quite good. I was a fan of the writer's Sam Noir series.) Might order another copy for the kids...

-Polo - wordless books with surreal adventures. Very cute. Good for ages 4-7 or so.

-You have a handle on the licensed properties - just wanted to throw in a good word for P Craig Russell's excellent comic adaptations of The Graveyard Book and Coraline. The Coraline comic is far scarier than the movie, and even scarier then the book I think. Haven't read The Graveyard Book adaptation yet but my daughter is working through it now.

-OKP buckshot_defunct should still have a few issues left of Rhyme Travelers. Great stuff, basically made-to-order for the kids of OKPs.

-I was surprisingly disappointed in Space Dumplins by Craig Thompson. Terrible book. But still, an all-ages book by a very important cartoonist.

-Lots of good, mindbending wordless picture books for young readers too - not truly comics but the only difference is that each picture is a page instead of a group of panels, and the lack of words actually makes each of these more suitable for slightly older readers:
David Weisner's books, but especially Flotsam
Trainstop by Barbara Lehman, also The Red Book
Wave by Suzy Lee (not as mindbending, but incredibly charming)

*edit* to add
-Foiled and Curses! Foiled Again by Jane Yolen can't remember the artist. My kids like fencing anyhow, but the subject matter (teen girl becommes defender of the Seely Court or something) should be about fantastic enough for any fantasy fan.

-------
so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

although I'd say it's for teens and up as the subject matter is heavy and basically journalism.

I love his stuff though and have pretty much a complete collection of his work(always looking for something I don't have).

too mature for my kids yet

Have been thinking of trying out Persepolis on them, though... maybe not quite yet...

-------
so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

but yeah i hear you, it's not light or for the young 'uns... I need to check out Persepolis I've seen it on the shelves and been intrigued but haven't picked it up yet.

just finished Habibi a little while ago and have picked up Blankets but have not read it yet.

>I need to check out Persepolis I've seen it on the shelves and
>been intrigued but haven't picked it up yet.

Persepolis is pretty much canon for modern comics... there's a reason it's on so many 'essential graphic novels' lists.

>just finished Habibi a little while ago and have picked up
>Blankets but have not read it yet.

Blankets melted me. I think I cried. I definitely physically ached.

Habibi just sorta made me mad though... it's clear if you read Thompson's travelogue comic that he really didn't enjoy traveling in Morocco I think it was, and I think that dislike shows up in this book. There are a lot of great elements (the incorporation of calligraphy) but it's a chronological and cultural mishmash that felt really non-cohesive as a story to me. *shrug* I seem to be in the minority on that though.

-------
so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct

>
>>I need to check out Persepolis I've seen it on the shelves
>and
>>been intrigued but haven't picked it up yet.
>
>Persepolis is pretty much canon for modern comics... there's a
>reason it's on so many 'essential graphic novels' lists.
>

def gonna pick that up

>>just finished Habibi a little while ago and have picked up
>>Blankets but have not read it yet.
>
>Blankets melted me. I think I cried. I definitely physically
>ached.
>

looking forward to it.. it seems to be his more successful and acclaimed offering.

>Habibi just sorta made me mad though... it's clear if you read
>Thompson's travelogue comic that he really didn't enjoy
>traveling in Morocco I think it was, and I think that dislike
>shows up in this book. There are a lot of great elements (the
>incorporation of calligraphy) but it's a chronological and
>cultural mishmash that felt really non-cohesive as a story to
>me. *shrug* I seem to be in the minority on that though.

I can see that.. it was certainly challenging to really follow and put it together.. I remember going back and forth through parts to collect my thoughts and follow it and at the end being a little unclear of what the real message was.

>I need to check out Persepolis I've seen it on the shelves and
>been intrigued but haven't picked it up yet.

and the film is a great follow up

I don't want to depress the children... but I don't want to sugar coat reality for them either.. my kids are like 18, 15x2 and just about 13... and I'm thinking the 15 year olds are just getting old enough I might... what do you think is that still too early? I'm sincerely asking for an opinion on that before I do present them.

The Legend of Zelda manga

but yes, Yotsuba&! is the all time fav, so much merch... danboard all day everything

I don't have a lot of patience with the kids-battling-avatars genre, but I got the first ten volumes or so for like 75% off and my boy already liked the TV show at that time, so why not. They read some Pokemon too but grew out of that fairly quickly (they can still be possessive about their cards though). most of the others of that genre they were content to catch occasionally on TV but never asked to read (Dinosaur King, Duel Masters, Yu Gi Oh, the one with the miniature robots/landscapes, etc.)

Boy also enjoyed Ninja Baseball Kyuma, and of course both the older kids have read a lot of Naruto too. And Zelda.

Another one my daughter went crazy for about 8 was Mameshiba. As far as I could tell the books were only designed to sell shit, but she enjoyed the cuteness of the characters. Whatever.

-------
so I'm in a band now:
album ---> http://greenwoodburns.bandcamp.com/releases
Soundcloud ---> http://soundcloud.com/greenwood-burns

my own stuff -->http://soundcloud.com/lonesomedstringband

avy by buckshot_defunct