Friday, 24 November 2017
ReadItDaddy's Comic Book of the Week - Week Ending 24th November 2017: "Anna and Froga: Completely Bubu" by Anouk Ricard (Drawn and Quarterly)
Labels:
Anna and Froga Completely Bubu,
Anouk Ricard,
Drawn and Quarterly,
Picture Book of the Week 2017
Anouk Ricard's utterly fantastic "Anna and Froga" comics are gradually being translated and are making their way to our bookshelves courtesy of the fantastic folk at Drawn and Quarterly.
Anna and Froga are just part of the gang, comprising 5 animal friends each with their own quirks and characters (with Anna sort of acting as the 'sensible' balance to the rest).
We reviewed "Anna and Froga: Out and About" last year, and (unsurprisingly) that was also a Book of the Week. Reading that old review back we pretty much BEGGED for Bubu (the sarcastic, opinionated and absolutely blimmin' hilarious dog) to get his own set of stories.
So, as if by magic here's "Anna and Froga: Completely Bubu" - a selection of fab tales where the curmudgeonly dog sort of takes centre stage - and (as usual) stuffs up spectacularly in a number of hilarious ways.
Anna, Froga, Christopher, Bubu and Ron are so wonderfully well observed that pretty much everyone who encounters this comic anthology will recognise at least one of the characters as someone they know (Charlotte took great pains to point out that she's more like Anna than anyone else, while I'm more like Bubu - Charming!)
The stories touch on everything from a completely disastrous train journey (let's just try and guess who leaves their stupidly huge wheeled suitcase - with the tickets inside - on a train platform, and what happens to it when the police are called to deal with a suspect device - I mean who goes on holiday with an alarm clock!?)
There are more hilarious mishaps when Bubu takes "Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers" a little bit too literally - and makes off with a mobile phone.
These stories are kid-friendly and Charlotte was completely hooked, but the nice surprise for adults is just how danged funny these are for us older folk - particularly as Anouk is so gifted at working in jokes that might sail completely over your kid's heads, but you'll find yourself chortling and snorting at regardless (one particular strip made me laugh out loud, and it's been a very long time since a comic strip did that!)
This is a fantastic collection, and you absolutely owe it to yourself to hoover up every single volume of Anna and Froga as quickly as you can. If you have any love for comics, this belongs in your collection.
Charlotte's favourite bit: Bubu, everything he does makes her cackle with glee (quite rightly so).
Daddy's favourite bit: An utterly sublime entry point for anyone who wants to get into comics. There are a hallowed few comics we thoroughly recommend to parents looking to start their kids out on the right path, "Anna and Froga: Completely Bubu" belongs amongst them.
(kindly supplied for review)
"Anna and Froga: Completely Bubu" is out now, published by Drawn and Quarterly.
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