Word Girl: Coalition of Malice

Word Girl: Coalition of Malice
Kaboom!
Written by Chris Karwowski
Art by Steve Young

If any of you out there have kids that are between four to about seven years old, you know who Word Girl is. For the rest of you, allow me to introduce you. She’s a character on a PBS kids show that helps children expand their vocabulary (my son has always been a fan) and learn more about language. Word Girl is a superhero that fights all sorts of interesting villains with her sidekick, Captain Huggy face who’s a monkey (remember, kid friendly and PBS). In this offering, she faces The Coalition of Malice, a collection of her fiercest villains and the second story has her facing off against Lady Redundant Woman (yeah, I know).

The writing is definitely for the younger audience. It runs just like one of the shows. Each character has the same personality and characteristics that made the show a hit. It has the same moments where words are being defined for no reason, this worked. But if you don’t know the show, it may catch you off guard. The paneling was simple and easy to follow. Again, this is written for kids. Something simple for the to get into comics and to have a hero of their own, I was very appreciative of that. But the one thing that got to me was the art, I don’t know if it’s because I have a digital copy or what but the art wasn’t the same as the show. It just seemed to be just a little different. I’ve pointed that out before that if you’re going to create a comic off of a cartoon or show. You want to have it carry the same art.

I enjoyed this book as did my son who read it with me. It was fun and whimsical (it means given to fanciful notions but you probably knew that). It did feel like we were reading and watching one of the shows. This is good for you folks out there looking for either a kid-friendly book to start them on comics or something else for them to read, I just have that one complaint. In my humble opinion, if you have kids of that age, get this. I give this 3.5 caps out of 5.