Writer/Artist: Jimmy Gownley
Publisher: ibooks, inc.
For a while I’ve heard praise for this book in hushed whispers, but suspected such praise was so scarce due to the age group Amelia is intended for. I’m glad to report that this age group extends above the preteen level and that its variety of humor, messages, and content provides something for everyone. There aren’t too many comics with that kind of balance these days, let alone in any form of entertainment.
Amelia Rules follows the adventures she and her three friends experience in their daily 9-year-old lives. Amelia, Reggie, Rhonda and Pajamaman – yes, there is a wonderful character named Pajamaman – aren’t overly complex characters, but then neither are most kids, and what they lack in range of depth they make up in effectiveness and humor in their personality types and flaws. Amelia is the leader who often finds herself smack in the middle of embarrassing hypocrisy, but can’t do much more than go with the flow. “Oooh . . . I hate peer pressure!” Reggie is fixated on superheroes, specifically the notion of becoming one, and can’t imagine a more practical career to shoot for. Rhonda despises Amelia but only hangs around them in hopes that one day Reggie will reciprocate her crush on him. And Pajamaman . . . well, he’s Pajamaman.
The beautiful thing about Amelia Rules is that the humor works on both levels, simple and sophisticated, a difficult balancing act in all-ages humor of any medium. The characters each possess the kind of cute and quirky personalities that’s become a staple of kids’ entertainment, but Gownley isn’t afraid to slip in references that might go over the heads of the young ones. “My dad says [Santa’s] backed by the ‘Feds’. He’s not the only one wants to know who’s naughty.” As an older reader, these moments of mature humor keep me on my toes and make the read that much more compelling to look for all the intentional jokes that are more my speed.
There’s also a heaping spoonful of pathos and sentimentality, though not the heavy-handed kind that might appear at the end of an episode from a WB sitcom. Amelia tackles the issues a child of divorced parents has to live with, especially situations like weekend trips and Christmas. I was prepared to do a lot of wincing whenever these moments took center stage, but fortunately they’re handled with taste and grace without taking a two-ton moral and smacking the reader over the head. The fact that there’s a lesson to be learned at all may seem juvenile to older readers, but I never felt it overtook the flow and tone of the story.
Gownley doesn’t often just present a simple panel-by-panel flow of the narrative. He goes the extra step to utilize the comic book medium, taking advantage of the full page, and in multiple scenes presents two simultaneous events occurring at once, such as Amelia narrating her feelings while scribbling words on a fogged-up window (even breaking her concentration and winking to the reader by commenting, “Hmm . . . it’s hard writing backwards!”). This technique is neither usually featured in typical newspaper comic strips nor in comic books aimed at children – heck, unless the names Moore or Miller appear on the cover, it’s hardly ever utilized to this degree in mainstream top-selling books either.
There’s a similar approach in the storytelling and humor here with that of comic strips, but Amelia lacks many of the restrictions that strips suffer from. The layout here spans the entire page and while many pages feature the typical 9-panel layout, panels are often broken or varied, breaking the bounds of normal comic strips while still retaining the same flavor. It’s familiar and refreshing at the same time.
I don’t read too many self-proclaimed all-ages comics, and very few collections of comic strips, so the above score is based on how effective I feel this works as an all-ages story, regardless of the reader’s age, and as an evolved form of comic strip. It’s not quite comparable to an Alan Moore story of the same bullet rating, but for what it tries to be and what it tries to achieve, it’s pretty successful. If you have kids, get them a subscription now, and then sneak a peak after you put them to bed.
What did you think of this book?
Have your say at the Line of Fire Forum!