Little Lulu, Volume 11: April Fools

Little Lulu: Graphic Novels

by John Stanley, Irving Tripp

Learn why generations of readers have considered Little Lulu one of smartest, cutest, and funniest comics ever to hit the shelves in the newest volume of Dark Horse's ongoing effort to collect this seminal all-ages classic in a library of affordable trade paperbacks. Lulu Moppet is the true-blue daughter of Main Street America, clever and sweet, mischievous and generous, an eight-year-old hero for anyone who ever wanted to bring home a gorilla, scare the pants off of ghosts, and outwit every grownup in sight. In this volume, comics geniuses John Stanley and Irving Tripp are at their very best, crafting tales guaranteed to thrill kids just as much as they crack-up their parents.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Short Stories, Childrens

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

John Stanley was a comic book creator, best known for his scripting of Little Lulu's comic book exploits from 1945 to approximately 1959. While mostly known for his scripting, Stanley also was an accomplished artist who drew many of his stories, including the earliest issues of Lulu. His specialty was humorous stories, both with licensed characters and those of his own creation. His writing style has been described as employing "colorful, S. J. Perelman-ish language and a decidedly bizarre, macabre wit (reminiscent of writer Roald Dahl)" with storylines that "were cohesive and tightly constructed, with nary a loose thread in the plot". Cartoonist Fred Hembeck has dubbed him "for my money, the most consistently funny cartoonist to work in the comic book medium".

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Carl Waluconis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This entire series keeps alive the genius of John Stanley's stories and Irving Tripp, who can pull so many emotions out of a relatively few number of mouth shapes in his drawings. This volume is not the ultimate of the series, but has a remarkable story of Tub's young cousin Jefferson getting his come-uppance by the gang. Throughout the book, the usual wonderful balance is maintained of Lulu and Tubby outsmarting each other or outsmarting themselves. My favorite Tubby memorable quote is, "It ain't right to steal a yo-yo from a dead guy!" To me the series is also personal in that this was my world growing up in the same time period in a neighborhood on the edge of a city, but with a woods thrown in.

[Tim Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed Volume 11 of Dark Horse Comics’ black and white reprints of the classic Little Lulu stories. The period being reprinted in the book is interesting because many of the standard comic set pieces created by John Stanley are beginning to show up with some not quite there yet; for example, Tubby is not yet his detective persona “The Spider” but he still solves every mystery by blaming Lulu’s father, the stories Lulu tells Alvin are a variety of tales and not yet settled into endless stories involving Witch Hazel.
Lots of laughs and humorous art in these stories which have held up very well over the years.
Highly recommended.

[Eric Orchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was actually quite funny, which surprised me. However, this book was really hyped and didn't really live up to it.

[Aleeza Batara]

I thought that the book was kind of funny, but not that much, it just made me smile a little bit.