HEART AND BRAIN: GUT INSTINCTS by: Nick Seluk

Heart and Brain, two characters within the Awkward Yeti are back in HEART AND BRAIN: GUT INSTINCTS. This time Heart and Brain aren’t alone and are joined by many other organs: Tongue, Stomach, Bowels, etc. Heart is carefree and lives for the moment while Brain is pragmatic and tries to plan for the future. Nick Seluk has once again humorously captured the ongoing struggle between our hearts and our brains.

Review: BIG NATE SILENT BUT DEADLY by Lincoln Peirce

Nate Wright is back again in another collection of “Big Nate” comics. In BIG NATE SILENT BUT DEADLY, Nate gets into lots of different shenanigans and comes up with several different schemes. Nate has an uncanny sense of smell and hires himself out as the Great Nose-ini to make a few extra dollars, he becomes the movie reviewer for the school newspaper, he once again wins Monopoly on New Year’s Eve against his friends, and he plays on his school’s basketball team. Personally, I think my favorite comics in the book are the ones at the very end when Nate visits the local comic book shop and runs into a guy in a Yoda mask and an old man sitting on a bench that talks to a puppet. BIG NATE SILENT BUD DEADLY includes a pull-out poster of the book’s cover.

Review: ZEN PENCILS: VOLUME TWO: DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

The second collection of “Zen Pencils” comics, ZEN PENCILS, VOLUME 2:  DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM continues the same format as the first volume. Cartoonist Gavin Aung Than takes quotes from all kinds of famous people and then uses those quotes as written word for a series of different inspiring comics.  Some of the people quoted in this volume include Isaac Asimov, Maya Angelou, Robert Kennedy, William Shakespeare, Amy Poehler, Jim Henson, and Kevin Smith. Some of the comics continue adventures and stories from the first volume: the young boy who instead of playing sports wants to be a great dancer, the young woman who wants to be a wrestler, the boy who becomes a courageous knight, and the ancient philosopher.  Some of the comics fit quite well with the quotes that inspired the illustrations and story. Meanwhile, others just don’t seem like a very good match. Overall, I enjoyed DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM. I look forward to other books of “Zen Pencils” in the future.