BLUFFTON by Matt Phelan

Set in Muskegon, Michigan in the neighborhood of Bluffton in 1908, BLUFFTON is a graphic novel about a boy named Henry who yearns for something more in his life. During that summer of 1908, he gets it as a slew of vaudeville performers, circus people, and other entertainers take up residency in the neighborhood for the summer. It's here that Henry is introduced to a young boy named Buster Keaton. Buster is the star of his family's vaudeville act. He can take a fall like no other and he is a star wherever he goes. United through baseball and the enjoyment of childhood Henry and Keaton become friends.  Their friendship continues and grows over the next few summers and becomes tested as Henry yearns to have a piece of what Keaton possesses, while Keaton is jealous of the simple life that Henry has.

BLUFFTON was written and illustrated by Matt Phelan who previously wrote and illustrated THE STORM IN THE BARN and AROUND THE WORLD. Personally, of those three books, BLUFFTON is my favorite. That's in part because I've always enjoyed the films of Buster Keaton. However, it's also because BLUFFTON has the strongest single story, in my opinion. Overall, BLUFFTON is a wonderful graphic novel about the summer boyhood of one of cinema's earliest and most famous stars.