Thursday, February 18, 2010

Comics Review: LITTLE LULU: THE BIG DIPPER CLUB AND OTHER STORIES (Dark Horse, 2010)

No screwball I Love Lucy riffs in this volume, which covers LITTLE LULU #106-111 (April-September 1957), but few lulls, either. The title story finds Lulu and her pal Annie exacting revenge on Tubby and his clubhouse buddies in that inimitable John Stanley fashion after the girls are turned into unwitting circus attractions. In my favorite story in the book, Lulu shows that she's, ahem, maturing nicely by throwing a "Surprise Party" in which the only guest is rich Wilbur Van Snobbe. Despite this "victimization," Wilbur ends up the odd man out anyway, which seems rather unfair but does give Lulu a chance to express her true feelings about her other friends. Another good tale finds benevolent Lulu distributing a basket of kittens to all and sundry, but winding up without a kitten herself because there was "One Kid Too Many." Stanley is only two years or so away from leaving the title for good, but these issues find him reasonably close to peak form.

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