Review: Holm, J. L., Holm, M., & Krosoczka, J. (2017). Comics Squad: Detention!

Holm, J. L., Holm, M., & Krosoczka, J. (2017). Comics Squad: Detention! New York, NY: Random House.

“DETENTION: NEVER AGAIN!”

Different styles and different stories make up the detention-themed volume of this Comics Squad third installment.  Ten well-known author/illustrators return with their popular comic characters, from Babymouse to the Lunch Lady, Squish, the entire Olympians cast, and more; and all the protagonists find themselves in varying sorts of detention dilemmas!  

Drawn in black and white with blue being the only accent, each amusing set of graphic frames takes the reader through short stories revolving around the characters being assigned--sometimes unjustly and for “nefarious” reasons--to their respective schools’ detentions.  The illustrations are of course as entertaining as ever, and the humor is often wry and quippy.

The contributors in the Comics Squad series--varying from one installment to the next--are already favorites among readers in elementary and middle grades, who will have new adventures to love with these anthologies.  They are also a great introduction to readers curious about graphic novels, and reluctant readers may naturally find them appealing--though they often do with graphic novels in any case--because of the eight shorter stories and quickly-changing themes and styles.

Readers who enjoy the brief inclusion of “How I Draw Lunch Lady” by Jarrett J. Krosoczka may want to further let "imagination run wild” creating with this journal.  If unfamiliar with the established characters, read some of their original stories in the best-selling collections of Babymouse, Squish, Olympians, and Zita the Spacegirl.