Mood:
caffeinatedTopic: Comic Books - New
TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3178: I've been absent in my blogging duties the last couple of days...Due to the re-organization of our Home Office. That's because Tina was transitioning back to working full-time out of the home office. Between moving my operations back to just one-half of the office, I also was busy listing the comics received in for consignment sales, (see the Richard Herd Comics Collection blog for example), and generating proposals for possible clients for Social Media Projects, which I also do. However, today I am back to blogging, which I truly love to do...Hey, there's already 3,177 of these in archived format! Today's post is a review on a 'comic strip novel' that was sent to me by Danny deBruin, creator and self-publisher of 'I Am Stu Pitt'. Danny asked me if I would be interested in possibly reviewing his book. Danny is one of almost five-thousand 'Facebook Friends' that I have, so I was just a little familiar with his work, but only by single pages he had posted on his Facebook wall. Here's what he wrote me: "Enclosed is a copy of my book, I Am Stu Pitt: A Comic Strip Novel for your review. The author and illustrator is yours truly, Danny deBruin. It is currently self-published. The forward is written by James P. Pinkerton, former Newsday columnist and current fellow at the New America Foundation and a FOX News contributor. Back cover comments by Bunny Hoest of the Lockhorns comic strip; former Newsday editor John Mancini, and Chris Campion, author of the book, Escape from Bellevue (Penguin, USA)." So what's this 'comic strip novel' about? Here is the promo blurb from Danny: "I Am Stu Pitt is a humor book aimed at anyone 18 years and older or younger, although it is doubtful that people younger than 18 will get Danny also gave me a brief synopsis of the publication: "With the greatest plot twist since Luke Skywalker found out his daddy was Darth Vader, I Am Stu Pitt is 134 pages of full color action that will tantalize and improve your life by as much as 46%. Stuart Pitt is the everyday hero who, despite not realizing his dreams of becoming a lusty rock star, hangs in there and rolls with Yodels. Or Ring Dings. Or Twinkies, whichever you prefer." So what's 'My Take' on 'comic strip novel'? I keep calling it a 'comic strip novel', because that is what the creator, Danny deBruin keeps calling this published format. Some of you may refer to it as a 'graphic novel', which at first glance in a bookstore or your LCBS it would appear to be. Front Cover: Since this is NOT a comic book, or a 'true' graphic novel, I am going to slightly change my review format here. The front cover needs to grab a potential buyer with what the inside pages could be about. Since it is a 'comic strip novel', there better be at least a good illustration on the front cover. AND there is!From the front cover there would appear to be a lot of characters involved inside. And at the top appears to be a 'rocker' standing atop the title of the book 'I Am Stu Pitt'. There appears to be a word play on the title 'I Am Stu Pitt' (stupid?), but it takes opening the book to find out more... The inside first page shows just the main character atop the the title of the book. Initially I am liking the artwork of this book. Turning the page, I find the usual copyrights, etc. Then there is a 'Table of Contents'. Good! What follows are the pages for 'Thank Yous', a 'Forward', and a 'Dedication' page. Okay...After all, it is in a graphic novel book format style. Then comes the Introduction to 'Stu Pitt'. I am very glad that the 'Introduction' is there! This 'comic strip novel' is laid out very well so far... Then come the stories, which are broken into chapters. Good thinking in presenting it this way. I am able to read this over several days, stopping at chapter breaks, without a break in the action of the stories. There are ten total chapters. The storyline flows and the artwork keeps me involved with the telling of this 'comic strip novel'. Note: In between several of the chapter are original songs by 'Stu Pitt' written out in text only. The songs relate to the chapter that was just presented. Interesting concept here. So, after all of the above...what is 'My Take' on all of this? Well...First of all, I was intrigued by what Danny said he was sending to me in the mail. He was sending a 'comic strip novel'. Okay... Then, almost everything that I ask for from a creator / publisher / publicist as shown at: How to Submit Your Publication for Possible Review link was there. Thanks Danny for that! The 'comic strip novel' wasn't that 'far out' from being a 'graphic novel' in style. But I was glad to see that Danny had also printed that blurb on the front cover at the top right. See top right photo of this blog. Thus letting others know not to expect a 'graphic novel'. So far I've mentioned the lay-out of the novel, the artwork, and the storyline briefly. What did I find about this novel that entertained me? Well, I enjoyed the many references made in the novel. Even though several were about pop culture references from a few decades ago, some, like the A-Team references, were just brought back in a Big Theater Film. this very month in 2010! So some, not all would be familiar to a younger reader. When I say younger reader, I would agree with Danny's thoughts above that the book would be a 'PG' in a rating scale. Basically because a lot of the references would not be known by the much younger than 18 crowd. However, the storyline itself flows well and you don't have to know all the pop culture references to enjoy this novel. Matter of fact, I had to look up one of the 'references', LOL. I would grade this 'comic strip novel', 'I Am Stu Pitt' with a Near Mint' (NM) 9.4 out of the 10.0 Grading Scale. That's because I don't give anything above that when selling 'comic strip novels', 'graphic novels' or just 'floppy' comic books out of our own online comic book shop! It is that good IMO. A refreshing story told in illustrated format, and broken into chapters for easier reading for persons like myself that don't have the time to sit and read through an entire novel at one sitting! So where can YOU pick up a copy? Here's what Danny, also the self-publisher tells me: "The book is 134 pages color and sells for $21.95 on www.iamstupitt.com. People who order this will receive a signed copy. There will also be I Am Stu Pitt: The Semi-Deluxe Edition available at Amazon.com for $23.95 and will be available by mid-July, which will also be in full color but will not be signed by the author."
Talking about Danny, here is a brief bio / message from him: "Brief Author Biography: Danny deBruin is an award-winning cartoonist
My thanks to Danny deBruin for bringing this work of his to my attention! AND My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over the 3,175 total posts in number! ~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com
http://www.comicbookscircus.com/
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(UPDATE 09-04-10...Danny has sent out a message that all the signed copies at his web site are now SOLD OUT! But never fear, YOU can still order non-signed copies from Amazon! Here is the link to purchase a copy: 
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