Your two favorite fighting fowl are back in a new book, Pirate Penguin Vs. Ninja Chicken: Troublems With Frenemies. What, you don’t have favorite fighting fowl? Well, you should.
Ray Friesen, whom I met at Comic-Con last year, is the creator of several goofy comic books and webcomics, all of which can be found at his website, Don’t Eat Any Bugs. I’d mentioned before that I liked some of the artwork better than others, and PP vs. NC is one of my favorites. (Cupcakes of Doom is a little weaker in my opinion art-wise, though the story is still very funny.)
Troublems With Frenemies has a bunch of short vignettes, mostly about two pages long, many of which can be read for free on the website. Following that is a long 45-page story, “The Biggest Giantest Epicest Pirate Penguin Versus Ninja Chicken Story EVAR!” which features a ninja convention in Vegas, Astronaut Armadillo in space, and the Soul-Eating Monster of Ultimate Vengeance.
The last section is “Activities and Stuff,” and it’s a send-up of the arts-and-crafts sections you find at the back of some kids’ comics. For instance, the Quick Method of drawing Pirate Penguin: “Close your eyes, grab a pen and paper, and GO FOR IT! This does not always turn out perfectly.” Or, the directions for making a pirate hat include drawing a beard and mustache on your face, as well as getting in trouble for using permanent marker on yourself.
The two birds are always battling it out, but they’re also best friends, of a sort — and their complete immaturity makes for a lot of laughs. The book says “all ages humor,” but also says “Ages 7-13: Don’t worry! You can still read it if you’re a different age!” I’d agree with that. Most of it is ideal for the middle grade crowd, but I read the whole book and enjoyed it, too. There are some great lines, like this description of chess: “A gentleman’s game, involving sitting still AND lots of murder! Plus, some of the characters get silly hats! Brilliant!”
Troublems With Frenemies is 100 pages long, and it’s a nice library-bound hardcover so it’ll hold up to the repeated readings you your kids are sure to give it. It’s under ten bucks, and you can get it directly from Don’t Eat Any Bugs, Top Shelf, or Amazon. Friesen also has lots of other goodies for sale on his site, like plush Pirate Penguins and Ninja Chickens, T-shirts, and other books. It’s even got a GeekDad blurb on the back cover, so there’s my stamp of approval.
Oh, and one more thing: Top Shelf is having a massive $3 sale until Friday. A bunch of titles have been marked down to $3, including The Surrogates. Several favorite kids’ titles like Owly, Johnny Boo, and Dragon Puncher are also on sale for $5.
Disclosure: Top Shelf provided a review copy of this book.
