View source for Earthling! by Tim Rummel and Mark Fearing

{{infobox1
|title=Earthling!
|author=Tim Rummel and Mark Fearing
|reviewer=John Lloyd
|genre=Confident Readers
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=9781452109060
|pages=248
|publisher=Chronicle Books
|date=February 2012
|summary=A good stand-alone graphic story for the under-twelves.
|cover=1452109060
|aznuk=1452109060
|aznus=1452109060
}}

Bud and his dad have moved into a remote science station, but he still has to catch the bus to school.  However, the bus he ends up taking fetches him on behalf of a space station of an academy lightyears away, where everybody looks alien - and everybody has grown to hate Earth and Earthlings as violent nasties.  Bud has to pretend to be a different species, even though that's not easy when they are supposed to be excellent players of a new, zero-gravity version of basketball.  It's a pity then that this game could be his only way back home...

This is a good example of stand-alone graphic novels for this target audience.  The layouts are simple grids, and nowhere is there something hard to read, fathom or engage with.  The inking from the author (a past animator) is fine, not taking too much of a bold stroke to his creations - his characters are equally strong without being over the top.  If anything, the colouring by Tim Rummel, even if it was digital, looks a little subdued, and old-fashioned, when something much more modern, zingy and flash was called for.

Still, there's enough in the book to disguise that.  I liked the way the circle was closed by the end (which is not me giving anything away, rest assured), the target reader will like watching the sports and Bud befriend all the different-coloured aliens around him.  And everyone will find some level of jollity in the idea that we Earthlings are detested and feared throughout the galaxy.  This is nothing superlative, but the level of wit, invention, and some strong plotting are still showing to your schoolmates - those who have limbs to hold it, at least.

This is a step-up from the audience of things such as [[Ben10 Comic Books: Washington B C by Various|Ben10 Comic Books: Washington B C]].  Beyond this, young lads will enjoy the graphic novel [[The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud]].  You might also appreciate [[Explorer: The Mystery Boxes by Kazu Kibuishi]].

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[[Category:Graphic Novels]]
[[Category: Tim Rummel]]
[[Category:Mark Fearing]]