
Kaboom! Boom! Studios 2017
Written by Box Brown
Pencilled by Lisa DuBois
Inked by Carolyn Nowak
Coloured by Eleonora Bruni
Lettered by Jim Campbell
Last issue the babies were wondering how their parents were able to know about everything that was going on. They discovered the eyes and Tommy even figured out how to disable it. Thinking that he had it all under control we open up this issue with Tommy enjoying the day so far. Alright so one of the babies, or Tommy’s, biggest supporter is his Grandpa who doesn’t a new phone and as he takes Tommy to Chuckie’s we see how he sees the world from an older gentleman’s point of view.
That Box is willing and able to really cut loose with this kind of look at technology, how it’s taken over some lives and we see how people no longer have that human contact factor. Kids will read this and see it as funny and silly and adults will read this and either laugh or question their own use of technology in raising children. Let’s hope it’s the latter because honestly as a society we are becoming less social and more technology based so we rarely interact with others and when we do no one seems to remember what manners are.
So over at Chuckie’s the boys plot and play and try to figure out how the bird in the backyard can be shut down. I love the structure of the book I mean how Box creates this ebb & flow so that he’s able to incorporate all the characters in a way that makes sense is excellent. Also the fact that he is so gosh darn good at making this literally as much fun for young readers as it is for older readers. Then of course there is ability to write their personalities in a way that come straight from the cartoon series. While they were All Growed Up wasn’t bad it wasn’t Rugrats and the babies are where the fun's at for real.
Personally I don’t think we need translators to understand some the words they use any rational human being of any age should understand what a compooper is. Or a mime reader for that matter it’s too cute to see and say the words they use because that’s what it sounds like to them. Heck their interpretations of some words are a reason all their own to read the book. However it’s really because of their actions, reactions, see intelligence, and the way they can use their imagination to literally be anyone/thing or have whatever come so fully to life for them.
For some reason that I can’t seem to fathom it just doesn’t seem, to me, that Lisa can draw Tommy. It shouldn’t be that hard but he is the only one of them that doesn’t feel right to me and I can’t explain it but sometimes it’s the eyes, sometimes the shape of his head there is just something about it that is off. Everyone else is so spot on and that is wonderful to see and yet makes me think why not Tommy? So the use of page layouts and the use of angles and perspective in the panels show off a nice eye for storytelling. Backgrounds I don’t expect much from them because of the nature of the series but when they are used I love it. The creativity and imagination we see is perfect for what it is.
So while everything seems to work out in the end, it’s a story after all, that this is the reality we live in shouldn’t go unnoticed. I love Grandpa and what he did here for Tommy which you’ll have to read to understand. The escapism that this represents is what made the cartoon a success and these folks recreate that here beautifully.