The Fall Releases of TOON Books, a line of easy-reader graphic novels edited by Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman, feature unique works from cartoonists whose names are not immediately associated with traditional children’s literature. By combining the necessary simplicity of an Easy Reader with influences from underground comix and independent graphic novels, the resulting titles are wacky, inventive and adventurous; yet also instructive and easy to follow for young readers.

Stinky, by Eleanor Davis, tells the tale of an adorable monster named Stinky who is afraid of children. When a new kid starts spending time in his swamp, Stinky tries everything to get rid of him, but eventually learns that even monsters can make new friends. Eleanor Davis, a recent graduate from the Savannah College of Art and Design, is known for her quirky and beautiful self-published work.

Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever, by Jay Lynch and Dean Haspiel, is the story of superhero twins Mona and Joey, who won’t stop fighting each other. When their town parade is threatened by the evil anthropomorphic reptile Saw-Jaw, Mo and Jo must learn to cooperate and combine their powers. Mo and Jo is written by Jay Lynch (also the author of TOON Books Otto’s Orange Day) who is known as the founder of Bijou Funnies, one of the first and most important underground comics of the Sixties, and for many years wrote the weekly syndicated comic strip, Phoebe & the Pigeon People. Mo and Jo’s eye-popping artwork is by Dean Haspiel, whose comics work includes collaborations with Harvey Pekar and Jonathan Ames, as well as his original series Billy Dogma.

These dynamic creators were gracious enough to answer some questions for BookShelf about their new books and the diverse experiences they brought into their creation.

BookShelf: What is your background in both cartooning and children’s books? What sort of work had you been doing prior to your involvement with TOON Books?

Jay Lynch: As far as children's books go, the majority of what I've done to make a living has to do with doing stories involving licensed characters. I have worked on several internally created series for the Topps Company such as Wacky Packages, Garbage Pail Kids, Dinosaurs Attack, Hollywood Zombies and so on. And I have had a hand in their creation and development. In the '60s and '70s I wrote and drew my own underground comix. From 1979 to l985 or so I wrote a weekly newspaper strip called Phoebe & the Pigeon People, which was drawn by Gary Whitney. In the 90s I wrote for Mad Magazine. When Time Magazine ran comics, my wife and I wrote gags for the Cultural Jetlag feature that Jim Siergey drew for Time. When 9-11 happened, though, Time dropped all their comic strips. When Françoise called me about the TOON Books project, it was at a time when Topps had revived both Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail Kids, and I was doing new gags for both of these series then. So I was challenged by Françoise's project since it involved a whole new kind of thing...not just repeating a formerly successful product but devising a new type of thing.

Eleanor Davis: TOON books was my first big professional job! I was still a senior in college when Françoise approached me with the project. Before TOON books I had mostly done comics aimed at an older, 'Indy' audience. Stinky was a fun (and challenging!) departure from my usual work.

Dean Haspiel: For over twenty years, I've illustrated stories that range from superhero fiction to semi-autobiographical memoir for all the major comic book publishers, including Marvel, Dark Horse, Top Shelf, and DC Comics. I'm best known for my creation Billy Dogma, and for my collaborations with Harvey Pekar on The Quitter and American Splendor. Before working on Mo & Jo, I illustrated for Nickelodeon Magazine and adapted Goosebumps: Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes for Scholastic Graphix.

BookShelf: What led to your involvement with TOON Books?

Jay Lynch: Art Spiegelman and I have known each other since we were kids. As teen-agers we did cartoons for little magazines that we printed on hectographs (an ancient, obsolete form of reproduction that has been replaced by the modern xerox). Art is the guy who originally hired me to freelance for Topps in l966, and we have always followed what the other has been doing cartoon-wise. So Art knew of all the sticker albums I did and stuff, as did Françoise. And one day, about 3 years ago, Françoise phoned me with her TOON Books idea.

Eleanor Davis: Françoise e-mailed me to ask if I would be interested, and I jumped at the chance. She had come across my web page and thought I had potential.

Dean Haspiel: Françoise Mouly wrote me a flattering letter along with preliminary mock-ups of some of their Toon Books inviting me to co-create a concept with underground comix legend Jay Lynch for their first year launch. I couldn't deny such an opportunity from such important innovators.

BookShelf: How would you compare the experience of creating comics for adults with that of creating easy-readers for children? What differences and similarities do you encounter visually, textually and/or thematically?

Jay Lynch: Well...there is a great deal of stuff aimed at children that is kind of condescending. And there is a great deal of stuff aimed at adults that is pretty condescending as well. But Françoise understands that....and her books aren't talking down to the kids. I don't think there is any major difference in talking to kids through comics and talking to adults through comics, except maybe for the kids the vocabulary is simpler...and the way the story is told is simpler, since the kids are new to the comics medium. But I am a strong proponent of the simply told tale...be it for adults or be it for kids.

Eleanor Davis: When I create comics for kids I try to channel my younger self, and remember the things I was interested in and responded to in my childhood. I hate it when grownups write books about what they think kids should be interested in, rather than what they actually are interested in. The easy reader issue was trickier; certain subjects were challenging simply because their words are more difficult to read- I remember we were unsure if "ghosts" might be a little hard for that reading level.

Dean Haspiel: Despite the obvious differences of what constitutes children’s fare versus what adults expect to read, I believe clarity is key for all successful stories and, believe it or not, children are less forgiving if the story doesn't make certain sense. You can draw abstract images and purport crazy notions but the story must be engaging and have an internal logic or it's forever lost. Kids spend an inordinate amount of their time world-building. Whereas adult fare allows for ambiguous ideas because, eventually, we come to learn that there are no satisfying answers to our questions despite how much we try to understand life and control fate.

BookShelf: Both Stinky and Mo and Jo deal with characters learning how to relate to each other. How do you approach this familiar topic in a unique way?

Eleanor Davis: I thought kids would have a fun time with the idea of something they're usually scared of --monsters-- actually being afraid of them.  I hoped kids would get a kick out of Stinky's 'gross' lifestyle, and think his misconceptions about human kids were funny.

Dean Haspiel: Jay Lynch and I were asked to create a story using the superhero genre and we thought about conflict and what that means between kids and, specifically, siblings. I remember the fights I had with my brother growing up and wished we had combined our forces to get what we wanted rather than butt heads and waste negative energy. It was that very conceit that became the genesis of our story.

BookShelf: What, in your experience, can the comic book medium contribute to early literacy?

Jay Lynch: I learned to read from comic books long before I entered first grade. The pictures explain the words...And the "fun" nature of a comic book tale makes the kid WANT to read it to find out what's going on. The format provides motivation to the kid to learn to decipher the words.

Eleanor Davis: My sister and I both learned to read very early, and we both learned to read from comic books. My parents always had lots of good kids comics around -Little Lulu, Donald Duck, stuff like that. For a young reader, comics are a lot less daunting than regular books, or even picture books. You can often understand the story even without reading the words, so you can pick up the words here and there when you're ready for them. If you get stuck on a word you don't know, it's no big deal- you can just move on and figure it out later. The words are often more directly connected to the pictures, making them easier to interpret. The first words my sister could read were "HA HA HA HA-" a piece of cake in a comic when they're always written next to a person laughing! 

In High School, when I was a serious student of Japanese, I found this old method could work very well for foreign languages also. In fact, I recommend it!

Dean Haspiel: When I was very young, comix taught me about people's agendas and behavioral context which then helped me to better express my feelings and ideas. I can only assume the same impact can help shape future kids.

BookShelf: Is there anything you learned from this experience that might influence your future comics work?

Jay Lynch: Only that it is good to work with an intelligent editor. I can explain concepts and changes to Françoise on the phone and she knows what I am talking about. And when she wants changes, they ALL make good sense. These books are very well thought out...As an editor, Françoise is one in a million!

Eleanor Davis: Lots! I definitely learned that writing kids books is not any easier than grownup books. It is challenging in a whole different way! Next time I write a kids book I think I'll assemble a crack team of child advisors to help me out. 

Dean Haspiel: It's incredibly difficult to reduce complex stuff about people and ideas into something brisk yet entertaining and serving kids expectations helps qualify those challenges for me as a storyteller and artist. You learn to cut the fat while indulging the heart and mind.

Eleanor Davis	Dean Haspiel	Jay Lynch

All images are from www.toon-books.com

 
To learn more about TOON Books, please visit the official website.