Bigby Bear v1

A cute, surprisingly clever book that takes simple set-ups and twists them in fun directions. It’s almost like The Far Side for kids, but that adults can still enjoy.

But with 100% fewer cows.

What’s It All About?

Bigby is a bear, living in the forest and palling around with his rabbit friend.

Each page is a new joke, ranging from simple physical pratfalls to deep philosophical musings hidden underneath the randomness of daily life. Also: math, the environment, art, and the law of unintended consequences.

The trick in Coudray’s work is that he finds clever ways to twist the set-up into something humorous. You expect every page to go one way, but Coudray always finds a way to surprise and delight you with an out-of-left-field take.

That’s especially true with the gags that are more visual in nature. Coudray loves to use your expectations against you in the way you’re looking into a panel, often by changing the angle and presenting a whole new take on a scene.

He also uses wordplay — not as straight ahead puns, but as misdirection. They’re the kinds of jokes that a kid might find silly from the wrong use of a given word. An adult will laugh and then nod knowingly at the universal truth Coudray is displaying through his own unconventional means.

It’s nothing over the top or highly charged politically. It’s more of a take on the basic tenets of human nature. We’re a peculiar species.

At the end of the day, though, it’s a silly book about a bear roaming free and getting into funny situations, then getting out of them in unexpected ways.

But Can I Bear the Art?

Honestly, it’s not my favorite art style. It’s very clear and clean, so it works. That’s especially important with a book that relies on so many visual cues for its gags to work.

The book is aimed at a younger crowd. Its previous North American publisher put it in the 5-7 year old range. So the style is aiming at that crowd, and it definitely works for them.

But the ink lines are all the same weight, the bear feels misshapen or irregularly shaped, and the backgrounds are super simple. Although that, alone, actually puts it ahead of many North American comics these days that forget backgrounds exist for pages at a time…

It doesn’t bother me, though, because it serves the jokes so well. It’s just not the style I’d normally buy a book for.

Publishing History and More About Philippe Coudray

Toon Books previously published this series in English as “Benjamin Bear” in three 32 page books. (The French title is “l’Ours Barnabé“.) Those books grabbed two Eisner Award nominations in 2012 and 2014 in the “Best Publication for Younger Readers (up to age 7)” category. Reviewers were also extremely friendly to the book, including Kirkus, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, etc.

The series ended there after those three books. I’m guessing that was what the original contract was for, and then things fizzled out. Despite the educational material Toon Books prepared for the series and all the glowing reviews, it didn’t make it past that third volume.

Humanoids now has the license and is releasing this 100-ish page book that (coincidentally?) has enough pages to collect those earlier three books. It’s one big book for a mere $15 in hardcover, instead of three individual books of 32 pages for $13 each. The page size is even the same at 6 x 9 inches.

This book is a great deal.

It’s also an interesting test. We talk a lot about how libraries and children are the big growth markets for comics. This is one that didn’t last very long in that market and is now headed back towards the more traditional comic shops.

I’m sure Humanoids is planning a bigger rollout than just the Direct Market for a book like this, but I don’t think they’ll be putting together the educational content and pushing it as hard as Toon Books did in that direction. I hope it succeeds because it’s a great book, but I wonder if there will be any larger lessons to learn from it if it does…

Here’s better news for fans of the series: It doesn’t have to end after three books. Take a look at Courdray’s website and you’ll see that he’s published EIGHTEEN of these books (46 pages each). The series started in 1978! There’s plenty of material out there. If this book sells well, I bet we’ll see Humanoids continue to collect it.

Again, though, France gets the better deal. They have collections of these books (see above) that put together four books at a time and run 190 pages. They call those kinds of books an “Integrale.” We might call them an “Omnibus” or a “Deluxe Edition.” They’re common for longer-running books in France. I even own a couple of them, myself.

Also, while the Eisners nominated the book twice, it won an award at Angouleme in 2011. It’s Le Prix des Écoles d’Angoulême, which works this way:

The Prix des Ecoles d’Angouleme rewards an album elected by the children of four Angouleme schools from a list of five preselected albums, selected for their interest in terms of educational potential and educational content.

In other words, it’s a kids’ favorite!

Coudray is quite the prolific cartoonist. You can check out his website for a list of the comics he’s worked on in the past, plus various other interests he has like cryptozoology and 3D comics. (There’s a How To for that in there.)

Humanoids’ BiG New Line

This book is part of a new imprint for Humanoids. It’s their “BiG” line of books meant for younger readers. They’ve gone back and attached the label to some pre-existing books (including “The Ring of the Seven Worlds“), but this is the first new book of the line, I believe.

I’m really looking forward to “Young Mozart,” due in April. From the preview pages, it looks to be a little less crazy than “Bigby Bear,” but still a very visual book. When I get to that review in a couple months, I’ll give you my rant about talking heads comic strips…

Recommended?

Yes. Like the recently-reviewed “Pico Bogue“, it’s a nice humor book with a gag a page and a very specific tone and point of view. “Pico Bogue” plays a lot with language and the kid turning the parents’ words back on them. Bigby Bear, similarly, plays with language and expectations to humorous effect, but it’s not for personal gain. This is just a clever book that plays with its reader’s assumptions to create unexpected reversals and left turns. It’ll work for its intended audience of grade school children, but I think adults will enjoy the craft and the surprises.

— 2019.009 —

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