This past week I read Ben Hatke’s ‘Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl’ I first started reading Ben’s work with ‘Mighty Jack’ but never read any of his Zita stories.  I must say, as someone who only knew half of the characters in this book, Ben did a fantastic job not getting the reader lost in the story. 

It takes a specific storytelling skill to start a book halfway through a character’s developmental story arc and not make a first-time reader get lost, and Ben did a great job with that.

I dug out the 1976 book, ‘Secret Origins of the Super DC Heroes. It is mostly a collection of reprinted origin comics of 10 major DC characters back in the ’30s and ’40s.

The artwork, writing style, and layout of the panels are great examples of the golden age of comics. The book contains 18 reprinted stories. These are always fun and nostalgic reads.

First, it was nostalgia reading the strips, and then as I put on my cartoonist hat, I really began to appreciate how Prohias was able to say a complete story without words and embrace the rare quality of having both protagonists also be antagonists.

It is a great reference book for comic scriptwriting and very easy to follow along. I recommend it to folks who are starting to write and it is also a great reference and reminder book for seasoned writers too.

The story is pretty weird, and it seems a bit haphazard, but I am also assuming it is a collection of serialized stories. It basically reminded me of a magical unicorn version of “Quantum Leap”.

I loved that my memories of the book stayed true. I think this book really launched me into the idea of world-building, as Berenstain showed the history, culture, and activities of trolls in a fun and entertaining way that inspired me as a child to make my own worlds.