LOLLIPOP KIDS #1
Writers: Adam and Aidan Glass
Artist: Diego Yapur
Publisher: Aftershock
8/10
I had the pleasure of doing in interview with Adam Glass a couple days ago. We talked about this book and there was no way I was gonna pass on picking up this book. The enthusiasm he had for this launch made me even more intrigued than I was before. After reading it I can honestly say that Adam is one hell of a salesman and he didn't disappoint.
Adam wrote this book with his fourteen year old son, which by the way has to earn him dad of the year. I mean who can compete with that. He spoke about what an awesome experience working with his son was, and it shows in every page.
This story is like a love letter to New York, I haven't personally been myself but you can tell that he drops little things that only a true New Yorker would pick up on. It centers on a young boy named Nick who narrates the entire issue telling us a little bit of his backstory growing up as an inner city kid. He is instantly relatable and Adam's dialogue feels so natural coming out of this young kids mouth. He has dyslexia so when he goes looking for his sister and gets lost in Central Park he uses clues that he and his sister left throughout the park to find his way home. This is where the story gets interesting. As he's following clue after clue he stumbles into this cup and takes a drink from it. BOOM, all of a sudden a werewolf appears out of nowhere. It's here that we are introduced to the Lollipop Kids, a group of kids that are descendants from the original five families, Legacies. They explain that when immigrants settled here they also brought and locked up all sorts of monsters, and where else would they do that but Greensward Forest aka Central park. The only reason Nick was able to see them wasn't just that he drank from the cup, but that he too is a Legacy.
This book won me over with this issue and I can't wait to see what adventures these Lollipop Kids get into. Diego Yapur's art was a highlight of this book for me as well. While reading this book he helped transport me to New York in a real way, his rendition of Central Park was picture perfect.
I hope this book stay around for a while. This creative team has something really special here. Aidan if you read this, awesome job dude and keep it going I can't wait to see what else you and your dad have planned.