G-Man Volume 1: Learning To Fly

With the obvious appeal of young superpowered boys to real young boys, you might think the ranks of graphic novels would be spilling over with them. Well, the pickings have been pretty slim, actually, though the arrival of G-Man somewhat makes up for that oversight. G-Man is a decent little guy whose won’t-quit attitude and clever commandeering of the family’s magic blanket brings him and his friends into contention with a mean older brother and finally Kid Thunder, bully of the sky. With no higher aspirations than a rousing bit of fun and can-do kid adventure, G-Man hits all the right notes, from its friendly cartoon figures to the occasionally hilarious one-liners. Even the much shorter adventures and single-page gags that fill more than half the book will divert the attention of daydreaming boys. Put it alongside Scott Christian Sava’s Hyperactive (2008), Marvel’s recent Franklin Richards comics, and Jake Bell’s Amazing Adventures of Nate Banks series (which Giarrusso illustrated), and you’ve more or less cornered the male pretween superhero market. Grades 3-5. --Jesse Karp