Get ready for Darth Vader, Luke and Leia in a not-so-serious discussion about using a carbon freezing unit to make ice cream. Jeffrey Brown is back next month with Darth Vader and Friends, the fourth volume in his bestselling series of Star Wars cartoon books. The secret of their popularity isn’t hard to uncover: gentle humor that uses the archetypes of Star Wars to poke fun at parents, kids and the communication gap between them—or perhaps it's the other way around. Whichever it is, it's funny.
Brown’s Star Wars run started with Darth Vader and Son, focusing on the idea of a young Luke sassing his hapless, heavy-breathing dad, and continued in Vader’s Little Princess, focusing on Leia, and Good Night, Darth Vader, a Goodnight Moon style rhymed journey to slumber.
In Darth Vader and Friends, Brown showcases more of the Star Wars cast—little versions of Han Solo, Lando Calrissian and other household names. All are presented with a light touch of whimsy and attractive color artwork that is totally endearing.
These books recall the “baby characters” trend that began with the 1980s cartoon Muppet Babies and continued with Tiny Toons and the satirical Animaniacs. But Brown—also the author of Scholastic’s best-selling Jedi Academy series—throws in his own insights as a father, experiences he’s covered in the autobiographical comics such as A Matter of Life and Kids are Weird that he’s best known for in comics circles. It’s these observations on the way real kids behave and their juxtaposition with the fantastic world of Star Wars that make these books so charming.
Darth Vader and Friends comes out on April 28th from Chronicle Books.
