Little Lulu, Vol. 4: Sunday Afternoon (v. 4) [Paperback]

John Stanley (Author, Artist), Irving Tripp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 28, 2005

Whether she's weaving hilarious, sprawling tales while babysitting the terrible tot Alvin, keeping her chubby chum Tubby and his clubhouse cronies in line, or making nice with the friendly ghost she catches reading "People Stories" in her bedroom, Little Lulu is both "Everygirl" and an undeniable one-of-a-kind! Dark Horse Books is proud to present, for the first time ever, the complete run of John Stanley and Irving Tripp's legendary run of classic Little Lulu comics in convenient, reader-friendly paperback volumes. Critically acclaimed and widely regarded as one of the most classic comics ever published, Little Lulu is an all-ages treasure, with stories funny and fresh enough to stand the test of time.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The fifth hefty collection of Little Lulu comic-book stories finally makes it to the contents of the first five comic books bearing the perky moppet's name, and there is just no difference in quality between those stories and the ones, also in this volume, that concluded Lulu's run in Dell Comics. They exemplify innocent comedy on a par with the finest Laurel and Hardy two-reelers, and Little Lulu's sunny humor, like L & H's, is so fresh and humane that it seems to belong to not just another time but another world. Getting lost in a "forest" that turns out to be a city park, smoking behind the garage, playing cops-'n'-robbers, having a battle of conscience over finding a $10 bill, hopping home on one foot from school--of such banal kids'stuff, shopworn from use in comic strips, movies, radio programs, and books long before Lulu's creation, scripter Stanley and artist Tripp made timeless comics masterpieces (the smoking story is a genuine, wordless, visual tour-de-force, worthy of an unsalacious Cocteau). Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (June 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593073453
• ISBN-13: 978-1593073459
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,677,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Moppet Show, November 8, 2005

By 

Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Little Lulu, Vol. 4: Sunday Afternoon (v. 4) (Paperback)

Marge Buell's single panel comic, Little Lulu, began in the Saturday Evening Post in 1935. Her unsinkable Moppet made her appearance in Dell Four Color comics beginning in 1945. "Sunday Afternoon" collects all the stories from four successive issues published in 1946 and 1947. Since the four color series alternated various characters, these issues were numbered 131, 139, 146, and 158. As with the hardcover series from Another Rainbow, these Dark Horse editions are reprinted in black and white line drawings with color covers. However, the edition I have of "Sunday Morning" is not like the Amazon picture; It has different cover art with a purple background and no volume number.

John Stanley storyboarded the Dell Marge's Little Lulu comics, but many staples of Stanley's later stories are not yet in place. The boys just got their clubhouse, Eddie was just introduced in issue 120, Annie is not yet Lulu's best friend, Tubby is not yet sleuthing aka The Spider. But Stanley's zany story sense is already apparent, and the clean, simple panels suggest Crocket Johnson's Barnaby.

Cars and horses co-exist in these stories, and it's the first time Lulu's seen a TV. One of the first stories Lulu tells Alvin is a story within a story. Lulu narrates her fantasy narrative, which jars against the "real" version shown in the panels (except that's also a story). "Lulu's Lamp" ends in a conundrum. "What would you have done?" asks Stanley, "well, that's what Lulu did." All of which only hints at what a Stellar job Stanley did on these comics. Lucky for us they're back in these reasonably priced editions of around 200 pages each, courtesy of Dark Horse.