Facebook scams

Facebook is full of scam stores like this one:

What makes me think this is a scam?

A reverse image search with TinEye shows the image of the coat on the left was taken from NoraCora.com. See? It's the exact same image. 

It's from last year, so Nora Cora isn't selling it anymore, but Nora Cora does have clothes with the same cool vibe.

This is what scams like this do: they steal images from legit online stores, collect money from customers, close and then reopen under a different name to start the scam all over again. 

It's best to treat every store that you don't know that advertises on Facebook as a scam. Sad that this is the case, but it is. Better safe than sorry.

 

What Are the Best Graphic Novels for Kids and Teens?

“Can you recommend a good graphic novel for my son/daughter who is [so many] years old?” 

I’ve heard this question a lot, and I’ve been pondering the answer a long, long time. My main problem is that there are just so many great books out there for kids! How do you choose?

Well, I do have one easy answer, and it's The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl by Ryan North and Erica Henderson. Squirrel Girl eats nuts and kicks butts and is just the best superhero there is, hands and paws down. 

I don’t care how old your child is, what their gender is, or even if you have a kid. Squirrel Girl is just the best comic-book/graphic-novel series there ever was.   

So I'm just going to tell you why the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is the graphic novel series you should get your kids (and yourself), and then I'm going to follow it with a long, though incomplete list of some great graphic novels for kids and teens.

A bit about me: I’m a mom, a life-long lover of comics, a former comics magazine editor, editorial cartoonist, consumer columnist and arts-and-entertainment writer, and I have degrees in English Literature and Theater Studies, as well as a teacher’s certificate. I have no personal connection to any of the graphic novels mentioned here other than having read them.   

So let’s get to it.  

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 

By Ryan North and Erica Henderson 

Recommended age group: All of them  

As the name implies, this is the story of a girl with squirrel powers. She has a powerful tail, agility, proportional squirrel strength (including in her bite), and she can talk to squirrels. 

That's not what makes her my favorite superhero. 

Squirrel Girl defeats her enemies by turning them into her friends. How? She talks to them and finds out why they are behaving badly. Then she offers them a less destructive alternative.

One teacher I introduced Squirrel Girl to said, “Oh, she’s a superhero psychologist!” Well, she’s actually a computer science student, but yeah. She helps villains become better people. How is that not the best superhero ever?  

Here she is making friends with Galactus, who before meeting Squirrel Girl was the "Devourer of Worlds." She convinced him to eat nuts instead, thus saving planet Earth, as well as countless other planets. How cool is that?

But it’s more than that, of course. Squirrel Girl also introduces readers to some math concepts and computer science. I’m not kidding! Here she is teaching how binary can let you count up to 31 on one hand. 

And speaking of kidding, did you notice the footnote above? Ryan North includes hilarious footnotes on most pages of Squirrel Girl, as well as many of the other comic books he writes. It goes above and beyond what you get with any other comic book (or at least any other comic book that wasn’t written by Ryan North).  

And let’s not forget Erica Henderson’s artwork, which perfectly complements the writing. 

Henderson makes every character unique, and I have to love that so many different faces and body types are represented. Squirrel Girl herself has thick thighs, like me. The body positivity is just wonderful. 

Derek Charm replaced Henderson toward the end of the series, and while Charm’s work is dynamic, I really missed Henderson’s artwork. She brought these characters to life and made them real for me. No other artist who's drawn Squirrel Girl had done it so well.

An A+ just isn’t a high enough grade for the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. This series can be enjoyed by every member of the family and deserves an A++.  

Shannon and Dean Hale’s novels about Squirrel Girl’s early adventures are also very highly recommended for middle-graders and advanced younger readers, as are Ryan North's Power Pack, Jugheah, and Adventure Time graphic novels. His choose-your-own-adventure books, Romeo and/or Juliet and To Be or Not to Be, as well as his nonfiction book How to Invent Everything are recommended for teens, adults and more advanced middle-grade readers.

I just can't recommend The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl written by Ryan North and illustrated Erica Henderson highly enough. 

But wait, as they like to say in infomercials, there's more!

A Partial List of Other Recommended Graphic Novels for Kids and Teens

OZ: The Complete Collection adapted by Eric Shanower, art by Skottie Young  (7+ for some tense situations)

Bone by Jeff Smith (7+ for some tense situations and bad behavior)

The Ballad of YaYa by Patrick Marty (10+ for very tense situations. This series deals realistically with war from a child's perspective.)

The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner (7+ for some tense situations)

Giant Days by John Allison (older YA for adult situations) 

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki, art by Steve Pugh (10+ for tense situations and bad behavior)

Zatanna and the House of Secrets by Matthew Cody, art by Yoshi Yoshitani (grades 1-4)

The Backstagers by James Tynion IV (7+ for some tense situations and mild, not graphic romance)

Lumberjanes by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooklyn A. Allen and Noelle Stevenson, who created the new She-Rah and the Princesses of Power (7+ for some tense situations and mild, not graphic romance)

Space Boy by Stephen McCranie (10+ for tense situations and peril, some implied violence, and teen romance)

Enola Holmes by Séréna Blasco, originally published in France, based on the novels by Nancy Springer that inspired the Netflix series starring Emma Watson (10+ for tense situations, bad behavior, and implied violence)

Brave, Awkward and Crush by Svetlana Chmakova (10+ for middle-grade subject matter, such as first crushes, school gossip, and bullying. Particularly recommended for school libraries)

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson (7+)

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang (10+)

Stargazing by Jen Wang (7+ this book involves a tense situation with a child who has a serious medical issue)

The Deep & Dark Blue by Niki Smith (7+) 

Jughead by Chip Zdarsky, illustrated by Erica Henderson, and Jughead by Ryan North and illustrated by Derek Charm (ALL ages. I learned to read with Archie Comics, and these are Archie Comics written by North and Zdarsky. Nuff said.)

Adventure Time by Ryan North (ALL ages with some mild tension)

Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi (7+ Super easy to read but high in tension, perfect for middle-grade reluctant readers) 

Avatar: The Last Airbender, based on the animated series from Nickelodeon (7+ High in tension and peril, some violence, though nothing graphic, some romance but nothing shown beyond kissing) 

Sisters, Smile, and Guts by Raina Telgemeier (all ages, although Sisters deals realistically with sibling rivalry and Guts deals realistically with a health issue, particularly recommended for school libraries)

El Deafo by Cece Bell (all ages, autobiographical, deals with growing up with hearing loss)

Lightfall: The Girl and the Galdurian (7+ for some tense situations) 

Diana: Princesss of the Amazons by Shannon and Dean Hale, illustrated by Victoria Ying (grades 1-4, easy to read, some tension, peril, and naughty behavior)

More: The Unstoppable Wasp, Spider-Man (by Brian Michael Bendis), Ironheart, Supergirl: Being Super, All-New Wolverine, Marvel’s Runaways, Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson

 

Why do I like Marvel movies and not DC movies?

Someone recently asked this on a fandom group on Facebook, and here's my answer: 

The difference between Marvel and DC started in the comics and only got bigger in the movies and it's this: Marvel involves "real" people in the real world; DC doesn't. 

Superman used to pick up whole buildings; meanwhile, Spider-Man had a building collapse on top of him, exposing wiring and bursting pipes -- because in the real world you just can't pick up a building without it falling apart! 

Superman is a superpowered alien. Batman is a rich guy who can build any tech he wants. (Sure, Tony Stark has that too, but he mostly builds tech to get rich and improve his life, not to live out a revenge fantasy. Tony Stark is like Elon Musk but more...realistic?) 

The Fantastic Four are a family, like most families. Does the DC universe have a real family that acts like a family? I don't know.

Marvel's mutants represent intolerance toward minorities.

While both Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel represent powerful women, most of us didn't grow up on an island of goddesses. Captain Marvel, on the other hand, grew up with an abusive dad, and she learned to get back up every time she was knocked down. It's easier to relate to Carol than Diana. Most of us women could be Carol. None of us could be, well, a goddess. 

Thor is different, but his relationships with Loki and Jane humanize him. Heck, in his first independent movie, he was, in fact, reduced to a human. Way to be too on the nose, Marvel. 

Keep in mind that Marvel movies that weren't controlled by Kevin Feige were created by people who didn't get what made people love Marvel, which is why they got it so wrong almost every time. MCU movies, though, they absolutely get it. Make it real and relatable, and audiences will love it. 'Nuff said. 

Now Zack Snyder understands some of what makes DC comics great, but he's very one note. He only knows how to paint in one color, and it's the darkest color there is. That's not the real world, and there's only so much of it audiences can take. 

I did like Wonder Woman, though. (No Zack Snyder, thank goodness.) And Birds of Prey, which made one very significant change but otherwise remained true to the silly mayhem that is Harley Quinn in the comics. And I liked the Deadpool movies that Feige didn't work on, although Ryan Reynolds is such a huge Deadpool dork there's no way he would have changed a thing. 

But I digress. 

Marvel is great, because it's relatable. DC's heroes are larger than life, and that can make them less relatable. It works for some audiences, but it doesn't work for you or me.

I found this online, and I'm pretty sure it's not a real movie poster. Kudos to whoever made it. It's very well done.

Wolfwalkers

I highly, HIGHLY recommend Wolfwalkers, which is available on Apple TV. It's by far the best animated movie of 2020. You don't have to believe me: it has a 98% freshness rating on RottenTomatoes among critics and a 100% freshness rating with audiences. Even if you can't see it, I hope you'll at least check out this clip. I just want to hear "Running with the Wolves" from

Wolfwalkers over and over. It's so beautiful.

Why the finale of How I Met Your Mother was perfect (spoilers)

 For anyone who thinks the finale of How I Met Your Mother came out of nowhere, I don't think you and I were watching the same series. 

There were at least a hundred hints that that's where they were heading. 

Ted starts with the story of how he met Robin, not the mom. Why? Because this isn't a story about the mom. It's about Robin. 

Ted talks to his kids about meeting the mom, but the mom isn't there. Why? Because she's no longer there to tell her side of the story. 

The kids are enrapt by this very long story no kids want to hear about their parents. Why? Because the only way they can know their mom is through their dad's long boring stories. 

The mom's story starts with her talking to the spirit of her late boyfriend, asking him if it's okay to get married to someone else. Why? Because that's what Ted is doing, asking the spirit of his wife through their kids if it's okay to date (and probably marry) Robin. 

Heck, Ted and the mom look sadly at each other when one of them says, "What kind of mom would miss her own daughter's wedding?" because they both know she's not going to live long enough to see their daughter get married. 

And there are like a hundred other clues. 

You clearly weren't watching the same show I was if you thought it was going to end any other way.