If you like Margo Maloo, you might like…
on July 27, 2015
As a civic-minded fella, I thought I might make up a list of comics (print and online) that I could recommend to folks that like Margo Maloo! Meaning… I don’t know! Generally kid-friendly, if not made specifically for kids? The real world colliding with a supernatural/fantastic element? Just a similar feel?
Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
Online:
Bad Machinery by John Allison
Camp Weedonwantcha by Katie Rice
In Print:
The Secret Science Alliance by Eleanor Davis ;-)
Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi
Kitaro by Shigeru Mizuki
Hilda and the Midnight Giant by Luke Pearson
The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier
Little Vampire by Joann Sfar
Mermin by Joey Weiser
Got any recs? Hit me in a comment!
The current story of my webcomic fits all those categories! I don’t remember if I was 100% kid-friendly in my other stories (it’s an assortment of short stories) but this story definitely is!
http://wizardcomix.tumblr.com/
I’ve been reading Bad Machinery and its offshoots since the days of Scary Go Round, but I started on Camp Weedonwantcha and just found it too depressing. I probably won’t get to the print comics because I have more than enough to read now as it is (and don’t have kids).
I love Bad Machinery! Allison had announced his intention to stop making Bad Machinery adventures, but only just today launched a new one anyway.
Other recs: Gunnerkrigg Court comes to mind. And I’m currently a huge fan of Stand still. Stay Silent, which has some truly scary elements of horror but is otherwise not kid-unfriendly, and there is also a lot of humour and lovably flawed characters and absolutely gorgeous art.
That’s funny, I never really think of Camp Weedonwantcha as depressing. Probably because it’s so over-the-top, like a Roald Dahl book.
Thanks, I’ll check those out! I suspect whatever Allison makes next it will share the same characters and tone as Bad Machinery.
Aw, looks nice! I’ll check it out.
Gunnerkrigg Court is a must-read.
Girl Genius, too.
I keep hearing about Gunnerkrigg Court, but I gotta admit that my eyes bounced off it when I tried reading it way back when. Worth revisiting?
What about paranatural.net? or Sheldoncomics.com? Those are two I usually recommend alongside Margo.
Gunnerkrigg Court has changed a lot in art style from when it started, when it was a bit overly stylized, but that started getting better within a few chapters. It keeps getting better and better story-wise, too, and the characters keep evolving (they are actually growing up, visibly getting older, which is pretty amazing). Tom Siddell is building a very complex universe. If you can make it through the somewhat wobbly beginning, I think you might like it. That is of course true for a lot of web comics, where the authors often learn their trade as they go along. Even Girl Genius didn’t get really good art-wise until volume 3, in my opinion, when Cheyenne Wright came aboard as colorist. And Bad Machinery’s predecessor Scary-Go-Round was pretty shaky in art style for quite some time, too.
Great timing on this! Just ordered Secret Science Alliance for nephew’s birthday. Thanks!
Aw, thanks Mari! Hope it goes over well.