Member Reviews
I was lucky to receive an arc of Fun Fun Fun World by Yehudi Mercado via Netgalley which is Children's Graphic Novel. Fun Fun Fun World is about a group of Aliens who are captained by Minky who is not the greatest leader who is living in his Mother's shadow go to earth and try and conquer it. I love the artwork it is amazing and very colourful as is the story is too. For this reason I have to give Fun Fun Fun World 4 stars and hope that there is a follow up.
Thank you to Netgalley and Yehudi Mercado for early access to this graphic novel!
★★★★☆
This was "fun fun fun" just like the title suggests! I adored the art. The color palette was vibrant and smile-inducing and the round, weird aliens were a joy to follow. There is a lot going on in this one from conquering aliens, following the legacy of a parent, conspiracy, and deception... but at it's core it feels like a story about friendship, acceptance and spreading joy...
And an homage to the wonder that is churros.
I absolutely recommend this to the target audience and anyone who just enjoys beautiful artwork! I look forward to seeing more from this author!
ARC Copy...HAHA! Aliens invading a super colourful amusement park that is a slight parody/homage to Disneyland and Disney's dream filled wishes! i did all the wild attractions and mascots that inhabit the park are very wild and creative (helps there is kid power behind the creative processes) and hehe corgis! I did like also the wonder of the does change the invaders for the better!
This is a funny story line with simple twists and turns that will keep the giggles coming. Colorful illustrations sure to grab the attention of readers of all ages.
I read this one with my grandson in mind and I know that he is going to love this one!
Thanks One Press and Net Galley for the ARC!
Secrets, aliens, churros, corgis, and colorful surprises at every turn. Adventurous readers will find Minky and his crew thrilling, they will cheer for Javi, and boldly step into a new reality.
Yehudi Mercado blasts the reader with colour, sci fi, and unstoppable FUN. Awesome illustrations and a story line that continually captures readers of all ages. Take the journey to Fun Fun Fun World!
I don't say this enough but Yehudi Mercado is quickly becoming one of my favorite comic creators. I loved Buffalo Speedway (didn't have the mixtape experience though) and this is just what comics are all about. In all accounts, these stories are all about having fun. Not to mention the themes of feeling insignificant and going your own way. At first I wasn't too thrilled in the beginning, the characters aren't all that likable since they're just a dysfunctional invasion crew that don't come close to series like Invader Zim.
After they touch down on Earth though, I see the hilarious situations that come from dislikable characters. A kid with dreams tricks Minky's crew into working on a theme park parodying Disney. Javi is instantly likable for his imagination and his ideas. His relationship with his dad meanwhile is what really drives him, especially since he does the act of tricking the crew to keep his dad from getting fired. This is especially great even though Javi and his dad have disagreements over how to run the park. They even share innovative ideas when it comes to it.
After the crew implements their technology, things start to really come together. The crew actually feel like real people with personalities and the gags feel genuine. I thought the bruiser Eggla was going to be in a matching costume instead of a dopey-looking one and that actually becomes a major piece in her character development. Sometimes those laugh-out-loud moments are just too irresistible to leave out like how churros are one of Earth's best features.
Then there comes the themes of feeling insignificant and doing things for the sake of it. Minky is prideful to the point of messing up his crew's missions but doesn't want to be in his successful mother's shadow. The rest of the crew range from a little stuck-up but also hopeful. It's the main reason they follow Minky, they believe in his potential but set their expectations low. As an indie comic creator, Mercado has this going for him for most of his career. But at the same time, he tries to instill something in this to make the series meaningful.
Sometimes success is not always as it's cracked up to be. For Vang, a rival invader, he's boastful and is more than willing to manipulate anyone to advance his own agenda; that's likely the reason he is so successful. For a long while, that's how people get things done. By playing to everyone's wants Javi, the supposedly late Disney pastiche, and Vang seem to get what they want. Unfortunately, that ends up hurting the people they care about. After all of that labor, no one seems satisfied until they at least had some kind of fun they can share. That's what I believe Mercado tries to instill, capturing the fun and imagination of children to appeal to everyone's inner child. That imagination is what makes Minky's mom, Minzy such a fascinating presence (it's something of a trope for Mercado). She's been to Earth and the park like everyone else and that's a story people have to imagine for themselves on how it turns out.
The problem is trying to keep everything contained to just one person is just too much for people to handle. Rather than try to stick to just their strengths, people need to get out of their comfort zones in order to be better not just for performance but also as people. The ending meanwhile gives off something ambiguous, it's either an everybody wins situation or people are just living their fantasies. But at the end of it all, that's the magic of imagination.
Captain of the alien ship Devastorm 5 has returned to his home planet and queen. His queen is mad as he has failed again his mission. He decides to make it up, by going to capture earth for the (alien) queen to rule. The queen says okay as she wants earth and her treasure. His crew are upset as they don’t think it is possible. Another captain of a different ship doesn’t want Devastorm 5 to get earth. When Devastorm 5 lands on earth, they land in an amusement park. His competitor is landing and wants to declare he has conquer earth. Thinking the Devastorm 5 crew have conquered earth, they are surprised and happy. The captain discovers churros. He loves them! What will the crew do when they discover they have only conquered a just built amusement park on earth? Will the crew return to their planet? Will they fight with their competition?
The graphic illustrations are colorful and zany. The story line is funny with simple twists and turns. The crew aliens are developed well with their personalities and attitudes. They learn to work together and believe in each other. They are loyal to their queen even though they are afraid of her. It’s a fun read. I laughed at some of their antics. This book is about loyalty, friendship and working together on a mission even if they don’t know if it will be a success.
First up, thanks for this book. I am glad I had the opportunity to try it out. Sadly, the book and I just didn't go together. I found the characters enormously annoying and they kept bickering with each other and everyone else. It also felt like I had missed some sort of book before it, which is an annoyance I often have with GN/comics. For some reason you are just supposed to directly connect with the characters and get in the flow, but I do like a bit more story and a bit more introductions to get into a story.
The art was OK, it was colourful and I do like how the aliens/monsters were drawn.
But yeah, sadly I just didn't get very far into this book.
Fun Fun Fun World by Yehudi Mercado was an interesting read. This middle grade graphic novel follows the ragtag crew of the Devastorm 5, an warship from the Gonzol Empire. The captain, Minky, has led several missions attempting to conquer other planets in the galaxy for his queen, but has been unsuccessful so far. After failing to conquer a planet, Minky tells his queen he will conquer Earth. This is his last chance for success and if his crew fails, they'll be sentenced to the scourge realm (which sounds awful). The crew of the Devastorm 5 sets off for Earth and lands in Fun Fun Fun World, where they meet Javi, son of an amusement park engineer tasked with reopening Fun Fun Fun World. The crew has to work with Javi to complete their mission of conquering Earth and get to the bottom of the mystery of Fun Fun Fun World's missing creator.
I really enjoyed the artwork in this graphic novel. The amusement park looked incredible and I enjoyed the bits of space that we got to see on the page. The plot was paced really well; I didn't feel like the ending was rushed and I think the ending leaves readers in a good space. While I found the characters to be a bit annoying in the beginning (they are all very full of themselves), they grew on me throughout the story and I came to like most of them by the end. I also liked that Javi, our human main character, is a boy of color; it is so important for readers to see themselves represented on the page, especially in science fiction where non-white characters are harder to come by.
There were a few things that frustrated me about this book, however. I found Minky to be an incredibly frustrating character. He's a terrible captain and there isn't any character development during the story. While there are brief moments of him second-guessing himself once his plan to capture Earth goes astray, he ultimately sees himself as a successful captain and doesn't ever deal with the decisions he makes that have negative impacts on his crew. I also found the format difficult to deal with. Since I was reading an advance copy, the pages weren't presented in a side-by-side manner, which would have helped make the artwork even more impressive. This issue should be resolved in final copies when the books are printed with a more traditional page arrangement.
Overall, I would give this book 3 out of 5 stars. While I enjoyed the art, the characters were overbearing for a majority of the book. I also feel like some of the vocabulary is a little difficult for the intended age group. This would be a great book for upper middle school students who have an interest in space, aliens, or engineering.
Absolutely loved it. It’s funny, quirky, easy to to follow and to look at. Would definitely follow Minky and the team on future adventures.
I wanted to like this one so bad but seriously I have some issues with it. The art style is repetitive and there's nothing much to read and follow. The dialogue bubbles and the dialogues are a but congested and the characters are so full of themselves. At first I thought it must have been a joke but it kept on being like that ever since the story began and I could not find any significance of it. I thought it would be full of action and some space story with characters that are lively and interesting but I feel there's a lot of negative elements in this one that I feel it's inappropriate for the age audience that it is targetting. I don't find this one cute or entertaining or even slightly funny.
I really wanted to like this read but I guess this one is not meant to be.
Thank you #NetGalley so much for the book #FunFunFunWorld