New planets, secret headquarters, extraterrestrial creatures, and other cosmic delights fill the pages of these works for elementary through high school readers.
Rover and Speck: It’s a Gas! text and illustrations © 2024 Jonathan Roth |
Science fiction has always been part of comics’ DNA, going back to the days of newspaper strips, when Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers ruled the funny papers. Comic books grew directly out of pulp fiction, often coming from the same publishers and appealing to the same readers. So it’s not surprising that sci-fi is still a huge category for comics. The visual format lends itself to the worldbuilding that sci-fi demands, as it’s quicker to depict new planets, secret headquarters, and extraterrestrial creatures on the page than to describe them in words, and the cartoony style favored by most creators renders the action sequences both believable and easy to follow. Here’s a look at eight out-of-this-world stories for a range of ages and tastes.
BALTAZAR, Art, and Franco. Flash Gordon Adventures! Vol. 1. Papercutz. 2024.
Gr 2-7–It’s possible that most young readers haven’t heard of Flash Gordon, space adventurer and hero of a comic strip and numerous films. But that’s OK, because Art and Franco, the team behind “Tiny Titans,” start this book off with a crudely drawn comic summarizing the backstory. Once we are introduced to Flash Gordon, his friend Dale, the inventor Dr. Zarkov, and Ming the Merciless, Art and Franco up the art with a smooth, rounded style; candy-colored palette; and zany antics. The setting is the planet of Lexray, where most of the inhabitants are human/animal hybrids, and all of them loathe Ming. The story meanders through a couple of adventures: Dr. Zarkov invents a machine to turn Ming into a lizard; Flash visits Sky World, home of the Hawk Men. It’s all fast-moving and full of silly gags, with a similar vibe to Dav Pilkey’s “Dog Man” and John Patrick Green’s “InvestiGators.”
JOLLEY, Dan. Mack Moon and the P.E.T.S. illus. by Russ Cox. Andrews McMeel. 2025.
Gr 2-7–Mack Moon is an ordinary boy who is fascinated by outer space, but the last thing he expected was for his pets—a dog, a cat, and a fish—to turn out to be part of an undercover interplanetary force sent to keep the Earth safe. Mack manages to contain his surprise, though, to help them fight an evil space ferret named Barbara, who has teamed up with Stacey, the school bully, to attract a band of marauding space monkeys to attack the planet. The story is full of twists, turns, and ingenious devices, and the P.E.T.S., especially the dog Pickles (a.k.a. Agent Carl), are delightful blends of animal and human personalities. Cox draws animals and humans alike in a stretchy, cartoony style. The running gags, such as the neighbor who keeps seeing weird things at Mack’s house, are another callback to animated cartoons.
KAHN, Ben. Mr. Muffins: Defender of the Stars. illus. by Georgeo Brooks. Oni Pr. 2025.
Gr 3-7–Reuben Mahmoud (named for his father’s favorite sandwich) takes his corgi, Mr. Muffins, to the park and ends up in the middle of a space war, with his dog as an unlikely warrior. Mr. Muffins has been inhabited by the Spirit of Light, who is the only entity powerful enough to allow the Voltarian Alliance to defeat the evil Hakar Empire. The corgi can now shoot lasers and create a protective shield around himself, and he and Reuben promptly hop into a spaceship and head into battle. The battles are mostly fought with laser beams and a giant mech dog, and there’s plenty of wisecracking along the way, giving this story a classic comics feel despite its modern setting and artwork. The art has a cartoony style with imaginative designs for the aliens, and the action is always easy to follow.
KNIGHT, Rosie. Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp. illus. by Oliver Ono. IDW. 2024.
Gr 4-7–Four kids discover their summer camp is full of kaiju, giant monsters—cool! But it’s also a corporation’s cover for an illegal fracking operation—not cool! So they team up with the monsters to destroy the fracking rig. Zelda is dismayed when she arrives at summer camp only to learn that the art camp she signed up for has been taken over by a big corporation and turned into a high-tech sports camp instead. When she finds a portal to Monster Island and befriends a mini-Godzilla named Minzilla, though, things start to get interesting. Her friends, artist/athlete Weezie, fierce athlete Rumiko, and super-cool Ororo, are all fascinated by monsters. They use their skills and kaiju expertise to help the monsters destroy the fracking rig and defeat the evil camp counselors. Like the original Godzilla movie, this story has a strong environmental message, but the engaging characters and delightful monsters keep it from getting too heavy.
LANGRIDGE, Roger. Pandora Perfect. illus. by Brett Parson. 2000 AD. 2023.
Gr 3-7–Pandora Perez dresses like Mary Poppins, complete with carpetbag and umbrella. But she’s not a Practically Perfect nanny; she’s a super-thief living in the future with her robot assistant, Gort. The carpetbag is made out of a black hole, so it has infinite capacity, and the umbrella is jet-propelled. While nominally evil, Pandora has principles (she only steals from the ultra-rich), a soft heart, and a level of sangfroid that would be the envy of James Bond. This episodic story originally ran in the pages of the British sci-fi comic 2000 AD, so the chapters are short. Some are self-contained stories, but there is also a six-part series about a sausage mogul who has found a moon made of living sausage and is mining it; he steals and clones Gort to create a robot army and cut labor costs. This graphic novel is zany, gross, and smart at the same time, like MAD Magazine at its peak. It delivers the old-fashioned satisfaction of a comic that’s filled with detail, action, and weird ideas, and yet is totally appropriate for middle grade readers. That said, it may also skew toward older readers, given its classic-comic feel of a lot of panels with a lot going on in every panel.
ROTH, Jonathan. Rover and Speck: It’s a Gas! illus. by author. Kids Can. 2024.
Gr 2-5–Rover and Speck are two space exploration robots who fly through the universe looking for signs of life. In this book, the third volume of the series, they explore a gas planet, theorizing that while the outer layers are too cold to sustain life and the inner core is too hot, the layers in between might be just right. Indeed, there they meet lightning sharks and a curious jellyfish, and they also learn a bit more about the planet than the inhabitants knew themselves. The jellyfish don’t believe there’s anything above the top layer until Rover and Speck bring them up there to show them. Like the first “Rover and Speck” volume, this early reader comic has simple art, bright colors, and two to three panels per page. Along the way, pop-up panels explain some science facts. The back matter includes a discussion of planetary life and an invitation for readers to consider what life would be like on four different places in the solar system. This lively story with lots of silly humor is a good pick for fans of Ben Clanton’s “Narwhal and Jelly” and Nidhi Chanani’s “Shark Princess.”
SNYDER, Scott. Dudley Datson and the Forever Machine. illus. by Jamal Igle. Dark Horse. 2024.
Gr 5 Up–High schooler Dudley Datson encounters everyone’s worst nightmare when he demonstrates his new smart clothes to the Young Inventor’s Club: The outfit shorts out, making the clothes invisible, and he appears before the crowd in his underwear. That’s just the start of Dudley’s troubles in this fast-moving story. Pretty soon, he is caught up in a battle over a perpetual motion machine, led by aliens from another dimension, with his teacher’s dog—a corgi named Daedalus with an unusual pedigree—as his guide. Like Pandora Perfect, this is very much the style of an old-school comic book, with crowded pages, lots of text boxes and word balloons, and plenty of action. In the tradition of sci-fi, it adds philosophy and alternate history, with Daedalus offering deep thoughts on the nature of invention and reworking ancient Greek legends. Snyder, whose adult work includes American Vampire and a lengthy run onBatman, is one of the most popular comics writers today, and Igle is a seasoned veteran, too. The resulting story is appropriate for all readers and also a good starting ramp for those wanting to explore more adult comics.
HICKS, Josh. Hotelitor: Luxury-Class Defense and Hospitality Unit. illus. by author. Lerner/Graphic Universe. 2024.
Gr 9 Up–It’s the future: everyone is living in space colonies, and one giant corporation, Apatus, owns everything—including the combination luxury hotel/battle robot that gives this graphic novel its name. Hotelitor’s service staff and bridge crew are responsible for commanding the robot when it is called into action. But the bridge crew happens to be away on the day an alien attacks and propels Hotelitor to a distant area of outer space. That means it’s up to the staff to take control of the robot, fight off the attacker, and try to find a way home. Their manager, Mr. Smough, isn’t helping; he has been busy setting up a VIP system for the guests and charging them extra for everything. At the same time, a musician is performing in the lower decks, and his fans are beginning to seem like a cult. So there’s a lot happening in this fast-paced story. Hicks makes good use of cutaway diagrams and frequent reminders to keep readers aware of where things are in the giant structure. The artwork is clear, colorful, and cartoony, the cast is likable, and the dialogue is funny, making this a great light read.
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