As her many fans know, Marge's Little Lulu circulated in the days of Dell, when comics were a dime, gradually easing their way up to a quarter. To get those comics nowadays in readable shape requires a bit of an outlay on E-Bay. Even new comics these days run around three bucks, only about thirty times more than in the dime days. No wonder the perennial reissues of popular lines garner so much attention.
The Another Rainbow hardback Little Lulu collection was slipcased with color covers, but even that had black and white internal art, as do most of the Dark Horse reissues. This full color collection is the odd duck, but not quite: Dark Horse's Little Lulu Color Special from 2006 preceded it. That paperback measured 10 X 6.5 inches, 208 pages, and retailed for 13.95. This new color collection is 9 X 6 inches, the same size as the black and white Dark Horse series, 200 pages, retailing at 14.95. It's the first in a series of color collections, which unlike the black and white books, are not numbered.
What readers probably are wondering is why isn't this rated a five? For one thing, if books have to be printed in China, we're not really making five star books. Apart from that, though, the printing is very grainy, unlike the pristine color special, which seemed to be a one-off and a class act all the way, itself now going the way of the E-bay auction.
The Color Special editors picked and chose its contents between Little Lulu #4 and #86. "The Alamo and Other Stories" contains comics 88-93. I suppose that Classic Media owns the rights to the modern Little Lulu design created by CINAR in Canada for the animated Little Lulu Show, which ran on HBO, but it's always disconcerting to see these designs used on reissued Little Lulu material. Here it's on both the front and back cover.
What one reads these comics for, of course, is the deft and humorous writing and drawing of John Stanley and artwork of Irving Tripp. The bottom line is here's the most reasonable way to get five entire Little Lulu comics, which will appeal to collectors, who may be filing away the originals in archival bags, but would yet like a copy to reread the stories (and gaze at the whimsical art). But be ye forewarned. Collectors who leave these comics around on the coffee table may find their guests becoming fans.Little Lulu Color SpecialLittle Lulu: The Bawlplayers And Other StoriesLittle Lulu: Miss Feeny's Folly And Other Stories