Review: PX! Book One: A Girl & Her Panda by Anderson & Trembley

This Book Is About

My Thoughts On This Book

I picked this fun little graphic novel up at Comix Experience in San Francisco’s Haight neighborhood during my Thanksgiving vacation. The title and cover art grabbed my attention, and the quirky characters and slightly surreal sci-fi plot sold me.

The characters: a little girl named Dahlia who is about six years old and the daughter of a missing scientist; a nuclear-powered cyborg panda named Panda who was created by the missing scientist for his daughter, who rides around on its back; an anachronistic gentleman spy named Weatherby who is in Her Majesty’s Secret Service and gets so focused discussing the rules of pistol dueling that he doesn’t notice that his foe has fled; Wikkity, a hill-billy disco samurai on roller-skates who has an anti-ninja fixation; and a monomaniacal taxi-driving goat named Pollo (Spanish for ‘chicken’ and pronounced poy-yo) who has kidnapped Dahlia’s father as part of his plan for world domination.

This book began as a webcomic, though its creators say PX! has always had more of a graphic novel feel. After reading book one, I fully concur with their assertion.

A reflection of this webcomic start is the horizontal layout of A Girl and Her Panda, a trait almost every webcomic collection/graphic novel shares due to the rectangular nature of computer monitors (I’ve only seen one collection that was vertical). Far from hindering the story flow, I find that this narrow orientation actually helps concentrate the action. It also lends itself well to a more cinematic play with the frames, which the artist of PX! takes good advantage of.

As an aside, you can still read PX! online.

The comic’s art is well executed and I like the creative frame layouts. I also love the colors, which are both well chosen and skillfully employed to create mood and lighting.

I also like that all the pages of this graphic novel are black instead of the traditionally white paper comics are usually printed on. It really offsets the colors and helps place the action on center stage, further lending to the cinematic styling.

The plot and character building itself is also good. I found the story engaging, action packed and humorous. The dialog is handled well and, without a doubt, the best line is from a single-panel flashback by Wikkity, showing him as a boy in his overalls and starring up at his mother’s knees as she says, “Wikkity, every time you punch a ninja an angel gets its wings.”

Rating & Levels For This Book

I Give This Book four Vikings out of five	Violence Level two Burning Huts out of five	Romance Level zero Hearts out of five
# of actual vikings in book: 0 What do these levels mean? »	Humor Level three Smiles out of five	Lust Level zero Kisses out of five

Author and Publishing Information For This Book

Author & Book Details Title: PX! Book One: a girl and her panda Author(s): Eric A. Anderson & Manny Trembley ISBN#: 9781582408200 Genre(s): Humorous sci-fi graphic novel/webcomic Edition Reviewed: First printing of book one Illustrations: Color Page Count: 133 (154 with a bonus story about young Weatherby and Wikkity and two behind-the-scenes bits) Part of a Series: yes, this is book one

Publishing & Copyright Details Publisher(s): Shadowline (an Image imprint) Copyright: 2007 In Print: Yes Original Language: English Published in Other Languages: No Find a Local Comic Shop » Find a Local Book Store »

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