Akiko, Volume Four: The Story Tree

Akiko Comics #4

by Mark Crilley

The fourth AKIKO Trade Paperback is a very special collection of shorts called “The Story Tree” re-presenting issues 19 through 24 of the on going series. In a secluded valley on earth, Akiko’s four friends from the planet Smoo entertain each other with their exploits on other worlds. First up is Mr. Beeba’s adventurous tale of the time he tracked down the final lost chapter of The Hemmin Spotter, an ancient text of galactic importance. Then Spuckler recounts a tale of chivalry and romance on the planet Brunk, where he helped a young woman’s grandfather escape a maximum security prison moon. Gax tells of his tour of duty on the Fognon-6 orbital power station and the frantic race to evacuate his robot brethren from the station before the Gothtek Corporation scuttled it. This tale also includes Gax’s first fateful meeting with Spuckler. Last but not least, a story from Poog’s past, told entirely in the Toogolian language, rounds out this latest AKIKO collection.

Genres: Graphic Novels

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Mark Crilley is an American comic book creator and children's book author/illustrator. He is the creator of Miki Falls, Akiko, and Brody's Ghost. He is also noted for his instructional videos for drawing in the manga-style. Crilley distributes drawing advice to artists via YouTube videos and his DeviantArt account. In August 2010, he starred in some how to draw videos for Funimation on demand. Mark Crilley's wife is Miki Crilley who he named Miki Falls after. The two have a daughter, Mio, and a son, Matthew.
Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Cri...

Reviews

[Marta Veenhof · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps I shouldn't have started at volume four, but I found these stories to be a bit scattered. Granted you have different characters telling stories within the volume, which works sometimes, but in this case, I think it was a detriment to its cohesiveness. I found the stories to be a bit boring as well. Again, maybe should have read from the first volume as you should with most everything.

Some of the drawings were cute, some of them not as much. I'm a sucker for cute graphic novels!

[Lydia Bush · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was fun to see the crew visiting Akiko in her own environment, but this collection consisting of short stories about the individual characters left it lacking what I experience as the magic of the Alia Rellapor saga and the chapter books- Namely, the focus on the relationships between the characters and the full immersion in adventuring through intergalactic lands.

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another series that my kids got me hooked on.
In this volume, our rag-tag band of space adventurers have a quiet moment and share stories of their lives before they banded together.
Nice collection of solo tales, where each member in our cast get their chance in the spotlight.

Great, fun series, full of humor and funky sci-fi ideas.

Why hasn't someone optioned the movie rights to this?

[Rob McMonigal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the first three volumes but still fun. See my review here: http://trebro.livejournal.com/276826....

[Debrarian]

Graphic novel (compiled from Story Tree comix issues 8-13) about an Asian-American girl (Akiko) and her pals from Planet Smoo.