White Flower Day

Yikes!

by Steven Weissman

White Flower Day is an all-ages humor graphic novel starring a precocious gang of supernatural Pullapart Boy, Kid Medusa, Li'l Bloody (a vampire toddler), the Li'l Tin Stars, and more. Think Hal Roach's classic Our Gang comedies (before child labor laws made them impossible to replicate, unless you're a cartoonist) meets the Universal Monsters, with a tad of Manga-style energy thrown in. The book consists of three "White Flower Day," "Hostiles," and "I Saw You," all dealing with the theme of revenge (a new emotional desire to most of the tykes). "I Saw You" introduces Pullapart Boy's cousin, College Boy, who is younger, smarter and far more accomplished than P.B., attending university and hard at work on a secret science project. "Hostiles" tells of a bizarre, three-day nature hike with Li'l Bloody, the Li'l Tin Stars, "Mean" Chubby Cheeks' and Chubby's usually-absent father, involving grisly forest-action and baffling acts of sabotage! Weissman's charming and respectful approach to his child characters has been compared to Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts , though Weissman employs a distinctly darker sense of humor without excluding younger readers from his audience. White Flower Day is his best book to date, a mix of absurd imagination and very human emotion, certain to entertain and enlighten readers of all ages.
SC, 7x7, 112pg, b&w

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Steven Knight Weissman (born June 4, 1968, in California) is an alternative cartoonist.
Weissman was the recipient of the Harvey Kurtzman Award for Best New Talent in 1998 and he is best known for his offbeat and bizarre explorations of childhood friendships. He is the author of a number of books, including Barack Hussein Obama (2012), Butter and Blood (2015) and the series of graphic novels Yikes! (1999-2008). His work has been published by Fantagraphics, Retrofit Comics, Nickelodeon, Vice, Mad Magazine and more.
Weissman lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and son.

Reviews

[Sooraya Evans · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pointless and boring.

[kubby]

it's funny at a glance that i see so many one and two stars, not to be confused with the lil tin stars.

for some years now i've adored books by steven weissman. i adore his brushwork. i adore the characters. they're off-beat, a strange concoction of earnest kids who look kinda like adults who become involved in bizarre situations plus they certainly dress better than most adults or kids i've ever seen.

i have access to a really decent library system and i actually buy weissman's books so i can look them over again and again! the more subtle points of weissman's humor absolutely tickles me!

i mean, c'mon! in this volume poor kid medusa is sorta the protagonist! what could be better?

[Matt Graupman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wait- this is a Steven Weissman book?! I read (and really enjoyed) his “Barack Hussein Obama” comic but those strips were so stylized and the humor was so dry. This book, “White Flower Day,” was very different from that other work: gentler, softer, and quirky but not so combative. I liked it but, man, I wouldn’t have guessed it was the same cartoonist.

“White Flower Day” is a trio of loosely connected stories starring child-aged versions of familiar horror icons like Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster; think of it as a mash-up of “Peanuts” and “The Adams Family” with a dash of the Hernandez Bros.’ suburban ennui. The comics are cute and funny and clever but ephemeral. I read it just a few days ago and I’m already struggling a bit to remember exactly what happened in each one. I did REALLY like the concept of Pullapart Boy, though; I’d love to read a whole book about him.

From “White Flower Day” to “Barack Hussein Obama,” Steven Weissman is a cartoonist whose talents are incredibly varied. I can’t even begin to guess what he’ll do next; it could be anything. But I like to be surprised so I’ll be certain to check out more of his comics.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read White Flower Day (2003) because I had just read another odd graphic novel from the author and I was intrigued by the kind of twisted take on a Golden Age cartoon face on the cover. Fantagraphics claimed that he might be the second coming of Charles Schultz, but I can see why this didn’t happen.
The book is a trio stories featuring kids, sure, but they are child-aged versions of Dracula and Frankenstein. Which sounds like it has potential, right? A darker, more cynical Peanuts for the new century? An antidote to smarmy kid lit? Maybe. The supernatural gang includes Pullapart Boy, Kid Medusa, Li'l Bloody (a vampire toddler). I guess I would call it absurd more than anything.

[d4 · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were a few amusing elements, but each story left me unsatisfied. I felt as if I was being thrown into the middle of some ongoing plot without knowing the back-story,* and then was further disappointed to find the investment of time had no payoff. It left me with a headache and mild irritation.

* It appears to be part of a loose collection, but from the style I am skeptical that reading the other books would make me appreciate it.

[Earline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Chewing Gum in Church by Weissman a year ago and loved the vampire (Lil' Bloody) so I picked this up hoping for more vampire action.. luckily there was a Lil' Bee story towards the end, and I did enjoy reading longer stories about these characters, but overall I think his earlier short comic strips are still funnier.

[Sarah]

While I get what the author was trying to do here (little kids doing awful things = subversive funny), I honestly found the whole thing pretentious, boring, and not very funny. I lost interest halfway through and only skimmed the end. There was nothing holding these short stories together and when it was done it pretty much just felt like a waste of time.

[H]

pretty bizarre. the line art is moody and evocative, but lacks clarity in narrative from panel to panel. weissman has captured the ethereal world of schoolyard childhood in a very unique way here. the characters are wowzers.

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This entertaining graphic novel features many of our favorite monsters as children, including Medusa, Frankenstein and a vampire. Pay particular attention to dates because they help the reader understand the story.

[Jeremy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugly art servicing stories that go nowhere. Enjoy!

[Andria · Rating 1 out of 5]

The cover of this book is REALLY cute. Unfortunately, that's the best thing I can say about it.