I should cut back on my comics-reading. I had a dream last night that I had a crush on Mirror Master and I almost had him convinced to give up his life of crime, but then Captain Cold and some of the other rogues mocked him and he went back to his villainous ways.

I am SO not right in the head.

Was that from watching JLU, Steph?

I don't think so -- the only episode of JLU I've seen recently was this weekend -- something with Luthor and Gorilla Grodd.

All my kids are watching Superman I right now. I am so proud.

Which, Teppy, IMO, was mediocre, but rather worth it for Luthor's "That was you master plan? Wow are you stupid" thing.

So, I've been reading some comics lately (stand-alone, contained stories, mostly. I can't afford to get hooked on a series at the moment)

Partially impelled by this, and partly by procrastination, I'd like to find a few really good quality comic books or graphic novels to put in my classroom library. Stuff that can be read as a stand-alone, that I can easily defend as "worth reading", and (the hard part) will be appropriate for an age 9-12 class, and, more importantly, not be seen as offensive to their parents.

I'm not sure such a creature exists, but if anyone knows, I figure it will be you guys. Any ideas?

The comic book BONE is being reprinted by Scholastic.

Maus is too old, right?

Debet, this site reveiws Graphic Novels for teens, but also has a section for younger kids:

[link]

I was so. over. the Holocaust by the time Maus came out I never read it, ita. I don't know if it would work.

Thanks, guys.

I like Hopeless Savages. It lives in the YAF section at Durham Public Library, so I guess it would be for the right age group. I'm not sure how educational it would be considered, though. There are references (usually past tense) to drug use. There are strong female role models. There are gay relationships (not particularly explicit). It's about a family where the parents were punk rockers and the kids either rebel against (OMG he's gone corporate!) or embrace their heritage.