Atomic Ace: (He's Just My Dad)

by Jeff Weigel, Jeff Weigel (Illustrator)

Overview

2005 IRA-CBC Children's Choice Award

So what's it like living with Atomic Ace, a dad who battles robots and can fly? It's not as weird as you might think—after all, Ace is always there to fix Saturday lunch and play ball with his son. Mom is just Mom and Dad is just Dad.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807532157
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	01/01/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	40 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jeff Weigel shared his childhood in Freeport, Illinois, with his mom and dad, five siblings, several dogs and cats, and the scores of superheroes that populated the classic comic books of the sixties and seventies. He learned how to draw from the many talented artists who depicted those heroes' adventures and who inspired a new generation of kids to pick up pencils and pass along the tradition of graphic storytelling. These days, Jeff is an award-winning graphic designer. As a comic book writer and illustrator, he has been a regular contributor to the anthology comic book series Big Bang Comics. He lives in Illinois with his wife and children.

Editorial Reviews

Comic-strip panels of a Spandex-clad "Atomic Ace" alternate with cozy images of Ace's family in this humorous look at a hero balancing work and home. The unnamed narrator is Atomic Ace's middle-school-age son: "I have to admit Dad's not like other guys:/ he's got nuclear powers, and sometimes he flies!" In rectangular insets, readers see Atomic Ace conferring with a police commissioner, while newspaper headlines track the jailbreak and dastardly deeds of the villainous Insect King. Meanwhile, full-bleed pages picture Ace (still in his skintight red-and-yellow outfit) relaxing at home with his doting wife and son. Ace sits in a comfy floral chair, scowling at the newspaper, while his son practices trumpet, then tucks the boy into bed. As it turns out, Ace will miss his child's band concert due to an ill-timed battle with the Insect King. The son, like many kids, admires his father but wishes they could spend more time together: "Dad's been busy these days-there's a tough case at work./ Some guy dressed in a bug suit is being a jerk." He gets picked on by classmates when Ace fails ("Atomic Ace Humiliated as Crime Spree Continues," the headlines taunt), but ultimately sees justice done ("Nuclear Knight Outsmarts Insect King"). Debut illustrator Weigel expertly inks and colors this semi-spoof to resemble a superhero comic. Although the cutesy (and lengthy) rhyming verse makes the son seem a bit childish, the hard-boiled headlines and graphics capture the comedy of Ace's double life. Ages 6-9. (Mar.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 1-4-This story of a superhero is told through his adoring son's tolerant eyes. The Atomic Ace tries to be a good father by saving the world from evil forces and also by making sure that he is home to cook an occasional meal and to offer words of encouragement ("Don't fret about things that others might say./If you just do your best, you'll be more than okay!"). Unfortunately, an encounter with the Insect King not only causes him to miss his son's band recital, but also leaves him with the head of an ant ("Dad wasn't himself for the next couple of days./He just hates it when bad guys zap him with rays"). With the superhero's failure all over the headlines, his son must endure his classmates' jeers. However, before long, the Atomic Ace snaps out of his funk and outwits his demon, and life returns to normal. Weigel's bright, expressive artwork harkens back to the '60s and is quite appealing, both in the bona fide comic-book frames depicting the Atomic Ace's workday exploits and in the spreads that tell the "real" story. The rhyming text never misses a beat. It's not quite as touching as Reeve Lindbergh's If I'd Known Then What I Know Now (Viking, 1994; o.p.) but it's certainly a more than OK allegory about the trials and tribulations of family bonding.-John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview, TX Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

"Debut illustrator Weigel expertly inks and colors this semi-spoof to resemble a superhero comic."

Publishers Weekly

"The rhyming text never misses a beat."

School Library Journal

From the Publisher