Pokemon X/Y: Pocket Comics Review

The third volume of Pokemon Comics focuses on new Pokemon of the Kalos region such as Fenniken, Froakie and Chespin as well as the Mega Evolved forms of past favorites. It’s two books in one as each page features both a comic and a quiz about the Pokemon featured. There’s plenty of facts and info for Pokemon fans. Is it good?

Pokemon X/Y: Pocket Comics (Viz Media)

There isn’t really a story to follow since the book is a collection of three and four panel comics strips, with each set of pages focusing on a different Pokemon. Translated from a kid’s manga, written and illustrated by Santa Harukaze, the jokes are at about the level of a “Family Circus” Sunday comic. It’s clearly aimed at the younger Pokemon crowd, filled with lots of puns, with the most offensive text being a fart joke in one strip.

The art is on par with newspaper comics, too. There aren’t many backgrounds and those that do appear are something simple, like a path on a grassy hill or a house. The colors are nice and bright and should appeal to the same kids that think the jokes are funny. The Pokemon look like their counterparts from the game and TV show, so they should be easily recognizable for young one.

The book goes in order of the Pokemon’s officially recognized “National Pokedex” number, but only shows the Pokemon that are new to the series as of the X/Y video game entries. There’s also a quiz on the border of each page that asks questions related to the featured Pokemon, with the answer appearing in the border of the next page. Most of the questions can only be answered by those with knowledgable background of Pokemon facts like which type beats what other type. There are some that dig a little deeper and involve the in-game descriptions of the Pokemon, so I was out of my depth.

Conclusion

The timing is a little strange, since the newest Sun and Moon editions of the game were just released. This material is from the previous generation and would be a good primer for kids looking to know more about the new Kalos Pokemon, but that time has come and gone. Still, I asked my 10 year old daughter, who’s a fan, to give it a read and she thought it was funny and cute. She definitely thought it was good. My 6 year old would like the funny expressions and Onomatopoeia that highlight the comic high jinks of the Pokemon, but would struggle to read it on her own. Somewhere in that age range is the perfect audience, but for anyone older the punchlines would be about as funny as a Bazooka Joe comic.