Little Lulu Volume 16: A Handy Kid (v. 1)
*Starred Review* Although she debuted in the Saturday Evening Post, Little Lulu vaulted to the pinnacle of cartoon eminence in comic books. She hit the ground running and never really faltered as long as Stanley and Tripp had charge of Marge's Little Lulu (the comic book's full name, acknowledging Lulu's creator, Marge Buell). Some of her and leading-man Tubby's adventures were better than others, to be sure, and this volume collecting MLL issues 69 through 74 confirms that she could be absolute gold for long stretches. These stories are consistently more inspired, busier, and wackier, and their dialogue winks more at older siblings and parents (without the slightest lewdness; this is 1950s kid stuff, after all). They're chock-full of shocking (and risible) disclosures: Tubby's dad has only one good spanking per diem in him, rich-kid Wilbur Van Snobbe's mom adores modern art, Tubby's fiddle summons elephants, Fairyland has gone all modern and philanthropic (but you still can't get there on the bus). As always, revenge powers many a plot, often rebounding on its initiator and then some; in "Three Fathers," Wilbur gets back at Tubby and his club mates but lives to regret bringing pesky littler kid Alvin into the scheme. This is the best volume yet in the complete Little Lulu project. Olson, Ray