The Funny Paperback has been delighting readers for over 50 years. 13 new editions are published every year, as well as special editions and specials, such as the Phantomias special volumes, anniversary editions or stories for special times of the year and festivities. In this review we examine the 11th volume of the special edition "Happy Easter", in which spring-like stories can be found in addition to turbulent Easter egg hunt stories.
The cover and the presentation
In keeping with the occasion of the happy holidays, the front cover of the funny paperback sparkles in a shiny silver color. To get in the mood for Easter, one of the main characters and my absolute darling from Duckburg, Donald Duck, adorns the picture in a rabbit costume and carries a basket with colorful Easter eggs under his arm, while a chicken with a satisfied facial expression is incubating a large, colorful egg.
The back does not show an exact table of contents, which is unusual for books and comics. Since the Funny Paperback often contains several stories, especially here in the special volume, this can be neglected. The teaser is completely sufficient to make the book attractive to the reader:
"On the Easter eggs, get set, go!" A colorful Easter LTB with 15 spring-like stories!"
Description on the back of the funny paperback Happy Easter special volume
The Funny paperback Happy Easter special tape is organized internally in much the same way as other Funny Paperbacks. There is a table of contents, advertisements with a view to other editions of the Funny Paperback, and each chapter closes with the word 'End'.
In the design, these are decorated and drawn in an Easter-like manner.
Photo: Melanie Dürbeck
The imprint can be found at the beginning of the edition.
At the beginning of each story, the names of the authors and illustrators involved are printed on the first page at the bottom. The reader also learns when the story was written.
Table of contents and a sympathetic foreword
The table of contents is visually appealing. It mainly consists of the color green. The backgrounds of the headings are stored in this way and there is also a lot of green to be seen otherwise. That really fits in with the spring theme, when the meadows and fields begin to bloom and leaves grow again on the trees. There are very short, but also medium-length stories.
The foreword is basically the synopsis that I missed on the back of the paperback. It briefly outlines the content of some of the stories.
The readers are greeted personally with "Hello friends", which is very friendly. The residents of Duckburg personally wish us a happy Easter and have fun with the stories. I really feel addressed by that. Because when I think about it, the Disney characters really have become my friends. I grew up with them and was rooted in many stories. Not only did I read a lot of funny paperbacks, I also collected the Mickey Mouse booklet in my childhood. I am therefore very happy about this foreword and it put a big smile on my face. In any case, I am positively attuned to the further content of the Funny Paperback.
The stories at a glance
What works better than pictures when describing the content of a comic? Except for the 1-sided stories, we'll briefly explain what the spring-like stories are about.
Intergalactic Easter egg hunt
The planet of flowers
Struggle for silence
Money storage in bloom
Puzzling hen robbery
Turbulent train ride
Shock therapy
Made-to-measure weather
Moving country trip
The dream home
Limitlessly creative
Misunderstood artist
Photo: Melanie Dürbeck
Presentation of text and images
Typically for a comic, as few texts as possible are used. The pictures and drawings speak for this. The texts themselves are displayed differently depending on the application. The speech bubbles and boxes also differ. For example, exclamations and noises are shown in bold letters, and voices from televisions and telephones are shown in italics with jagged speech bubbles. For example, descriptions of the situation, place and time are highlighted in yellow. These delimitations help to clearly distinguish the texts and applications from one another. Because the paperbacks should be easy to read for children.
I find puns or names that are set appropriately amusing. Be it "Stillwalden" for a holiday resort with the "Leiser" guesthouse or "Egg" for the intergalactic egg collector, "Flores" for the flower planet and "Flora" for the princess. I find that very typical of the stories from Duckburg.
I always find the language in the pictures very appealing. It replaces written text and looks funny.
Few negative points of criticism
I have few negative points of criticism here. I discovered two sentence errors, which shouldn't actually be, because the editing failed. I would have expected more stories about Easter in an Easter edition, but it only contained one. The others also turned to spring. Otherwise it is not enough for me in depth stories. But that is also due to the fact that it is a special volume with collected stories on a topic. Otherwise, the stories, drawings and texts are appealing and amusing as usual.
What counts for me is that the special volume entertained me well and that the selection of stories put me in the mood for spring and the coming Easter.
The funny paperback
The adventures of Donald Duck and Co. appear every four weeks in a funny paperback by Egmont Ehapa Media (copyright: © 2019 Disney / Egmont Ehapa Media).
Pictures of Funny Paperback Happy Easter Special Volume
Infobox
Paperback: 256 pages
Published by Egmont Ehapa Media
Language: German
ISBN: 978-3-8413-2711-6
Authors: Diverse
Year of publication: 2019
Cost: 7,99 Euro
Conclusion
The special volume "Happy Easter" for the Funny Paperback is colorful and full of stories, as usual, with stories in and around Duckburg. Although the stories don't go any deeper, it should "only" contain a collection of stories on a topic anyway. In return, they get you in the mood for spring and the upcoming Easter days.
No matter what new comics and manga I'm laughing at now and in the future, a funny paperback always works. I can expect that the quality of the Funny Paperback books will always be good. The stories mostly meet my taste and are always funny. This special volume has proven that again.
