The Funny Pocket Book has delighted readers for over 50 years. 13 new editions are published every year, and there are also special editions and specials, such as the Phantomias special volumes, anniversary editions or stories about special seasons and festivities. In this review we examine the 5th volume of the special edition “Royal”, in which a selection of stories about royalty, nobility and knights can be found.
The cover and the presentation
In keeping with the royal theme, the cover and the binding have a shiny golden color in some places, making them look classy. The back shows a table of contents, made up like an announcement from the king as “Good news from the royal family”. It teases the content of some of the stories.
The Funny paperback royal special volume is organized inside mainly in the same way as other Funny Paperback books. There is a table of contents, advertisements for other editions of the Funny Paperback, and each chapter ends with an “end”. The imprint can be found at the beginning of the issue and also contains information on how to obtain further episodes.
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. It struck me that some of the stories in this book are very young and from the last few years.
Table of contents and foreword
The table of contents is visually appealing and designed to match the topic in terms of colors and graphics. The page numbers are highlighted with crown graphics and each chapter is clearly listed. In addition, for each title it was noted in which edition of the funny paperback it appeared for the first time. It stands out positively and surprises me that most of the stories have their premiere here.
The stories at a glance
We'll briefly explain what the stories are about and let the pictures take effect.
Royale first words
Small, capitalized names
At the fair
A fateful sneeze
The strength lies in the flavor
Dragon Knight Donald
Royal rap with pep
His Majesty's Tournament
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, bold letters represent exclamations and noises, and dashed lines of a speech bubble represent a whisper. For example, descriptions of the situation, place and time are highlighted in yellow. In some of the stories in the special Royal Volume, these are depicted as scrolls to match the theme, but not in a uniform and continuous manner. The visual delimitations help to clearly distinguish the texts and applications from one another. Because the paperbacks should be easy to read for children.
Photos: Melanie Dürbeck
This time I saw less imaginative and clever names, as I've been used to from other funny paperback books. But maybe they wouldn't have worked well here. I only remembered the “Mouse Keteers” as original.
Drawing style newer
The story “Kleine Große D (r) amen” shows a new style of drawing that immediately caught my eye. It is true that it often happens and is common for the different artists to make the pictures and lines look different, but this style struck me straight away. It impresses me because it looks more modern, but not too modern either (in the new and modern Ducktales series, for example, the heads of the figures seem too angular to me).
Photos: Melanie Dürbeck
Colorful selection to browse through
I don't have any negative points of criticism here. I could name the names, which are not very original this time, and the non-uniformity of colors and appearance of the text bubbles, but that would be whining at the highest level. The selection of stories in this volume is excellent. They are varied and, in my opinion, also contain a lot of heart through some love stories. My favorite is “Kleine Große D (r) amen”, which has the longest story with several sections. The special volume entertained me very well and I would like to read more volumes from the Royal series.
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
Photos: Melanie Dürbeck
Infobox
Paperback: 252 pages
Published by Egmont Ehapa Media
Language: German
ISBN: 978-3-8413-2611-9
Authors: Diverse
Year of publication: 2019
Cost: 7,99 Euro
Summary
The fifth special volume “Royal” contains an appealing and colorful collection of stories about nobility and the Middle Ages. The selection goes well with the topic and this time it was very much my taste. It is positive that the volume contains mostly German first releases. So you have the feeling of holding something “new” and “fresh” in your hands.
