The Incredible Rockhead features panels full of silliness. Chip Stone, our main character, gains the ability to transform his head into a huge rock, giving him the power to smash through walls, school buses, and whatever else he needs to get out of his way. However, this power doesn’t come without its challenges. As Chip soon discovers, if he falls over, it’s rather difficult to lift a massive head made out of the equivalent of a small boulder back up again. See how he manages in this collection of four stories combined into one complete volume.
In this compilation, there isn’t a clear beginning or end to each of the individual stories. Instead there are phony, and often humorous, ads that divide up different storylines throughout the book. These tales flow so smoothly from one to the next that readers won’t even notice that they’ve moved onto an entirely different volume.Â
Meet Chip Stone, a regular nerdy kid who spends his time avoiding being beat up by Troy, trying to catch Jennifer’s eye (when not being bullied, preferably), and hanging with his best friend, Spencer. Chip’s head gets transformed into a rock by an imposter nurse, giving him super strength that’s a mixed blessing. After all, it’s hard to secretly transform your head into a rock without anyone else noticing. Luckily, his friend Spencer becomes his sidekick, and helps him so that he can transform secretly to save the day. Spencer even eventually gets his own scissor powers to really help out when things get dangerous. Together, they run into all kinds of crazy situations from saving his classmates from roaming zoo animals to defeating Papercut, a villain made from rock’s greatest weakness, paper.Â
American illustrator C.S. Jennings has worked as an illustrator and an author on numerous creative projects for audiences of all ages. The variety in his style of cartoons is impressive, and he does not disappoint with his work on all of the titles included in this complete comics collection. Rockhead and Chip feature sharp geometric face shapes that complement the other quirky characters. You’ll find lots of bright colors, simple backgrounds, and lots of action that will keep kids turning pages.
This is a fun and easy comic to read. The language is not difficult and the amusing storyline is an easy sell to reluctant readers. It may be too simple for the older end of the recommended age group of 8-12, but could be useful for middle grade English-language learners. This book features a cast of characters at the beginning, so there is no confusion for young readers in figuring out who everyone is, and it concludes with a glossary full of witty, yet accurate definitions of some of the more complicated words throughout the stories. For educators, there is a page of discussion questions and writing prompts to spark creativity.
Overall, I think this collection of silly stories would be a good addition to a library.
The Incredible Rockhead: The Complete Comics Collection
By Scott Nickel
Art by C.S. Jennings
ISBN: 9781496593214
Capstone Press, 2020
Publisher Age Rating: 8-12
Series ISBNS and Order
Title Details and Representation
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Tween (10-13)
