The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza (Glorkian Warrior Series #1)

by James Kochalka, James Kochalka (Illustrator)

Overview

The Glorkian Warrior isn't the brightest bulb in the box, so it's good he's got his trusty talking backpack to advise him as they set out on a perilous journey to deliver a pizza. The pizza's got clams and peanut butter on it, so it's not clear who's going to want it, but deliver it they will. With bright, lively illustrations and classic pratfalls, this graphic novel for kids is 112 pages of super icky gross-out humor and ludicrously bad decisions— in other words, The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza by James Kochalka is a winner.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466870673
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	05/13/2014
Series:	Glorkian Warrior Series , #1
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	112
File size:	29 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

James Kochalka is the first Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont. He's the author and illustrator of several popular children's book series, including Johnny Boo and Dragon Puncher. Dragon Puncher Island won an Eisner Award in 2012 for Best Publication for Early Readers, but he's also won the Harvey Award and four Ignatz Awards for his books for adults. Kochalka lives in Burlington, Vermont with his wife and two sons. Following a rich career in indie comics, The Glorkian Warrior is his first book with a traditional publisher.

James Kochalka is the first Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont. He's the author and illustrator of several popular children's book series, including Johnny Boo and Dragon Puncher. Dragon Puncher Island won an Eisner Award in 2012 for Best Publication for Early Readers, but he's also won the Harvey Award and four Ignatz Awards for his books for adults. Kochalka lives in Burlington, Vermont with his wife and two sons. Following a rich career in indie comics, The Glorkian Warrior is his first book with a traditional publisher.

Editorial Reviews

01/06/2014
Johnny Boo creator Kochalka introduces a three-eyed, three-toothed, pink alien who sets a new intergalactic bar for nincompoopery. In the course of 20 brief chapters, the Glorkian Warrior attempts to deliver a pizza—never mind that the phone call ordering it was a wrong number (luckily, he has a leftover peanut butter and clam pizza in the fridge). The plot is driven forward by the Glorkian Warrior’s banter with his yellow Super Backpack—“Well, here we go, I guess,” says the unenthusiastic backpack as they set out. “Our stupid destiny awaits!”—and their encounters with potential foes, who often aren’t what they seem. Kochalka sets the action against swirling purple skies and a rocky multicolor landscape, and his clean, emphatic cartooning gives every pratfall, explosion, and head-butt maximum impact. Eventually, the story meanders back to where it started, leading Super Backpack to wonder, “Does that mean this whole adventure was for nothing?” From a plot perspective, yes, but fans of Kochalka’s brand of absurdity (or who want to watch the Glorkian Warrior punch himself in the face a lot) will still have reason to tune in. Ages 5–9. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

The Glorkian Warrior is going to make you hungry!” —Pendleton Ward, creator of Adventure Time

“Vibrantly weird and wonderful.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Stuffed with playful fun and awesome sound effects, this feisty intergalactic journey delivers a good-natured sucker punch of glee.” —Booklist

“Quirky, funny, lighthearted, and interestingly subversive.” —School Library Journal

From the Publisher

03/01/2014
Gr 1–4—The Glorkian Warrior, a three-eyed, amiable alien dunce with an overdeveloped sense of drama, and Super Backpack, his sentient portable weapon system with a yen for action, receive a mysterious call to deliver a pizza. "You say wrong number… I say… DESTINY!" the Warrior declares, and the book continues in this vein of tongue-in-cheek lunacy. The mild adversarial relationship between the Warrior and his backpack mimics the sibling dynamic found in Kochalka's other books-most obviously in the "Johnny Boo" series (Top Shelf, 2008)-and provides much of the humor and the engine with which most readers will find a recognizable hook amid the flights of fancy. The book is leisurely paced, featuring large panels with lots of breathing room padding out most of the surprising length, with zany miscommunication and humorous confusion slowing down the action. Kochalka uses this ambling storytelling style to have a gag with each turn of the page, thus ensuring engagement with readers. While the character renderings are rather staid, the expressiveness of their eyes and mouths is effectively dynamic, and the eight-bit, retro-aesthetic color palette helps establish the extraterrestrial bona fides of the setting. Quirky, funny, lighthearted, and interestingly subversive.—Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, NH

School Library Journal

2014-02-05
The Glorkian Warrior must leave his couch and face his heroic fate: to deliver a pepperoni pizza. The three-eyed, cotton-candy–colored and wholly witless Glorkian Warrior meets his destiny one fateful night when a mysterious caller asks him to deliver a pizza. Guided by his trusty companion, the lemon yellow Super Backpack, he sets out to fulfill the mission—despite the fact that he's not a pizza-delivery guy. A series of madcap mishaps ensues, and they encounter such strange and silly beings as a Gonk that likes to bonk, a lime green alien orphan from a pizza-snatching ship and a formidable Magic Robot with an explosive laugh. As zippy as a bowl of sugary cereal, the Glorkian Warrior and his motley crew snowball from one escapade to another at a comically frenetic pace, encountering explosions, blasting spaceships and punching himself in the face. While the Glorkian Warrior might not be the brightest star in the sky, his antics are consistently imaginative and outrageous, ideal for young readers who like a healthy helping of the absurd. Kochalka's worlds are always winsome, strange and silly; this is certainly one of his stronger offerings. Vibrantly weird and wonderful. (Graphic science fiction/humor. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews