I really liked Tales from the Farm. The graphics themselves were very nicely drawn and the story line was extremely interesting. I felt so bad for the uncle. He has no idea how to raise a child and he did it all for his dying sister. It was hard on both the uncle and Lester to deal with her death and they both dealt with it I felt in different ways. Lester uses the cap and mask as a crutch for his emotions. Its a way for him to hide how he is really feeling inside, a way to make himself invisible. He as an overactive imagination that helps him deal with the fact that he doesn't have a lot of friends and is constantly bored. The uncle has Lester as a reminder for how amazing his sister was, and even though it's hard for him to raise a kid; he is doing the best that he can.
One thing that really kind of freaked me out was the fact that Jim befriends Lester. It's just weird for an older man to play "alien attack" with a younger boy. Even though there is a slight hint towards the end of the story that Jim could be Lester's father, it stills makes me feel awkward about them hanging out alone together. Also with the presences of Jim, Lester drifts further away from his uncle. His uncle wants to help him and be a fatherly figure, but Lester wants nothing to do with it. Towards the end of the book though Lester finally realizes that his uncle is trying his best and that his uncle truly loves him. It is with this new found realization that Lester looses the cap and the mask. He finally feels content with the life that he has now, enough to shed his mask.
As much as I love superhero books, I REALLY love real life books. Ones that take stories that are around us everyday and put it into an interesting form (like graphic novel). All in all Tales from the Farm was an amazing graphic novel.
