Saturday Morning Cartoons-- Cardboard

TenNapel, Doug. Cardboard.
1 August 2012, Graphix

Cam's father Mike is out of work and out of money, and all he can bring back home for Cam's birthday is a cardboard box. It's not just any box, however-- the weird guy who sold it to the father says there are two rules to it. They can't ask for more cardboard, and they have to bring all of the scraps back. The two soon find out why. A boxer that they make out of the cardboard comes to life, and they let it mow their yard, bringing it to the attention of creepy bully neighbor boy Marcus. He steals the cardboard machine Mike and Cam have made to manufacture more cardboard, and when his parents are out of town, Marcus goes crazy making more cardboard creatures... who of course, start taking over his house and imperiling the neighborhood. Adding to their problems is the fact that Cam's mother has passed away, and Mike refuses to acknowledge that the nice woman next door might be interested in him. Can Cam and Mike stop the Cardboard-pocalypse?
Strengths: Strong story, and the text and illustrations work well together. This is the difference between quality graphic novels that are conceived as a whole and graphic novel versions of things cobbled together. Glad I picked this one up in a Scholastic order.
Weaknesses: The side story with the father's unemployment and the neighbor lady is pretty intense, and my readers of graphic novels will probably not care that much. Still, makes it interesting on several levels.