Adorable. Funny. Touching. Authentic.

I’m not sure I need to write a longer review than that. “School Spirit” is all of these things. It’s a web-comic I will gladly introduce my nephew to as soon as I get the chance. He’s the same age as the main characters (and quite a bit like Cody in terms of personality, although he’s likely to think otherwise, but beyond that I think the comic is also age-appropriate. My nephew and his friends are at that age where they’re still silly and goofy but are becoming aware of the world around them. The most recent storyline, about Grace’s grandfather developing Alzheimer’s, reminded me of how supportive my nephew and his classmates are of a friend of theirs who is battling cancer. Grace, Caspar and Cody’s attempts to help Principal Kelly with his memory is similar to the things my nephew and his friends do to support Liam.

Of course, this Alzheimer’s storyline appears when the comic numbers almost 700 pages of archives. By this point, we’ve had plenty of time to get to know these kids and their teachers, and to watch their friendships and rivalries develop. What a long way the comic has come from that first strip when we met Casper as he boarded the bus for his first day at a new school. In the best storytelling tradition, Casper is just as new to this school and peer group as we are, so we get to meet the other characters along with him.

What’s unusual about this school’s spirit is that there are several of them … a whole cemetery’s worth of them. Only Cody and Casper can see them: Wendy, the girl their own age. Old Bill, the groundskeeper. The Soldier. They set up quite a few recurring jokes, like the one about there being a difference between ghosts and spirits. Or the one about Casper believing in friendly ghosts. They add a nice dynamic to the story, taking it occasionally out of the realistic classroom setting.

Believe it or not, “School Spirit” is also a great educational tool – for learning Australia’s history as well as it’s slang. I’m sure some of these terms will be peppering my classes for the forseeable future.

The art quickly settles into a style which is recognizable – cartoony but consistent. Vivid coloring helps keep the eye’s attention as well.

Definitely full marks on this one! Rating:

Daniel VanderWerff’s “School Spirit”
http://www.schoolspirit.com
reviewed by Anthony R. Cardno
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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What’s not to like about School Spirit? It has cricket, Australian history lessons and family friendly humor. The strip is centered on a blond, quiet kid named Casper. His friend Cody helps him get into trouble, but is otherwise a good kid. You’ll also meet Davey Jones and the glamorous sisters Liberty and Pandora. Then there is Grace the tomboy, Brylcreem the smart kid and the popular Chastity round out the child characters.

Mr. Kelly is the forgetful principal of the school (who really likes the cursive writing.) Miss Conway is the iron willed teacher who commands respect from each and every student. One of my favorite characters is Mavis the unstoppable bus driver. So far, this probably sounds a lot like a standard kid comic with a bunch of kids at school, right?

Well, it’s not. School has a bunch of ghosts spirits that reside in the graveyard next to the school. There’s a little girl named Wendy, Old Bill the grandfatherly groundskeeper, a soldier from World War I and the grump named Fos. Only certain kids can see them but that doesn’t stop them from getting into mishief.

School is written by a grade school teacher who gets much of his inspiration from them. As a result, the strip has a real sense of honesty about it. Even though it has fantastic elements in it, School is about those things we really like about people and our normal daily concerns. That might include finding friends, getting lost or even deep things like how to deal with death. We can all easily relate to the characters in the strip. There are also some recurring gags that regular readers will enjoy.

Another nice things is that while the storylines don’t drag, they aren’t pushed either. There’s no desperate rush to finish a story, so we get a little side trip once in a while. I’m a big fan of that. I liked the “meanwhile, here’s an aside” that happened here. The characters even take time to comment on a review. I found that amusing.

The art stays consistent and looks good. However, I liked the Olympic Special and this one with their added textures. It adds a little pizazz.

I liked checking out the extra content as well. Sometimes you’ll find a cast page that tells you so much that you don’t actually need to read the strip. School Spirit’s cast page gives you the best character descriptions I’ve seen in a long time. I also liked the wooden desktop background and the ruler engraved with the comic navigation. Props are deserved for including the co-creator’s name on the site, even though he’s no longer on the bus, so to speak.

Also, we drongos can really use the Strine dictionary so thoughtfully provided. It’s all easily explained - Strine is ’short’ for Australian, so to speak. Many of the terms I have seen before while others are new. I don’t believe anyone should have a problem following along.

Hooroo and avagooweegend! Rating:

School Spirit
by Daniel Vander Werff
http://www.schoolspiritcomic.com
review by Delos
(No Ratings Yet)

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School Spirit is an Australian webcomic updated three times a week by writer and artist Daniel Vander Werff. Co-creator Daniel Quinney has retired from the regular production but was instrumental in it’s creation and so rightfully retains his credit. The strip has an unusual history, being born out the plan for a school musical and thankfully all the details are revealed among many supplementary pages which reveals a good deal of background. Most helpful of those pages perhaps is the glossary of ‘Strine’ or the unofficial Australian language of slang terms. There is the usual archive, a forum, a blog update and even some art submitted by the children – all charmingly uncomplicated.

The stories concern the day to day small time adventures of the lives of the young pupils of an Australian school. The strips are produced in a traditional ‘newspaper’ style format with colours as primary as the pupils. The whole thing is very child friendly by necessity since it would seem that more than a few of the ideas come from the real children who make up teacher Vander Werff’s class.

The art is functional and the stories simple. A odd note is struck by the fact the school is right next to a cemetery haunted by several ghosts though fortunately they are not of the very scary variety. No doubt an influence informed by the outrageous success of one Mr H. Potter. I have to say that there is not much here for the adult audience, but I’m guessing that it might be more than amusing for the young children who read it whether in Australia or abroad.

You’re be glad to learn that I was very nearly Australian myself and having more than a few relatives out there in sunny Oz I won’t be putting this comic under the microscope like I would any other. Taken as a hobby and with the inclusion of the efforts and readership of the children I’d have to have a heart of stone to criticise it. I know nothing about the interests of children having none of my own and having been born at the age of forty-five! However, it seems a rather noble and worthy venture that deserves only support and encouragement, so that’s all it will get from me.

If you’ve got young children I couldn’t imagine why this wouldn’t be a throughly engaging introduction to the webcomic experience. It might be brilliant for all I know, but you’ll have to ask the age-group it’s intended for to find out for sure. I wish it continued success.

Rating:

School Spirit
http://www.schoolspiritcomic.com/
by Daniel Vander Werff and Daniel Quinney
review by Mike Perridge
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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