It's still technically President's Day in the Lower 48 States (although, interestingly enough, the holiday is officially just George Washington's Birthday. We just informally refer to it as President's Day) so it is the perfect time to celebrate the release of the second volume in artist Ryan Dunlavey and writer Fred Van Lente's series of books spotlighting the history of the Presidents of the United States, dubbed Action Presidents!

The second volume puts the spotlight on Abraham Lincoln (the first volume was George Washington).

These books are designed with a young audience in mind, which is why Dunlavey and Van Lente brilliantly tap into the aspect of Abraham Lincoln's story that could be the most appealing to a young child, the fact that Lincoln was an off-kilter guy, who was more than willing to tell a fart joke when he felt it appropriate. You can't wrong with pitching kids on a history book with fart jokes, now can you?

The narrator of the story continues to be Noah the Histurkey (a pardoned White House turkey who is now told that since he has been pardoned, he must teach kids history). The opening of the book shows Noah take two kids on a field trip to the Lincoln Monument on a journey through the life of Lincoln...in a rocket-powered Lincoln Monument, of course...

Ryan Dunlavey is a marvel in the way that he constantly comes up with interesting ways to depict the recitation of facts. Whenever he can throw something into the comic that livens up the proceedings, he'll do so and he has keen eye for picking the sort of things that jibe well with the story. This is important because we're talking about some rather serious parts of American History, and while you want to appeal to children, you also don't want to trivialize serious events, either. It's obviously a tricky balance, but Dunlavey manages it well.

Van Lente, meanwhile, has to construct a narrative that is both fun and informative. In the case of Lincoln, of course, that means a down and dirty discussion of the history of slavery. This inherently means that the story has to divert a bit from Lincoln's specific life story to go into broader themes, and Van Lente smartly hangs a lantern on it by having the little girl in the story asked Noah why they are spending so much time talking about something OTHER than Honest Abe's life. Noah specifically explains that the history of slavery is of great importance to the story. More importantly, Van Lente then makes sure to give it a pay off. By the time the story ends, you'll completely understand why there was a need to go off on a bit of a slavery tangent.

As noted, Abraham Lincoln used humor a lot in real life and so that was perfect for Van Lente and Dunlavey, allowing them to take a number of, in effect, joke breaks where Lincoln tells a story and we see the story depicted. One notable one was, in fact, a long fart joke. Here is the original joke (Van Lente and Dunlavey translate it well):

"Well there was a party once, not far from here, which was composed of ladies and gentlemen. A fine table was set and the people were greatly enjoying themselves. Among the crowd was one of those men who had audacity -- was quick-witted, cheeky and self-possessed -- never off his guard on any occasion. After the men and women had enjoyed themselves by dancing, promenading, flirting, etc., they were told that the table was set. The man of audacity -- quick-witted, self-possessed and equal to all occasions -- was put at the head of the table to carve the turkeys, chickens and pigs. The men and women surrounded the table, and the audacious man being chosen carver whetted his great carving knife with the steel and got down to business & commenced carving the turkey, but he expended too much force & let a fart -- a loud fart so that all the people heard it distinctly. As a matter of course it shocked all terribly. A deep silence reigned. However the audacious man was cool and entirely self-possessed; he was curiously and keenly watched by those who knew him well, they suspecting that he would recover in the end and acquit himself with glory. The man, with a kind of sublime audacity, pulled off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, put his coat deliberately on a chair, spat on his hands, took his position at the head of the table, picked up the carving knife and whetted it again, never cracking a smile nor moving a muscle of his face. It now became a wonder in the minds of all the men and women how the fellow was to get out of his dilemma. He squared himself and said loudly & distinctly: "Now, by God, I'll see if I can't cut up this turkey without farting."

See? That's an actual Lincoln story, so it translates well to what Van Lente and Dunlavey are trying to get across in the narrative.

One of the best ideas in the book was the introduction of Pappy Crawdaddy, who hijacks the book mid-way through to try to tell his parallel story of the life of Jefferson Davis. This gets into an awesome bit about how the whole "War for states' rights" was a weak excuse for the real bone of contention (which that they were concerned about specifically one state right - slavery).

The book then tells a straightforward, but well-told, history of the Civil War, paying extra close attention, of course, to the Gettysburg Address. I was particularly impressed with how they handled the death of Lincoln.

All in all, this was another great historical comic book that is filled with a lot of great history while still being a hoot to read. I think this will be a stalwart in the collection of many young history fans for years to come.

Highly recommended.