Pokemon is an enduring franchise that not only keeps its original fans but continues to pull in new ones. With so many Pokemon already, and new ones being introduced with each new generation, there’s a lot to know and learn about these creatures.

Pokemon Black and White Pocket Comics
By Santa Harukaze
All Ages
Viz Media, October 2013
ISBN: 978-1-421559-10-0
317 pgs, $9.99

Pokemon fans come in all ages, from young kids watching the cartoon, to tweens, teens, and adults playing the video game. With such a wide spectrum of fans to cover, that means lots of different books to meet all those needs. Pokemon Black and White Pocket Comics is able to cover that spectrum with short comics to make you laugh and trivia to increase your knowledge.

Each comic in this volume is a four-panel comic spread over two pages, and each takes a humorous look at a different Pokemon from the Black and White edition of the game. The comics sometimes carry over from the previous ones, but they are most often connected through the Pokemon Oshawott, and to a lesser extend, Snivy and Scraggy, who act as the straight man for most of the jokes in the comics. The jokes are mostly visual, playing on the Pokemon’s personality or ability. Many of the jokes are puns, and they can be groan inducing, but most of them will at least bring a smile.

You don’t have to be familiar with the Pokemon to get the jokes, but you do if want to answer the trivia questions. Along with each comic is a trivia question related to the Pokemon featured the comic on the same page, with the answer given on the next. The question can be about the Pokemon’s power, height, weight, or who it would beat in a battle. This part is definitely geared more toward the fan who is familiar with the game, but each answer is accompanied by a short response explaining it. In this way, the book can act as a sort of Pokedex, giving the reader more information about the Pokemon.

Pokemon Black and White Pocket Comics is a quick, fun read. It can be picked up at any time and one can start reading it from anywhere in the book. Fans of any part of the Pokemon franchise will enjoy this book since it is only about the Pokemon. Its small size and comic strip format make it appealing to young readers, but it can be appreciated by fans of any age.