Licensed Character Books

1310/13/24

Shirtless Lou Fan Art!

Some time ago, I wrote a LEGO Star Wars book called The Official Stormtrooper Training Manual, which was published by Scholastic in 2016. I decided to write it from the POV of a stormtrooper. So the idea is that an ordinary, lunkheaded stormtrooper is narrating the book. On the spread which deals with the “AT-AT” vehicles, I wrote the following joke (among many others):

“The AT-AT is often the first thing sent into a combat zone. The LAST thing sent onto a combat zone is a stormtrooper named ‘Shirtless Lou,’ who has the words WE WON painted on his belly.”

And I didn’t think anything more of the joke after that. After all, it was just one joke in a book filled with them. BUT…

Before long, there was a Wookieepedia page devoted to Shirtless Lou. Here’s how the folks at Wookieepedia described this hapless stormtrooper:

“Lou, nicknamed ‘Shirtless Lou,’ was a human male stormtrooper of the Galactic Empire. He was considered to be the last thing sent into combat zones, as he had the words ‘WE WON’ painted on his belly.”

And among the customer reviews for The Official Stormtrooper Training Manual on Amazon, there was one review that was largely about Shirtless Lou. Here’s an excerpt from that review:

“The text is full of silly jokes that crack my 5 year old Star Wars superfan up. There’s a reference to ‘Shirtless Lou,’ the last stormtrooper to go into battle, that made him laugh so hard that I ordered the Batman-in-swimsuit minifigure and swapped that torso with a stormtrooper so he could have his own Shirtless Lou, and he plays with him all the time. Shirtless Lou is always doing something silly during stormtrooper training and causing Captain Phasma all kinds of headaches.”

Pretty cool, eh?

(Now, if all this sounds weirdly familiar to you, that might be because I wrote a blog post on May 4, 2023, in which I talked about the Shirtless Lou Amazon customer review and the Shirtless Lou Wookieepedia page. You can read it HERE.)

But now there’s a NEW chapter in the saga of Shirtless Lou, because Graham Allen put up some Shirtless Lou fan art on cohost.org. You can see it on that website if you click HERE.

And I’ve also pasted Graham’s Shirtless Lou fan art immediately below. Just FYI: if you’re wondering what those glyphs on Shirtless Lou’s stomach are, they’re the words “We Won,” written in Aurebesh, a writing system which is used to represent Galactic Basic Standard, the most commonly-used language within the Star Wars universe. Thanks for the wonderful drawing, Graham!

What’s next? A Shirtless Lou comic book? A Shirtless Lou prose novel? Will Shirtless Lou turn up in season 2 of Andor? Who knows?

75/7/24

The X-Men Little Golden Book Is Out NOW!

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I wrote a children’s book called The X-Men Little Golden Book, which came out TODAY from Penguin Random House. It’s an adaptation of X-Men: The Animated Series, the iconic TV series from the 1990s. I think the book really turned out well and I’m very proud of it. The X-Men LGB was illustrated by Shane Clester, who did an X-cellent job. (See what I did there?)

And as I type this, The X-Men Little Golden Book is already the #1 New Release in Children’s Superhero Fiction on Amazon!

Here’s the official publisher description of the book:

Inspired by the 1990’s animated series , Marvel’s mightiest mutants—the X-Men—arrive to save the day in their first ever Little Golden Book! Perfect for kids 2 to 5 as well as collectors and fans of all ages.

Born with amazing mutant abilities and trained by Dr. Charles Xavier, the X-men stand ready to defend the world even though that world doesn’t always trust them. These action-packed full-color pages will introduce Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Cyclops and the other mutants on their team as well as their friends and foes. Kids 2 to 5—along with Marvel fan and collectors—will love this Little Golden Book based on X-Men: The Animated Series.

You can order the book HERE and HERE.

And to see all of the other books I’ve written for Penguin Random House, click HERE.

143/14/24

To Me, My X-Men!

Hey, guess what? I wrote a children’s book titled The X-Men Little Golden Book! It was illustrated by Shane Clester, and it will be published by Penguin Random House on May 7, 2024.

This book is an adaptation of X-Men: The Animated Series, the beloved TV show from the 1990s. Here’s the official publisher description of the book:

Inspired by the 1990’s animated series , Marvel’s mightiest mutants—the X-Men—arrive to save the day in their first ever Little Golden Book! Perfect for kids 2 to 5 as well as collectors and fans of all ages.

Born with amazing mutant abilities and trained by Dr. Charles Xavier, the X-men stand ready to defend the world even though that world doesn’t always trust them. These action-packed full-color pages will introduce Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Cyclops and the other mutants on their team as well as their friends and foes. Kids 2 to 5—along with Marvel fan and collectors—will love this Little Golden Book based on X-Men: The Animated Series.

Find out how to pre-order the book HERE and HERE.

Oh, also, The X-Men LGB marks the third time I’ve worked with the incredible Shane Clester. The first project we collaborated on was an Avengers Little Golden Book titled The Threat of Thanos, which came out in 2018 from Penguin Random House.

And our second collaboration was a Spidey and His Amazing Friends board book titled The Great Food Truck Caper, which came out in 2023.

As always, it was wonderful working with Shane on The X-Men LGB, and I can’t wait for all of you to see how that book turned out!

And please feel free to check out all of the other projects I’ve worked on for Penguin Random House on the “Arie Kaplan” page on the PRH site.

 

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