It’s been two long years.

Finally fans of the show Gravity Falls are rewarded for their patience as four NEW stories are revealed by series creator Alex Hirsch.  Hirsch ended the popular show after only two seasons, despite its growing popularity.  But that doesn’t mean he’s done with these beloved characters.  He’s already written or contributed to two other Gravity Falls books, Journal 3 and Curse of the Time Pirates’ Treasure.  And with Gravity Falls: Lost Legends he comes back again.

Title: Gravity Falls: Lost Legends
Author: Alex Hirsch
Cost: $19.99 ($11.99 on Amazon)
Age: 8-12 (or 35-55 or anyone who is a Gravity Falls fan)
Publisher: Disney Press
Genre: fiction, television

The Pines family – Dipper, Mabel, Stan and Ford – along with their friends, frenemies, and other assorted characters grace the pages of this newest collection of tales, Gravity Falls: Lost Legends. According to Alex, these are tales of the past deemed “too weird for TV.”  Hosted by the gnome Shmebulock (who can only speak for one night in a thousand years), these four tales tell of Gravity Falls’ past. There’s one featuring Dipper and Pacifica, one about all of them traversing different comic strip styles, one primarily about Mabel, and one about a younger Ford and Stan Pines.  And Alex is right. These stories are pretty weird!

Manga style Gravity Falls!

Dipper, Mabel, and the gang encounter comic book superheroes

Done in a “graphic novel” format (pictures like a comic book), this is a quick read but a delightful one.  My favorite has to be the one where they break the dimensional barrier to appear in different comics like Spy vs. Spy, Peanuts/Garfield, Archie, superhero, and even Japanese manga!  It’s not the best story of the four, but extremely creative and fun.  The best story (and the creepiest – you’ll have to read it to find out why) has to be the Dipper and Pacifica tale.  Creepy, interesting, and sweet.  All of them are faithful additions to the Gravity Falls lineup.

As good as the stories are, the art is fantastic.  A whole cadre of artists team up to provide the illustrations in this graphic novel.  But despite the variety of artists, the artwork is all true to the images you’d expect from Gravity Falls.  So if you’re a Gravity Falls fan and have been waiting for more adventures from the Pine family and friends, you’ll have to pick up this book!  It’s truly a love letter to the fans from Alex Hirsch himself.

• Find out more about Journal 3 and Curse of the Time PIrates’ Treasure right here on the Disney Nerds blog.  Also read about the Gravity Falls coloring book which is a story all by itself.