By Neill Cameron & various (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-358-5 (Digest TPB Standard edition), 978-1-78845-408-7 (Waterstones edition)
Had enough to eat yet? Do You Like Donuts?
Only you can truly answer that question, but if you’re undecided, and dangerously unaware of the ramifications of indecision, then rowdy raconteur and inestimable art fiend Neill Cameron has another batch of artisanal, edibly-edifying arguments you might want to consider before deciding, all jam-packed into a manic new compendium of strips, activities and artificially-sweetened exploits starring a bargain box of comics champions cherrypicked from modern British periodical treasure trove The Phoenix.
Since debuting in 2012 and just like Beano, Dandy and other perennial childhood treasures, the wonderful weekly has masterfully mixed hilarious comedy with enthralling adventure serials… and frequently in the same scintillating strip. Everybody braced in? Got your snacks? Napkins? Right then, let’s go…
Crafted by Cameron (Mega Robo Bros, Freddy, Tamsin of the Deep, How to Make Awesome Comics, Pirates of Pangea), a unique team of toothsome adventurers reconvene here in world much improved by an absence of bagels. As enny fule kno, bagels are the arch enemy of Donuts and probably all Life…
Moreover, there are fresh additions to the team we met in volume 1 (Donut Squad Take over the World! May 2nd 2025) besides commander-in-chief Sprinkles, accident prone Jammyboi, Chalky (the ghost of a murdered Victorian Donut), violent vigilante Justice Donut, nerve-wracked Anxiety Donut, piratical Caramel Jack! (he’s a little bit salty!), Dadnut & Li’l Timmy, and utterly unknowable and incomprehensible Spronky! who will make themselves known in good time…
First though we indulge in some ‘Fun Times with Sprinkles’ and the rest, prior to a passionately resolute ‘No Bagels.’ Public Service Announcement, leading us all into an extended exploit in ‘The Great Outdoors’ involving camping, campfires and being eaten by bears…
Ruggedly individualistic, the assorted flavourites (said it. Not proud.) generally work in solo vignettes that combine to make a full package but all pitch in for regular features such as the ads for merch like the ‘Official Donut Squad Camping Gear!’ which here include Tents, Backpacks and High-Power Bear Tranquiliser Guns, and are sensibly, accommodatingly backed up by ‘Hot New Donut Flavours for Summer!’ How about Piña Coladonut!, Choco Banana! or Sweat and Suncream! – or even Cool Cool Mango!, Watermellon Baller and Seagull Beaks!?
If you don’t mind me asking, how big are your nuts? Are you man enough to handle Omega Gargantunut, Gargantunut Titan, Extinction Level Gargantunut, Gargantunut: Nemesis? Steve thinks he is but significant other Janet just thinks he’s full of himself…
No matter how rich they might sound they are as nothing compared to Daddy Billions! – The Richest Donut in the World! If you’re not sure we can direct you to ‘Ask your Mother!: with Mumnut & Li’l Timmy’ episodes before meeting the new guys. These ‘Meatynuts!’ include ‘Spicyboi!’, ‘Beefychunks!’, ‘Crazy Mayonnaisey!’ and ‘Ham Alan’, who shares his extensive backstory before we explore ‘Sweet-Meat Fusion Donuts’ like ‘Chocolate-Frosted Beef’, ‘HAMnJAM!’ or ‘Caramel Sausage!’
A barrage of parental queries season ‘Great Moment’s in Donut History’ and ‘Classic of World Donut Cinema’, and intermittent silhouette games commence with ‘Name That Donut’, supported by more merch such as Donut Squad Caps!, Water Bottles!, Plutonium Enrichment Plants!, Hoodies, Cushions and Autonomous Humanoid Robots!, prior to everyone from Beefychunks to the entire afterlife getting a go at answering dear Timmy’s questions…
Regular features like ‘Donut-Related Conspiracy Theories!’ and ‘It’s Spronky!’ vie for attention with new treats like ‘Do You Like Cheese Donuts? Introducing Tasty Bob!, Nordic Helga and Camemboi!’ and ‘The Life of Michael’ plus ‘Donutiquette – DOs and DON’Ts of POLITE DONUT EATING’, ‘Extreme Donut Eating!’ and ‘Great Figures of History Who Were Secretly Donuts’..
Of course all this is fine but – following the lengthy saga of ‘The Totally Normal Humans’ – things get a bit weird and very nasty as all the long-banished Bagel Battalion break free of their extradimensional jail in THE VOID and attempt to take over the book by invading its gutters!
They succeed too…
Having whetted your appetite you’ll need to buy the book to see what happens next, but be warned, the bready brutes broke out by infiltrating the activity section at the rear, with Cameron’s ‘Phoenix Comic Club’ art classes on How to Draw ‘Sprinkles!’, ‘…Anxiety Donut!’, ‘…Justice Donut!’, ‘…Caramel Jack!’, and all the others caught up in the conflict…
Smart, witty, laugh out loud weird and utterly bonkers, this seemingly piecemeal treat cunningly connects a whole bunch of stuff kids love without knowing why, but which totally bewilders us oldsters and keeps us in our place. Devious, eccentric and captivating, the sugar rush is guaranteed and if you get toothache it’s from laughing not quantum confessions…
Moreover, as all the best books and movies say: DONUT SQUAD WILL RETURN…
Text and illustrations © Neill Cameron 2026. All rights reserved.
Neill Cameron’s Donut Squad: Take Over the World! is scheduled for UK release on January 1st 2026 and is available for pre-order now; or wait until next year and get it tomorrow while walking off all those donuts and bagels…
Today in 1956 Nexus co-creator and Kirby fan Steve Rude was born. In 1965 Dirty Plotte auteur Julie Doucet arrived, but the day also commemorates major losses. In 1978 graphic genius Basil Wolverton went to his long-anticipated reward, and in 2005 inimitable Maurice (The Perishers) Dodd told his last joke. While talking of newspaper strips that changed lives, December 31st 1995 also saw Bill Watterson’s final Calvin and Hobbes episode. Sigh.
You know where to look by now, so perhaps do that between all the “auld lang synes” and dry white whines.