Category: Young Adult

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Toys in the Basement


By Stéphane Blanquet, translated by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-402-3 (HB)

It’s that special time if you have kids who love the darker, grimmer side of storytelling. Originally published abroad as Chocottes au sous -sol!, this sublime slice of macabre all-ages Euro-whimsy comes courtesy of wildly talented, incredibly prolific animator, auteur and multimedia artist Stéphane Blanquet who has to date over 64 art books, graphic novels, collaborative works and books for kids published since 1994. These include Dungeon: Monstres (volume 2), Kramer’s Ergot, and Zero Zero, as well as the numerous international exhibitions, shows and movies to his name…

Do you remember the heart-wrenching scene in 1964 stop-motion television classic Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer when the runaway ruminant finds the Island of Misfit Toys? Do you recall how all they wanted was children to love them? Hold on to that thought…

Once upon a time at a Halloween fancy-dress party a disgruntled little boy is sulking. In his heart he’s a vicious pirate king, but his cheapskate mother would only pay for a pink bunny costume nobody else wanted…

As the other kids tease and bully him, he retreats to a corner where he meets a geeky kid in a chicken suit. Poultry boy has a broken leg and a raging thirst, but his friend – a girl kitted out as a kitten – has been down in cellar fetching drinks for ages. After some pleading, Pink Bunny, extremely keen to avoid any further embarrassment – or to be seen with a nerd dressed like a chicken – goes after her.

At the bottom of the stairs he finds her paralysed with fear: the basement is filled with maimed and broken toys, alive, angry and determined to wreak bloody vengeance on the cruel children who maltreated and abandoned them. Luckily, because of their stupid outfits, the toys assume the kids are also dolls, because if they were real children…

Playing for time, Catgirl and Bunnyboy follow the malevolent maladjusted playthings into a vast underground cavern where all the world’s broken toys are massing, readying for the day they will rise and take over. The undercover tykes gasp in horror at the artificial army’s secret weapon – a gigantic ravenous Frankensteinian beast named Amelia, cobbled together from thousands of discarded toy fragments, all hungry for righteous slaughter…

It’s at that moment Chicken-boy stumbles upon them and blows their cover…

Dosed with dry, mordant wit and just the right tone of moodily macabre Ghost Train suspense, Toys in the Basement is a simply terrific goose-bumpy thriller rendered magical by the wildly eccentric, brilliantly imaginative and creepily fluid artwork of Blanquet. This dark delight – sadly out of print but still available from the regular online vendors  – also has the perfect moral message for loot-hungry, attention-deprived youngsters; and their kids and grandchildren too.
© 2005 Editions La Joie de Lire SA. This edition © 2010 Fantagraphics Books. All rights reserved.

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In the Pines – 5 Murder Ballads


By Erik Kriek (Fantagraphics/Canongate Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78689-214-0 (HB/Digital edition)

This book contains Discriminatory Content included for historical authenticity.

If you don’t know what a murder ballad is you should start this sublime hardcover anthology by reading Jan Donkers’ superb background essay at the back of the book before treating yourself to the grim graphic glories crafted by Dutch artisan/illustrator Erik Kreik.

In ‘Murder Ballads’ you will learn the history of the ancient musical sub-genre as well as the direct genealogy of the quintet of sordid, sorry sagas adapted from sound to stunning words and pictures here. However – and just because it’s you – the term is generally applied to folk music story-songs from many countries all dealing with love, crime, sex, social transgression and unnatural death…

In 2016 Erik Kriek (creator of silent superhero spoof Gutsman; Little Andy Roid; Het Onzienbare/From Beyond) – adapted a number of vintage and modern Murder Ballads into strip format. A huge fan of all forms of popular Americana, he also covered the songs with his band The Blue Grass Boogiemen on a CD naturally entitled In the Pines – 5 Murder Ballads. The book won Germany’s 2016 Rudolf Dirks Award and the spin-off garnered Album of the Year 2017 from Dutch Comics.

Amsterdam-born Kriek is a graduate of the Rietveld Academy for Art and Design and a hotly in-demand illustrator of books (like Holland’s Tolkien & Harry Potter editions), magazines, apparel, skateboards, et al, and will happily turn his hand to a variety of styles & disciplines. Gutsman was reconceived as a soundless mime ballet in 2006 and his collection of Lovecraft adaptations Het onzienbare, en andere verhalen H. P. Lovecraft has been republished in many languages. He followed up this with his first children’s book Mika, the Little Bear That Didn’t Want to Go To Sleep.

A multi-national phenomenon, In the Pines delivers its moody messages of ill-starred love in dreamy, two-coloured incidents. US fans will recognise the drawing style as echoing the very best EC horror tales by “Ghastly” Graham Ingels or early Bernie Wrightson. The concerto of terror opens with ‘Pretty Polly and the Ship’s Carpenter’, a much-covered traditional ditty (The Byrds; Judy Collins; The Stanley Brothers) rendered here in green & black on crisp white pages. It details the fore-doomed fate of a young man who fled to sea to escape his sins, only to see them resurface in death for his shipmates during a seemingly supernatural storm…

Tinted in sepia, ‘The Long Black Veil’ is a relatively modern song, composed and written by Marijohn Wilkin & Danny Dill in 1959 and most notably recorded by Lefty Frizzell, Johnny Cash, The Band, Mick Jagger, Nick Cave amongst so many others. It reveals how a farmer is faced with a staggering choice: hang for a murder he did not commit or betray the confidence of the adulterous woman who is his only alibi…

Racially-charged and rendered in tones of muddy ochre, ‘Taneytown’ was originally delivered by Steve Earle, a synthesis of so many lynching incidents that shame and blight the history of the (early) 20th century American South. Here a young black man, sick of the life he’s subject to in rural Maryland, takes the knife his negro war hero father used in the trenches of the Great War and heads for trouble in the whitest part of town…

Written by singer Gillian Welch, ‘Caleb Meyer’ is adapted in tones of chilling aquamarine and presents a young wife betrayed, terrorised and assaulted who wins for herself a potent dose of ironic retribution before we close this sinister songbook in tones of watered down blood with ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’.

Possible the most well-known of the perilous pentangle, the strip is based on a dark ditty created by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds for their 1996 album Murder Ballads. Sung as a duet with Kylie Minogue, the song was based on traditional air Down in the Willow Garden. The story seen here presents a complex web of trauma and tension involving a murderous escaped convict, a gang of hidden outlaws, lost treasure, a solitary house in the deep woods and a protective mother most conveniently absent. Tragically, neither the rapidly pursuing posse nor the vile-intentioned villain have any idea what young Elisa is truly capable of, or why her father called her his “wild rose”…

Making something compelling and beautiful from the worst aspects and acts of human behaviour is no mean feat, either in song or pictures, but In the Pines accomplishes the deed with gripping style, vibrant polish and immense charm. This is a book every lover or victim of human foible will adore, potent and evocative with a sly gift to captivate and transport us just as the music intoxicates the mind’s eye through the ears.

One last note: Kriek is reputed to relax in Irish bars – possibly drinking but mostly singing and playing the banjo – so let’s hope that he’s got many more songs yet to draw, once the ambience reaches the appropriate crescendo.
© Erik Kriek, 2016. “Murder Ballads” © Jan Donkers. 2016. All rights reserved.

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The Complete Peanuts volume 11: 1971-1972


By Charles M. Schulz & various (Fantagraphics Books/Canongate Books UK)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-1456-9 (US HB/Digital edition), 978-0857864079 (UK HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Peanuts is unequivocally the most important comic strip in the history of graphic narrative. It is also the most deeply personal. Cartoonist Charles M Schulz crafted his moodily hilarious, hysterically introspective, shockingly surreal philosophical epic for half a century: 17,897 strips spanning October 2nd 1950 to February 13th 2000. He died – from complications of cancer and in suitably mythopoeaic manner – the day before his last strip was printed.

At its height, Peanuts ran in 2,600 newspapers, in 21 languages and 75 countries. Many of those venues still run it in perpetual reprints, as they have ever since his death. During his lifetime, book collections, a merchandising mountain and television spin-offs had made the publicity-shy doodler an actual billionaire at a time when that really meant something…

None of that matters. Peanuts – a title Schulz loathed, but one the Syndicate forced upon him – changed the way comics strips were received and perceived: proving cartoon comedy could have edges and nuance and meaning as well as soon-forgotten pratfalls and punchlines.

For this 11th compendium we begin with a photo-portait of the man at work followed by an effusive Foreword from film & theatre star Kristin Chenoweth, recalling her time (1998-1999) as part of the gang. This is thanks to her stage triumph as Sally in musical phenomenon You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and here she shares memories and thoughts on Schultz; and thoughts on what makes the little sister tick on stage and on page…

As always, however, our pictorial focus and primary point of contact remains quintessential loser Charlie Brown who, alongside and yet simultaneously far behind fanciful, increasingly multi-personalitied, high-maintenance mutt Snoopy, remains squarely at odds with a mercurial supporting cast. They all timelessly hang out, doing what at first sight looks like Kids Stuff in an ever-more complex and adverse universe of perverse happenstance. But remember now, with this collecton it’s the socially aware, all-change era of “the Seventies”, when lots of untouchable notions were being deconstructed and reconsidered everywhere… even on the funny pages.

Individual strip slices focus on play and copious leisure time; varying degrees of musicality; childish pranks; interpersonal alignments; mounting pressures of evermore oppressive education and mass media lensed through wide (but often squinty) young eyes that witness it all with unguarded openess. These moments come pre-leavened by agonised teasing, aroused and/or crushed hope, naïve, baffled generalisations and observations with our little tots occasionally acting a bit too much like grown-ups.

With this tome’s tales, themes and tropes defining the series (especially in the wake of so many animated TV specials) became mantra-like and endlessly variable for the growing radership. Focus now is less on Charlie Brown and more on those around him but this time everybody’s hunger for acceptance has been subsumed into a deliciously overarching environmental constant that grows more abundant in its fallout… everyone is growing aware  of relationships and LOVE…

Of course, most human interactions still find our boy a pitiable outlier who only really understands sports – or so he thinks. People come and go but although Mean Girl Violet and Pig-Pen might be fading into the background, a core grpup consisting of musical prodigy Schroeder, self-taught psychoanalyst/dictator-in-waiting Lucy van Pelt, her brilliant but off-kilter little brother Linus and Charlie’s sister Sally are all abundantly on view, but regularly ensnared in the sundry traps of romance and attraction, and seem to be leaving our boy behind…

Snoopy, by strutting his many and varied imaginry selves – such as a predatory vulture waiting to pick off frozen kids in the snow – plays many key roles. These include the savvy sports-beagle; the pronosticating owner of an eerily insightful “Beagle Board”; a reputed war hero/author and so many more, but he too has a dubious, inexplicable relationship. His time with his secretary – a tiny, ditzy bird called Woodstock – is open to frequent comment, much of it from the beagle himself…

Our titular star still pines for the unattainable  “Little Red-haired Girl” who so tragically moved away before he could summon the nerve to speak to her…

The kids and critters are primarily fixtures honed to generate joke-routines and gag-sequences around signature foibles, but some (like African American Franklin and even author-Snoopy) enjoy more serious roles too and have become signposts for specific cntemporary themes. In this book one extended instance is when Snoopy’s favourite writer (Helen Sweetstory of The Six Bunny-Wunnies fame) is removed from the school library, as the strip homed in on the then-growing real-world crime of parentally-steered book-banning…

Another star on the rise is Patricia Reichardt AKA tomboy Peppermint Patty (who had debuted four years earlier on August 22nd 1966). She had been a strong, opinionated female achetype and a counsellor to younger girls, when not inadvertantly outshining Charlie Brown in sporting endeavours, but here gains far greater feminist prominence. Her key moments include making a stand for personal female individuality after School introduces more feminine dress codes (but only for half the students); struggling with learning issues and slowly, painfully finding herself falling for utterly oblivious, deeply lonely “Chuck” Brown.

That overstrained relationship is agony to watch unfold (…crash, burn and then begin all over again) with Patty growing increasingly upset and unnerved by new kid Marcie (she of the bottle-specs and 1000-yard stare) who tags along, calling her “Sir”…

Sally Brown has grown from frail infant to needy complainer, and just enough to become another trigger for Charlie’s relentless self-excoriation. As she ages (a rare event in a strip about eternal tots) and forms her own anxieties, she declaims loud opinions and propounds steadfastly misinformed views, with him relegated to being her dumber, protective but outgunned and baffled big brother. Sally now gets all the best lines yet still struggles with school in many strips depicting her attitudes to study and homework, which reveal the contest is pretty even and not at all one-sided…

Resigned to – but far from uncomplaining about – life as a loser in the gunsights of cruel and capricious fate, the boy Brown is still helpless in the clutches of openly sadistic Lucy. When not sabotaging his efforts to fly a kite or kick a football or while endlessly sabotaging his beloved baseball games, she monetises his discomfort with spiteful verve via a 5¢ walk-in psychoanalysis booth, ensuring that whether at play, in competition, in despair, allowing hope to flower or just brooding, the round-headed kid truly endures the character-building trials of the damned.

In this era, the beagle is the true star of our show, with his primary quest for fame or at least more and better food playing out against a magnificently baroque inner life. There are wild encounters with birds, skateboarding, dance-offs, ice skating and snow-sport trysts, philosophical ruminations, martial assignations and ever-more-popular catchphrases to learn. As burgeoning whimsy and dreams of writing bestsellers blossom, we catch constant glimpses of the dog’s WWI other life, but also acknowledge the the world’s growing teen scene with his reinvention in new personas like college frat boy Joe Cool and cosmopolitan rake Joe French.

Perhaps his most momentous new alter ego is The Attorney who so often steps in to lend legal sagacity to the kids in times of growing litigiousness and political protest…

Naturally all of these shadow-dogs harbour fondness for little Woodstock and abiding animus for natural enemy Lucy, whose life is also plagued by mounting hurdles. Paramount are her weirdo brother Linus (who has become obsessed with undiscovered cryptids like Gully Cats and Queen snakes)  and his comfort blanket; that dog; failure to boss everyone around enough, that dog and piano-boy Schroeder’s utter inability to realise that he loves her…

Timeless episodes of play, peril, peewee psychoanalysis, philosophical ponderings, anxiously anticipatory cinema-visits and personal recrimination are cunning beards for some heavy topics. Always realised in stark monochrome are more new characters, more plot developments (like the threatened return of Snoopy’s childhood nemesis Lila!) and the founding of even more traditions we all revere to this day.

As suggested, the beagle is the only force capable of challenging – if not fully countering -Lucy. Over these two years, her campaign to curb the weird dog; cure her brother of comfort blanket dependency; seduce Schroeder and generally reorder reality to her preferences reach astounding heights and appalling depths, but Snoopy keeps trying and scores many minor victories. In the main, though, Lucy continues to consistently suck all the joy out of the white wonder stuff, green summers, fallen leaves, refreshing rain, hobbies, sports, music and anthing else other people like. Except skipping. Playing with a jump rope is still acceptable…

Hilariously, her reality takes a solid knock when Mr & Mrs Van Pelt announce the imminent arrival of a new baby sister, an intruder shellshocked Lucy instantly names “Rerun”…

From the start Schulz established way points in his year: formally celebrating certain calendar occasions – real or invented – as perennial shared events: St. Valentine’s Day, Mothers & Fathers’ Days, Fourth of July strips and the like are accompanied in their turn by yearly milestones lincluding Christmas, Easter, Halloween/Great Pumpkin Day and Beethoven’s Birthday.

Here they are augmneted by another American ritual as many of the cast return to (and are dismissed from) summer camp. This results in fresh heartbreak for all after Patty finally meets the nigh-legendary Little Red-haired Girl and realises all hope is lost. There’s even more endless heartbreak heading for Charlie Brown too, as he looks on and can do nothing. The poor oaf still has no idea how to begin to respond to closer ties with his dream girl or why even Patty cares…

Sports fun looms large and terrifying as ever, but star athlete-turned-coach/manager Snoopy is more interested in new passions than boring old baseball, hockey, tennis and football. These include fishing, swimming, skiing, skating and new sensation Frisbee-ing, as well as embracing the ups and downs of perilous passtime “Ha-Ha, Herman!” and watching Lucy learn some hard truths while rollerskating…

Even she finds far more absorbing pastimes but still revels in crushing the spirits of her teammates in whatever endeavour they are failing at. Linus endures more disappointment in two Great Pumpkin seasons as well as his rare-animal searches, and before you know it, there’s the traditional countdown to Christmas and another year filled with weird, woolly and wonderful moments…

Neatly interspersed with the daily doses of gloom, the Sunday page debuted on January 6th 1952: a half-page slot offering more measured fare than 4-panel dailies. Thwarted ambition, sporting failures, crushing frustration – much of it psychoanalysis or sport related – abound, alternating with Snoopy’s inner life of aviation, war stories, star gazing, shooting the breeze with bird buddies, weather woes, fame and food fiascos. These and other signature sorties across the sabbath indulgences afforded Schulz room to be his most imaginative, whimsical and provocative… or just plain jokey…

Tentpole moments to relish this time include intensification of the magnificently barbed romantic triangle involving Lucy, Schroeder & Beethoven; Linus kicking the blanket habit only to be dragged back in under again; more Snoopy v Lucy deathmatches as well as a claws & paws clash of our dog and the despised cat-next-door. Charlie Brown’s food feud with the beagle continues, as do assorted night terrors, Lucy’s unique solutions to complex questions; Valentines’ card coup counting, doggy dreams; sporting endeavours,  all counterpointed by Snoopy’s latest top secret mission for the Head Beagle and the paving over of his puphood home…

To Be Continued…

To wrap it all up, Gary Groth celebrates and deconstructs the man and his work in ‘Charles M. Schulz: 1922 to 2000’, preceded by a copious ‘Index’ offering instant access to favourite scenes you’d like to see again…

Readily available in many formats, this volume guarantees total enjoyment: comedy gold and social glue metamorphosing into an epic of spellbinding graphic mastery that still adds joy to billions of lives, and continues to make new fans and devotees long after its maker’s passing.
The Complete Peanuts: 1971-1972 (Volume Eleven) © 2009 Peanuts Worldwide, LLC. “Charles M. Schulz: 1922 to 2000” © 2009 Gary Groth. All rights reserved.

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The Great Marc Evers: The True Story of a Champion Against All Odds


By Ivo van Woerden, adapted & illustrated by Gemma Plum, coloured by Marloes Dekkers and translated by Michele Hutchison (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-914224-51-5 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced for dramatic effect.

Comics are the natural home of triumphal heroes and extraordinary feats, but in general the victories (and rare defeats) of fictive sporting heroes have been restricted to Britain and Japan where many, many panel stars have been footballers, drivers, runners, jockeys, wrestlers, boxers, speedway riders, cricketers, basketball & baseball heroes, skiers, skateboarders and the like. Deeply provincial America never bothered much except for pugilists Popeye & Joe Palooka (or in transitory promotional sallies like Marvel’s truly awful NFL SuperPro title in 1991), and even impressively broadminded Europe has been fairly selective in its sporting choices – like Béka (AKA Bertrand Escaich & Caroline Roque) & Poupard’s comedy strip Les Rugbymen / The Rugger Boys or that apparently immortal race driver Michel Vaillant.

The exception to all those statements is the subgenre of graphic biographies, where exceptional individuals including track and field stars overcoming initial disadvantages are a popular and growing category. In recent years we’ve covered many – like Roberto Clemente, Tillie Walden, Mylo Choy, Emile Griffith, Harry Haft, Suzanne Lenglen, and so many more, but none as remarkable as The Great Marc Evers…

At two-year old, Evers was (finally) diagnosed with profound intellectual impairments comprising a specific Learning Disability as well as severe ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). Despite prognoses ranging from “give up now” to “just go away”, Marc’s parents and siblings toiled constantly to make a human life for their boy, who had been written off as hopeless: incapable of learning to talk, dress, coordinate his actions or even vacate his bowels without aid. However, and thanks to help from forward thinking agencies and specialists, Frank and Gitty Evers found places he could fit in and ways to develop his autonomy and agency.

Swimming became a lifeline for the boy and he excelled. After years of steadfast effort, Marc represented Holland at the 2012 London Paralympics. He won gold, as he done so many times before and would do again. Taking five Paralympic medals and numerous world records, he is the Netherlands’ greatest Paralympic swimming champion; in both disability and all-comers divisions Evers has been Paralympic, World and European champion in the 100m breaststroke and is the Netherlands’ greatest aquatic sportsman…

Of course, you can read up on his sporting achievements and full life elsewhere (such as in the original biography, or this Graphic Novel or even online) but for now let’s talk some more about comics and acknowledge illustrator-adaptor Gemma Plum and colour-artist Marloes Dekkers who transformed journalist Ivo van Woerden’s prose biography of the swimming superstar’s progress into a masterful exhibition of the power of graphic narrative.

The most telling tactic is the use of silence. There are few conversational gambits. Marc’s world is full of extended quiet moments, whether under water or locked in his bubble of isolation and hyper-observation.

Here you will see a combination of traditional sequential narrative describing the life story of the characters interacting with an ingenious array of visual flourishes (such as pictorial tics to mirror Marc’s distracted states and carefully utilised panel repetitions reproduced over and again to emphasise the conceptual freezes and pauses that make up the life of those with any degree of ASD). These old “presponses” to new variations neatly and repeatedly hammer home the point that dealing with an ASD child is relentless, surprising, wearisome, tedious and has no ending in sight, but shows also that with effort and dedication, and the right help, any situation can be managed…

Moving, rewarding, inspirational and ingeniously inventive, The Great Marc Evers is an intimate, candid, powerfully optimistic and relentlessly hopeful coming-of-age tale reminding us of the value of perseverance, resolve and trust.
Text and artwork © Stichting Grafische Journalistiek, 2026. Translation © Michele Hutchison, 2026.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: All You Need to Know About Fitting In Whilst Standing Out… 8/10

The Great Marc Evers will be published on 1st October 2025 and is available for pre-order now.

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Wandering Son volumes 1 & 2


By Shimura Takako, translated by Rachel Thorn (Takumigraphics/Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 979-8-8750-0073-7 (TPB)

If woke stuff and picking your own personal pronouns upset you and/or you can sincerely defend the inherent injustice and sheer nonsense of assigned genders at birth, you should piss right off, right now. Or stay and have an aneurism. The grown-ups will just carry on and learn stuff by enjoying ourselves.

Nitori Shuichi is an extremely shy boy freshly transferred into a new school. He’s starting Fifth Grade and on the cusp of puberty. He’s also in a bit of a quandary. Slim, androgynous and, to be frank, rather pretty, he is constantly thinking about wearing girls’ clothes…

That’s how one of the most lauded, gracious, kind and understanding stories about owning your own body (and associated other transgender issues) ever created opens. Although a more fitting translation might be “Prodigal” Son, we’re just happy to welcome it back to English publication as Wandering Son.

Created by Shimura Takako, it began in seinen (aimed at young men) monthly Comic Beam as Hōrō Musuko, running from December 2002 until August 2013 and subsequently filling 15 tankōbon volumes. It is resplendent in its refined charm and exudes assured contentment, presenting a sublimely personable shared history and shared voyage of discovery in an open-minded spirit of childlike inquiry and accepting optimism that make for a genuine feel-good experience. Fantagraphics began publishing their translation (by Matt Thorn) in lavish hardcover editions from 2011 but the project stalled at volume 8, probably from low sales and not the themes it covered. Now we get the chance to see how it all turned out in the end…

From any other culture this type of story would be crammed with angsty agonies, gratuitously filled with cruel moments and shame-filled subtext, but instead here Shimura (Sweet Blue Flowers, Scenes from Awajima, Beautiful Everyday, Even Though We’re Adults, Bloom Brothers) crafts a genteel, winningly underplayed, enchantingly compulsive school saga filled with as much hope and positivity as drama. Now the story is back in double-volume trade paperback editions remastered by series editor/translator/Cultural anthropologist/college professor (at Kyoto Seika University’s Faculty of Global Culture) Rachel Thorn, with the first two tomes laying the groundwork for incredible journeys ahead…

Preceding first monochrome chapter ‘The Boy Who’s a Girl’ is a full-colour introductory character chart of our protagonists’ friends, families and significant personages, prior to the wandering beginning on Shuichi’s first day. At school, instead of the bullying his older sister Maho warned of, he’s sent to the wrong classroom and mistaken for a girl by homeroom teacher Nakazawa. Eventually set in the right place, things look up for “Shu” as soon as he’s paired with and befriended by Takatsuki Yoshino.

She’s a tall, confidant tomboy who harbours similar secret questions and yearnings, with an understanding family who are sympathetic but have no idea of what’s really going on. Takatsuki-san’s mother is constantly buying her child girly dresses that will never be worn, and when Shu visits, he gazes admiringly and is casually offered one that provokes throes of guilt and glee. Accepting it but riven with second thoughts Shu ultimately hands it off to his annoying interfering sister, with whom he still shares a bedroom…

Takatsuki-san’s instinctive friendliness towards Shuichi is shared by pretty Chiba Saori (“Saorin”), an extremely perceptive girl who seems content with her gender but is troubled in almost everything else. Ever (over) eager to please, she is a ball of inexplicable guilty feelings and – even at her tender age – is dabbling with alternative lifepaths. Currently, she’s seriously considering converting to Christianity…

From the start, this close circle supports if not actively encourages Shuichi to embrace his inner longings. Yoshino’s clueless mother keeps buying dresses which the despairing daughter tries to give to her confused new pal, much to his embarrassment – but dwindling resistance. Saori, acutely aware of the Nitori boy’s underlying otherness, encourages his crossdressing fascination. She even buys him an extravagant frock for his birthday, almost killing their budding friendship stone dead…

Second chapter ‘The Wandering Son Wanders On’ sees Shu’s dreams wracked by his capitulation as he puts on and rejects the dress, just as Saori successfully suggests that their unsuspecting class perform The Rose of Versailles as an end-of-term play. Moreover, all the girls should play the male roles and vice versa.

The Rose of Versailles is a monumentally popular Shoujo manga tale – later, a movie and musical – by Riyoko Ikeda, telling the story of Lady Oscar: a girl whose soldier father raises her AS a man. She/He eventually becomes a dashing Palace Guard and the darling of Marie Antoinette’s Court. We’ll be covering Tezuka Osamu’s manga adaptation of it later this year…

Continuing over into ‘Oscar and André’ Shu’s perplexities, yearnings and misgivings slowly settle. Both he and Yoshino are hard-pressed to deny their overwhelming mutual need: boy wants to be girl and girl, boy. Inevitably, in ‘Wandering Daughter’  it all proves too great and both succumb. Yoshino has her hair cut far too short and goes out in her brother’s school uniform, only to be chatted up in a burger bar by a lovely older girl. Stunned and baffled, Takatsuki leaves the café with Yuki-san’s phone number..

Shuichi’s sporadic surrenders are less public, but increasingly important to his happiness and wellbeing… and to be honest, after his own feminising haircut, Shu does make an astonishingly pretty girl, more so even than Roger Taylor in that Queen video or Patrick Sawyze in To Wong Foo – Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar – although completely pure, innocent and utterly raunch-free…

The shared quandaries intensify with ‘Nitori-kun’s Birthday’ and choices of what to buy with the cash that comes with that, before his friends in the know double down with gifts any girl would love to receive. Inevitably, pressures of the school play and effects of ‘Friends and their Words’ bring on stress related illness. Ever-understanding, Shu’s bestie has the perfect solution and leaves him with her little sister’s old school uniform. He looks great in it…

However, as they head out for a moment of shopping fun, inescapable biology strikes back in ‘Takatsuki-san’s Calamity’. Hit hard and without warning by her first ever period, Yoshino is trapped in a toilet cubicle until Shu – still dressed as a schoolgirl – can bravely buy the necessary tampons, pads and other paraphernalia demanded by the crisis…

Now at school and carrying the formal kit every girl hides in her schoolbag, Yoshino falls prey to stupid boy bullying in ‘Everything I Want’ and retaliates in kind. However, it’s not the treatment that’s a problem, it’s realising that mind & heart can be as willing as it must, but the body will do what it wants… and what it does to her is sheer, appalling torture…

No matter how much Shiuchi & Yoshino wish they could exchange genders, time and physical maturity inexorably march on and the changes of puberty are irresistibly challenging their dreams and causing their treacherous forms to horrifyingly and inescapably betray them. The changes lead to confusion, anger, and inevitably exchanges of blows…

Be warned please, incidents and aftereffects of actual periods are sensibly and accurately portrayed and sensitively dealt with (as much as they can be when school classmates are what they are) so if you’re not quite evolved enough yet, you might need to sit down for a bit before continuing…

That will be in Volume 2, following comedic aside ‘Just Before Transferring Bonus Manga’…

The second stage of the desired metamorphoses again come with a full-colour character catalogue before the tales picks up with chapter 9 as ‘Love & (Hair)piece’ finds Shu and Yoshino entering Sixth Grade. When Shu and sister Maho-san are given a relative fortune by their doting grandma, they gleefully consider their options before he sagely decides to save his… until he sees that long blonde wig in the boutique. Stood beside Yoshino wearing her brother’s school uniform, they make the perfect couple…

Yuki-san sure thinks so when she sees the couple. She still seems interested in the “young man” she met in the cafe and introduces them to her male friend: a weird guy called Shii-chan. They both seem to know an awful lot about what Shuichi and Yoshino are going through and there’s a reason for that…

Over another loaded café meeting Yuki-san and boyfriend Shii-chan reveal that they are both trans, offering insight and a possible happy destination for the overwrought kids. As teacher Nakagawa-sensei sets project “My Dream” to the class to consider and discuss what each pupil most wants, ‘Dreams and Desires and Stuff’ sees the topic grip everybody. Shu ponders his possible future and life goals amidst a sea of conflicting opinions and soon even the families get involved. To offset the self-induced pressures, he and Yoshino meet up with Yuki-san who deftly probes their situation…

Unable to clear his mind, She falls ill, and whilst at home, dresses in full female form. Sadly that’s when classmate Seya-kun pays a visit and falls in love with “girl” who opens the door…

Revealed in ‘An Unfortunate Boy’, Seya’s visit was not an accident. He was infatuated with Shu’s siter Maho, but now after seeing the other girl, the poor sap is deeply conflicted but not nearly as much as Shu, who Maho somehow blames for losing her a potential boyfriend. That ultimately leads to a sibling spat that leaves Maho stunned but now also part of Shu’s big secret…

The potential fallout of take-charge Maho sharing the burden is explored in ‘An Undaunted Girl’ as she confronts and teases oblivious Seya before chasing her own dream by contacting a modelling agency. Meanwhile, Shu and Yoshino have been regularly seeing Yuki, and become embroiled in her most excessive relationship with frankly scary Shii, who fears Takatsuki might be a love rival… until a most revelatory close and personal encounter.

With the air cleared, Yuki shares the tale of her transition from unhappy young man to contented woman, before the now-inspired kids return to a storm of familial cross-examination about where they have been. Even Maho is ticked off. She could really use an understanding adult friend right now…

Adding to all their woes, at school Shu and Yoshino are now expected to contribute to ‘The Exchange Diary’, adding to a communal chronicle of pupil secrets and aspirations that they know will cause them nothing but more grief, but which forces them to consider expanding their clandestine circle of trust in ‘An Odd Pair’ all in advance of their next major challenge: preparing for a organised outing away from their homes and admittedly tenuous comfort zones…

Of course frightful biology keeps surprising them. In ‘School Trip: The Day Before’ it’s poor Shu’s turn to anticipate shame and betrayal as his sleep is ruined forever by Yuki’s story of her personal school horror: a school trip sleepover that resulted in a nocturnal emission, compounded by a far-too understanding helpful adult helping to clean it up. At least schoolmate Shii was there to calm the agitation…

Now, wracked with dread, but heartened that the contented adults see themselves in him and Yoshino, the pair ready themselves for the stay at mountaintop national park Nikko with a bunch of rowdy, judgemental schoolmates who might become condemning foes at the slightest misstep. Dealing with communal meals and baths with excitable grabby strangers in ‘School Trip: Day 1’ is bad enough but its nerves that prevent Shu from sleeping, before ‘School Trip: Day 2’ sees his close group targeted by bullies, This time, weirdo Saorin is the first to leap violently to his rescue. That’s nothing compared to what happens after Yuki & Shii “coincidentally” show up at the park and Yuki makes a pass at Shu’s teacher…

To Be Continued…

The drama is bookended by Takako Shimura’s humorous sidebar An Afterword That’s More Like Random Notes on my Life as of late and supported by crucial essays from Rachel Thorn. The first is Snips and Snails, Sugar and Spice: A Guide to Japanese Honorifics as used in Wandering Son: a fantastically useful detailing of honorifics explaining the institutionalised societal, age and gender rankings/positions ingrained in the nation’s being. Trust me, in as stratified a culture as Japan’s, this background piece is an absolute necessity, especially when dealing with transgender issues, sexual identity and the attendant dysphoria and forces shaping gender identity, such as how husky, aspiring boy-to-be Takatsuki is regarded as “kun” (male, intimate) not “chan” (female, diminutive, intimate) by classmates.

That’s accompanied by a comprehensive Japanese Pronunciation Guide that is also invaluable especially if you read aloud…

Openhearted, charming and beguiling, coming of age epic Wandering Son potently and delightfully explores a charged and critical dilemma affecting so many, and deals with the issues in a compelling, witty, sensitive, funny and deeply welcoming manner, but it’s also a sublimely readable story about people and one that everybody should see.
Wandering Son Vols. 1-2 [HORO MUSUKO Vol. 1. 2] © Takako Shimura 2003, 2004. First published in Japan in 2003, 2004 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo. English Translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo through TUTTLE-MORI AGENCY, INC. Tokyo. Essay © 2026 Rachel Thorn. This edition is © 2026 Fantagraphics Books, Inc. All rights reserved.

Wandering Son volumes 1 & 2 will be released on September 15th 2026 and is available for pre-order now.

Today in 1892 welcomed French comics pioneer Edmond-François Calvo (La Bête Est Mort/The Beast is Dead), a birthday shared with astounding author Otto Binder (Captain Marvel/Shazam!, Superman, Superboy Supergirl, Mighty Samson, Young Allies, Tommy Tyme, Miss America, Captain America, Sub-Mariner, All-Winners Squad, Kid Eternity, Uncle Sam, The Shield) in 1911; cartoonist Brant Parker (Crock, Out of Bounds, Wizard of Id) in1920 and Filipino creator Francis Manapul (Witchblade, Flash, Legion of Super-Heroes) in 1979.

The day saw the passing of unsung Belgian artisan and Ligne claire pioneer Bob de Moor (Johan et Stephan, L’énigmatique monsieur Barelli, Cori le Moussaillon, Les aventures d’Oncle Zigomar, The Adventures of Blake and Mortimer, The Adventures of Tintin) in 1992.

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Glorious Summers volume 5: The Warrior’s Haven (1980)


By Zidrou & Jordi Lafebre, with additional colour by Mado Peña, translated by Lara Vergnaud (Europe Comics)
No ISBN: Digital edition only

I’ve had this ready for weeks but couldn’t face running it as so many locations mentioned are smoking ruins at the moment. However, as has been pointed out to me, this is a beautiful, sublimely respectful evocation of places and people and so, in anticipation of regrowth and better times that must surely come, here it is. Just squint your eyes a bit, engage your imaginations and please have hope…

Until comparatively recently, comics in the English-speaking world mostly countenanced comedic or numerous adventure sub-genres (crime, superhero, horror, sci fi), with only a small but vital niche of “mundane world” ventures, usually depicted via graphic biographies and autobiographies like They Called Us Enemy, Love on the Isle of Dogs, Wage Slaves or Sour Pickles offering a different feel and flavour. Even historical sagas were treated as extraordinary moments with larger-than-life characters whenever possible.

What we have never had – and still largely don’t -is a comics equivalent to general fiction, drama and melodrama. That’s not so in Japan, South Korea or Europe, where a literal “anything goes” attitude has always accommodated and nurtured human-scaled slice-of-life tales depicting ordinary people in as many quiet as extraordinary moments. Surely it can’t be that hard to tell engaging stories in pedestrian, recognisably ordinary settings? Medical traumas, love stories, school tales and family tragedies about common folk seem to play well on various-sized screens around the world, so why not in English language comics? The closest we seem to get are comedies like John Allison’s superb Giant Days (which I really must review soon) which all operate on the immortal closing line of every pub drawn out conversation or failed dinner party anecdote “well, maybe you had to be there…”

People being people is more than enough for Europeans. There apparently is an insatiable appetite for everyday events aimed at properly “mature readers”, joyfully sans vampires, aliens or men in tights. These even have sub-genres of their own. For example, there’s the wealth of superb comics just about going on holiday. So, since our own Government-in-Absurdia have ensured that it’s now all-but-impossible for any UK-based citizens to pop across and have une petite vacances in Europe, let’s stare & glare covetously at them having a good time. After all, over there holidays are an inalienable right, and they have some simply fabulous tales about a simple break. This one is probably amongst the best you’ll ever see…

An absolute exemplar of fantasy vacations made real, Glorious Summers: Southbound! (1973) was a nostalgia-drenched confection by Zidrou and regular collaborator Jordi Lafebre: a sublime example of idyllic group memory made into graphic sorcery in an everyday account utterly unafraid to temper humorous sweetness and light with real-world tragedy and suspense.

Perhaps some context is in order. Summer holidays – “Midi” – are a big deal in France and Belgium. The French divide into two tribes over the annual rest & recuperation period, which generally lasts an entire month. Juilletistes only vacation in July, wielding dogmatic facts like rapiers to prove why it’s the only way to take a break. They are eternally opposed, heart, soul, and suntan lotion, by majority faction the Aoûtiens, who recharge their batteries in August whilst fully reciprocating the suspicion, disdain and baffled scorn of the early-leavers. Many European sociologists claim the greatest social division today is not race, religion, gender, political affiliation or whether to open boiled eggs from the top or the bottom, but when summer holidays begin and end.

Les Beaux Étés 1: Cap au Sud! was the first in a string of family visits that began in 2015 courtesy of scripter Benoît “Zidrou” Drousie and Spanish illustrator Jordi Lafebre. Drousie is Belgian, Brussels-born in 1962 and was a school teacher prior to quitting marking books in 1990 to instead make them. His main successes include school dunce series L’Elève Ducobu, Petit Dagobert, Scott Zombi, La Ribambelle, Le Montreur d’histoires, the revival of Ric Hochet, African Trilogy, Léonardo, Shi and many more. His most celebrated and beloved stories are this memorable sequence and 2010’s Lydie, both illustrated by Lafebre.

That gifted, empathically sensitive illustrator and art teacher was born in Barcelona in 1979 and has created comics professionally since 2001, first for magazines like Mister K, where he limned Toni Font’s El Mundo de Judy. He found regular work at Le Journal de Spirou, creating the romance Always Never and collaborated with Zidrou on La vieille dame qui n’avait jamais joué au tennis et autres nouvelles qui font du bien, Lydie, and La Mondaine.

A combination of feel-good fable and powerful comedy drama, Glorious Summers depicts cherished memories of an aging couple recalling their grandest family moments, beginning with a momentous vacation in 1973 where their four kids nearly lost their parents….

Here, however, final Anglicized volume (so far) The Warrior’s Haven – continentally Les Beaux Étés tome 4: Le Repos du Guerrier – focuses on the close of July 1980, as – just for once – infinitely patient Maddie Faldérault is not waiting for her comic illustrator hubby to finish a late assignment before the brood can head off on holiday! Pierre even has time to complete a little side project and give some life/career advice to studio junior Benoit who has come to the house to pick up the completed pages of latest hit-in-waiting G.I. Girl! (finished almost nine hours ahead of schedule!) and not at all to see oldest daughter Jolie-Julie…

This time the necessary angst and drama are all the preserve of rebellious. acting-out, chain-smoking seventeen year old Nicole who has convinced her folks to bring along her nervous, wealthy, spoiled boyfriend Jean-Emmanuel. All too soon though the parents stop reacting to the horny brats snogging at every opportunity. Now the annual escape from gloomy Brussels for a month in sun-drenched France can start. Even sixteen year old sole Faldérault son Louis is packed and prepared with his books, art supplies and music, and still-precocious nine-year-old wild child Paulette (AKA Peaches) can finally embrace the adventure to come…

And this year offers the beginning of a whole new era and way of life for family Faldérault, as Pierre and his brother Xavier are now proud co-owners of a brand-new, purpose built timeshare house. A fully fitted “turnkey vacation home” is waiting for them in the south of France: clean, fresh, stocked with everything needed and ready for occupation and memory making. No more roughing it in tents and hostels or hotels stuffed with strangers. Now it’s indoor plumbing, a personalised kitchen, a barbeque pit, comfortable sofas and proper beds… a place where they can relax and be themselves. They know exactly what it will be like because Maman picked it all out and designed it from the catalogue and sales brochures. Proud Pierre has already packed the handcrafted shingle for his “Warrior’s Haven”…

As the apparently-expanding family discuss the prospect over one last meal before setting off, the inevitable hammer falls. Pierre’s publisher thinks G.I. Girl! will be a monster hit and has tripled the print run in advance of release! Of course, that will mean the brilliant DILIGENT artist simply must add a giant poster for the promised TV ads, but it shouldn’t take more than a few days if he works flat-out…

The result is Papa stays and faithful transport Mam’zelle Estérel (translated here as Little Miss Esterel) is jam-packed with everybody else for the southbound trek to the sun. Even with Julie now designated driver, the raucous clan rituals (stupid jokes, constant awful singing and barbed off-colour remarks) are in full flow. Not even Nicole and “Jean-Manu”’s constant revolting actions in the backseat – which Louis dubs “vacuum-cleaning faces” – can stop them…

Still in Belgium, having accepted a now staggered vacation start, Pierre sets to and ponders joining them later before suddenly being struck by inspiration. Instead of imparting fatherly advice to impromptu assistant/courier/would-be son-in-law Benoit, he offers ingratiating responsibility to the gifted lad. He can get his big break by finishing the poster for father Faldérault! Crucial decision made, Pierre is soon hurtling south by train…

Near the scenic village of Monpazier, road trek and rail journey fortuitously converge, allowing them all to be reunited on their own doorstep – or at least it would have if they hadn’t been the latest victims of a huge property scam. Sitting under a tree in the vacant lot that should be their second home, the family reel in shock. Gradually, they meet other hopefuls of the utterly fictitious Oasis Turnkey Villas Holiday Complex.

They all bought a dream sight unseen, and soon the sadder, wiser vacationers have banded together. As steps begin to track down the fraudsters and the entrepreneur idiot-brother Xavier recommended, the old warrior spirits return. As they all make the best of it, united with their new notionally-homeless neighbours in not letting bad people take their holiday as well as their money more memories are made…

Of course the youngsters are initially crushed, embarrassed, petulant and indignant, but rich-boy Jean-Manu – who has stayed in penthouses all over the world but never, ever been camping – unexpectedly proffers some wisdom, solace and a little enhanced perspective. Moreover, although the cops might be less than helpful, the local villagers are all sympathetic and kind. With immense grace and no pretensions, they quietly chip in to make the victimised visitors feel welcome and less stupid. When fresh suckers turn up they too are comforted by all, and embraced as another community family forms. Days go by, unforgettable moments are enjoyed and life goes on…

Even return to the real world is graced by warmth, friendships and beloved customs and rituals that serve to reinforce the past and welcome what the future offers. What follows is timeless weeks of wonder and unforgettable explorations on endlessly sunny days, with local villagers and distressed wanderers forgetting woes and overcoming the worst the world can offer: a welcoming lesson in humanity at its best…

This tale is another beautifully rendered, enticingly realised album of happy days stitched seamlessly together. It’s funny, sweet and charming whilst delivering painful blows you never see coming. There aren’t any spectacular events and shocking crises and that’s the whole point…

If you’re British – and old enough – this series (six translated albums thus far, plus a French omnibus edition) will echo revered family sitcoms like Bless This House or Butterflies and generational ads starring the “Oxo Family”. (If that description doesn’t fit you, I pity your browsing history if you look up any of that). The rest of you in need of an opening (but unfair) comparator could break out the Calvin and Hobbes collections and re-examine the bits with his embattled parents when the kid’s out of the picture…

Lyrical, laconic, engagingly demure, and debilitatingly nostalgic, this holiday romance (blessed at the end with Jordi Lafebre’s glorious gallery of pencil sketches) is sheer visual perfection wrapped in sharp dialogue and a superbly anarchic sense of mischief. Vacations and downtimes are built of moments and might-have-beens, such as packaged here in compelling clips to make the mundane marvellous.
© 2019 – DARGAUD BENELUX (Dargaud-Lombard s.a.) – ZIDROU & LEFEBRE, LLC. All rights reserved.

Today in 1932, French artist Jean-Jacques Sempé (Le petit Nicholas, The New Yorker) was born, sharing a birthday with pioneering cartoonist, scholar, feminist and comics historian Trina Robbins (It Ain’t Me, Babe, The Silver Metal Lover, Wimmin’s Commix, Wonder Woman, Friends of Lulu, Dope, Women and the Comics) in 1938; writer Rachel Pollack (Doom Patrol, New Gods, Unquenchable Fire), in1945; artist Alex Saviuk (The Flash, Green Lantern, The Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives OGN,  numerous Spider-Man series) in 1952; comic book royalty John Romita Jr. (Superman, Daredevil, Spider-Man, The Eternals, Iron Man, Kick-Ass, Uncanny X-Men, Incredible Hulk) in 1956 and writer/editor Andy Helfer (Justice League of America, The Shadow, Judge Dredd, Justice Inc.) in 1958.

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Clifton volume 6: Kidnapping


By Turk & de Groot, translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-87-8 (Album PB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

An infallible agent of Her Majesty’s assorted security forces, Clifton was originally created by Raymond Macherot (Chaminou, Les croquillards, Chlorophylle, Sibylline) for the weekly Le Journal de Tintin. Our doughty exemplar of fabled and over-egged Albion debuted in December 1959, just as a filmic 007 was preparing to set the world ablaze and get everyone hooked on spycraft…

After three albums worth of strip material – all compiled and released between 1959 and 1960 – Macherot left Tintin for multinational arch-rival Spirou and his bombastic buffoon was benched. LJdT later revived him – the fictive spy, not le traiteur! – at the height of the Swinging London scene and aforementioned spy-craze, courtesy of Jo-El Azaza & Greg – AKA Michel Régnier – (Chick Bill, Luc Orient, Bruno Brazil, Bernard Prince, Achille Talon, Rock Derby, Zig et Puce). Those strips were subsequently collected as Les lutins diaboliques in French and De duivelse dwergen for Dutch-speakers in 1969.

Then it was back into retirement until 1971 when Greg – with artist Joseph Loeckx – took another shot. He toiled on the True Brit until 1973 when Bob De Groot & illustrator Philippe “Turk” Liégeois fully regenerated the be-whiskered wonder. They produced ten more tales after which, from 1984 on, artist Bernard Dumont (AKA Bédu) limned de Groot’s scripts before eventually assuming the writing chores as well. The series concluded in 1995.

… But Never Say Never Again…

In keeping with its rather haphazard Modus Operandi and indomitably undying nature, the Clifton experience resumed yet again in 2003, crafted now by De Groot & Michel Rodrigue for four further adventures. Although the humorous visual vein was still heavily mined in those tales, now the emphasis was subtly shifted and the action/adventure components strongly emphasised…

Originally released in 1983, Kidnapping was Turk & De Groot’s last collaboration and wrapped up their mock-heroic shenanigans in fine and foolish style…

Bob de Groot was born in Brussels in 1941, to French and Dutch parents. As a young man he became art assistant to Maurice Tillieux on Félix, before creating his own short works for Pilote. A rising star in the 1960s, he drew 4×8=32 L’Agent Caméléon, and met Liégeois, consequently beginning his slow transition from artist to writer. Together they created Archimède, Robin Dubois and others before eventually inheriting Raymond Macherot’s moribund masterspy.

In 1989 de Groot – with Jacques Landrain – devised Digitaline, a strong contender for the first comic created entirely on a computer, and co-created Doggyguard with Michel Rodrigue, even whilst prolifically working with the legendary Morris on both Lucky Luke and its canine comedy spin-off Rantanplan. He soldiered on with strips Léonard in Eppo, Pére Noél & Fils and Le Bar des acariens (both published by Glénat) and so much more until his death in November 2023.

Okay. Dossier stuff all done?

Pompous, irascible Colonel Sir Harold Wilberforce Clifton is ex-RAF, a former officer with the Metropolitan Police Constabulary and only recently retired from MI5. He has a great deal of difficulty dealing with being put out to pasture in rural Puddington and thus takes every opportunity to get back in the saddle, “assisting” the Government or needy individuals as an amateur sleuth whenever the opportunity arises. He occupies his copious idle hours with as many good deeds as befit a man of his standing and service. He is particularly dedicated to sharing the benefits of organised Scouting with the young generation…

This rollicking comedy crime caper begins with the old soldier and his fiery, ferociously competent, multi-talented housekeeper Mrs. Partridge (think Alfred Pennyworth with scones and a sharp tongue) preparing for a big camping trip for a motley crew of fresh-faced boy scouts. Even after his own haphazard preparations are finally completed, Scoutmaster Clifton’s departure is further delayed by the stylishly late arrival of the troublesome son of wealthy and obnoxiously prestigious Sir Abylas Chickenpiece…

Finally, however, the troop is under way and before too long they are setting up camp in an isolated patch of woodland. After organising jobs for the lads, Clifton begins his own chores, setting tests for his charges, trying out to win merit badges and catching a crafty snooze when he thinks nobody is looking…

It’s a very bad move. When the spoiled and appropriately codenamed Distinguished Peacock sets off to gather firewood, he’s pounced on by thugs working under the careful instructions of an obsessive porcelain collector who is well aware of the worth of the Chickenpiece Fortune. A furtive observer to the crime, poor but honest Thrifty Duckling sees his companion abducted and cunningly hides himself inside the getaway car. Thus, obviously, when Clifton is made aware of the crisis he feels painfully responsible for the loss of two boys in his care…

Irritated, embarrassed and insulted, the irascible Colonel eschews contacting the police and determines to give his remaining charges a lesson in the value of his scouting techniques by tracking the kidnappers to their lair and personally apprehending them. The only real complication he envisages is apprising the victims’ fathers of the perilous current status of their precious sons and heirs…

A classic chase, memorable confrontation and Boys Own level conclusion is the happy result of Clifton and his tyro team working together, and when the action ends the reunions and subsequent outdoor celebrations are all any stout-hearted lad could hope for…

Funny, fast and furiously thrill-packed, Kidnapping shows our Old Soldier in his most engaging and flattering light in this cunningly concocted breezy romp in the grandly enticing manner of Charles Crichton’s Hue and Cry or Launder & Gilliat’s The Belles of St Trinian’s (or possibly something a little more modern like Shaun the Sheep?); sufficient to astound and delight devotees of simpler times whilst supplying a solid line in goofy gags for laughter-addicts and rural revivalists of every age and vintage to enjoy…
Original edition © Les Editions du Lombard (Dargaud-Lombard SA) 1984 by Turk & De Groot. English translation © 2009 Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1925 humourist and veteran Mad magazine contributor Jerry DeFuccio was born, sharing the celebration with historian/publisher Russ Cochran (EC Reprint Library) in 1937; illustrator Arne Starr (Star Trek) in 1954; scripter Supreme Dan Slott (Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, She-Hulk, Looney Tunes) in 1967 and Korean-American artist Andy Park (Tomb Raider, Uncanny X-Men) in 1975.

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Supergirl’s Zoo-per Heroes: Krypto’s Big Break


By Rob Justus with Wes Abbott (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-601-0 (HB) 978-1-79950-602-7 (Digital edition)

Somehow, despite her longevity, comics popularity and screen star status, Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El has always struggled to maintain the career impetus and position she deserves. Even after a multi-season hit TV show and the (second) big screen movie currently offending incels and insecure basement dwellers everywhere, the Girl of Steel has devotees but not a perceptible global presence like her cousin Kal, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Hulk or Spider-Man.

To be scrupulously fair, the same argument applies to Harley Quinn, Black Canary, Batgirl, She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch and even The Black Widow. I think I sense a pattern…

However, one arena where girls loudly and proudly dominate is the Young Adult graphic novel marketplace. DC alone has multiple marvellous titles starring Amazon Princesses Diana & Nubia, Catwoman, Batgirl/Oracle, Lois Lane, Harley Quinn, Zatanna, Poison Ivy, Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, Raven, Mera, and even new original characters like Primer, Starfire’s daughter Mandy (in I Am Not Starfire!), and TV Supergirl spin-off Dreamer…

A far more attractive and apparently accessible option over decades has been the Kryptonian Good Boi who debuted in a Superboy yarn way back in Adventure Comics #210 (cover-dated March 1955 and on sale from January 25th), where Otto Binder, Curt Swan & Sy Barry introduced ‘The Super-Dog from Krypton!’ Although unruly, boisterous, waywardly mischievous and dangerously playful, Krypto heralded a wave of survivors from the dead world and made the (male) Kid From Krypton feel less lonely and unique. Every boy needs a dog and Krypto hung around for ever, before eventually valiantly dying as part of the Crisis on Infinite Earths event. He has returned many times in many moods ever since. The current movie franchise incarnation is – much like the debut dog – a rowdy rascal, and can be seen on screen and in this standalone tale targeting that burgeoning YA GN market that was released in February 2026…

Crafted by multi award winning – aren’t they all? – Canadian author/artist Rob Justus (Death and Sparkles, Brave Enough, Superman’s Good Guy Gang) and lettered by Wes Abbott, this first in a proposed series of shaggy doggish tales is also greatly-informed by animated TV shows like Justice League Unlimited and opens with teen hero Supergirl popping aboard the JLA’s satellite “The Watchtower” prior to a fun time with Krypto. Sadly, the Dog of Tomorrow – already in the dog house with the senior superstars for past misdemeanours – is in one of his more playful moods…

The Girl of Steel allowed him aboard on their way to the Cosmic Dog Park and he promised to be good, but it’s sooooo hard as the big wheel in the sky is packed with such intriguing smells and toys…

After another of his joyous unsupervised romps, Kara is on frantic clean up duty. That means doing the adult heroes’ laundry – again – but the problem is extremely bad this time, as first she has to find it all. Not only has Krypto snuffled, ruffled and barfed on costumes (and super sweaty super socks and …underwear!), but he then ejected the clothes out into space where they have been hyper-charged by weird space energies (cosmic rays, solar winds, atmospheric radiation, lightning and Eclipso’s magic!) genetically infusing hero DNA into the individual fabrics…

Desperately seeking to gather the gruesome grubby garments, Supergirl – with Krypto joining in the chase by following his nose – track some costumes to shabby, old-fashioned Metropolis Zoo. Here, weary, downhearted animals are being mistreated by neglectful greedy Zookeeper Cass, until, at the height of a thunderstorm, four power-packed outfits land on them and duplicate in them very specific superpower sets….

At exactly the wrong moment the boosted beasts – the fastest sloth alive, Wonder seal, Super lion and the Bat rhino – bust out, just as Krypto arrives demanding the cosmic clothing back. He is happy to fight everyone to retrieve them, but, after bonding over garbage they all team up instead, which is good as Supergirl is much less understanding – even though she thinks she can speak “animal”…

The situation utterly escalates when one last costume – Zatanna’s hat – empowers Cass with eldritch abilities and she sees her now superpowered tatty cash-cows as the way to get really rich really fast…

Then all that’s left is a full-combat trial by fire and the birth of a new team. After all, there are many more lost costumes still to find…

To Be Continued…

Not merely another child-friendly iteration of Super-Pets, Supergirl’s Zoo-per Heroes are a wild and woolly bunch of wonders you can’t afford to deny yourself and, if you have animals or kids (frequently a tricky distinction, I admit), you can even share the fun with them… but only if they’re good too…
Text and Illustrations © 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved..

Today in 1958 artist Shawn McManus (Omega Men, Doctor Fate, The Sandman, Fables) was born, sharing the natal date with writer/editor Christopher Priest – née Jim Owsley – (The Falcon, Black Panther, The Ray, Conan the Barbarian, Quantum & Woody) in 1961 and True Brits Mike McKone (Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Justice League International) in 1969 and Tony Lee (Superboy, Star Trek, Doctor Who) in 1970.

This date in 1940 Dale Messick’s landmark strip Brenda Starr, Reporter began, but also saw the loss of cartoonist Abner Dean (What Am I Doing Here?, Cave Drawings for the Future) in 1982; French creator Jacques Lob (Ténébrax, Submerman, Blanche Épiphanie, Superdupont, Le Transperceneige) in 1990 and Spanish artist Jaime Brocal Remohí (The Saint, Creepy, Eerie, Kami no Ude, El otro Necronomicón ) in 2002.

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Dogs on Dates


By Luke Healy (Faber & Faber)

ISBN: 978-0-571-39672-6 (HB)

Irish multi-award winning, low-impact iconoclast Luke Healy studied journalism at Dublin University and earned an MFA in Cartooning from the Center for Cartoon Studies (Vermont, USA). An occasional stand-up comedian, his previous cartoon tomes – like Americana, Permanent Press, How to Survive in the North, The Con Artists and Self Esteem and the End of the World – have won prizes and acclaim, and he’s also held gallery shows in places like Manhattan’s Museum of Comics & Cartoon Art.

Healy’s earlier comics for VICE, The Nib, A24, Medium, Nobrow and Avery Hill are also exceptionally good and, as already stated, he exposes himself to ridicule on stage, but not so much, these days. That’s what his recent funny books are for  – and as Bob Monkhouse used to say “nobody’s laughing now”… except that they are and in exactly the right places, just where Luke wants them to. We also all cry on command too, because that’s what dating in the modern world is like, okay?

Previously Healey addressed and ingested and passed baffled judgement upon all the trauma, weltschmerz and naff experiences of existence, diligently informed by exploration of basic Big Stuff like life, love, friends, and how to keep your head above emotional water. It kept us readers wonderfully entertained for a decade but here and now, that self-excoriating journey of discovery resolves into a fully realised, quirkily significant tale of anthropomorphic romance and the quest for lifelong contentment via a venture into dating, advice (wanted and otherwise) and comradely life support…

In Dog City – a mostly socially evolved metropolis equal parts London and the best bits of the East and West coasts of America – Brad is still looking for love and a steady life on a viable planet when he finally finds the dog of his dreams. However (and as always), renegade art student Bernie comes with baggage… and so very many of Brad’s dreams were always nightmares in waiting…

They first meet by hitting at speed – albeit a few precious moments apart – the same glass wall of Dog City Community College. Bernie had just comfortably removed himself from obnoxious academia by quitting his Abstract Art Class – a career move that will gravely affect his relationship with Brad once that poor mutt meets his ostensible true love’s unbelievable family! – whilst Brad is despondently there on behalf of an environmental charity. The crushed idealistic optimist was readying himself for one last go at turning self-obsessed students into eco-warriors motivated enough to save our deeply imperilled planet…

After bonding in the ambulance they subsequently share, bruised and battered Bernie & Brad agree to attempt the impossible task of gradually and cautiously getting to know each through a series of carefully planned dates. However, these guys are the kind thoughtful souls Nature creates just to beta-test cosmically cruel jokes for meaner people to capture on their phones…

The First Date is an absolute disaster, but Brad and Bernie persevere…

It’s worth it in the end…

Utterly beguiling and drenched in cute meets, charmed disasters, bondable moments, the best hopes of enthralled onlookers everywhere and the sheer determination to find, survive and enjoy love and companionship, Dogs on Dates is a passionate yet reserved pick-me-up for the emotionally exhausted, connection-wary, socially drained lonely hearts still hopefully looking for a shared life. Wry, witty, hopeful and encouraging, it’s what every Good Boi of any gender description wants, whether they admit it or not.

Fetch!
© Luke Healy, 2026. All rights reserved.

Dogs on Dates will be published on June 18th 2026 and is available for pre-order now.

On this date in 1977 US born Australian cartoonist Stan Cross (Wally and the Major, The Potts) died. We also lost Italian Andrea Pazienza (Zanardi) in 1988 and irreplaceable Man of Steel Curt Swan in 1996.

On the upside, the day welcomed French Canadian cartoonist Albert Chartier (Onésime) in 1912; illustrator Kack Keller (Kid Colt, Outlaw, Charlton’s entire “Hot Rod “comics division) in 1922; mega-stylist Frank Thorne (Mighty Samson, Son of Tomahawk, Red Sonja, Lann, Moonshine McJuggs) in 1930 and the Arnold half of the Pander Brothers (Grendel: Devil’s Legacy, Accelerate) in 1967.

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Virginia Woolf’s Orlando – Adapted by Jules Scheele (Orlando: A Graphic Novel Biography)


By Virginia Woolf, adapted by Jules Scheele with Garry Mac (Avery Hill)
ISBN: 978-1-917355-24-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

Some stories don’t translate well from prose to other narrative media, whilst others are simply made for it. In October 1928, author Virginia Woolf published a heavily-satirical appraisal of English literature down the ages. However, her fantasy epic was simultaneously a not-even-barely-veiled dramatised account of her ongoing, uproarious relationship with an equally notorious member of the British aristocracy…

Everyone in the know knew Orlando: A Biography detailed Woolf’s affair with British High Society’s supreme scandal-instigator… Vita Sackville-West. You can look all that history stuff up elsewhere or read the concise contextual precis that comes with this glorious, striking adaptation in the Foreword by Musician, Diarist and Modern Dandy Dickon Edwards…

The original novel is smart, wry and a fabulous historical whimsy that has become a rallying point and clarion call for all matters Queer, Trans, and Proud, and here is even further enhanced by the fitting tactic of adding seductive pictures to form a sequential narrative…

The tale is simple yet compelling: a beautiful, young and so-innocent poet who is a contemporary (and eventually favourite) of Queen Elizabeth I does not age or die.

Enduring and surviving perilous royal favour, great wealth and privilege, personal beauty and vast creative gifts, the poet has many adventures – most of them amorous, but also involving espionage intrigues, great disasters and shady services to The Crown undertaken abroad – before settling in the beloved old family seat to spend the majority of time and effort writing a magnificent novel: The Oak Tree.

Over decades and centuries Orlando adapts and is transformed by love affairs, courtly adventures, travel and writing. At one point, possibly thanks to the ministrations of a Romani witch (the lore and reputation of “Gypsies” fascinated Vita and Virginia cheekily indulged her in these pages) or simply through benevolent evolution, Orlando becomes an equally enchanting and beguiling woman. She too is left largely untouched by the world – except for its arts and fashions – and continues a life of creative and romantic abundance peppered with affairs and dalliances spiked with memorable personal encounters into an unguessable, primarily creative future…

Preceded by a Dedication culled from Derek Jarman, director of the 1992 film adaptation, Jules Scheele’s necessarily arcanely abbreviated Orlando sidelines the book’s formal presentation for a free-flowing cascade of multi-level images and key incidents broken down into ‘Chapter One: Part One: Orlando as a Boy’ & ‘Part Two: Two Years Later…’; ‘Chapter Two: Part Three: Afflicted with a love of literature’ & ‘Part Four: Vanity Rebuked’; ‘Chapter Three Part Five: Some Kind of Miracle’ & ‘Part Six: Orlando Remained Precisely As He Had Been’; ‘Chapter Four, Part Seven: Life, and a lover’ & ‘Part Eight: The clothes that wear us’ with scenes including days at Court and elsewhere subdivided into ‘Whitehall’, ‘The Court of King James at Greenwich’, ‘The Poet’, ‘The Great Frost’, and ‘Time Passed…’ before the settled days and nights of ‘Life, a lover’ presage a reduction in betrayals and forced exiles as constant war with conformity gives way to creative fruition, personal power and security and the ponderous march of time via ‘Chapter Five, Part Nine: Beyond the shadow of a doubt, Female’ and ‘Chapter Six Part Ten: What, Then, is Life?’ prior to the pausing of passing years in ‘Part Eleven: A Single Self, A Real Self’…

Glasgow-based illustrator Jules Scheele’s previous works have been for the educational and voluntary sectors, including the NHS, Scottish Government, UCL, University of Glasgow, LGBT Youth Scotland, Refugee Sanctuary Scotland, Edinburgh Arts Festival and others. His passion projects are fuelled by and stem from queer media, popular culture, and grass roots politics, and were previously seen via and expressed through DIY zine culture. With Dr. Meg-John Barker, Scheele has created numerous non-fiction graphic novels such as Queer: A Graphic History; Gender: A Graphic Guide and Sexuality: A Graphic Guide.
© Jules Scheele, 2026. All rights reserved.

Orlando – A Graphic Novel Biography will be published on June 18th 2026 and is available for pre-order now.

Today in 1934 Lee Falk’s magnificent epitome of wonder and superheroics Mandrake the Magician first appeared.

Today in 1949 British writer and oriental scholar Steve Moore (Rick Random, Laser Eraser & Pressbutton, Hulk, Doctor Who, Absalom Daak, Tales of Telguuth, Warrior, 2000 AD, Fortean Times) was born.