ReadItDaddy's Picture / Comic Book of the Week - Week Ending 6th January 2017 - "Long Gone Don Book 2" by The Etherington Brothers (David Fickling Books)

Our first Book of the Week for 2017 continues a long-established tradition of The Etherington Brothers basically taking up residence in the BOTW slot with everything they release...
We're not biased. OK we are biased, we're horribly biased but when you've got such a supremely talented pair of guys working on stuff that is so full of exquisite little details that makes you hoot with laughter, favouritism is pretty much OK in our book and we write the rules, so NYAAAHHHH!

When we last saw Don Skelton, back in Book 1 he was within a whisker's breath of getting back to normal (whatever normal is in a world where a quirk of fate can see you drown in a bowl of oxtail soup). A portal, a wondrous way home for Don was tantalisingly within his grasp but just as Don aimed to get back home, once again the crazy world of Broilerdoom stuck a spanner in the works and Don's way home was closed off - seemingly for good.

But there is hope. Along with some of the madcap characters he's met and allied with along the way, Don and his pals must face the nefarious rise of a faceless army of goons who threaten to put Broilerdoom under the boot heel of a ruthless (but impossibly stylish) lunatic hell bent on making the world his own.

Charlotte stole off with this as soon as it arrived, and thus followed an evening of complete silence while she dressed up as Safina (complete with tail) and read...

Thumbs up from madame!

"So what is it you like about Long Gone Don?" I asked innocently.

"Mufphsph mughhhh phfffff" mumbled madame before returning to the crazy haphazard deliriously brilliant world of an ordinary everyday schoolboy drawing on his own inner strength (and complete ineptitude) with a lot of help from his friends.

2017 may hold many things in store but we can comfortably predict that "The Phoenix Presents" books will once again feature highly in our Book of the Week lists. It's just so good to be able to splurge out on strips we've loved in the weekly Phoenix Comic all in one delicious go.

Charlotte's favourite bit: Safina's hilarous new love interest!

Daddy's favourite bit: The detail! The humour! The characters! The premise! So many things to love about this strip which echoes all the great comics I loved as a kid like Asterix and Lucky Luke. So very, very good indeed. Welcome to yet another year of residency in the Book of the Week slot, guys!

(Kindly sent to us for review by David Fickling Books)


"Long Gone Don Book 2: The Terror-Cotta Army" by The Etherington Brothers is released on January 5th 2017, published by David Fickling Books