You may have a bit of a wait on your hands for this one but we couldn't wait to talk about it anyway, so here it is!

We've admired the "Phoebe and her Unicorn" series from afar for a while, pulling a couple of titles out of our local library for a look. My daughter has got to that age where she casts a cynical side-eye over anything that's pink, looks vaguely cute, and features either unicorns or llamas but absolutely raved about PAHU - and was delighted to get the chance of an early look at the latest adventure for Phoebe and Marigold Heavenly Nostrils (because if you're going to name a Unicorn, you've gotta go all-in, right?)

Phoebe and her luxuriously maned pal are on a new adventure - this time in cyberspace! Imagine it, a virtual unicorn experience to match anything you can possibly imagine in the real or magical world. This is what Phoebe and Marigold find on a school visit to the Science Museum.

It sounds too good to be true, right?

There's also the small matter of a school talent show to navigate, and as usual Dana's humour is cute, funny but also whip-smart (with Marigold stealing practically every scene, of course!)


Dana's glorious skills in comic making hark back to the sort of strip-based stuff I fell in love with as a kid, and of course have shared with my daughter as her appreciation of comics has grown over the last few years.

Phoebe and Marigold's adventures also work in a good dose of very smart and very subtle character-building storytelling, ideal for younger readers looking for their first inroad into comics and solo reading, but also utterly brilliant for big pug-ugly grown ups like me who appreciate the finer points of Dana's humorous storytelling and illustrative strokes.

Sum this book up in a sentence: If you've ever loved stuff like Calvin and Hobbes, or Bone, then you're really in for a treat, this series shows absolutely no signs of becoming stale or irrelevant and this latest virtual adventure is one fine chunk of comic greatness.

"Virtual Unicorn Experience (Phoebe and her Unicorn Book 12) is out on 20th October 2020, published by Andrews McMeel Publishing (kindly supplied as a digital ARC for review)

We've raved about the previous two volumes of "Heartstoppers" by Alice Oseman, and the story shows no signs of veering off the road with Volume 3 now available.

It's been out for a while but we're only just playing catchup on the blog with the latest instalment of the story of two boys who meet, become friends and then fall head over heels in love with each other.

Charlie and Nick are now officially boyfriends, and Charlie is now feeling brave enough to come out to his mum - but coming out isn't just a one-shot thing. Everyone will find out about Charlie and Nick sooner rather than later, and there's a school trip to Paris to navigate too!

Alice deftly demonstrates the ups and downs of a budding relationship - and the amazing feeling when someone's really there for you through thick and thin, and is prepared to put as much on the line for you as you are for them.

Alice's storytelling and illustrations make this instantly compelling for any gender or sexual preference, purely because she puts such a whomping great big beating heart into her story, and makes her characters believable, grounded and of course just as vulnerable as anyone you'd meet in your own life.



She also touches on other tricky subjects such as self-harm and eating disorders, as we see a more vulnerable and fragile side of Charlie emerging as the story develops.

As we mentioned with the previous volumes, what Alice manages more successfully than any other aspect of Charlie and Nick's Story (and it's not all 100% perfect. Some plot elements feel a bit weirdly ham-fisted and distant in the way she deals with them) is what it feels like for anyone who's falling in love for the first time,  regardless of who they are. Even old farts like me will be taken straight back to the heady days of their youth, remembering a summer when a crush turned into something far more. That inescapable feeling that suddenly the world you live in would be unbearable without the object of your desire in it. Boy does she ever nail that beautifully in this series.

Notes for parents: Strong language and adult themes so worth a read before you let younger tweenagers loose on it (though personally I am pretty sure most 12 year olds would've heard riper language in their playground at school long before they hit Year 7).

Sum this graphic novel up in a sentence: Dealing with the trickier hues and tones when a relationship starts to get serious, this is perfect for tweens and teens who have a zillion and one questions and issues of their own, wrapped up in a really solidly readable love story.

"Heartstoppers Volume 3" by Alice Oseman is available now, published by Hachette (Kindly supplied for review). 

We are living in golden times my friends, even though it may not seem like it. In fact, as far as kid-friendly comics go, we truly are right smack bang in the middle of a golden age where 'grown ups' have finally realised that A) Comics are a really good thing and B) Comics for kids don't have to be as dumb as a box of rocks.

We've spoken many times of the ability for kids to completely soak up and accept surreality in all its forms, and there's none more surreal than the worlds that Jim Benton cooks up. Marvellous, original and inventive story worlds inhabited by completely kooky characters.

Such as the hero of "Attack of the Stuff: The Life and Times of Bill Waddler".

Bill is a duck destined for extraordinary things, though his life (from an observer's perspective) really sucks. You see, Bill has an ability - a super-power if you will - the power to know what ordinary everyday inanimate objects want and desire.

Bill's toilet, for example (whose name is Latoylat - never forget it!) wants to be a hollywood star, and definitely wants a hat. She's none too keen on all that 'toilet' business which forces Bill out into the big wide world every day to run his hay stall.

The problem with Bill's ability is that he just cannot switch it off. In fact soon Bill realises that there's only one course of action - to go and live as a wild man, embracing all that nature can offer.

That, of course, comes with its own pitfalls and hazards (Snakes for example). But soon Bill becomes a pivotal character in a worldwide drama - when the internet stops working, he may be the only person on the planet who knows what's wrong with it - and what it truly desires...

At times this graphic novel reminded me quite heavily of the excellent "Louis" series from two of our favourite creatives, Metaphrog. A guy stuck in a fairly thankless existence, a whole bunch of eclectic surreal characters (the orange juice salesman was hilarious - just make sure you specify WHAT SIZE JUICE YOU WANT!) and we loved the concept of the internet dying, and the fallout across the world when folk can no longer blither on over social media or...hah...blogs.

Sum this book up in a sentence: Absolutely brilliant stuff from Jim, inventive, charming and entertaining with the sort of message that kids will giggle and laugh at, but adults will knowingly nod and find themselves agreeing with.

"Attack of the Stuff: The Life and Times of Bill Waddler" by Jim Benton is out now, published by Papercutz (kindly supplied for review). 

Once again we're completely dazzled by the sheer talent behind this week's Comic / Graphic Novel of the Week, a supercool creative team who are definitely no strangers to our Book of the Week slot, and who have been a colossal part of the reason C has grown up as a comic fan.

John and Sandra - AKA Metaphrog - are back once again with another beautifully realised tale that instantly immerses you in a dark and mysterious bookworld with so much atmosphere you'll swear that a thin layer of frost has developed on your window as you read.

"Bluebeard: A Feminist Fairy Tale" begins with a grey haired lady recalling the summer of the year she turned 18, and what life was like under the shadow of a sinister and mysterious castle that dominated the landscape around where she lived - the gigantic imposing castle of Bluebeard.



Bluebeard's reputation was fearsome and villagers knew to stay well away from the castle, and the dark twisted forests that surrounded it, where rumours of wolves and other nefarious creatures were rife.

The girl's family life was simple and there were hardships, but one winter she and her family and the villagers find themselves desperate for food and warmth and left with no choice when a mysterious invitation to spend 8 days of luxury as Bluebeard's guests arrives - an invitation that would bring the young girl into direct contact with the scoundrel Bluebeard and his deep dark secret.


I'm writing up this review after one of the worst night's sleep I've had in ages, where fever-dreams stalked me, and delerium almost felt inspirational and it makes me wonder if John and Sandra have mastered the art of bringing dreams like those into their work, rendering them on the page with the same amazing clarity and depth of meaning.

There's a love story here too, as the young girl Eve and her beloved Tom find themselves wrenched apart by Bluebeard's evil desires. Will they ever be reuinted? Remember this is not a tale where the dashing hero rescues the girl, so you'll have to read this utterly mesmerising tale to find out what happens to Eve yourself.

To give you a taste of the book, here's John and Sandra, two of the coolest people you'll ever hope to witness, performing a reading from Bluebeard to celebrate the launch:


Fans of their work have been waiting for this one for a while and we're absolutely in love with this book. This talented duo have a knack for producing amazing and original takes on classic fairytakes, not shying away from the darker side of those stories and this is no exception, a thoroughly original and modern tale very much as intoxicating and immersive as their previous works.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A mighty girl, a powerful secretive antagonist and a tale that feels relevant and bang up to date yet steeped in the oral storytelling tradition of amazing folk tales with a visual style to die for.

"Bluebeard: A Feminist Fairy Tale" by Metaphrog is out now, published by Papercutz (very kindly sent for review).

Wow, and once again WOW. This is the sort of graphic novel anthology that fills us with joy. After all, why settle for just one story in a fabulous comic-based anthology when you can have several.

In "The Gamayun Tales Volume 1" Alexander Utkin gathers together his previous releases from Flying Eye / NoBrow into one sumptuous and luxurious volume, a fantastic set of stories to curl up with - and the perfect introduction for kids who haven't yet got into comics or graphic novels but want a really good jumping-in point (warning though kids, it'll become a lifelong obsession, we can most definitely vouch for this).

Russian folk tales are a rich and verdant source for amazing stories filled with magic, excitement and fantasy.

Meet terrifying water spirits, lake-dwelling magical creatures and regal feathered friends (and fiends). Like a modern-day Aesops Fables filled with amazing creatures, Alexander's stories are dark, enticing and exciting - and the artwork is absolutely gorgeous, colourful and super-detailed.
Let's take a look at one of the panels inside:

Kids are naturally drawn to comic storytelling and rich visual narratives, and this is a prime example of the sort of graphic novel we get very excited about. We truly are living through a new golden age of amazing kid comics, and this is one of the finest.

"The Gamayun Tales Volume 1" by Alexander Utkin is out on 1st March 2020, published by NoBrow / Flying Eye Books.

Wow, what a treat for Bronte-sauruses such as us - a graphic novel that doesn't just dish up the usual stale old biography of the Brontes, but delves into their storytelling psyche in a completely unique way.

"Glass Town" by Isabel Greenberg digs into the backstory of Charlotte, Emily, Branwell and Anne. Living in a tumbledown house in the middle of a remote moor had an early effect on the adventuresome imaginations of the four children. Though their life was tinged with early tragedy and the loss of two siblings, the four developed a deep bond through their love of storytelling.

In particular their dreamed-up world where the four would often cook up narratives, plots and characters that would undoubtedly influence their later lives and in particular Charlotte and Emily's writing careers.

Isabel perfectly captures the often stark bleakness of their young lives, and how that completely contrasted with Glass Town and the world they wrote about, drew and mapped out as the four would play together.



But she goes a step further - this is Isabel Greenberg we're talking about after all, and soon the characters of Glass Town begin to seep into the real world lives of the four as the characters beg to tell their own stories.


As you'll discover once you dip in, the four (often contrasting) personalities of the Brontes fed directly into the evolution of their imaginary world, and the friendships and conflicts of the imaginary folk they populated it with.

Sum this book up in a sentence: Sumptuous, darkly delicious and gothic, and at times quite uplifting and heartwarming, this is an absolute must for every Bronte fan who's ever wondered "What if Glass Town was ever developed into a story in its own right?"

"Glass Town" by Isabel Greenberg is out now, published by Jonathan Cape PB (kindly supplied for review). 

Once again it looks like those fantastic "The Phoenix Presents" roll-up compilations from the glorious comic are going to dominate our "Comic / Graphic Novel of the Week" slot in 2020.

It's the turn of the mightiest chef in the universe this week as James Stayte's utterly fantastic creation Gorebrah smashes through our kitchen wall, rustles through our ingredients cupboard and cooks up a hilarious rib-tickling soupçon of scintillating sizzling comic strip action.

"Gorebrah: The Mightiest Chef in the Universe" lightly pan-fries the initial run of strips from The Phoenix Comic, deftly served up with additional content for would-be trainee Barbarian chefs in a cookbook sublime though we think it's worth pointing out that eating Zombie Lasagne might have adverse side effects and a sudden craving for brains.

James' strips are always blimmin' funny, brilliantly drawn and he has a knack for working in hilarious references that grown ups might titter at, while they sail right over their kids' heads (a certain rootytooty saxophone scene still sticks in the mind as one of the funniest refs I think I've ever seen and couldn't resist calling James out about on Twitter).

It's also one of C's favourite strips in the comic, but sadly doesn't seem to have inspired her to help me out with cooking the dinner on a busy evening!

So here it is then, another fabulous gateway into the world of The Phoenix Comic if you've yet to discover the awesomeness yourself, and a truly fantastic wrap-up of Gorebrah's mightiest early moments. Also a good excuse to dive into the weeklies as well at the moment as Gorebrah's back in those too!

Sum this book up in a sentence: Like a manic cross between Conan and Gordon Ramsay (but thankfully with a lot less swearing and nastiness), Gorebrah reigns supreme and this collection is absolutely brilliant and hilarious.

"Gorebrah! The Mightiest Chef in the Universe" by James Stayte is out now, published by David Fickling Books (kindly supplied for review).