Our Comic of the Week this week is a fantastic collection of a strip that took a decidedly different tack to the usual 'superhero' stuff you see in comics.

"Claire: Justice Ninja" by Joe Brady and Kate Ashwin first appeared in The Phoenix Comic some time ago, and instantly felt like a breath of fresh air.

Not just because its chief character is a BAME force to be reckoned with, a girl, and possessor of a strong moral compass - but also because it covers the sort of subjects that drive most of us (adults AND kids) absolutely barmy when we see others behaving like the receivers of said justice in the strips.

Folk who let their dogs crap everywhere? Yeah they get served.

The bully at school? Oh you just know they're going to get their comeuppance at the hands of this pint-sized purveyor of solemn justice and her hapless sidekick Nigel. She's more than just your friendly neighbourhood Ninja-girl, she's chronicling and dealing with horrors that you hope and pray others might recognise in their own behaviour, and do something about before Claire comes a-knocking.

This strip was a huge hit with C, a girl with her own strong sense of right and wrong, and one who (like me - though not quite in the same "Victor Meldrew" moany old way) will root for characters like Claire all the way.

Absolutely fantastic stuff from Joe and Kate!

"Claire: Justice Ninja" Book 1 is out now, published by David Fickling Books (kindly supplied for review). 

Your Honour, the accused stands in the dock, charged with that most heinous of crimes. Making a normally quiet and sane 11-year-old laugh until snot bubbles exploded out of her nose.

Further to the above charge is the additional minor charge of making the aforementioned 11-year-old run around the house, shouting bizarre surreal phrases such as "RUN, RUN UNTIL DE FARTS COMES OUT!" as well as "Me Bebbeh! It's Coming!"

"Looshkin: The Big Number 2" has once again had exactly the same effect on ReadItDaddy Towers as the crazed, chaotic lunatic moggy has on his own peaceful household in Jamie Smart's hilariously funny strip, once again ripped from the pages of the mighty Phoenix Comic, stuck together with a couple of old pritt sticks (you know the ones, those ones that never quite stick things properly, the ones your teacher always gives you ever since that unfortunate incident where you ate all the copydex) and presented in a satisfying single volume.

So what does Looshkin get up to this time? Shoving his bum between a courting couple so that they kiss his bum instead of each other? Check! Using a nefarious sock puppet to perform evil deeds, claiming they are the puppet's idea? Check! Generally trashing entire neighbourhoods, personal property, comestible items and of course pants - lots of pants and bloomers? Check Check and treble check!

The accused cannot deny the charges. Once again he has produced this piece of subversive comic fiction, destined to turn the nation's youth into giggling maniacs, unable to communicate with their adult wranglers other than via guffaws, sniggers, chortles, giggles, and downright loud and braying belly laughs.

Guilty. Guilty as charged.

"Looshkin: The Big Number 2" by Jamie Smart is out now, published by David Fickling Books. Hold your children close, pray for them!

Back in the dark dystopic 1970s when everything seemed to be a sort of horrid dirty beige colour, I was very much a kid who would scrape together every spare penny dug out from the back of the sofa, or pool my pocket money with other kids to buy comics.

Comics were a much-needed conduit for escapism, serving up stories that would probably make people's hair curl, to an age group who nowadays are probably more used to reading comfy little stories about middle grade kids who become detectives than dark, gritty dystopia.

I never read Jinty comic - as a boy, if you were caught even giving comics like Jinty or Misty the side-eye you'd probably end up being given a chinese burn, the bumps or an atomic wedgie by your classmates. Weirdly though I always knew that I was missing out on something, and after reading "Fran of the Floods" I'm downright convinced that Rebellion have made a very clever move picking up the rights to a metric ton of IPC and other publisher's IP to republish in gloriously luxurious graphic novel formats.

"Fran of the Floods" by legendary comic creators Alan Davidson and Phil Gascoine is a prime example of a strip I'd never heard of, but knew my daughter would instinctively love. I can't quite explain why she's drawn to the darker stuff but I think secretly all kids love stories that depict the downfall of society and civilisation, and cataclysmic global events.

Yep, here's a story that first aired in 1973 and yet feels like it was written last week, the core subjects of global warming, climate change and unstoppable flooding really are horribly relevant now. We're living the reality of a story that was fantasy nearly 50 years ago, and it feels like the world hasn't learned a durned thing really.

Fran is a young girl who lives with her family, listening with growing anxiety and alarm to the news stories as the sea levels begin to rise, eventually swamping towns and cities on the coast before creeping further inland and covering the entire south.

For a while Fran's life carries on as normal, and she's obsessed with all the same thing most kids are today (obviously minus the tablets, mobile phones and social media, naturally!)

Her parents and her school do their best to 'normalise' life in the midst of the chaos that breaks out around the country, until the flooding, food shortages, power outages and general breakdown of law and order come knocking at their door.

Folks who are canny enough to be reading "No Country" in the weekly Phoenix Comic might recognise the sort of tale this is, wrought in its original monochrome but highly detailed artwork, with new colour covers courtesy of Rebellion.

Fran's story is harrowing at times, hopeful at others - above all it's the sort of comic collection that fulfils two vital roles - preserving a fantastic story for a whole new generation of kids who might favour darker stuff like us, but also offering a timely and rather bittersweet message that even as far back as the early 70s there were folk out there who knew the horrible damage we were doing to the planet, and were trying to make sure kids were as well informed about it back then as they are now.

C wouldn't put this down until she'd read the whole thing, completely hooked in and immersed in a fantastic harrowing tale of an ordinary young girl demonstrating amazing bravery in the face of a horrific man-made ecological disaster.

Mind-blowingly brilliant!

Sum this graphic novel up in a sentence: Blisteringly timely, brilliantly written and illustrated, the sort of 'girl' comic I wish I'd been brave enough to read as a wee lad but am very pleased to catch up with and share with my daughter (and would heartily recommend sharing it with your daughters - AND sons too!)

"Fran of the Floods" by Alan Davidson and Phil Gascoine is out now, published by Rebellion (kindly supplied for review as a digital ARC). 

Our Comic of the Week this week practically jumped off the library stacks and into C's hands. It could almost have been made for her and her alone.

Thankfully "Zodiac Starforce Volume 2: Cries of the Fire Prince" by Kevin Panetta, Paulina Ganucheau and Sarah Stern has been made for ALL girls (and boys) like C who are enjoying this new wave of amazing kid and middle grade comics (though I think it's probably fair to describe this as 'upper middle grade') where superheroes don't have to be grumpy, gritty misery-guts clad in shades of beige and grey.

For anyone who has loved the recent runs of Netflix animations like She-Ra and Carmen Sandiego, you could almost imagine the streaming service optioning Zodiac Starforce as an animation at some point in the not-too-distant future (given their committment to optioning a lot of comic IP - to great effect in most cases).

This though, well OK let's not get ahead of ourselves as this is volume 2 after all - and we're coming in a bit late.

The Zodiac Starforce team are a bunch of kick-ass superhero girls, each with their own unique set of powers.

Working effectively together, but just as devastating in their own individual rights too, meet Taurus, Libra, Gemini, Aries and Pisces, the US based Zodiac Starforce team.

When an innocent teenage prank goes hideously wrong, and a group of wicca-loving perps unwittingly unleash the Fire Prince on an unsuspecting world, the US Zodiac Starforce team must join with their (slightly grumpy and standoffish) UK counterparts to combat the demon menace before his disgusting denizens take over the entire world and turn it to ash.

Y'know, standard 'saving the world' stuff.

What marks this comic out is the way that the characters instantly gel, and just plain work together as a collective without feeling like some insidious marketing exercise in ticking all the diversity / inclusivity boxes.

You have characters of colour, kick-ass gals who don't conform to the usual 'superhero body shape', LGBT characters who express their love for each other in such a flipping fantastic and MG friendly way, wonderfully naturally within the threads of the story as volume 2 unfolds. Everyone will find their own faves (Naturally C loves Pisces as that's her star sign, and the character is as full of sass, fashion nous and individuality as C herself. I of course loved Taurus!)

I really wish we'd discovered this fantastic comic series sooner. I'd always assumed (wrongly) that Dark Horse were all about gritty, dark and dystopian stuff but this is a cut above just about every other superhero team comic we've read in the last couple of years.

Utterly fantastic. Now can we have that series, Netflix?

Sum this comic up in a sentence: Kick-ass, joyful, serious, funny, colourful and downright essential for mighty girls and boys everywhere.

"Zodiac Starforce Volume 2: Cries of the Fire Prince" is out now, published by Dark Horse Comics (Library loan). 

The problem with playing catch-up with well-loved comic series is that you feel duty bound to try and slot everyting you read into some sort of linear timeline - and when it comes to Marvel Comics and series fragmentation, that's a purely impossible task.

So our Comic of the Week this week, "Spider-Man: Miles Morales Volume 1" by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli might now be two years old, and Bendis may have jumped ship to DC Comics from Marvel (lucky old DC, Bendis is an IMMENSE talent) but this series is undoubtedly one of the best if you've been looking for stuff that has interesting paralells that run comfortably alongside the behemoth "Into the Spider-Verse" movie.

Miles Morales here is a bit older than he's depicted in the movie, with even more of the same issues he encountered in the flick.

Being a teenager is hard enough. Being a teenager who also happens to be Spider-Man, has just been drafted into the Avengers AND has a Grandma who is convinced he's on drugs or running around with questionable young ladies is quite another matter entirely.

So poor Miles. Alongside his long-suffering (but utterly brilliant, in our opinion) friend Ganke Lee, the dude's trying to cope with nefarious demons who want to turn the world to ashes, kicking the Avengers' collective asses in the process (thankfully Miles is around to add a little sting here or there to the invader) - but also trying to cope with plumetting school grades and a love life that careers from non-existent to completely disastrous.

With the addition of a new pupil at his part-board school, Miles also has to deal with his secret identity accidentally being blurted out to "Golden Balls" - a mutant ex X-Men member who can summon golden spheres from...well, we never quite find out where from (thankfully).

We love Ganke Lee!

As the story begins to unfold at breakneck pace, Miles soon realises that a new super-criminal cadre would rather this new Spider-Man was hung up by his webs - permanently.

Pichelli's artwork combined with Bendis' superb plotting, fantastic observational eye for teen angst - and a ton of tongue-in-cheek jokes, cameos and utterly KILLER lines, this is a total win of a comic. We've devoured Volumes 1 and 2 and are just waiting for Volume 3 to arrive so if you're on Team Miles and haven't read this yet, this is a truly awesome jumping-in point for more of his ace comic run.

Sum this comic up in a sentence: It's not easy being Spidey!

"Spider-Man: Miles Morales Volume 1" by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli is out now, published by Marvel Comics (self purchased, not provided for review)

Our comic of the week this week is the sort of smart, sassy and brilliantly female-focused comic that both of us just can't get enough of at the moment...