I still can't quite remember what originally caught my eye about the fantastic work of Metaphrog. I think it was at a point where I knew C was becoming more and more interested in comics - even at a young age she seem drawn to them, drawn to the format of strips and panels as a way of conveying a story far more effectively (for her at the time) than mere words could manage.

It started with "Louis: Red Letter Day". John and Sandra - the awesome duo known as Metaphrog - might well be more famous now for their superbly dark retellings of classic fairy tales but the Louis books were just something else.

Children are far more willing to accept and enjoy surreality as a concept, which was definitely borne out by the Louis graphic novels. The story of a benign little chap who has a fairly mundane but happy life is tinged with moments that may sail completely over children's heads, yet they're still able to decode a lot of what Louis' stories are all about.

With his tweety sidekick FC, Louis is wholly accepting of his lot - even when teased and tricked by a pair of nasty spiteful little characters - a strange boss-like chap and his suck-up minion (shiny!) who seem to devote a colossal amount of time to messing with Louis' life.

I just loved the originality of these, the bits where you nod along thinking "Yeah, life's like that kiddo" but also we were both completely drawn in by how beautiful the books are, I mean just check out these set of panels from "Louis: Night Salad" - Gorgeous, gorgeous work!


Finding a publishing home at Papercutz, Metaphrog's work has gone completely stellar with their aforementioned treatments of classic tales, always given an original and glorious makeover in the Metaphrog style.

"The Red Shoes and other Tales" is a particular favourite, demonstrating how subsequent modern takes on these stories have always watered them down a bit - something Metaphrog are keen to address, and keen to put right. Each time they tackle a tale, they restore the original darker versions of the stories - and again kids are more than capable of coping with dark stuff (this is definitely something we've learned over the course of ten years of children's book blogging).

"The Red Shoes" tells the story of a young girl, orphaned at an early age but taken in with kindness by her aunt. The young girl spies a pair of red shoes in a shop and simply must have them! But these are no ordinary shoes, they're magic and the wearer is destined to dance until they die (quite literally!)

However the story in this collection that really caught C's eye was "The Doll". Like something out of an episode of "Tales of the Unexpected" it's the story of a young boy who takes refuge in a toy museum. He swears that one of the exhibits - a doll - can read his thoughts and understand what he's saying. She becomes his only friend - school friend bully him about his obsession and things are tough at home too. Finally the boy realises there's a way he and his new friend can be together forever...

It's really spooky but brilliant, and the trio of tales is polished off by one of the most heartbreaking versions of "The Little Match Girl" you're ever likely to read, again John and Sandra sounding out the plight of those who end up living below the poverty line, subtly but effectively.

Here's a brace of links to all our reviews of their fantastic work. Wishing John and Sandra all the brightest and best, as they are so supremely talented.

Original Review Links: 

#ReadItMD13 Comics and Magazines Week - ReadItDaddy interview the mighty Metaphrog!

Booky Advent Calendar Day 17 - 17th December 2013: "Winter's Tales" by Metaphrog (Metaphrog Publishing)

ReadItDaddy's First Book of the Week - Week Ending 25th September 2015 - "Hans Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes (and other tales)" by Hans Christian Andersen and Metaphrog (Papercutz Publishing)

ReadItDaddy's Second Picture Book of the Week - Week Ending 26th May 2017 - "The Little Mermaid" by Metaphrog (Papercutz)

"The Photographs" by Metaphrog. A Graphic Short (published by Metaphrog / Glasgow Life)

Louis - Red Letter Day by Metaphrog (Metaphrog Publishing)

Louis - Night Salad by Metaphrog (Metaphrog Publishing)

ReaditDaddy's Comic / Graphic Novel of the Week: Week Ending 22nd May 2020: "Bluebeard: A Feminist Fairy Tale" by Metaphrog (Papercutz)

Get ready for an utterly awesome version of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Red Shoes" from Metaphrog and Papercutz

#ReadItMD13 Theme Week - "Getting Crafty with Children's Books" - Time for a book-themed make...!

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).

Once again, our Book of the Week slot sees the supremely talented creative duo Metaphrog grace us with a fantastic mesmeric reworking of a fabulous fairy tale. It's the turn of "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen...

One of our happiest 'discoveries' of the year has been the utterly sublime work of Metaphrog. Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers are the genius team behind the fabulous award-winning Louis graphic novels, which we have enjoyed immensely - and also brilliant graphic shorts like "The Photographs" which cover difficult subjects in a thought-provoking and extremely touching way.

With "Winter's Tales", a duo of short stories available only during December for the ridiculously reasonable price of £3.50, two hefty issues are addressed in a way that Metaphrog absolutely specialises in.

In "The Glass Case" the subject is domestic violence, and we meet a young boy who (along with his mother) is horribly mistreated at home by a violent father. On a school trip to a local museum, the boy encounters a strange doll which stares out at him from a glass case. The boy is entranced by the doll, and despite being ridiculed by his class mates, he returns to the museum after one particularly harrowing instance of violence at home to gaze on the doll again.

Amazingly, she comes to life - and soon the pair become friends. Sneaking up to the roof of the museum, the boy wishes that they could stay there forever.

We'll leave you to discover what happens next in the story but even as I'm typing, the thought of it actually brings a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye.

In the second story, Metaphrog revisits a classic Hans Christian Andersen tale, beautifully rendered as a comic strip, "The Little Match Girl" is a tragic tale that is still relevant today, as levels of poverty (particularly at Christmas) are once again hitting the headlines. The Match Girl sells matches on the street in the freezing cold but after a particularly bad day, the girl has no choice but to hide in an alleyway rather than risk going home empty handed. She is freezing to death, and in her desperation, despite knowing the consequences of using up precious matches rather than selling them, she strikes one.

A magical scene of a warming stove unfolds on the wall of the alleyway, and she can almost feel the delicious heat of it, but as soon as the match burns out the scene disappears.

She strikes another and a delicious feast appears - but once again all too quickly the scene fades as the match burns out...

Even if you've read and enjoyed the original story, here under Metaphrog's expert creative hands the tale is given new relevance and acts as a stark reminder to those of us who will be tucked up in the warmth with plenty to eat, and lots of christmas cheer, that there are those on the streets who won't share the same good fortune.

Please do take a look at this work. Though you may feel it's probably inappropriate to feature this in a christmas children's book roundup, it has been a genuine pleasure to read this with Charlotte and highlight to her the importance of not taking anything for granted, particularly at christmas as the cold weather sets in.

Stunning thought-provoking stuff.

Stop by Metaphrog's website for more on this and their other fabulous work.


Charlotte's best bit: The doll in "The Glass Case" coming to life!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Have tissues handy, this work is amazing but it will make you cry, I guarantee it.

(Very kindly sent to us by John and Sandra at Metaphrog)

Tweet! FC in his rather groovy antigrav cage

Awww already cute!

Hey ladies!

The retainer at the top of the cage showing the shape you'll need to cut

Still a bit wobbly at this stage. Time for a needle and thread!

Lovely!

Ah Louis, how I empathise greatly with you today! We're back once again looking at the wonderful work of Metaphrog, and here's the book that started it all for one of the most intriguing, interesting and downright surreal characters in comics, the sublime Louis.

You may have seen our interview with John and Sandra AKA Metaphrog (if not, go take a peek!) and we've previously also reviewed the utterly excellent "Louis - Night Salad" and the touching "The Photographs" from this talented duo, so let's take a look way back at Louis' first outing.

Louis is a fairly ordinary everyday kind of chap. Like most of us, he has a day job that kinda sucks, he has some companionship (in the shape of his awesome little robo-bird FC) and as we're introduced to Louis here in "Red Letter Day", he has a caring aunt who writes to him at great length.

Or does he? You see, key to the Louis books are a pair of nefarious characters. A "boss" who seems to delight in psychological manipulation and teasing, playing rather cruel tricks and jokes on Louis (who is largely completely oblivious to his cruelty, thankfully) and an annoyingly wheedling sidekick ("Shiny") who aids "the boss" in his trickery.

So we soon find out that they are actually writing to Louis, pretending to be his long lost aunt, just to get him to do daft things ("Wear big shoes! Grow a silly little chin beard!").

Charlotte pointed out that Louis books are like dreams. Imagine if you can a fever-dream where your frenzied night-time mumblings as you talk in your sleep during fitful dreams start to form a world around you. This is how it feels when you read a Louis book, like you're tapped directly into Louis' thoughts as his conscious and subconscious states mix and meld together.

The story delights in throwing you curve-balls thick and fast (Charlotte was on the edge of her seat when Louis' beloved FC is kidnapped and unceremoniously dumped in the trash, HOW DARE THEY!!) but as with Night Salad, it's down to the individual to discover the rather touching, and at times quite dark story of isolation, friendship and the daily grind that underpins Louis' characters and settings.

We can't get enough of Louis. Best of all, towards the end of the book you'll learn a lot more about Louis' origins, and some of the processes that John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs use while dreaming up Louis stories.

Fantastic for children, essential for grown ups. Love Louis!

Charlotte's best bit: Louis' joy at seeing FC enthusiastically scarfing down lots of lovely seeds and nuts (and a 5 year old fist-shake at Louis' nasty tormentors for making off with FC!)

Daddy's favourite bit: Beautifully told, wonderfully illustrated, at all times a book that makes you feel you're being slowly enveloped in an allegorical dreamscape whispering in multi-tones about the human condition. So much to come away from this book with, can't wait to read more!

(Kindly sent to us for review by John and Sandra at Metaphrog)

One of the happiest discoveries we've made recently is just how right you all were when you said how utterly awesome Metaphrog are. John and Sandra are the genius duo behind our new fave graphic novel hero "Louis" and we previously reviewed the utterly surreal but brilliant "Louis: Night Salad" here on ReadItDaddy.

Metaphrog very kindly sent us more Louis loveliness which will be reviewing at a later date, but they also slipped this graphic short into the package - and I'm hoping you'll share in it too.

You can read it for free on the Metaphrog website.

"The Photographs" (Graphic Short)

...and here's a link to the Issuu Download too if you want to drop it into a tablet / mobile

"The Photographs" (Issuu Link)

"The Photographs" Tells the tale, from a young girl's perspective, about the loss of a loved one and the slow and painful process of watching another succumb to senile dementia. In stark contrast to the surreality of Louis, "The Photographs" - written in conjunction with both teenage community groups and senior groups in day care centres - is almost so good that it's quite hard for me to get through without feeling like I could burst into tears.

My own Nan, who is the most awesome 92 year old you could possibly hope to meet, is slowly but surely slipping away from us as dementia takes its toll. She still knows us, thankfully - but her short term memory is eroded, and like the grandma in this story, her behaviour becomes more erratic as time passes. We see her as much as we can, and my mum (who read this graphic short and almost burst into tears on the spot) is lucky in that she has lots of help and good folk to pitch in where the state cannot.

I urge you to take some time out of your day to read this. Perhaps read it to / with your children, and perhaps share it with others whose lives are touched by senile dementia in any way. It's beautifully written, it speaks to you in a voice that people who slam comics as 'worthless' need to listen to more often. The illustrations and expressions will tip you over the edge too, if (like me) you really ride an emotional roller coaster day in day out.

I've been in touch with Metaphrog, to thank them for being the awesome folk they are and also to thank them for producing an amazing piece of work. You'll be hearing a lot more about them from us soon, but in the meantime, enjoy this because it's truly truly something.

It's definitely our week for dancing on the surreal side of life this week, and what better way to do so than in the company of Metaphrog. The mysterious comic publishing alt-beast is the genius hive mind behind "Louis", a shiny headed character who looks a little bit like me but that (I'm glad to say) is where the comparison ends.

In "Night Salad" you have a comic that really is a bit too 'old' for Charlotte's age group (not that any of the content is particularly iffy, it's just that it's a fairly hard comic to get into coming to it completely cold).

Yet, like other works that dabble in the surreal, "Night Salad" is soon picked up and run with. Louis' birdy friend F.C is involved in an awful accident while Louis is tending to his day to day job of growing pineapples (I'm seriously giving you the loosest interpretation of events here as it's really between you and the mighty Metaphrog where you go with this). Poor FC ends up lying listlessly in his (rather cool and hoopy) cage as Louis tries to obtain help, endlessly working under the gaze of a rather creepy and sinister boss (now that bit sounds familiar).

At one point we were reading this and I turned to Charlotte and said "Are you getting this?" and she rolled her eyes at me (in that worldly way 5 year olds do) and said "Yes Daddy, just get on with reading it!"

If you struggle to read comics aloud to your children, you will really struggle with Louis - because at times the text feels like the crazed insecticide-laced "Naked Lunch" style ramblings of William S. Burroughs crossed with nursery-rhyme style moral lessons. We persevered, and "Night Salad" revealed its rewards as a series of touching, almost painfully emotional set pieces between Louis and the other characters in the story. When it clicks, it clicks hard and grips you with a grip of cast iron. There will be a point where you, as an adult, will sneak off to read "Louis: Night Salad" on your own because you'll want to make sure that the grains of truth and the harshest realities woven into its seemingly child-like facade are about what you think they're about (you name it, this covers it - everything from the loss of loved ones to the harsh wage-slave life that some if not all of us lead or have lead at one time or another).

It's quite unlike any other child-friendly comic I've ever seen. It's brainy stuff, it's wholly involving and I imagine you will NOT be allowed to put this down once you've started reading it with and to your child.

Charlotte's best bit: She was taken with, and quite upset by FC's accident and illness. Poor FC!

Daddy's favourite bit: The whole interplay with the boss. I have had bosses like that. If you've ever wondered whether a comic for kids can show you the evil of psychological bullying and manipulation, wonder no more. It's in here and a lot more besides.

(Kindly sent to us for review by the mighty Metaphrog!)