Secret Agent Nessie Review - A Joyful, Scottish Comic Full of Heart and Humour

How about something for the younger ones with fun and jokes abound, starring a trio of Loch friends protecting their home, each other and the fish supply from some pesky and one misunderstood feathered foes? Get your rocket skates on for Secret Agent Nessie from Gary Chudleigh and Laura Howell.

Gary Chudleigh is an award-winning comic creator from Dumbarton, Scotland. Gary's previous works include LEGO comics with characters from Spider-Man, The Avengers, Jurassic World and Ninjago. Along with personal IPs, Plagued The Miranda Chronicles, a short for Killtopia Nanojams, Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time and the great Every Last One (#1 reviewed here. #2 reviewed here).

Laura Howell is a prestigious comic artist, occasional writer and educator from Birmingham. The prestige begins with being the first female to produce a regular strip for The Beano and the first woman to draw for Viz. Laura was the lead artist for BOOM! Studios' monthly Regular Show comic and two graphic novels, Wrasslesplosian and The Meatening. As well as this, Laura has her own award-winning book, The Bizarre Adventures of Gilbert & Sullivan. On top of that, Laura has a client list including Mad Magazine, Harvard University, Egmont Publishing and David Fickling Books, among many others. A fantastic talent with great instincts (Koalas are suspicious). Award-winning artists acknowledged and accredited it's review time.

So, let's start with the art. Laura Howell makes art to make your eyes smile. There's a sophisticated simplicity in presentation with the utmost of economic delivery of fun comic book art. Laura's art has a meticulous nature where every panel is utilised to best effect. It's filled with thoughtful details and occasional easter eggs (Futurama, Beano, Iron Brew), which, paired with economic lines, creates clear, compulsively captivating art that just emits a warm, fuzzy feeling of happy, funness.

There's also a welcoming inclusivity of emotion, radiating from the art, thanks to wonderfully crafted characters and a talent for emotion conveyance. It is so easily readable and really helps sell the narrative. The character work throughout is strong, with engaging and endearing design that cements the fact that there is no escaping the level of quality art on offer. At its silliest, this is striking art that will keep readers admiring the art through many a read. This great art is further bolstered by smashing colours that emphasise everything effectively without ever being too loud or too understated. Suitably splendid scribbles, so, onto the story.

Gary Chudleigh provides a fun and adventurous tale of fish heist tom foolery by a feathery gang all seaside enjoyers can fully relate to. This is a laughter-sprinkled, playful tale of three friends defending their community from feathered fiends. Along the way, they're learning to never give up and the value of teamwork with plenty of skooshing to boot. Things like rocket-powered kilts, Steel Brew, Tartan war paint, or common phrases, alongside the obvious character choices, allow Gary to keep the heritage strong. I imagine it has a certain value in itself by holding weight for the Scottish youth in the power of positive representation.

Beyond this, the overall messaging and morals are really great and only exceeded by the fun and silly tale on offer. Overall, it's a very fine entry into the gateway to comics catalogue that is children's comics, with a fun set of characters readers will enjoy the exploits of. Deserving of more tales for sure.

For fans of sort of secret agents, fun, frolics, feathers, heists, villains with a tragic back story and a sad example of the cycle of abuse but remember this is a kids comic so maybe only this overthinking adult feels this way, the comedy of seagull poop, SKOOSH, teamwork, friendship and never giving up in art of joy and happiness delivered with skill and talent, bust out the tartan handglider and fly over to your copy of Secret Agent Nessie.

To get your copy, you can get your orders in now (released 19th March). I'd highly recommend ordering here. It seems to be a good way to support the book and a valuable site.

Review: 4.5/5