Spookids #2, Reviewed

How about a return to the 80’s kid adventure tales of three friends madcap hijinks powered by Brain-Hat™ imaginings in eye-popping bold ink, dazzlingly delightful art? Then say hello to the nicest of nice Marc Jackson and Spookids #2.

This might be a strange place to start but follow me here. I really struggle with social media. I’m often reminded that I’m part of the generation responsible for all this nonsense and as such am expected to have some sort of natural gift for it. Well I don’t, it intimidates me, it fills me with anxiety and a genuine dread fueled by a lack of understanding and mental health perceived pressure. At the fear of ageing myself, I was part of the first year at my secondary school to be offered I.T as a GCSE (how much of this fact is my age, and how much is rural North education I’m not sure) and all I learnt was that my best friend, who ironically now works in cyber security, could open my disk tray from across the room. I decided then these things cannot be trusted.

Anyway, what this means is I don’t often engage let alone peruse social media but when I do one account always makes me smile and that’s Marc Jackson's Instagram account (@marcmakescomics). To see the joy and community Marc creates, cultivates and supports is beyond admirable. A shiny beacon of all that is good in comics. As I dabble lurking as a watcher in the social world it’s warming to see the indie community and in particular, those that CBNUK is lucky to engage with (thanks entirely to The doctor/Grud himself Ben) that it can be a positive, even loving place. It never ceases to impress what this indie scene is not only capable of but also strives to accomplish, so above all else follow Marc and get involved if you can or support him on Ko-Fi. Now let’s talk comics.

So, let’s start with the art. Marc's art has an unmistakable style of bold as brass, well bold as a thick marker, lines that capture the unignorable wonder. Fun, zany, wacky even, any and all it’s just art full of imagination that's compelling and endearing. The colours are much the same and there’s obviously a well delivered technical foundation with minimalism delivery but more importantly, it’s art that feels. The feeling is joy. It’s new-age nostalgia that speaks to all ages and could never fail to grab your attention. Highlights include, but are not limited to, the design of Brain-Lord, the Bud reveal page and of course the future version character with the greatest princess in the galaxy's hairstyle type buns. A certain Russian cyborg is very stylishly captured too.

Onto the story and picking up from issue 1 we return to the adventures of Eric, Bud and Nellie. The football-loving woods dweller of Bud's comic book idea Brain-Hat™ conjured creation is revealed to be called Fred and Freds found something new that spilt out of Bud's brain. Of course, it’s a giant metal head located inside its own desert, that’s in a hole. That old cliche, ay? The weirdness flows strong in this one as the trio try to work out how to handle the Brain-Lord and find Bud in the process. There's also the small matter of an impending Brain-Hat™ apocalypse. A problem so big they’ll need some help from the future. The bonkers story is chock full of entertainment patched together with subtle references for adults but also deliberate pop culture reference callouts delivered in a way that I think would make the uninitiated want to ask for an explanation. A really cool feature Marc adds is to then include a reference sheet page. It’s like having an I spy checklist to inform and educate and makes a genius inclusion.

There’s Star Wars, The Six-million Dollar Man, Marvel, Transformers, Gremlins and Back To The Future, the 80’s bread and butter of quality entertainment. There’s also superb writing with what must be the villain line of the year "I serve a platter of doom like a waiter of death!!" how can you not love that. Just brilliant.

This is for fans of comics for all, from a man that not only makes fun comics for all but wants us all to make fun comics. As a great gift for anyone seeking unfiltered joy of any age to be shared among many, start reading Spookids, you won’t be disappointed. You should start at Marc's ko-fi page https://ko-fi.com/marcmakescomics. It’s also a great time to get yourself caught up as issue three begins imminently.

Review: 4.5/5