Rachel Bellwoar reviews Little Tails on Halloween!…
From Magnetic Press, as part of Halloween Comicfest‘s free comics, “Halloween,” is a special holiday issue of the Little Tales graphic novel series by Frédéric Brrémaud and Federico Bertolucci. Written by Mike Kennedy and illustrated by Bertolucci, Chipper, the nervous puppy, isn’t sure about all this Halloween stuff. Content to continue on with his nap until, Squizzo, the squirrel, wakes him up with talk about candy and bones, Chipper loyally follows his pal into the woods in search of the perfect idea for a Halloween costume. Along the way the pair are confronted with some of the scarier animals of the forest, including tarantulas and brown bats, instead of the vampire variety.
Each page embeds about two comic strips over beautiful nature paintings, that feature an animal or element that comes up in the strips (for example, a strip where Chipper is eyeing tree branches with suspicion falls on a page where the background is a gnarly tree, playing into the opposing fun and scares of the season that Squizzo is explaining to Chipper). The green ink drawings and simple character types are easy to imagine appearing in a newspaper next to Garfield and Peanuts. The full-color paintings, meanwhile, provide a realistic (and stunning) counter to the cute, anthropomorphic animals.
Some of the quick, educational comments are take ‘um or leave ‘um, but Chipper’s innocent interpretation of the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” to mean he should pet a wild snake, introduces an important but fairly complicated concept of exceptions to a younger audience. Plenty of children’s stories have covered topics of tolerance and safety before but it’s the combining of the two ideas here that’s significant. The comic gets to start the conversation but creates an opening to continue the discussion off the page.
About halfway through there are a couple of activities to make the adventure interactive without interrupting the story. When Chipper and Squizzo get lost it’s up to readers to solve the maze that brings them closer to home. Without a doubt, though, the issue’s biggest attraction is the bond between a grand adventurer and his content but agreeable mate, a mismatched pairing of sensibilities that’s as old as time, but still as fun to read.
Given away in a mini-pack that contains twenty-five copies of the same issue, Little Tails on Halloween! is ready-made to be a favor for parties, classrooms, and (depending on how heavy your door traffic is) neighborhood trick-or-treaters.
Halloween Comicfest takes place on October 29th. To find a comic store near you that’s participating, click here.
Rating: 8/10
Rachel Bellwoar
Originally published October 28, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
