Kid Houdini and the Silver Dollar Misfits FCBD Issue (Viper Comics – Macpherson / Gowell / Conley / Lawrence)
In 1886, ten-year-old Harry Houdini runs away from home, only to find himself a prisoner in Professor Murat’s circus. Using the circus as their headquarters, Harry and his new friends — Lydia the snake girl, Hans the legless boy, and Jacques and Joe the Siamese twins — form a unique detective agency that will brave any ghost, goblin or ghoul to solve a mystery… if you can pay their fee: one shiny silver dollar.
Dare I say it… Kid Houdini is a “Scooby-Doo”-like adventure that is actually on par with the Scooby-Doo adventures you remember from your childhood (you know, the ones before Scrappy or the ones with “special guest stars”. Well… any who, this all-ages book was one of the gems of Free Comic Book Day this year. My daughters and myself all enjoyed this tale of child adventurers out to explore and right the wrongs of 19th century America. Dwight Macpherson does a bang up job of giving us an origin issue with right balance of adventure and character development. The interaction between his tween / teen characters hits the spot as both entertaining and realistic. Worth Gowell’s artistic style here is blocky and cartoony, and is very ink-driven,… and is delightful, fits perfectly and does nothing but adds to the charm of the book. This ish whets our appetite for the 96 page graphic novel coming out next month! If you haven’t gotten your free copy from your local comic shop you should walk… nay… you should run down and get a copy! Also included is a 7 page preview of The Sleepy Truth, another kid friendly book from Viper.
Issue Grade: Should have gotten it … shame on you if you didn’t!
