Weing, Drew. The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo. First Second, 2016. 121p. $15.99. ISBN 978-1-62672-339-9. Ages 8-12. P9Q9
Charles’s recent move to an apartment located in the historic hotel Bellweather of Echo City, a place reminiscent of New York, puts him in the midst of monsters who creep into his room to steal his boys and sometimes try to eat the chubby little boy. With great luck, he makes two friends—Kevin, a black boy determined to make some kind of world record, and Margo Maloo, the “monster mediator.” The beasts are afraid of the brown-skinned girl whose appearance reminds one of Dracula while she solves problems for monster-plagued humans. Aspiring journalist Charles convinces Margo to let him follow her as she solves problems for other monster-plagued humans, and the funny bug-eyed protagonists live in an almost totally adult-free world as they travel throughout the dark parts of the city. The graphic novel, the first three chapters of the author’s webcomic series, provides lots of humor with its adventures and provides the message that diverse residents need to get along with each other.
Verdict: Clever writing, fast pacing, and quality dialog add to the colorful art, concluding with great afterpieces detailing definitions and black and white drawings of ghosts, goblins, ogres, and trolls.
January 2017 review by Nel Ward.
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