Cookie and the Kid Vol.2 #1

Cookie and the Kid Vol. 2 #1

Antarctic Press 2021

By Alex Kosakowski

Deep down in the underground, Cookie and his friends search for the missing human child and uncover more than they bargained for: scary spiders, sticky webs, and the conniving Hube's dastardly plan.

I am so enamoured with this series. When I read the first issue I knew right then and there that this was something special and that more folks needed to know this book existed. With volume two starting I am falling in love with these characters all over again. When last we left them the human child was missing and the group had gone off in search of her. I like that this is where we pick things up. These characters are incredible and it is easy to fall in love with them all over again and they are just so endearing and caring of their new friend.

I am loving the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does absolute wonders in bringing their personalities to life. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more we want to see and there simply aren’t enough pages for the reader.

I absolutely love how we see the group interact with not only a new species but with an old frenemy. The way that we see these events play out are all-ages creepy and cute all at the same time, it’s like Aragog (Harry Potter) but in a cuter manner. I think it's amazing that Alex manages to bring the cute and the creepy in one single image and then maintain that throughout the encounter.

I’m a huge fan of the way we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. The layers within the story open up these avenues to explore and while what we see is somewhat limited it still manages to add this great humour, depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably rendered.

I’m such a huge fan of the black and white interiors here and the fact that Alex can utilise this and now show any flaws and just do some absolutely beautiful work is stunning. The linework is exquisite and how the varying weights and techniques are being utilised to create the level & quality of detail within the work that we see is stunning. While personally I’d like to see more backgrounds in use, what we see does expand and enhance the moments while also working within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling.

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This is an absolutely delightful issue that picks up right where we left off and it continues to bring this story to life. The elves here and the creatures they encounter within their realm reminds me of an all-ages version of Poison Elves and while this may seem odd it isn’t really because they are both amazingly well illustrated stories featuring unique elves and their adventures. I am blown away by the level and quality of the storytelling and how it easily works as an all-ages book that adults will see in its entirety while kids see one aspect and teens can see bits of both depending on where they are in life. The writing here is exceptional and the characterisation is superb and these interiors are sublime. This is a series that you need to be reading if not you’re doing yourself a disservice.