Cookie and the Kid Vol.2 #2

Cookie and the Kid Vol.2 #2

Antarctic Press 2021

By Alex Kosakowski

Cookie and his friends are captured by the deceitful elf Hube. Now they're trapped in the spiders' den, tangled in webs, frightened and lost, with no hope for escape. It's dinnertime, and Cookie and the Kid are the main course!

I am completely and utterly enamoured with this series. Hume has visions of grandeur as he wants to be the new Hill King and he’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that this happens including feeding Cookie and his friends to the Spiders. I almost thought all that was over last issue but I like the fact that we’re still with the spider and they are still wondering who or what they are having for dinner. The story that leads us through multiple issues are those I tend to enjoy more because while new avenues open up that are followed we are still within the main story that just keeps going kind of along the lines of real life. While being an elf that is travelling with a human and a dog isn’t normal, at least for me it's not, but you get the first of what I’m saying. In the process true friendships form and suddenly life isn’t what you always thought it would be and that's a huge part of the charm and charisma of this series.

I’m in love with 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, which is phenomenal by the way, 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 continues to showcase their personalities as they grow and evolve. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more I want to see because honestly so much happens and there’s so much retribution, it’s a good word, I want to see enacted.

I greatly appreciate how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I also think how we see the layers open up new avenues to be explored and how this adds so much great depth, dimension and complexity to the story is extremely well handled. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is exceptionally well achieved.

The interiors here really truly are bloody mindbogglingly brilliant to see. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality in the detail within the work is astonishing. Black & white is the hardest to do because it will show every mistake or flaw but honestly I think Alex masters this form of illustration and he’s able to utilise backgrounds and the creativity and imagination that he has is on display magnificently well. How we see the backgrounds enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work 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 is marvellous. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. I wish I had interiors to run with this review so you can see what I see, but trust me it's absolutely stunning work.

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This really is a phenomenal all-ages book. Kids can love and enjoy the friendship aspects of what we see as well as how the elves and different species are rendered. Adults can look at this and see a version of Poison Elves, which if you’ve never read I urge you to find it and read it, with the overtones and undertones that add all kinds of intrigue and such. Everyone of every age and gender will find aspects of this book to relate to, empathise with and just simply enjoy. Me I think this is one of the most underrated series being made today and it needs to be on everyone’s MUST READ list.