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WILD ABOUT HARRY trade paperback
Recommended (7/10)
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Sirius Entertainment
Writer/Artist: Jill Thompson
Editor: Mark Bellis
Price: $9.95 US |
I've sampled Thompson's Scary Godmother from time to time in the past, and its fanciful nature has always entertained. Wild About Harry, though, stands out as my favorite SC story to date. There's a greater sense of focus and direction in the book, and strong pacing as well. Though fun for adults, this book would probably best be enjoyed with a child.
Thanks to some goading from her spooky friends, Irene the Fortune Teller finally kicks her lazy, demanding and unappreciative son Harry, a werewolf, out of the house. Harry turns to Oscar's vampire family for shelter, and then to Scary Godmother and friends. Disaster aplenty arises, but none so great (and misleading) as when Harry accidentally finds himself with a new job.
Thompson's angular style and flair for design make all of her Scary Godmother stories a great deal of fun. She conveys the light weirdness of Scary's world -- the Fright Side -- and the chaos that is Harry wonderfully. The book merits several reads, as there are visual treats hidden throughout the book. For example, it took a few pages for me to realize that Harry's shirt -- decorated with lambs -- makes him a wolf in sheep's clothing!
Thompson's occasional breaking of the Fourth Wall so her characters can share recipes with her readers adds to the fun and makes for an unusual interactivity. Thompson doesn't just tell a story; she invites the reader into the Fright Side with those little moments and through Scary's earthly friend, Hannah.
What easily stands out as my favorite aspect of the book is Thompson's avoidance of cliches. Harry doesn't learn his lesson here. Quite the opposite. He cons his friends, and he returns to ordering his poor mother around without a second thought to her feelings. Harry is a character who represents that annoyed voice in the back of one's head, the one we suppress when we're polite. Harry gets away with all the stuff we wish we could, and that's OK, because he fulfils a role in Irene's life that enables her to be happy.
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