And Then I Read: SNARKED! 5 & 6

Images © Roger Langridge.

If you haven’t tried this delightful droll humor series yet, you’re missing something special. Roger Langridge’s art and writing are very much in the classic cartoon tradition that spawned Carl Barks’ DONALD DUCK and UNCLE SCROOGE, though the style is very much his own. If you saw any of his work on other books, you know what it’s like. There’s an added layer of enjoyment for fans of Lewis Carroll’s work, too: many of the characters are drawn from the “Alice” books and his humorous poem, “The Hunting of the Snark.” While there are many nods to Carroll, the style and humor is very much pure Langridge.

The Red King has gone missing at sea, and his feisty daughter, Queen Scarlett has contrived a rescue voyage to search out and find him. The ship is the one from “Hunting of the Snark,” with it’s very eccentric crew, and along for the ride are a Walrus, a Carpenter, and the Queen’s baby brother Prince Rusty. In these issues the voyage continues, and they must deal with a very hungry crocodile and a pirate ship manned by the characters from Carroll’s Mad Tea Party, among others. Queen Scarlett is a pretty sharp character, but the real conniver is Wilburforce J. Walrus, and his funny struggles to keep things going the way he wants are always entertaining. I see him as something of a W.C. Fields character (the crafty ones).

The story is about to get scarier, I think, as the ship approaches Snark Island, where the King is being held captive, or so our heroes believe. I’m looking forward to the next two issues, which I’ll be reading soon.

Here’s a page that made me laugh as Humpty Dumpty takes a tumble, but not with the result one might expect.

Highly recommended.