Hupo and the Wonder Thief
Billy Partridge
Flying Eye Books

This is Billy Partridge’s debut graphic novel; it’s set in a mysterious land called Yip within which is a bustling town named Yorger, the noisiest place in all of Yip. Therein resides Hupo, a dog-like creature with a longing for adventure who also makes very frequent visits to the library from which he borrows the same book every time, this being his 763rd borrowing of The Adventures of the Great Humdingo. Hupo can’t resist reading it aloud to his best friend the Aletha (a cross between bird and a serpent) as they walk along the streets but no-one else has the slightest interest in Hupo or the wild exploits he talks of in the shops he visits. Suddenly, having missed the bus home, he’s surrounded by a thick fog that descends and everything becomes weird.

“The Dark One is waiting,” one of the crows remarks. Now it appears that Hupo is finally going to get that much desired big adventure as the crows surround him and the Aletha is no longer by his side.

Hupo soon realises that real life heroism is way harder than any book has led him to think, but he’ll do anything for his friend no matter the danger involved. And danger there certainly is in the massive form of the Wallower. He, so a little creature named Choomo tells Hupo, was once none other than the great Humdingo but has become the beastly Wallower, determined to remove all traces of wonder and joy.
Use of scale makes Hupo’s encounter with the Wallower even more alarmingly dramatic,

but can his unwavering determination save the day and the town of Yorger?

A pacy tale with a vital message – ‘never be anything but yourself’ that will have young fans of graphic novels rooting for Hupo from the start.