Tag Rob Harrell

Batpig: Go Pig or Go Home

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Batpig: Go Pig or Go Home
Rob Harrell
Walker Books

Porcine superhero, Gary, is back with two more stories of skylarking presented in graphic novel format.
The first, Careful What You Wish For, sees Gary getting his snout in a twist at the prospect of the history and biology tests the following day. Nevertheless, rather than staying at home and studying that night, he assumes his Batpig alter ego and heads out into the city to fight crime.

As a reward for preventing a robbery at the Weird Old Magic Shop, the owner gives Batpig a pouch containing a magical learning potion. Back at home Gary decides how to word his spell command and then goes off to sleep.

It will come as no surprise when I say that the spell does not go to plan. The following morning he wakes to find Sharkraham, come to assist with the tests, which it does. Whether or not this is cheating is a debatable question. Twenty four hours later Gary has something far, far worse than a couple of tests to worry about;

something in the form of a destructive squown or evil squid clown. It would appear from the beastie that our porcine pal has a vital lesson to learn. Will Gary ever work out what that is and if so, will he finally hold his trotter up and admit that doing well in tests by devious means is wrong?

In the second episode, Camp Danger, Gary (sans his suit), along with buddies Brook and Carl, is off to sleep-away Camp Moldy Snout.

Before long Carl has made some new friends, then too does Brook; this makes Gary feel rather excluded. But then after some alarming incidents in and around the lake including the emergence of a very frightening monster, Gary decides he must step in. even if it results in him revealing his secret identity to the other campers.

This is bad enough but it leads to his arch enemy and self-dubbed greatest ever supervillain, The Butcher, appearing on the scene and she means big trouble.

High energy humour at the heart of which is friendship. Fans of Gary et al will devour this eagerly.

Batpig: Too Pig To Fail

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Batpig: Too Pig To Fail
Rob Harrell
Walker Books

Batpig, aka Gary, returns along with his pals Brooklyn (bat) and Carl (fish) in three further episodes.

In the first, The Class that Wouldn’t End, the three are stuck in what seems to be a never ending maths class: something is definitely wrong here – it’s apparent even to maths fan Brooklyn. It turns out that the slowness of time is on account of vengeful Time Guy (the name Timekeeper was already taken). Thanks to a ‘supernatural bolt of energy’ Time Guy is now able to control time and has gone rogue. Batpig must now figure out how to make time fly if they ever want to escape the monotony of endless fractions. 

Could fun be the answer? …

The (much shorter) middle story Aquarium Dreams features ‘fin socks’ – a scam by all accounts, or rather Carl’s – and bees – which he greatly fears. This sets things up nicely for episode three, Light, Camera, Chaos! This crazy comedy features a pair of space aliens, a torrent of stinky gym socks and a Bumblekitten intent on attacking Mrs Fishbol’s establishment. Can Gary et al. save the day again?

Supportive friendships are key in these super-hero scenarios.

Established fans will gobble up Too Pig To Fail; those new to the gang might be better to start with When Pigs Fly and then move on to this one.

Batpig: When Pigs Fly

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Batpig: When Pigs Fly
Rob Harrell
Walker Books

Look skywards and what do you see? It’s porcine hero Batpig hurtling by. Back in the day he was Gary Yorkshire – just a borin’ old pink pig living with his parents in an apartment in Big City, USA who spent his time chomping through tasty sandwiches, reading comics, playing video games and playing cards with his pals. Brooklyn the bat and Carl the fish.

Having been accidentally bitten on the snout by Brooklyn, Gary develops super hunger, super sight, and strength, and the ability to float. Unbeknown to Gary, his friend the bat was radioactive at the time, something he only fesses up to when questioned by the pig. That night comes a revelation, with his superhero powers Gary is now Batpig. Gary tells Brooklyn of this development but keeps it from Carl who soon gets the feeling that his friends are hiding something.

Gary meanwhile is receiving flying lessons from Brooklyn who remains firmly on the ground.

Although Carl realises the current situation could well be on account of his inability to keep a secret, understandably his hurt feelings develop into anger and he decides to become the super-villain of the saga. Will he prove to be the instrument of Batpig’s undoing as the superhero goes about apprehending litter scatterers and preventing robberies? Or maybe Carl and Brooklyn could agree to work together and save the day for our superhero and that includes finding a means of covering up the ‘pimple’ on Gary’s rear end. All this is revealed through a superb blend of narration with puns aplenty, dialogue, illustrations, comic asides, and flash-backs – that’s the rocket part.

In the second episode the friends face off against a heinous human foe, the Butcher, a woman who is determined to use the power of the world’s meat for her own ends and has a robotic dough-dispensing machine that makes pigs in blankets.

Yes this might all seem totally silly but there are themes of the importance of maintaining your own identity, friendship and the issues of three-way camaraderie; and all three characters are relatable to human readers. If you know readers who enjoy graphic novels such as The Investigators, they’ll love this, as will all those who prefer stories with the emphasis on the visual.