Review by Frank Plowright

Red and Rover is a syndicated newspaper strip, although to date only in North America. It’s intended as the heartwarming relationship between a boy and his dog, but in attempting to have the widest possible appeal, it’s cringingly twee, and in the earliest strips that’s enough for Brian Basset. Instead of providing a punchline to a three to five panel strip he instead ends on a moment designed to provoke a contented acknowledgement of sweetness. When there are jokes, with few exceptions they’re feeble or predictable.

As in Calvin & Hobbes, the obvious comparison never made in the back cover copy, Red and Rover understand each other, each responding to the other’s thoughts, and the pair are an inseparable duo needing no-one else in their lives, although when a joke calls for it, Red’s father or mother appear. Other friends or neighbourhood kids aren’t required. Occasionally Basset aims for a Calvin & Hobbes style joke, such as a strip starting by considering the wonder of the universe, but it’s almost as if that’s a frightening step into unknown territory, and by the end banality has reasserted itself.

There’s a simple charm to the drawing, but little finesse. Moments when you’ll stop to admire the life in an illustration are few and far between, and as Basset rarely bothers with backgrounds it’s a real big deal when they switch from white to black for a strip about a street light.

Much as you’d want more, Fun’s Never Over is distilled to the lowest common denominator and while the title invites an obvious snarky comment, we’ll refrain. The best idea about the whole book is the two pages of stickers provided at the end.