Review by Ian Keogh

There’s a new initiative at S.U.I.T.* aimed at preventing crime before it happens rather than reacting to it after the event. It’s called P.A.N.T.S.** the acronym encompassing the aims of a newly formed squad. As S.U.I.T’s*** top agents Mango and Brash would usually take the lead, but after the events of Off the Hook Brash is comatose in hospital and until he recovers Mango is partnered with RoboBrash, just like Brash, but a robot alligator, and both have V.E.S.Ts****. They should be worried, because before he was coated in concrete Waffledile created a leaflet seeking recruits for T.A.I.Lblazers*****.

Yes, John Patrick Green likes his acronyms, and the sillier the better, which, come to think of it, is pretty well the maxim he applies to the entire series. A mystery unsolved since the first volume is who set off a rocket from the opera house, and that’s part of what goes on here, although as with any InvestiGATORS book it’s best not to become too hung up on any plot. It’s largely there as a peg onto which Green hangs his silly sequences and glorious puns. How about the mystic Miss Tick? Not to be mistaken for Miss Stick. No? What about the Been There, Donut franchise? And they’re both introduced on a single spread.

The plot that eventually manifests is attempting to bring Brash out of his coma, which seems to relate to fears about the fate of his former partner. As ever, that’s just an excuse for silliness, with Mango entering his mind via mysticism, and further information being unearthed by diving into the memories transferred over to RoboBrash. For the first time in the series it adds actual pathos rather than just lunacy, as Green examines Brash’s fears. It’s rather sweet, actually.

However, the silliness prevails in the end, with the giant ants seen on the cover, and Green introducing characters who’ve only been mentioned in passing before, although one has been regularly seen, but never revealed. All in all it’s another great outing and Braver and Boulder is next.

*Special Undercover Investigation Teams

**Pinpoint, Avoid, Neutralise, Thwart, Stop

***Still Special Undercover Investigation Teams

****Very Exciting Spy Technology

*****Total Annihilation of Idiot Law-doers