Review by Frank Plowright

From almost nothing in 2010, there are now a massive amount of graphic novels aimed at young readers, and the quality bar is set high. Peng and Spanners comes nowhere near approaching the best.

You’re going to know immediately if Steve Webb’s angular, two-dimensional and simple cartooning appeals. If you can get past the shapes his style twists Peng’s beak into you’ll probably be fine with the rest. However, then you’re confronted with the plot, such as it is. Webb writes Peng and Spanners as if it’s a primitive video game with a mystery to be solved by asking people questions and acting on their answers.

Peng is a penguin starting boarding school where he meets a number of odd people before running into Spanners, or more correctly turfing Spanners out from under his bed. Spanners is a weird cat who lives on the school premises and calls him Uncle. This is a recurring joke. Author Steve Webb really, really, really likes his recurring jokes, such as Peng being sent to Boardin Boarding School, which sounds like “bored in boarding school”. He also really likes the idea of a character saying something and whoever they’re speaking to hearing something completely different. It’s very silly, and raises a smile the first time, but, as noted, Webb loves repetition.

Surely even youngsters are going to see the lack of effort, zero subtlety and Webb constantly speaking down to them. With the wide choice of quality graphic novels available for all ages, avoid this and head for something that’s actually funny.