Review by Frank Plowright

Captain Amazing has been Metro City’s leading superhero for a long time, but he’s getting on a bit now, and in his latest case he’s put out of action by his peanut allergy. It’s time to take on sidekicks, he feels. His pets, dog Roscoe, Fluffy the hamster and chameleon Shifty see that as their chance to audition. After all, that way they’d see more of him as he’s so often away during his superhero activities. Complicating matters is Manny, Captain Amazing’s former pet cat who ran away from home.

What might have been a straightforward tale aimed at younger readers is invested with considerable wit and charm by Dan Santat. Whlle the opening scenes are funny, Sidekicks steps to another level when Fluffy and Shifty begin interacting with other animals at a local dive bar and Santat conceives interesting methods of dealing with threats. What readers will presume is a story about auditions and Captain Amazing instead becomes something more imaginative and less predictable.

Santat employs a different art style from that used on earlier graphic novels, adopting an appealing, character-rich digital approach that gives the cast likeable personalities. The design is key throughout, with the cast living in a dated location harkening back to the mid-20th century, largely operating in a well presented darkness. A good epilogue chapter setting up future stories is drawn in more conventional pen and ink, and is equally appealing.

A series of funny individual chapters stress the personalities and capabilities, as well as old disagreements between Manny and Roscoe. They’re all building toward a bigger picture, and even younger readers might have suspicions about another character. However, they’re not likely to pick up on the ultimate solution at the darkest moment, which has been efficiently foreshadowed.

Sidekicks is cheery fun and a graphic novel adults should enjoy reading to their children. This opening volume is followed by Thick as Thieves.