Review by Frank Plowright

Anarchic, silly and surreal, Neill Cameron’s Donut Squad pretty well guarantees a good laugh per page, and there’s not far short of two hundred of them in Donut Squad Make a Mess!

Either full page illustrations or four panel gags feature a range of donuts with different personalities. Jammyboi messes anything up with his filling, Anxiety Donut worries about everything, and Dadnut pitches his answers to Li’l Timmy’s questions well beyond his understanding. There are other regulars, but don’t worry about not having read Donut Squad Take Over the World! as Cameron’s opening pages introduce the full crew. There are even new characters this time, such as Daddy Billions, the world’s richest donut in his silly gold hat.

The beauty of the format is twofold. If you’re not fond of one character or their situation what’s wrong with you? If that is the case, though, then it’s only a page before the attention moves somewhere else. Secondly, there are no confines. Any mad idea that occurs to Cameron can be incorporated. Meat donuts? Meet Chocolate-Frosted Beef, Ham’n’Jam and Caramel Sausage. Ugh, right? Other new occasional features are great moments in donut history, classics of donut cinema and donetiquette. There’s even a brief protest at the cultural imperialism of using the American spelling of ‘donut’. The reason, of course, is that the strips wouldn’t be nearly as funny using the correct British spelling.

This time there seems no over-arching plot of reactionary bagels attempting to usurp the donuts, but bear in mind they’re a sneaky bunch, not averse to use of trickery. Beware the totally normal humans is all we’ll say. Just when you believe it’s all silliness, Cameron comes up with a genuinely excellent plot twist, and he ups the creativity by making the end of the book activity pages essential to the story. And don’t miss the foreboding final page.

Cameron keeps the art simple, the jokes coming and the standards high. Donut Squad Make a Mess! is even better than before.