Review by Frank Plowright

Hupo is an outsider in the town of Yorger, where he’s so infamous there are even notices forbidding entry to the super annoying half-dog rabbit. It’s because he will insist on telling everyone about his favourite explorer, whose book he’s borrowed from the library 763 times. However, when Yorger is overcome by a strange mist that turns people into zombies Hupo is somehow immune, and when his friend the Althea is captured he has to emulate his hero the Great Humdingo and explore unknown territory.

Hupo and the Wonder Thief is strange adventure and no mistake. Billy Partridge generates a sympathy for the overly enthusiastic Hupo being ignored. In fact, it goes beyond that with the townspeople mean to the point of being upsetting for children in circumstances where things could be handled differently. Still, as the Althea shows from the beginning, Hupo’s world is different, and perhaps reactions are also different. The main threat certainly is, imaginatively conceived as a formerly kind soul who enjoyed collecting stories, but stories have become a thing of the past, and the Wallower has been left searching for anyone able to again fill him with wonder and joy.

The somewhat ethereal nature of the plot is complemented by the digital art, which couples thin-lined figures with large colour shapes, and one massive dark lump of a villain. Hupo is well characterised visually, his emotions and surprise showing when needed, and the rather abstract idea of someone’s energy being sapped is conveyed by him becoming increasingly tired.

Partridge is building to a moral of everyone’s personality being valuable, and Hupo’s enthusiasm is exactly what’s needed to combat a fatal case of doldrums. Weirdly abstracted in places and not making the most of a strange world, Hupo’s adventures are unlikely to connect with every child, but those who are captivated will delve into something unique. Hupo returns in Hupo and the Doom Lagoon.