Review by Ian Keogh
InvestiGators is a smash hit for John Patrick Green, featuring two crocodiles working for S.U.I.T. (Special Undercover Investigation Teams), solving their cases through bluster and chance as much as anything else. As part of InvestiGators, Green has introduced a large supporting cast who now step into their own series. Unlike the parent title, though, it seems the plot is Green’s and the dialogue from collaborator Christopher Hastings, while Pat Lewis handles the art.
Lewis works in a simple cartoon style, but there’s no obligation to mimic Green’s approach. A difference immediately noticeable is characters with actual eyes instead of dots or the merest of slits, although he reverts to that when Mango and Brash make a cameo appearance. It’s brief, but the visual joke seeing them off is so good and silly it’s worth showing as the sample art.
Cilantro the chameleon is cover-featured, and first appeared in InvestiGators: Off the Hook. She’s been working in the office, but has been raring for a chance to take on field work, and in her first case successfully nabs the source of sauce thefts (joke by Hastings). Green and Hastings ensure pretty well all other S.U.I.T. agents seen to date put in at least a cameo appearance, but Cilantro has the starring role, with Monocle and her floating platform as back-up. A few newcomers also appear, Inspector Vague for one, who lives up to her name by handing out missions that are far from specific.
Were Green’s plots not such proven laugh riots one might suspect seat of the pants writing, but as in the parent series everything has a purpose and it all makes sense in the end. So just luxuriate in the silly sequences, like sheep being put to bed, which is the first of multiple good sheep jokes. The mystery that eventually manifests concerns who’s been making crop circles. Is paranormal investigator Russel D. Russet responsible?
Everything seems to have been explained two-thirds of the way through, but Green and Hastings just use that as a springboard into new territory to really test Cilantro’s capabilities. Additionally, it opens the door into a whole new universe of puns for Hastings.
Not that you expected any different, but anyone who enjoys InvestiGators will get the full dose of fun and laughter from Agents of S.U.I.T. Up next is From Badger to Worse starring the B-Team.
