Review by Frank Plowright

Has Jamie Smart ever received the praise due for making Bunny vs. Monkey so immediately accessible? No kid picking up any of the books needs to know the entire backstory about Monkey landing in the woods to know what the strip is about because it’s there in the title. Well, provided they understand the term ‘versus’ and its contraction. The Impossible Pig’s opening strip clarifies further by starting with Monkey and Skunky, then taking a tour around Bunny’s friends. The tone is also there with the vividly expressive cartooning, and a fart joke up front. It is a strip without a potentially terrifying invention of Skunky’s, but the invention supplied in the final panel indicates Skunky’s capabilities.

So what threats does Skunky supply in this collection? Well, there’s Rockatron (rock throwing giant), the psychic body suit (brings any imagined monster to life), and sentient moss (sentient moss) for starters. Every now and again Smart takes a break from the manic intensity and produces something really sweet, and an early example is Pig and Metal Eve wondering about where the sun goes at night.

The five strips described are all hilarious, and what’s more, they’re the first five strips supplied in The Impossible Pig, and there are almost two hundred pages more of the lunacy, with the final strip leading into Bunny Bonanza.

That’s a rare moment when Smart doesn’t follow the convention of children’s comedy comics by restoring everything to the way it was by the time the next strip begins. Monkey’s brain may be trapped in Action Beaver’s body, but by the next strip he’s back in his own. The exception is a series of strips in which Pig disappears. Literally. While not the focus of every episode, it’s a slim thread of continuity running most of the way through The Impossible Pig, and enables the introduction of new character Lucky, the red panda. As is the case for most who turn up in the woods, she sticks around, and amid the comedy there’s some actual pathos at her situation.

It’s been caused by weird science, which is Smart’s standby move. He introduces device after creative device, but who needs an actual explanation of the Chicken of Darkness, the Psychic Weather Changer or the Chaos-O-Tron when seeing them in action is enough?

While comedy antics are always the priority, along the way Smart’s living up to his name by introducing some pretty heavy duty ideas to young readers. It’s not subversive, but opening up young minds to ideas like time travel, transcending to a higher plane and the strange effects of suppressing guilt is admirable.

Bunny vs. Monkey started off strong, and after eight collections any thoughts that Smart’s creativity may eventually expire have surely been put to rest. The Impossible Pig is the best yet.