Review by Ian Keogh

Most all-ages graphic novels are either planned as trilogies, or there’s a reset to the normal state of affairs with every new book. Judd Winick’s Hilo isn’t like that. Every book is a complete story in itself, but the bigger picture is constantly moving forward, and new characters stick around. Hilo’s sister Izzy turned up in The Great Big Boom. She’s still here, and has a greater purpose than just being one of the gang. Like Hilo, she’s an extremely smart robot, but as seen on the sample art, her specific talent is constructing mechanical devices. Indeed, as explained, she sees the entire world in terms of parts that can be joined together to create something else. Want a skunk that makes popcorn, a dog that eats rocks or a tiny sneezing rhino to keep bugs away? They should really give out Izzy’s number.

Izzy’s personality is as wacky as the devices she creates, and crucially, she can remember aspects of her homeworld and past, which Hilo can’t. Trying to focus her mind long enough to reveal information, though, is a challenge. It’s a clever way for Winick to keep the pot simmering.

As ever, Hilo moves at some pace, with busy cartooning as the cast rush from place to place. Although a mindwipe dealt with everyone discovering the truth, both D.J. and Gina have suspicious family members who ask a lot of questions, and Waking the Monsters provides even more questions via Hilo again seen in public.

In action, Hilo is very much a modernised version of Astro Boy, a cute kid robot naturally inclined to do the brave thing and protect others with no thought about putting himself in harm’s way. The threats are also drawn from trash culture, being giant robot creatures resembling Godzilla and King Kong among others. Winick has Hilo admiring how fantastic they are before setting about them, and he’s right.

Among the spirited action further problems manifest, such as what might be happening to the parts from wrecked monsters, and where they came from in the first place. Winick doesn’t stop there, though, and the final pages offer some revelations leading into And Then Everything Went Wrong. This is a manic thrill ride, and we’ve not even mentioned the new superhero…