Review by Frank Plowright

Even by the standards of all-ages graphic novels there’s been little like the gloriously frenetic pace over the first couple of chapters of Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters. There’s barely a page of people standing still as this inviting action rush introduces Jonna’s world.

Jonna has been adopted by Rainbow’s father, and they live as a family in a hunting and farming society. Later we learn it’s what humanity has been reduced to. Jonna is the wild child, and Rainbow more cautious, so when they see an unpossible monster Jonna heads straight for it, while Rainbow holds back. She falls over and hits her head, and when she wakes up Jonna is gone.

What at first appears to be a twisted version of Tarzan broadens into a wider fantasy about a society devastated by the intrusion of monsters. People are lost, missing and separated, and safety is a thing of the past as no-one ever knows when a monster is going to turn up.

Because he’s drawing imaginary monsters Chris Samnee isn’t restricted by having to be correct in any way, and his range spans goofy to threatening. There’s an overwhelming exuberance to Jonna’s personality, having the typical energy levels of a child without any sense of fear, and the art transmits the sheer joy of her discovering anything new.

Chris and Laura Samnee have put considerable effort into designing their world, and any young reader is going to be overjoyed at discovering it. There is loss and there is danger, but the adventure is pitched at the right level to ensure no nightmares, and you’ll not be able to think of anything you’d prefer to see handled differently.

Naturally enough Volume Two is the continuation, or alternatively The Deluxe Edition combines all twelve chapters.