Review by Ian Keogh

‘Madcap’ is a term that could have been invented to describe the antics of Looshkin, a mischievous and constantly curious blue cat whose wackiness brings to mind the surreal antics of Bugs Bunny. Bugs, though, is more knowing, while part of Looshkin’s delight is his innocence. Like Bugs and Elmer Fudd, though, Looshkin torments Mister Johnson, delightfully drawn as an apoplectic man in a grey suit with a tiny little bowler hat.

Looshkin is surely the silliest strip ever to appear in British comics, and that takes into account a long history of absurdity being fed to children over the decades. Among other products of Jamie Smart’s hyperactive imagination are a clown who thinks it’s a good idea to bring dozens of crabs to a children’s party, a lost fish finger named Sharon, Fusty Bumbles and plenty more bouts of insanity. Smart also frequently pushes the poor taste button, deliberately driving a wedge between kids and their parents. What kid wouldn’t want a fart delivery service? John Cullen’s colours give Smart’s smoky illustrations a gloriously off-putting green tinge. One day Looshkin may come in smell-o-vision. Kids can only hope.

Smart’s frenetic art combines the very different energies of Tank Girl and The Bash Street Kids in a wild mash-up in which memorable images abound. You’ll find it difficult to dislodge the unappealing image of an old one-legged sailor and his catfish bride to be, but on the other end of the scale there’s the sheer exuberance of Looshkin with wheels on his bottom.

At times there’s an initial wonder as to what young readers will make of castings such as Looshkin as a city trader, but the realisation is that they’ll accept it as all part of the lunacy that can’t really be understood. Much like the real thing, actually. One brilliantly stupid situation follows another and you’ll risk permanently split sides if reading Honk If You See It from beginning to end in one sitting. You have been warned.