Review by Frank Plowright

Survival of the Fittest is probably a graphic novel where children will grasp the concept before adults, as it takes the format of a TV talent show in pitting animals with skills against each other. The purpose is to supply facts about the animals in an entertaining way, but the clever aspect is showing how skills some creatures naturally have could be adapted to the human world.

At least, that’s the principle. As rolled out by Rebecca Donnelly, until the truth is revealed the skills displayed seem rather notional when applied to human needs. A gecko is shown to have millions of small hairs enabling it to stick to any surface, so it can run up the side of buildings via electromagnetic attraction. Such a skill would also be useful if available to robots, enabling them to work outside spacecraft to clear debris. If that seems imaginative, but fanciful, Donnelly’s back of the book notes reveal the source material for all examples is current research.

Misa Saburi draws the animals themselves as basically as possible, some mere outlines with colour. Simplicity is necessary to reduce more fiddly creatures, such as a peacock mantis shrimp, to something recognisable. Saburi succeeds in producing pages easily understood by children, but there’s absolutely no decorative quality to them. The purely functional approach means there’s no wonder to ideas such as the principles of an elephant’s trunk being adapted for domestic use.

There are places where greater explanation is necessary. Most ten year olds reading about the gecko talking about electromagnetic attraction, for instance, are going to have no idea what it is, and they’re not going to find out here. They’ll perhaps derive greater joy from the jokes, but these are pitched at lowest common denominator level.

Misgivings about the art notwithstanding, Donnelly has hit on a successful approach, and two sequels have followed, beginning with Who’s Got the Best Medicine?