Review by Frank Plowright

The Books of Clash promote a new character into the spotlight with every new volume, and with all the Jazzypickleton Cucumbers now having taken their turn Gene Luen Yang has to be a little more creative. This time it’s Bernard, the decent king, perhaps a little too smug at having the winningest team under his control, so when it comes to them facing the Wimpburg Dingleberries it’s a shock when they have to forfeit as the entire team is away elsewhere. We’ve been seeing what they’ve been up to in previous volumes. Their absence, though, leaves vacancies, and the solution is to audition for new Jazzypickleton Cucumbers.

You’ll be surprised at the number of characters introduced in previous books who fit the bill, although there are perhaps rather too many self-serving references to those earlier adventures. Can a well-oiled winning machine be put together instantly, though? The sample art suggests not. If that’s not enough trouble for Bernard, his nastier brother Roland has escaped from jail and is intent on disrupting proceedings by destroying stadiums.

Kendall Goode once again fills the pages with characters, detail and little visual jokes. This type of art doubles up on the story by giving young readers even greater value as they admire the comedic touches.

Promoting a bunch of secondary characters into starring roles doesn’t always work, and Yang shows why. Firstly it’s that their concerns are their own, not the fulfilment of the team’s potential, and even overcoming that handicap doesn’t transform them into a team of winners overnight. Meanwhile, those stadia keep being destroyed.

The Books of Clash Vol. 6 was slightly disappointing, very readable without matching the the best of the series, but just like the Jazzypickleton Cucumbers, Yang pulls himself out of the rut for a solid return to form.