Review by Frank Plowright

How do you make a thirty page comic into a sixty page comic? It’s possible via visual trickery and the revival of a technique made famous by Dutch cartoonist Gustave Verbeek over a century ago. The Spectacular Space Loop can be read from first page to last, but if the book is then turned upside down there’s new text and the illustrations take on a different purpose.

We begin with astronaut Cosmo testing an experimental new rocket pack. It’s too powerful, though, and sends him far further into space than is safe. How will he make his way back home? That’s our story.

Despite the potential for danger, this is aimed at a young audience, so the suspense is minimised to be age appropriate, meaning Cosmo’s not alone for long, while de Castro acknowledges his inspiration by naming the planet he arrives at Verbeek. The possibilities and wonders of space travel are given an airing, and other than the space pirates Cosmo finds everyone friendly.

The illustrations match the mood, with Cosmo a cheery type, and while few of the folk he meets resemble humans they’re drawn to be non-threatening, all the more remarkable for most having a dual role. While the text reading forward through the book is in white dialogue balloons and that reading the other way upside down in yellow, it’s nonetheless a distracting presence in both directions. Perhaps that won’t be the case for young readers.

Despite the difficulties, as we’ve seen Cosmo at the start, we know he makes it back in the end and de Castro even manages to include a couple of mazes for readers to solve as they read through. It’s clever for being extended so long, and young readers ought to be enthralled by the gimmick.