Review by Ian Keogh

Hugely imaginative and utterly delightful, Things in the Basement details young Milo’s explorations of what lies beneath the house his family have just moved into. The charm is that there’s not just the single basement, but a whole package of interconnected passages, each leading to something more interesting, from a room full of portraits to actual rail tracks leading even further down below. As he explores Milo encounters numerous matters he’d previously have thought impossible, not all calm and comforting.

Ben Hatke has expanded the idea of the horror lurking beneath the bed to an entire labyrinth, enabling him to surprise with a succession of startling images. The likes of a giant eye on a bed of tentacles elevates this a little beyond an all-ages graphic novel, although it’s not as terrifying as it first seems.

Things in the Basement is about the wonder of exploration, the message being that occasionally straying from the safe path can prove infinitely rewarding, which perhaps isn’t the message parents want their children receiving. On the other hand they’ll surely be delighted at an imagination-prodding story that runs through the history of art before explaining where all those lost single socks end up. Hatke draws one long kinetic rush as Milo is led from one place to the next, each strange and enticing, and picking up new companions along the way.

The quest plays out entertainingly as Milo learns about persistence, loyalty and resourcefulness, and most importantly to accept people for who they are. It’s a joy from start to finish.