Review by Ian Keogh
William Augel’s speciality is considering how the lives of the renowned might have been during their childhoods, before anyone could confirm they were special. With the best will in the world Katherine Johnson isn’t as globally known as Mozart, Leonardo da Vinci or Agatha Christie, subjects of Augel’s previous books, but in a sense that doesn’t really matter. What does is the quality of the jokes he can mine from his imagination around topics connected with the character.
Johnson’s achievements have only belatedly been recognised. She was a mathematician who worked for NASA and its predecessor, and her calculations were used for the first US space flight, this despite working as an African American woman in a segregated society. It doesn’t suggest itself as a topic to be mined for great comedy moments, but then to Katherine Johnson is where Augel’s muse has led him. It turns out to be the right choice and this is a step back up after the disappointing Young Agatha Christie.
The traits Augel settles on for his jokes are Katherine’s mathematical certainty from a young age, her observational curiosity, an obsession with the moon and the iniquities of the times, conveyed over one and two page strips. It’s a bold move, as these haven’t been as strong as Augel’s three or four panel jokes in the past, but here the pacing is better and it’s a rare strip not raising a smile, while most generate more. The three panel contributions are restricted to supplying the answers to the mathematical problems set in several strips. These are testing, but not impossible, and you’ll probably do better at them than Katherine’s older brother. Further puzzles and quizzes are supplied at the end of the book.
A nice touch is the young Katherine befriending a hen, who provides an appropriately funny counterpoint and allows for conversation. It also provides diversions as it mistakes different items for eggs, including the moon’s reflection. Repeated dreams about the moon end with Katherine on the floor, having tumbled out of bed, a nod to the classic Little Nemo in Slumberland.
Charming, funny and fulfilling, it’s pleasing to see a return to form for a clever and entertaining series, with martial artist Bruce Lee Augel’s next target. As yet that’s not been translated into English.
