Review by Ian Keogh

William Augel has hit on an idea with legs by imagining what a highly respected historical figure’s childhood might have been like, and then creating a series of jokes around that. Young Mozart was a creative success, and speculating about the young life of Leonardo da Vinci would seem to offer even more possibilities. Mozart wrote music, but Leonardo was a painter, a sculptor, a designer, an engineer and a scientist.

Moreso than Mozart, Augel has access to the drawings of items Leonardo theorised about and his studies. A series of single tier gag strips about a cat on the sample art is separated by some of Leonardo’s actual cat sketches, and Augel incorporates others into his pages as Leonardo’s considerations. One early strip notes a couple as Leonardo walks along, ending with the rain coming down and Leonardo conceiving an umbrella, but drawn in the style of his actual designs.

Thankfully Leonardo wasn’t a cartoonist, so Augel doesn’t have to endure the possible embarrassment of his own artistic skills being compared. He’s very good, though, with a charming Leonardo alternating between mischievous imp and a genius frustrated at others not understanding what to him are simple concepts. The backgrounds are simple, but clothing and accessories reflect the times, and Augel supplies delightful cartoon extrapolations of Leonardo’s technological designs.

The bulk of the first half is single tier gag strips, three to a page, with Augel grouping them via themes such as pottery, painting or bats, while flying is recurring theme throughout. Occasionally there’s a one or two page strip, the joke generally reliant on Leonardo’s observation or his inquisitive nature, but these aren’t as sharp as the single tier jokes. That’s a shame, as they predominate over the second half. Augel still has a sharp joke at the end, but frequently meanders his way to it.

Aimed at younger readers, there are plenty of poop jokes to keep them amused, and Augel includes an educational back section showing just how inspirational Leonardo was. There’s not quite the hit ratio of jokes supplied by Young Mozart, but this is considerably better than Young Agatha, which follows.