Confession time. I LOVE blind boxes. It doesn’t matter what’s in them, something about those little, colourful boxes of joy gets me every time. The element of surprise, of trying to guess which little figurine, pin or plush you might get is, for nerds like me, quite the adrenaline rush. So, when O. Stevens’ short but sweet Lucky Cap Scouts, a minicomic all about collecting cute blind box figures, was announced by publisher Silver Sprocket, I knew I would be their ideal demographic.
Part of an awesome initiative by Silver Sprocket to put out the feelers for minicomic creators back in 2023, Lucky Cap Scouts is the first of twelve short comics by indie creators to be published this year, and based on this first pick, they’ve done a great job in curating a space for stunning new talent. Writer and artist O. Stevens is a recent graduate with a truly gorgeous portfolio (which you can check out here), but this is her first printed comic.
With a gorgeous spot-gloss cardstock cover, Lucky Cap Scouts is delicately illustrated in stunning pastels with softly drawn lines and candy colours. The nostalgic vibe instantly reminded me of the soothing cartoons I loved as a child, like Nick Jr’s Max and Ruby – there’s something instantly comforting in the sweet colour palette, which will heal your inner child. Opening on a shot of a blind box with six potential figurines up for grabs (including a rare, mystery figure – always the most sought after!), our figurine is revealed to be… Checkers! A sweet, light blue figure who vaguely resembles a bunny. Checkers is no ordinary run-of-the-mill figure – they have sentience and want to experience the human world in all its glory. With so much to come to grips with, our little lucky scout has a lot to figure out – point-and-click games, claw machines, new foods and how to avoid being eaten by cats being just a few.
Coming in at only 44 pages, it would be difficult to describe the plot of Lucky Cap Scouts any further without giving any spoilers, but the fun continues with more blind box friends, existential crises and tonnes more candy-coated dark humour. The design of the cap scouts themselves was a real stand-out feature – in the comic there are over TWENTY blind box series, so the scouts have a tonne of different designs, and seeing Stevens’ artistic experimentation with this was a delight.
My personal favourites were the angel and devil cap scouts (the latter wanting to set fire to pretty much everything), and the egg-obsessed ‘Yolk’, who adores eggs because “they’re like rocks that come from animals!”. The adult humour is juxtaposed with the cutesy, sweet colour palette brilliantly, and the short narrative is wrapped up in a very satisfying way for all blind box lovers. As a bonus, those who buy a print copy of Lucky Cap Scouts are rewarded with a cool sticker sheet of Scouts at the back of the comic – how fun!
Lucky Cap Scouts is due to be published by Silver Sprocket on June 26th, but you can pre-order now from their website – we’d recommend checking this one out.
O. Stevens (W/A) • Silver Sprocket, $9.99
Review by Lydia Turner
