Time for another visit to Professor Brownstone’s vault of treasures courtesy of creator Joe Todd-Stanton and Flying Eye Books this month as the latest volume of Brownstone’s Mythical Collection – a series of children’s books that detail the magical adventures across the generations of the remarkable titular family – takes us to ancient China. I looked at the first two editions last year here at Broken Frontier and while strictly speaking these hardcover album-style editions are more storybook than sequential art, they do make use of many comic elements in Todd-Stanton’s ever imaginative and inventive page structures.
The initial two stories showcased the adventures of Arthur and the Golden Rope and, many years later, his daughter Marcy and the Riddle of the Sphinx; each giving younger readers a relatable lead to identify with as they explored the fantastic environments they found themselves in. Kai and the Monkey King introduces us to young Kai and her mother Wen, a Brownstone whose cataloguing of supernatural phenomena eventually begins to bore her daughter. Wanting to prove herself to her mother, Kai frees the enigmatic legendary figure the Monkey King to help her deal with a dragon terrorising a local village. But Kai is about to discover that sometimes we should be very careful what we wish for…
Todd-Stanton’s tale will once again immediately capture its readers’ rapt attention with its spellbinding use of colour and constant switches between illustrated prose, panel-to-panel storytelling and single-page illustration. At its heart, though, is a tale with a moral; one that recreates the essence of the parent-child bond and its intricacies in an endearing and engaging manner. It’s his frequent jumps between disparate presentational styles that most impress on a technical level, however. It’s a technique that never feels awkward or contrived and yet could so easily have done so in the hands of a less skilled storyteller. Stories exist within stories here; visual characterisation drives the plot on as firmly as the prose descriptive passages do; and those ever alluring character and environment designs are a testament to Todd-Stanton’s world-building imagination.
If you haven’t discovered the exploits of the Brownstone family as yet this self-contained adventure is a most fitting entry point into their adventures for the younger readers in your life. The festive season isn’t that far away after all…
Joe Todd-Stanton (W/A) • Flying Eye Books, £12.99
Review by Andy Oliver
