Book Review for Pilot & Huxley by Dan McGuiness

The Pilot & Huxley #2: The Next Adventure by Dan McGuiness

GRAPHIX
September 1, 2011
Ages 9-12
64 Pages
ISBN-10: 05455268451
ISBN-13: 978-0545268455
Fiction     Comics & Graphic Novels 

Dan McGuiness’s love of comics began when he got a job with a local comic shop. It was there that he started to draw comics about his colleagues and the daily happenings in the store. He takes his inspiration from the cartoons and comics that made him laugh as a child. These days, Mr. McGuiness spends his time playing video games, watching cartoons, and creating children’s books. Pilot & Huxley: The First Adventure was Dan McGuiness’s first book. He lives in North Adelaide, South Australia.

Pilot & Huxley: The Next Adventure is a combination of “Beavis and Butthead” with the inappropriate and indulgent humor of “South Park.” 

The story begins with three children—Pilot, Huxley and Brett—who are of wildly varying temperaments and are caught in Limbo. Limbo is a place between worlds. Fruit people live there, and one luscious strawberry reveals to the children how they can get back to Earth. 

They have to use a Void Hopper, which will take them to wherever they want to go. The problem is the Void Hopper is rather small, and they are not able to reach the buttons, but other body parts can, so they end up traveling aimlessly to different places.

Along the way, they meet new friends in different worlds, the first being Tentpeg—a zombie—whom they meet in Halloween Land. Tentpeg can travel to Earth, but only on the appropriate holiday. Because Christmas is two days away, Tentpeg takes the group to Christmas Land where they can visit Santa’s workshop. The problem is that in these worlds, the creatures behave the opposite way they would on Earth. So Santa, elves, gingerbread men, and snowmen are all wicked.

The children are captured and have to be a part of the Earth-entering celebration. A deadly Santa wants them to fight for their lives, so he gives the boys weapons, and the girls are sent to the toy factory to become actual toys, which was worse yet.  

Will the friends get out and return to Earth—alive?

For those middle-graders who read the first title in this adventure series this new adventure of mayhem and upside-down worlds will be quite enjoyable. Children who are allowed to watch programs such as “South Park,” “The Simpsons,” and the like, will also enjoy these unique characters.


A few quibbles to take note of: the story goes very quickly, leaving out parts of the plot that could have been filled with more adventure or mayhem; parents may find the graphic novel inappropriate for their children and will not appreciate the dry humor in the story; some children might find the illustrations scary and disturbing—then again, other children will enjoy the scary twists and turns the author creates in this interesting and unique story.