S.F. #3

Smith’s latest is a grand space-faring adventure with the wit, charm, and skill of Asterix or Bone. Although this is #3, he brings the adventure up to date with a funny and concise summary of the story thus far, introducing us to S.F.S.F.S.F.S.F. (Space Fleet Scientific Foundation Special Forces Special Fellow) Hupa Dupa, a tube-snouted orphan space cadet battling space pirates and seeking his destiny. The plot is outrageously fantastic and fun, an exuberant joyful celebration of the tropes of the space adventure saga, complete with a sentient cat, rocket cars, evil warlords, and a cute fuzzy animal planet. Smith’s artwork is a super-evolved and much more skillfully executed version of the fleets of spaceships battling among the stars that typical daydreamers drew on school notebooks, brimming with immensely detailed and intricate space stations, weaponry, weird aliens, and futuristic vistas. His script complements the distinctive art with clever and whimsical humor (like the doomsday device that is thwarted by switching it off and then on again). Readers addicted to anime, Star Wars, and the Wimpy Kid books will find it a huge amount of fun. (Oct.)