Mighty Star and the Castle of the Cancatervater

Aided by the axe-wielding Honey Hush, the heroic Mighty Star faces an evil that’s almost too surreal to overcome in this webcomic expanded for print, featuring a linear narrative and bizarre but spectacular images. While maintaining a classic superhero plot—Mighty Star must stop an evil, sentient apple head from taking over the world­—Degan (Soft X-ray/Mindhunters) infuses the work with crazy drawings that push familiar ideas (such as a flying fortress, faceless grunts, and impossible creatures) to their extremes. It’s firmly in the tradition of small-press comics influenced by the 1990s collective Fort Thunder and Adventure Time. Eschewing dialogue entirely, Degan relies on strongly defined black and white images to convey the fast-moving action and to infuse humor, such as a pictogram ransom note. Each page is packed to the gutters with imagery (including a bit of chaste nudity) for an epic story that gives a fresh take on the hero’s journey. (May)