Jeremy Brown and the Mummy's Curse; Jeremy Brown on Mars

The second and third in a series of tongue-in-cheek stories about weedy schoolboy Jeremy Brown, who is, in fact, a Secret Service agent. When his tie bleeps or shoe buzzes he knows MI7 is calling. Mummy’s Curse sees Jeremy and his sidekick Patsy Spudd travelling to Egypt to see Sheik Yabelli in order to unravel the mystery of the menacing robotic mummies, the first of which bursts out of the sarcophagus of Psidesalad II. Jeremy Brown on Mars follows our intrepid there as he attempts to outwit the twenty-four tentacled, concrete loving aliens who have destroyed the British University for Monitoring Stars (BUMS) and threaten to do the same to Grotside school end the entire planet.

With clear cut, black and white characterisation, suitably accompanied by a bold cartoon comic picture per chapter, the plot bubbles along. Both books work well as up to date juvenile parodies, gently poking fun at James Bond with plots that are fantastic but fun.