Joker; Sam's Dream; Arf and the Greedy Grabber; Jack's Tree; The Planet Machine; Mr Potts, the Potty Teacher

These titles form a set of six 'Comix' books where, the publishers claim, the stories move as fast as the pictures. Each book presents as a long comic strip, which will probably appeal to children for whom a lengthy text is rather off-putting.

Suitably bold black and white pictures for all but one book (the exception being Jack's Tree) work well with the stories.

Jack's Tree, about a boy trying to save a tree from being felled in the local park, is the least successful of the six, as the characters are too stereotyped even for a comic book, and the monochrome pen and wash illustrations sit uneasily in the comic strip format. Sam's Dream, by experienced sports fiction writer Michael Hardcastle, about a boy being invited to a big match by an international footballer and The Planet Machine, a sci-fi tale, particularly suit the comic style. However, in both these titles, there is a confusing mix of speech bubbles and traditional speech marks which is irritating.

Mr Potts, the Potty Teacher is a humorous tale about a forgetful and bumbling teacher who tries to arrange a firework display for the school fete but mistakenly hires the local demolition man, Dynamite Dave, to make the celebrations go with a bang! Joker tells of an escapologist who disappears in mysterious circumstances and Arf and the Greedy Grabber is about a practical joker who unexpectedly encounters a thief and becomes involved in a police inquiry.