Boss of the Underworld: Shirley Vs The Green Menace

This comedy graphic novel for children is the start of a new series by celebrated comic book contributor Tor Freeman. Fans of The Phoenix and other comics will adore this opportunity to enjoy Freeman’s charmingly silly jokes play out over a longer form.

The Underworld is a curious and confusing place that causes creatures to take on strange changes. Thus, when young Shirley falls down a manhole cover, she is confronted by a colourful collection of giant talking animals, all of whom, for all sorts of weird reasons, believe she is the ‘chosen one’, here to deliver them from the Green Menace and his crocodilian goons, who terrify the Underworld’s inhabitants with incessant bullying and petty meanness. Nobody is safe from their birthday party-spoiling, sandcastle-stomping antics!

With no clear way home, Shirley decides she has nothing better to do and might as well follow her new friend (a giant cockroach called George) to locate and defeat the nasty green boss.

The journey is long, and very eventful indeed. Shirley and George must overcome a fortune teller with a very obnoxious puppet, child-eating monsters and a delicious looking fruit with lethal powers. They must also outfox two terrifying sphinxes and escape the clutches of seductive sirens who stalk the sewers to the boss’s lair. Throughout it all, Shirley lives up to her ‘chosen one’ status, showing no sign of fear or indecision and taking every set-back as a cheery opportunity to learn more about her strange new world.

Freeman has perfect comic timing and there are laughs to be had on every single page of this hilarious book. Sometimes the comedy comes in juvenile jokes such as toilet humour (sometimes literally) and sometimes it is much more mature. Indeed, some of the jokes will go over young readers’ heads at times, but will delight any grown-ups sharing the story with their child at bedtime. There are also charming jokes that play on readers’ knowledge of traditional stories, including a wonderful take on Hansel and Gretel, which sees a hungry witch attempt to entice Shirley and George into her cauldron using her house made entirely out of…broccoli!

Freeman’s illustrations are always vibrant, playful and full of energy and help make the jokes even more effective. The combination of such joyful pictures with such a funny script is a perfect introduction to comic strip storytelling and makes the book feel like a generous celebration of classic comics of the past.

As Shirley finally catches up with the Green Menace and discovers that they share a dramatic history, she opens up all sorts of questions for future episodes to explore, chief of which are how can she ever get home, and what is under the Underworld? Certainly, readers will be very happy to return to the Underworld soon to follow Shirley on her next adventure!