Evil Emperor Penguin

This Phoenix Comic publication chronicles the thwarted attempts of Evil Emperor Penguin to achieve world domination from his underground headquarters in the Antarctic. The would-be villain is assisted, or rather hindered, in his megalomaniac efforts by top minion, Eugene, a cuddly abominable snowman clone, and is served his favourite spaghetti hoops by his octopus sidekick, Number 8. There is also, of course, an arch enemy, Evil Cat.

This is a very humorous and appealing handling of the regular comic strip themes of evil mastermind, bumbling sidekick and foiled plots. The illustrations are vivid, action-packed and easy to follow, the situations are entertainingly ridiculous, the narrative is full of witty wordplay and references to amuse children and adults and the characters are endearing. Each episode is told in four pages of comic strips, with some stories having several parts. This format makes the whole volume an enticing prospect both for younger fans of graphic novels and for those new to the genre.