COMICS SQUAD #2

The Comics Squad moves from Recess! (2014) to an even more popular theme with a fresh set of minicomics created by a (mostly) fresh slate of artists.

Most of the eight entries at least start in the lunchroom: the Holms’ Babymouse and friends defend their accustomed table (unsuccessfully) against rivals in a dodgeball duel; Cece Bell’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Lunch” features a boy-dazzled picky eater whose courage is goosed by a hallucinatory episode; Krosoczka dishes up a Lunch Lady origin story with “Lunch Girl” battling a bully. Further afield, Nathan Hale retells a true World War II battle tale involving a Japanese submarine and hurled potatoes, and Jeffrey Brown follows a pair of adolescent Neanderthals gathering ingredients for “Cave Soup.” A multistranded detective tale by Jason Shiga is hard to digest, as it is presented in many small, out-of-order panels linked by arrows and so requires much flipping back and forth. But the real bomb comes from “Peanuts Worldwide LLC” (the actual creators are named only in the closing author notes). Reading like a clumsy sendup, it features Snoopy creating lunchroom chaos with a mop while making silent comments like “The Head Beagle values cleanliness… / but won’t cross the unions!” One can imagine what Charles Schulz would say.

One rotten apple aside, a second helping of tasty treats.