SQUIRREL DO BAD

Meet Wendy the Wanderer, who lives with Worried Willy, her overprotective dad, in a purple, mushroom-shaped house in the town of Trubble.

Willy hired Watchful Willamina to keep Wendy from wandering while he’s away on business, unaware Willamina plans to be on the phone and just wants her charge to do her own thing. While her sitter takes selfies, Wendy takes off to explore Trubble. She buys herself a hot chocolate at Mooshy Mike’s, giving the dregs to Squirrely McSquirrel, a treat-seeking squirrel who, buoyed by a sugar high, bounds into traffic, sowing mayhem and causing the mayor to forbid him to have any more Mooshies. When the mayor’s office blows up, Squirrely is blamed. Thereafter, the cast of characters perpetrate and endure a storm of unforeseen consequences. (The plot’s loose throughline hinges on the butterfly effect.) Most human characters are adults; jokes about building permits, office politics, and municipal bureaucracy abound, unspooling with cheery nihilism. Standout characters include Three Moles (Myrtle, Girdle, and Menace To Society) and a homebound Chihuahua in love with the kitty next door. Human skin tones vary—Wendy and her bald father have brown skin; Wendy’s hair is a bushy purple halo. The comic strip–style art, with minimal shading or detail and a hand-lettered font, is well suited for the manic, madcap humor.

A wild ride infused with anarchic glee.