My enormous thanks to Martin Lloyd for sending me a copy of the graphic novel Dogland Rescue in return for an honest review. It’s my pleasure to share that review today.
Dogland Rescue is available for purchase here.
Dogland Rescue
A Graphic Novel for readers of all ages.
In Dogland, friendship and kindness are prized above all. So it’s a huge shock when crooks and their savage dogs seize Mr and Mrs MacDuff’s orphanage. MacDuff escapes and his friends gather round him.
Bruno Bassett tells the story of Nipper, a reckless Jack Russell, Forensic Fred, a canine scientist, Pavlova, his brilliant, feisty fiancée, and many more. Together they try to defeat the crooks Smiler and Slimy and reinstall the MacDuffs in their home.
Ridiculous accidents happen, daft inventions go wrong, but ingenious ideas and a powerful sense of smell might just save the situation.
My Review of Dogland Rescue
The Macduffs seem to be missing.
A graphic novel with canine characters.
Initially I didn’t tune in properly to Dogland Rescue as I was thinking it was a children’s story and it didn’t seem quite right to me. Once I understood that this is, rather, a graphic novel for all ages, it made much more sense. It would certainly appeal to youngsters (perhaps those just in double figures and above) because it is an excellent adventure with peril, danger, humour and excitement, but I think Dogland Rescue’s strength lies with a more mature audience. I think the level of threat and intended violence is too high for young children and I admit I found the text a little small for my poor sight.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The reasons I think Dogland Rescue would make an excellent gift for teenagers (especially those embarking on work experience!) and adults is because there’s some smashing word play, particularly through creative spelling like Chewedear for Tudor, and humour can be found both in the text and in the brilliant illustrations. Take a close look at the train timetable or the book titles in the study, for example. Indeed, visually, Dogland Rescue is a complete work of art. The images are not only impressive, but they are so detailed they must have taken hours to produce. Dogland Rescue rewards returning to time and again as there’s so much to discover in each image. I loved the dark, menacing colour scheme for the negative characters.
The plot zips along and draws on all manner of ideas that make it feel both recognisable and fresh. There’s crime caper, a touch of romance (I adored Bruno’s adoration of Pavlova) and a real sense of drama. I thought the characters were smashing too.
However, it’s the layers of content I found so fascinating. There’s a sense of feminism, there are aphorisms to live by, there’s a true sense of community and friendship mixed with team work, there’s science and art, but there’s also a darker side with alcohol, spiking food, and homes being taken over. The characters might be dogs, but Dogland Rescue is an anthropomorphic microcosm of modern society.
Having begun Dogland Rescue feeling slightly ambivalent, I ended up thoroughly enjoying it, the adventure and the humour. I was impressed by its contents and think it would make an excellent gift for a teenage boy who is difficult to buy for! Oh, and I’m rather hoping Bruno Bassett will have other adventures to tell us about in the future.
For more information about Dogland Rescue, visit the website.
English (US) · 