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Tag Along with “Pablo and Jane and the Hot Air Contraption” [Review]

By | October 5th, 2015
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From “Adventures of a Japanese Businessman” to his story opening “Island” #3, José Domingo has started to make himself for intricate page designs and an engaging style. He brings all that to the table with the delightful and buoyant activity comic “Pablo and Jane and the Hot Air Contraption,” from Flying Eye Books, an imprint of Nobrow Press. It’s maybe some of the most fun you’ll have with a comic book this year.

Written and Illustrated by José Domingo

A strange green glow is coming from the old house up on the hill, and when Pablo and Jane decide to enquire they make an unexpected discovery… Zapped into the Monster Dimension by the evil cat, Dr. Felinibus, they must now find a way home in the broken Hot Air Time Machine, with a little help from their friend Dr. Jules (a 19th century scientist trapped inside the body of a rat).

Help Pablo, Jane and Dr Jules as they race for their lives through Lopsided London, Terrifying Transylvania, Horrid Hawaii to find the missing parts of their machine and avoid the terrors of the Monster Dimension.

Stuck inside on a rainy day and bored with all of their toys, books, and games, young Pablo and Jane decide to explore the old house on the hill. Rumors say it’s filled with monsters and glows green because of a radioactive meteorite that crashed there years ago; it’s a place so scary and mysterious not even the toughest kids at school dare to go. Therefore, Jane insists they must explore it, and the adventure kicks off.

In the house, Pablo and Jane encounter the brilliant scientist Dr. Jules, who’s a rat (or maybe a brilliant scientist trapped inside a rat’s body) and discover his new flying machine that can travel through time and into other dimensions. Everything seems so so sweet until the wicked one-eyed Dr. Felinius sabotages the contraption and sends them all hurtling into the monster dimension. She also manages to grab a good deal of the ship’s mechanical parts, spreading them all over these alternate reality versions of cities, populated by terrifying and carnivorous creatures. In order to get back home, Jane and Pablo will have to help Dr. Jules find the missing components before the slew of monsters eat everybody.

José Domingo’s “Pablo and Jane and the Hot Air Contraption” is simultaneously an adventure comic and an activity book. As a kids’ comic, it’s cute and bright and funny, with vibrant colors that pop off the page and a familiar but engaging dilemma. The real draw of the book, however, is the interactive activity pages, which are a sort of more manic Where’s Waldo search and find endeavour.

The comic portions of the book are fun and dynamic. Domingo’s cartooning style is round and geometric, and he’s able to get some hilarious expressions from the characters and situations. His work is generally exuberant, but as he’s reaching for a more kid-friendly audience, he tones down some of the harsher elements of his work. (Check out his opening story in “Island” #3.) He breaks away from the fixed-point perspective of his previous works, taking this panel-to-panel approach that’s zany and relentlessly kinetic.

It’s those activity pages, though, that truly stand out. Domingo sends Pablo and Jane to twelve different familiar, but slightly off-kilter, cities. Wrenches, horns, gears, screws, nuts, and all sorts of mechanical errata are scattered across these glorious full spreads, and looking at it all, it’s almost impossible not to be caught up in the mania of the book. It’s clear Domingo had a blast designing these locations, throwing pretty much every single folklore and scary creature he’s ever stumbled across. There’s cameos from Baba Yaga, Dracula, Medusa, and the chupacabra hidden among crumbling cities, pantheons, market places, and sick waves. He plays on the cultures and traditions of these locations, but there’s a definite measure of respect in his art, a clear love of all the interesting parts of this whole wide world and a definite desire to share that wonder.

“Pablo and Jane and the Hot Air Contraption” is a novel way to deliver a kids’ adventure story. By having you engage and participate with the characters, José Domingo’s figured out an interesting way to make you care about what’s going on and helping the kids all return home. The book ends like a cartoon special, setting the scene for future with these plucky explorers, but I can’t see how you wouldn’t want to come back for more.


Matthew Garcia

Matt hails from Colorado. He can be found on Twitter as @MattSG.

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