Chocolate Cheeks

Classic kid comics are evoked with a weird, horror-inspired twist in the latest Yikes! collection by Weissman. The cast is inspired by well-known horror figures—Pullapart Boy is Frankenstein, Chubby Cheeks is a Jekyll/Hyde character and so on. There's also Lumpy Noodle, who has a brain tumor for a head, and Crustache, whose attribute you can probably guess. Some of the strips are gross-outs in the Johnny Ryan mode; a longer story line involves Chubby's desire to “vanquish his enemies” and X-Ray's search for a nemesis. The second half of the book is concerned with a longer narrative in which the discovery of a dead kitten leads to many complications for all. Weissman has a knack for combining the cute with the eerie and the unsettling, and the art—presented in both b&w and color—is outstanding. However a general lack of more than surface characterization—all the kids speak interchangeably—holds this back from being more than an amusing diversion despite the great appeal of the art. (Jan.)