Johnny Boo and the Silly Blizzard Delivers a Family-Friendly Winter Wonderland
- WRITER
- James Kochalka
- Artist
- James Kochalka
- Letterer
- James Kochalka
- Cover Artist
- James Kochalka
- Publisher
- Top Shelf, IDW Publishing
- Price
- 7.99
- Release Date
- 2021-02-17
- Colorist
- James Kochalka
Over four months since James Kochalka's Johnny Boo last thrilled readers with his haunt, the family-friendly ghost is back with his pet ghost and best friend Squiggle for some seasonally oriented fun in Johnny Boo and the Silly Blizzard. And as the Eisner Award-winning series marks its 2021 debut, Kochalka hasn't lost a step crafting new adventures for his fan-favorite characters in the Top Shelf Productions/IDW Publishing series twelfth volume. And, as with all previous tales in the Johnny Boo series, Silly Blizzard also serves as a perfectly accessible entry point for new readers that may be unfamiliar with Kochalka's work.
Johnny and Squiggle wake up one wintry morning to discover the countryside has been coated by a thick snowfall overnight. Confusing the snow for ice cream, the two turn the blizzard into an all you can eat buffet before encountering the Ice Cream Monster that also wants to make a meal of the snow. And as Johnny, Squiggle and the Ice Cream Monster continue to enjoy their snow day together in their own way, the three learn the important lessons surrounding the risks of eating too much snow all at once and just how easy it is to get lost in the middle of a raging blizzard -- all while remembering have a lot of fun, of course.
Like other Johnny Boo books, this an early age oriented story, with the protagonists reacting to snow for the first time with that completely wide-eyed and innocent sense of wonder and naïveté. There are lessons to be had but the proceedings are never heavy-handed or preachy, making them more palatable to read or be read to. And the stakes here are lower than some of the previous Johnny Boo installments; there's no grand mystery to be solved or overtly antagonistic figures to be overcome. This is really just another day in the life tale for Johnny and Squiggle, it's just that this particular day happens to fall in the heart of winter for a bright, beautiful snowstorm.
And art-wise, Kochalka's work remains as clean and welcoming as ever, matching the light-hearted, breezy sensibilities as his script. Johnny and Squiggle are definitely having a blast on every panel as they dive headfirst into this winter wonderland -- literally -- and that sense of fun is contagious from cover to cover. And running for the over 40 pages, the story's pacing comes off as tight and focused, never dragging or losing its momentum as the ghostly friends venture deeper and deeper into the blizzard swirling around their home. The beauty in the Johnny Boo books has always been their sense of simplicity to convey story, expression, and fun and that remains the constant here, twelve books deep with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Johnny Boo and the Silly Blizzard is out at the perfect time just as snowstorms begin to dust cities across the country and families huddle a little closer together than usual this year. The pair of ghosts are back together again with a new set of seasonal appropriate lessons and adventures that keep the breezy, inviting tone of previous stories while taking the time to celebrate a snow day. For well over a decade, James Kochalka has thrilled fans with his spectral characters as they embrace the joys of everyday life and as a new year begins, the ghosts are back to really show how much fun a wintry day can be.