Troy Vevasis and Aleksandar Jovic blend simple words with simple artwork to bring the tale of Mr. Crypt. Short-short stories revolving around a skeleton being judged purely by their appearance, we have a comic book that would be a great teaching tool for children about prejudice.

Publisher: Alterna Comics
Writer: Troy Vevasis
Artist: Aleksandar Jovic
Price: £1.99 from Comixology

Our rating: [star rating=”3.5″]

Mr. Crypt is a delightful, cute comic book about a skeleton who rises from the grave one night in 1932 and has no memory of who they are or what’s happened to them. This comic book is a series of very short stories detailing some of Mr. Crypt’s adventures – ‘Mr. Crypt Visits the Park’; ‘Mr. Crypt’s House’ etc. –  while trying to find a place in the world. He finds a disguise, a house and even gets himself a pet rat (Baron Rat, the cutest thing this side of the grave).

The dialogue throughout this comic book is very simple. There are hardly any abbreviations used nor any difficult or longer words, and this makes it a great tool to teach children to read – this comic would be a spectacular bed time story for younger children. It’s also great for teaching them that people fear what they don’t understand, as shown by the repeated attempts by the villagers to attack Mr. Crypt every time they recognise him (mainly when their moustache falls off or when their arm is stolen by a dog). And Mr. Crypt’s voice is so earnest that when we are first introduced to them, they’re so confused and hurt by the actions of the villagers that your heart melts a little. You may find yourself forming an attachment to Mr. Crypt, even though they’re a skeleton walking about with a top hat and a moustache.

The artwork throughout is very cute and cartoon-like. There’s a real sense of this small town with its cobbled streets, spooky graveyard and (most importantly) the library. Jovic’s artwork balances the sense of place and character really well, with Mr. Crypt standing out with their disguise, and the multitude of villagers who all look the same and are quite plain and boring as you would expect.

Mr. Crypt is short, it’s adorable and it’s a pleasure to read. Super suitable for children, this is a tale that anybody can enjoy and just goes to show that sometimes simpler is better.