Grubbs Halloween Spooktacular #1

Billy Watson goes by the unwanted nickname of Grubbs. But that's not what worries him at the moment. He's got his neighborhood Halloween plans all figured out. Now he's just got to find a way to ditch the rest of his group in order to maximize his candy earning potential. But when he faces the neighborhood bullies, who want to steal his hard-earned treats, Grubbs learns that it might not be a bad idea to have a partner!

Grubbs is created by Max Weaver and is partially based on his personal childhood experiences. His older brother gave him the nickname of 'Grubbs' because of how Max reminded his sibling of a grub worm. So I'm wondering if Billy Watson's ability to get into mischief might also be based on past experiences.

Grubbs is like Dennis the Menace without the snarky back talk. He's also a diabolical genius like Bart Simpson without the PG-13 attitude. And if Grubbs reminds you of Calvin from the Bill Watterson comic strip classic, it's all because of the artwork!

Max Weaver's illustrations are what I expect Calvin to look like if he was allowed to age past his eternal 6 years appearance and mentality. Grubbs is only 8 but I would have placed him at 10 or 12, especially with how he gives his older sister's new boyfriend the run around in the second, non-holiday backup story. And yet, I really didn't feel like Grubbs was all that devious behind the hi-jinx. 

This 2021 read was a ton of fun. But since it's not a book that is readily available to the public, I hesitate to make this a Family Comic Friday offering. Amazon offers a digital copy on its Kindle system. But I'm a fan of print. I don't care how affordable it is; nothing beats the experience of holding a book: smelling it, flipping of the pages, being enclosed by the intimacy of the 90 degree angled corner made when you open it for a good read. If you have kids that love Halloween or you're just a kid at heart and you can find this book in the wild somehow, you really should get it. Both stories were great reads. So good that I wasn't even disappointed that the second tale wasn't even Halloween themed.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.