Scoop!: An Exclusive by Monty Molenski (review)

Kelly and Tincknell offer their second noir adventure (The Mystery of Eatum Hall, BCCB 10/04), switching oeuvres from creepy-house thriller to hard-boiled journalist melodrama. Reporter Monty Molenski prowls the night in search of the truth behind his coworkers' clandestine activities at the F.P. Club, and as the bumbling, nearsighted, plaid-clad mole jostles his camera from place to place, he inadvertently captures pictures of many of the most elusive figures in legend and urban myth. There's ample entertainment value in following Molenski's slapstick efforts at obtaining ingress to the club, and in sighting Santa Claus, Yeti, Elvis, the Loch Ness Monster and their like as they evade his notice. Since readers can easily spot the shadowy nightlife by following the angle of the camera, subsequent newspaper revelations of the sightings are a letdown, though, as is the discovery that the F.P. Club is the Front Page Club that honors reporters for their major scoops. This may nonetheless appeal to seek-and-find fans as they investigate the midnight milieu of Kelly's slick, computer-generated artwork, and the visual joke that wraps it up will leave kids smiling as they put this issue to bed.