Giddy-Up, Daddy! by Troy Cummings (review)

"Once there was a dad who was really good at playing horsey." His awesome ability leads to confusion, however, and he's stolen away by some horse rustlers ("They lured the dad away with some sugar cubes"). His two kids track him to a rodeo and ride him away, hotly pursued by the villains. After an exciting interlude in a circus and a brief tour through a polo match and the Kentucky Derby, the family heads to Canada; when the rustlers make one last grab for their prize, the kids reveal that they're actually Canadian Mounties and they arrest the bad guys. This has the rambling, slightly hallucinogenic quality of a silly story crafted by kids and parents together, and the seriousness of the dad's horse imitation is a solid gimmick that'll amuse audiences. The breathless craziness lacks a plot rhythm, however, causing the story to lose its momentum as events just pile on randomly rather than developing. The digital art is largely flat and slick, with compositions often fussily overbusy in a way that accentuates the unfocused style of the story. There's charm in the manic exuberance, though, and in the poker-faced mien of the 1960s-cartoon dad as he gallops through the pages on his hands and knees. The plot sprawl will lose some youngsters, but those raised on absurd family stories may appreciate the joke and chime in with their own tall parental tales.