THE SECRET SPIRAL OF SWAMP KID

Swamp Kid enters the DC Universe in this humorous adventure/mystery.

Part plant, part humanoid, middle schooler Russell Weinwright, aka Swamp Kid, shares his origin story through his illustrated journal, which moves between handwritten text and comics-style sequencing. Uncertain of his beginnings, other than that he was found near the swamp as a baby, Russell questions his ancestry after he begins to discover superpowers and mysterious men in dark suits and glasses start following him. He and his friends—Charlotte, a white girl who is smart and fearless, and Preston, a black videographer always trying to get a good story—set out to learn more about how to harness his superpowers and what the men in black are looking for. The blend of storytelling media and punny humor carry moments of needed exposition, keeping the pacing of the story from feeling bogged down with details, and hilarious plays on words will land with the target audience. In addition to Russell, who is vines and cellulose, his classmates and teachers are fairly diverse, and his adoptive parents are an interracial couple: a black Christian mother and a white Jewish father.

A comedic win with appeal for fans of Tom Angleberger and DC’s Teen Titans Go! (Graphic/science-fiction hybrid. 7-11)