THE CROWN

What could go wrong when, owing to a strange new rule, any villager who wears the crown gets to be king?

One day a box marked “DANGER!” arrives at a castle located in a “peaceful village nearer than you think.” The castle guard, a comically stumpy bubble-gum-pink figure, opens the box and produces a shiny crown and a note: “Whoever has the crown makes the rules! NO EXCEPTIONS!” Naturally, the guard puts on the crown and informs the villagers (all of whom are pink- or purple-skinned) that he’s “gonna make aaaaaaaallll the important decisions from here on out.” The villagers are fine with this—running a village is hard!—provided that the newly self-crowned king promises that he’ll be fair. (He’s lying.) The new king proceeds to commit acts of royal unfairness and stupidity. After he changes Pizza Friday to Fava Bean Friday—a bridge too far—the villagers oust him. Soon after, an alligator rules, followed by a dragon. Stohler’s parable makes an irreverent, silly, and hilarious case for democratic voting practices. At times the layouts feel overly cluttered; Stohler’s cartoonish digital art, which is pleasantly ablaze with yellows, greens, and oranges, is chockablock with small-scale characters spouting dialogue-balloon quips, calling to mind a graphic novel intended for teens and their elders.

A persuasive, funny argument in favor of democracy.