DEEPLY DAVE

When his astronaut mom crashes into the ocean, a boy bravely dons a diving suit and descends to the rescue.

In this work, originally published as a webcomic, the undersea expedition plays out episodically over several chapters interspersed with prompts (“Turn the page to jump into the hole”) to draw readers into the action, with sudden twists abounding. Frequently wordless and simply drawn cartoon panels colored primarily in blues against a solid black background depict Dave descending at the end of a very long air hose, eventually finding the spacecraft guarded by an apparent sea monster. The fishy local residents dub the creature the “Big Doom.” Dave switches bodies with a red octopus and experiences hallucinatory visions, only to discover that his errant parent has brought a problematic guest back from her space travels. Led by Amos, a friendly “scavenger and entre-pruner” with a shrimplike head and a distinctly canine shark sidekick, the anthropomorphic (if ambiguous of species) supporting cast provides help and comic relief along the way. While the plot sometimes turns out to be a bit hard to follow, Grover does eventually contrive a reasonably tidy resolution. Dave and his loving mom have paper-white skin and black hair.

A surreal undersea adventure that zigs and zags to a satisfying close.