SIMONE: THE BEST MONSTER EVER!

She’s blonde, she’s pink, she’s human—and so, as the “monster” living in sluglike Morris’ closet, she’s terrifying.

In a series of independent, single-page comics originally published in French, Simard takes the well-worn monster-under-the-bed trope, turns it on its head, and adds all sorts of ooky bits. Simone can make her bug-eyed green companion—and everyone else in Simard’s simply drawn, topsy-turvy monster world—run away screaming just by bringing a cute puppy to class or cleaning house. On the other hand, she casually brushes past bats and dangling spiders and seems less grossed-out (read: delighted) than readers will be to see Morris swimming in the gooey effluent of a giant nose, watching him roll snowballs down a hill to play “zombie bowling,” or being introduced to his little brother, Farto. The emotional undercurrents are definitely less nuanced here than in, for instance, Barbara Jean Hicks’ Jitterbug Jam, illustrated by Alexis Deacon (2005), but so what, when there are zombies, a Santa-eating house, buckets of puke, and many like delicacies to savor?

Knee-slappers galore for fans of alimentary and other mildly transgressive gags.