The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo: The Monster Mall

The first book in this series was one of my favorite books of 2016, and this follow-up is every bit as good. I love books about monsters, and this one is wonderful in how it places fantastical creatures into a real world context. The main plot follows our protagonist, Charles, as he tries to learn more about all the things that lurk in the dark of Echo City so he can blog about them. He purports to be a partner to the famed (to kids) monster expert Margo Maloo, but he's more like her sidekick who struggles to keep up.

In this book, he has to brave several frightful situations, such as riding the subway by himself, exploring a seemingly haunted house in the suburbs, listening to a teenage goth band, and going to an abandoned shopping mall inhabited by vampires. It features a good amount of humor and fascinating takes on monster life and how it is affected by humans. In a way, there is an ecological message that echos how wildlife species are displaced  by human construction. Only here, the hapless (and often misunderstood) parties are imps, ogres, and trolls. In a great twist, Margo is more an advocate/peace broker than monster hunter.

 

Still, there is much mystery to explore, such as how and Margo got into her vocation. Also, there are a few clues dropped about who her family might be, and there is much possibility for exploration there. In the end, I loved this book just as much as the first, and I am very hopeful there will be more adventures to come. You can see those at the webcomic's homepage.

Drew Weing continues to be the artist/writer who created this excellent series. He won a 2016 National Cartoonists Society award for long-form on-line comic for his work on Margo Maloo and has also published a prior graphic novel Set to Sea.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been full of praise. Gwen and Krystal speak about it extensively in this episode of the Comics Alternative Young Readers podcast. Kirkus Reviews concluded, "The graphic narrative points out that different is not necessarily bad and that humans and monsters are afraid of one another primarily because of misinformation and miscommunication—a valuable lesson for human-human relations as well." Rob Clough wrote that "Weing has a way of keeping things fairly low-key while still dropping bread crumbs of more menacing events down the line." Katrina called it "a fun book that neither of us [she and her 9-year-old daughter] wanted to put down!"

The Monster Mall was published by First Second, and they offer a preview and much more here.