Kid Houdini and the Silver Dollar Misfits
Written by Dwight McPherson
Art by Worth Gowell
Viper Comics
Cover price: Free, bitches!
Available for free on May 3, 2008

When Harry Houdini was a young child, legend has it that he ran away from home and joined the circus. No one has ever been able to prove this but what if this was true? What if, not only did he join the circus but also solved mysteries with a gang of circus people? That is the subject of Kid Houdini and the Silver Dollar Misfits.

The story starts with Kid Houdini hopping onto a moving train in the middle of the night to run away from home. It is on this train that he meets a gang of caged circus performers. There is Lydia, a snake charmer, Siamese twins Joe and Jacques, and Hans, the legless strongman. When Houdini is captured by the circus owner Professor Murat and is forced to travel with the circus gang, the mystery-solving Silver Dollar Misfits is born.

When Dwight McPherson decided to write an all-ages comic, I thought it was a pretty bold move. Everything about an all-ages books just screams “watered down,” from content and dialogue. Some have comics have been the exception. All-age books like Bone, Calvin and Hobbes, and Herobear and Kid are a few comics that, while geared toward a younger audience, have a charm and wit about them that makes it hard for older readers to resist it. This is exactly what Kid Houdini has got going for it.

The dialogue is simplistic but is written in a way that it never talks down to the reader. McPherson does wonders with his compact narration. In just a few short pages, he is able to sum up the relationships of Houdini and his gang. You now get to know all the characters in broad strokes, but you still get the feeling that you are just starting to get to know these characters.

The art by Worth Gowell complements the story nicely. It is not highly detailed like George Perez or dynamic like Bryan Hitch, but Gowell’s art fits the tone of the story perfectly. I could not imagine the book being drawn by anyone else. You can tell just by looking at the book how well these two individuals work together. Both writer and artist are on the same page and it shows on every page.

The only thing that bothered me about this story is that is not a complete one. It is actually the first twenty-two pages from a much larger graphic novel, which will be on sale in the next coming months.

Regardless, Kid Houdini and the Silver Dollar Misfits is a gem that you must pick up when it is distributed on Free Comic Book Day. It could very well be the next all-age book that makes a splash in the industry.