Comic Review: Halcyon and Tenderfoot #1 / Written by: Daniel Clifford / Illustrated by: Lee Robinson / Published by: Art Heroes / Release Date: Out Now

“Not another crime-fighting duo”.

Does the world need another superhero comic? Possibly not. I’m always sceptical when anybody outside of Marvel and DC creates superheroes because realistically, how likely am I to pick up Mark Waid’s Irredeemable rather than the latest issue of Spider-Man? However, one thing that the big two have never really cracked has been All Ages comics, not to such an extent that nobody else has a look in. Good comics that are suitable for all ages are rare beasts, as I’ve discovered on my hunt for things to read with my 3-year-old son. That’s where Halcyon and Tenderfoot comes in.

Issue 1 introduces the crime-fighting team of Halcyon and his son Tenderfoot, reading for all intents and purposes like a Saturday-morning-cartoons version of Robert Kirkman’s Invincible. There’s no need to get any deeper into the plot, the most important thing to note is that Clifford and Robinson hit just the right tone for a young audience with a combination of straightforward, fun dialogue and cartoony illustrations. This is probably what kids growing up today expect superhero comics to read like – action-packed, light-hearted and easy to digest. I can’t think of a more fitting compliment than that it reminded me a lot of the old Hanna Barbera Yogi Bear and Flintstones comics that I used to read as a boy.

You can read free previews of the comic here and through the site you can also subscribe for either physical or digital copies which will be published quarterly. In my own reading I go for grim and gritty every time, preferring harrowing to wholesome, so I thought that I’d put comics like this behind me, but now that I have children of my own I’m reminded of just how important material like this is. Does the world need another superhero comic? Maybe so.