Langridge continues to build up Princess Scarlett in Snarked. She’s the only “good” person in the series, though the Walrus is showing himself to be… while not good, capable of adjusting his selfishness for the greater good.

What’s most peculiar is actually how Langridge follows through on something. The issue opens with the threat of the Gryphon, a bounty hunter or some such, and then Langridge actually gets around to having the character appear.

It’s an action issue. After the setups for the villains and the heroes, Langridge moves the action to the town’s business district. There everything else plays out, including the Princess getting valuable information and the Walrus and his sidekick fed.

Towards the end of the issue, Langridge cuts down on the wonderfully written narration, as Princess Scarlett sort of takes over. Thereby making sure it remains kid accessible.

Snarked continues to excel.

Great Kermit cameo too.

Langridge has a lot to do in the first issue of Snarked. I’d probably be lost if I hadn’t read the zero issue.

But it’s not just a lot of little events he has to cover—Princess Scarlett becomes Queen and ends up in semi-exile, under the reluctant care of the Walrus and McDunk—he has to re-introduce the characters to everyone who hasn’t read the zero issue.

The result is Scarlett being far more dynamic. Even though she’s nowhere near as visually interesting as the Walrus—a formally dressed walrus in a porkpie hat trumps all—Langridge knows she’s the issue’s center. It makes Snarked, which is geared toward adults in terms of its intelligent humor (though Langridge is sure to keep it kid-friendly as far as dialogue goes), a great comic for girls of all ages.

Langridge gets Snarked off to a fine, confident start.

I’ve been looking forward to Snarked since I first heard of it. I didn’t know anything about it, just it was a new original series from Roger Langridge. As it turns out, Snarked owes a lot to Lewis Carroll—both in the title and the characters of Walrus and McDunk (though McDunk gets named in Snarked, not from Carroll). The zero issue is half story and half back matter. The story is only ten or eleven pages and it’s absolutely wonderful, but more than wonderful, it’s filling. It feels like a full issue, hardly a half one.

The back matter is all excellent too, almost making me hope they keep including some of it. Langridge is just so thrilled with the material, it’s hard not to get carried away with him.

I love Langridge doing a “kids’ comic” featuring a lovable reprehensible character (Walrus). It’s even better than I’d hoped.