Graphic Novel Review - 'Beetle & the Hollowbones' by Aliza Layne

A cute, colourful and playful otherworldly fantasy graphic novel for all ages. It contains magical ingredients such as:

LBGTQ leads, different forms of witchcraft and sorcery (potions, charms, amulets, broomsticks etc), magic and technology mixing and living in harmony, anime, fanfiction, themes of friendship and familial love, themes of abuse and the power of love to conquer it, a mall as a set piece, a shop owned by giant worms, red cat ears, green goblins, spooky scary skeletons, an orange blob ghost, a giant skeleton witch teacher, a giant beetle custodian, and dragons and other monsters.

There are no humans in sight in this fantasy world. So many creative beings are drawn on the pages. So much imagination is on display.

You know what else isn't in sight? Male characters. Or, there are no main male characters, nor are there ones with names and who don't appear for more than a few panels. Blob Ghost, aka BG, is referred to using they/them pronouns.

And here's the deal breaker: Ever wanted to see a blooming, complicated romance between a female goblin witch and a female skeleton witch/sorceress? If you've never had that thought before, then you don't know what you are missing in life.

'Beetle & the Hollowbones' has it all.

Beetle the goblin witch and Kat the skeleton sorceress are precious. They are orange cinnamon muffin cakes. 'Beetle & the Hollowbones' joins the ranks of 'Undertale' and Pixar's 'Coco', which are among the recent and brilliant fantasy stories that feature skeletons as three-dimensional characters. Who needs flesh to be fleshed out?! Bone/undead magic FTW!

Cute, touching, fun and artistic (and purple, orange, green and red!), 'Beetle & the Hollowbones' is the perfect Halloween read.

Only, it can be a little confusing sometimes, like with how its magical caste system works, and the story itself keeps ambiguous how old Beetle and Kat are (I was massively surprised to find out from the blurb after finishing the book - yes I don't tend to bother with blurbs much - that the girls are twelve-years-old! I'd thought they were older teenagers!).

But go with the flow! By the end you'll be happy to have experienced this fantastical ride.

Final Score: 4/5