10-Minute Webcomic Recc: Hooky
This one is from LINE Webtoon, where I’m a relatively new reader...not gonna lie, the format seemed odd to me at first. But there’s some great stuff there!
Today’s (more like 1-hour) review is Hooky by Miriam B.!
Genre: fantasy, adventure, children’s
Status: ongoing. Updates Fridays.
10-Second Summary: These twin tweeny witches miss the bus to magic school, so they decide to run away and find their own teacher instead! New friends and adventures await, but growing tension between ordinary folks and witches just might make much bigger trouble for them than they realize...
Overall rating: 4/5 Adorable, fun, with a beating heart.
Addictiveness: 4/5 Read the whole backlog in three sessions!
Art style: 4/5 I love, love, love everything about these kids’ faces, and it’s a damn cute and put-together world. But occasionally, panel placement, POV, and pacing don’t come together right and that has obscured what’s happening in the story.
Hijinks: 5/5 When there’s shenanigans, they read like a filler episode from your favorite anime: beach day! giant squid! misplaced spells! unfortunate pudding! broomstick trouble! a love potion that goes terribly wrong! If you love giggles and blossoming romantic tension and lots of physical comedy, prepare your heartstrings.
Speaking of, Romance: 4/5: Hooky is googoo with sweet romantic tension. I swear each kid has at least two possible pairings. Miriam hits all the classic notes for adolescent romance: the cluelessness, the shy delight, the love-hate, the embarassment, denial, and questionable decisions, and of course the ensemble cast’s various and wrong and right opinions on each other. My rating is only minus one star if nobody actually ever confesses.
Serious/Fun Balance: 3/5 My biggest beef with this comic is how it tips between fluffy and mature on a dime. Serious issues--witch burning, child eating--are raised, but the conclusions don’t come quite satisfactorily and the discussion that seems ready to burst out at any moment hasn’t arrived yet. The characters often seem less affected by certain things that should be emotionally scarring than others of the same magnitude. I hold out hope that as we get deeper into the plot, this will be addressed with more clarity and directness.
Inclusivity: 2/5 Everybody is white :( One star because the comic deals seriously with cultural tension, and one because there might be some queerness coming up (fingers crossed!).
The emotional draw: For all its lighthearted tomfoolery, Hooky turns out to be a story about kids caught up in an adult conflict that they don’t understand. They’ve each been told what is right and wrong, but their consciences--and friendships--don’t add up. Watching the struggle is painful, but ultimately fulfilling. And I, for one, am...how about it...hooked.
Read it if you like: Avatar The Last Airbender, Monster Pulse, Steven Universe, Fruits Basket, Princess Jellyfish, anything by CLAMP
