I first encountered the work of George O'Connor as the author of 'Silent Knight', a fascinating graphic novel that posited that Santa Claus automated his Christmas prep to the degree that he could spend eleven months a year working as a private detective, working to help those in need and doing so in an emphatic film noir fashion. I bumped into it again as a contributor to a graphic anthology called 'Great Zombies in History', created by many hands. The quality of the stories and the art varied considerably, but the central idea was another peach: taking pivotal moments in world history and adding zombies to the mix.

This is another graphic anthology that fits the same mould: it's a compilation of stories created by an array of writers and artists built out of a single fantastic idea. This time, O'Connor, with Diana Porter, sets a scene for themselves and others to interpret how they will. The apocalypse has happened, with nothing to define what sort of apocalypse it has to be. Someone's beaten the odds and made it out the other side alive and intact. But now, they face the real challenge: continuing to survive, whilst in the company of their own toddlers. What a glorious point to kick off a story or, in this case, six stories!

If I'm understanding the concept correctly, O'Connor and Porter had some level of involvement with each of the stories, but handed them over at some point to each of half a dozen artists from a host of different countries, who chose to interpret them in their own way. Certainly, each of them is credited as "art and story co-creator". Maybe that's why this feels much more consistent than 'Great Zombies in History', where the stories were clearly written by different hands with different levels of skill.

The first thing you should probably know is that you're absolutely right. When the apocalypse arrives, your toddlers are going to become your biggest threat to survival. You should probably stop thinking of them as your future and start thinking of them as liabilities on legs that are going to get all of you killed a lot sooner than you might expect. You should probably give them a mercy bullet where it will do the most good right now and move on with your attempts to remain in the land of the living. After all, if the collective survivors ever manage to successfully conquer whatever enemy is your particular apocalypse, you can always make more toddlers.

Cynical? Have you even met a toddler?

I should add that that really isn't a spoiler, because these stories reach a wide variety of outcomes. In fact, only one story ends with everyone dead. Another ends with just the kid dead, though I wanted to see that outcome in a whole bunch of other stories. Some end with all the good guys alive and well. My personal favourite ends with the good guys alive and well for now, but who knows whether that'll hold true until tomorrow or the day after. I honestly believe that this approach, presumably the deliberate choice of the editors, is one primary reason why this book is such a success.

Another is the similar variety in apocalypses. This could easily have been another set of stories about zombies, but they only crop up in one story, 'Eww', and then the inevitable infection happens in a very different manner to what you expect. One particular frame is glorious and the next few even better, as we witness the reaction of a young boy blissfully unaware of the severity of his situation. The contrast between this moment and the trigger for it coming about is absolutely wonderful. Clay McCormick is the man behind this one.

In addition to zombies, created we know not how, there's a story about alien invasion, another about wastelanders, one about robot overlords and one about a massive meteor strike that causes a giant tsunami. Cleverly, in one story, we don't even know what form the apocalypse takes. All we know is it's here and the last bus to the bunker is about to arrive and Tracy doesn't want to put her shoes on. This is my favourite story and it's an even more nuanced peek into the oblivious mindset of a kid than the zombie story, courtesy of J. Shiek.

I don't really have a least favourite story, because everything here is strong. Sure, I prefer the artwork in this story to that one, but that comes down to personal taste. Nothing here is obviously amateur or the work of someone who might be just starting out to discover what they might be good at. Everyone involved is clearly a professional and each yarn that they collectively spin is well worth your time and money.

In fact, I wonder how much of this will come down to personal taste or even personal experience. Those of you with toddlers or who remember what they were like may well identify with one of these stories, just because you've been there. It doesn't matter about the aliens, robots or zombies, these are very human moments that every parent has been through and that will resonate. Have you had to keep the kids quiet in a crucial moment? Did your kid have a particular item that helped them cope with fearful situations and what happened when they left it behind at just the wrong time?

My guess is that most parents will love and hate 'My Turn' by Fernando Pinto the most, because it has no end of these quintessential kid moments packed in. One page in particular leaps out for mention, a page that runs through a bunch of these in consecutive panels, each of which lessens the chances of a particular family surviving the day, let alone the apocalypse. It also includes my favourite exchange of any story in this book.""Oh, so now we can't have water gun fights?!" "This apocalypse sucks!"

Books have been delivered to US backers of the book's Kickstarter already so it's a live release, with international fulfilment in process and due to wrap in July. However, I'm not seeing it in Comix Tribe's online shop quite yet, so you may need to wait to pick up your copy, if this review piques your interest. The better half was a Kickstarter backer, as I believe she was for the last couple of George O'Connor's books that I've read and reviewed and it's great watching him grow.

I liked 'Silent Knight' but it left me with far too many questions. I liked 'Great Zombies in History, but it did have quite the range of quality between the stories. 'Toddler-pocalypse' is up there with the best of both those books but consistently throughout. It's the first of these titles that I would recommend without any hesitation and without any caveats. It may be the most fun book I've read this month. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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