by Jayden Leggett, Editor

First beginning life as a Sunday newspaper comic strip, Uncle Silas, written and illustrated by David Follett (check out his website here) is an all-ages comic that was so well-received that its first story has been collected into a book by Dark Horse Comics as part of its New Recruits Program. Uncle Silas: Genetis is that book, and Dark Horse Comics made a very wise choice indeed when they decided to publish it.

Set in Adelaide, South Australia, the story begins with siblings Selena and Tommy racing home to see their Uncle Silas Mortimer Mulch at his house. Upon entering their uncle’s greenhouse, they make a startling discovery. Silas is missing, lost somewhere inside his greenhouse which has become an incredibly dense jungle of amazing plants as a result of Silas’ unique experiments and research. But the most bizarre discovery they make is that Silas had found a way to combine plant protein chains with electrometers and organic nanotechnology, meaning that the plants are now like supercomputers and have grown at incredibly rapid rates.

After being briefed by an organic computer named Sofia, the children are each fitted with a special pod suit and then enter the enormous greenhouse to begin the search for their uncle. The interior of the greenhouse is like an alien world, with all kinds of bizarre plants and wildlife living within. Flying fish that explode on contact, a frog combined with a camera, mushrooms that act as network cables and giant man-eating plants are just some of the oddities that the brother and sisters encounter. As Selena and Tommy make their way further in to the heart of this greenhouse jungle, more and more questions and mysterious happenings arise…

The story was incredibly creative and enjoyable, Follett has clearly unleashed his imagination to produce some really cool ideas, while producing a script that features various events that involve elements of comedy, adventure, mystery and action. The pod suits that the children wear grant them all sorts of awesome combat abilities, and I particularly loved the way that Tommy was almost always the one who comically copped the gooey, exploding wrath of the jungle. Equally enjoyable was the quality of the dialogue, as the two children interact with each other and talk as how preteens would, with the result being a book that could easily be read and enjoyed by both young and old alike.

Despite being pitched as a children’s book, there were a few rare occasions where the content might be a tad too complex for younger readers to understand. Hell, I was even getting slightly confused towards the end of the book, but thankfully a lot of this mystery (including the ending that clearly alludes to a sequel) seemed intentional, which puts my mind at ease somewhat and reassures me that my mental capacity is at least more than that of a ten year old. Hooray!

And then of course there is the art design, which was excellent overall. Cutesy, cartoon style characters with thick outlines are perfectly complimented with the vibrant colours and and immense amount of detail in the jungle environments that they are exploring. I particularly enjoyed how the innocently-drawn heroes were juxtaposed against the significantly more gnarly and evil-looking creatures that inhabited this dangerous environment. Due to the fact that this comic was originally published as a newspaper strip, I did find that due to the intricately detailed nature of the artwork, sometimes the action was slightly chaotic and resulted with me having a bit of trouble making out all of the events that were taking place within the panels. As the book is a smaller size of 6’x9′, it could have benefited from being printed in a regular comic book size.

Uncle Silas: Genetis was a very enjoyable read. Its story was very deliberately paced, with the action ramping up later on and the book becoming a real page turner towards the end. Featuring exciting artwork and a storyline to match, David Follett has produced a fantastic piece of literature that can easily be enjoyed by young and old alike, and provides the younger generation with the perfect gateway into the world of comic books.

Rating:

ComicsOnline gives Uncle Silas: Genetis 4 out of 5 cute walking aloe vera leaf creatures.

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