There is something terribly endearing about ZICKY: WRATH OF THE RAT KING, Darin S. Cape’s graphic novel. Composed in the manga style, this book relates the story of Zicky (a four-year old and the youngest of three siblings), whose nightly dreams revolve around battles in a fantasy world inhabited by rats. Zicky returns to the real world just before he wakes up by means of a magical portal in a tree trunk, which can be activated only by his magic ring (in reality, it’s an old pacifier). However, one night he is captured by the Rat King, and finds himself unable to return to his bedroom. This prompts a frantic search for him, led by his parents and siblings. At length, they find him, but something is ever so slightly off about his demeanor.
The premise grew out of bedtime stories that Cape told to his children, hence the frequent episodic exclamation following important cliffhangers: “Same Zicky time, same Zicky channel.” But it has a certain sophistication and complexity that transcends the usual extemporized goodnight tale. Characterization is fairly thin, but then again, it doesn’t need to be any better; the plotting is at the forefront here, and it is delightfully nuanced. Furthermore, the illustrations (the work of Zeno Decrux and Hiorsh Gabotto, with cover art by Tony Fleecs) offer clarity, as well as a certain flippant atmosphere to a story that is a tonal mixture of the sincere and the goofy.
This makes for a broad appeal. The stakes are high (will the rats find a way to take over the world?), but the plot beats are workaday and relatable. Only on occasion, as when Zicky’s family takes a strangely laidback approach to the problem of a chronic rat infestation in their four-year old’s bedroom (what parent would react so unconcernedly to the sight of their child eating a piece of cheese off the floor in a room overrun by rats?) does the plotting suffer from a lack of believability in the characters’ motivations. However, in the end, ZICKY: WRATH OF THE RAT KING’s many strengths far outweigh its occasional weaknesses.
Darin S. Cape’s ZICKY: WRATH OF THE RAT KING is a manga graphic novel of surprising verve and sophistication.
~ Craig Jones for IndieReader