BIRD & SQUIRREL ON THE RUN

Burks manages to turn The Odd Couple into an adventure story.

The Odd Couple is one of the most important stories in the history of Western culture. Oscar and Felix were archetypes when they were called Bert and Ernie and when they were called the Grasshopper and the Ant. In that tradition, Squirrel is a fussbudget who’s afraid of beetles, spiders, running out of acorns and forgetting his toothbrush. Bird isn’t afraid of anything and can usually be found flying upside down. The story only works if the characters get on each other’s nerves. The problem here is that it works much too well. Bird is more annoying than Bert and Felix put together. Bird never stops talking, even when being chased by an enormous cat. That’s the moment when Bird says, “Is it true that dogs are smarter than cats?” Some readers may decide to ignore the dialogue and just look at the pictures, which are so cinematic that you can almost see the cat’s whiskers twitching. The character design is astounding. Squirrel’s head is shaped like a little acorn (complete with cap), and even the trees look like fractal patterns, spiraling off the page.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words; here's one story that would be better with no words at all.