QUEST KIDS AND THE DARK PROPHECY OF DOUG

Dueling prophecies and monsters of various sorts keep would-be leader and hero Ned and his friends on their toes as their quest continues.

Battling, or at least escaping, foes ranging from a giant demon baby to a frustrated rock-and-roll minstrel with a madcap plan to lava surf his way to stardom, plus any number of more conventional toothy horrors, the Quest Kids edge closer to finding out what happened to Ned’s vanished parents in this second episode—which is, like the first, cast as a journal that switches in roughly equal measure between block-lettered passages and dialogue-infused ink-and-wash drawings. Forging on through multiple shipwrecks, falls into holes, and digressions from fictive author J.B. Lücastoothé on pirates, the perils of spelunking with ferrets, and similarly helpful topics, the Quest Kids eventually catch up to widely reviled dark lord Doug, outwardly genial author of a fake prophecy that turns out to be just the first step in a scheme for musical world domination. They also discover something shocking about Ned’s parents before closing on a considerable cliffhanger with a narrow escape that leaves Ned in a coma—or worse. An afterword by Lücastoothé promises ominous developments to come. Ned is lighter skinned in the art than some of his doughty companions.

A rollicking romp carries on with a thickening plot.