Benson’s Cuckoos by Anouk Ricard

(Drawn & Quarterly) Coupling  depictions of a conspiracy and a workspace culture (which are both dire, insidious and crushing) with cartoon animal characters that are slapstick prone, charmingly weird, and adorably rendered gives the effect of Office Space meets The Manchurian Candidate meets the Mr. Men books. More than anything this invokes the moments in Richard Scarry books when Mr. Frumble’s flyaway hat would spark disaster or those disobedient pig children would cause chaos, taken to a level where murder, kidnapping, and gunplay are possible outcomes. In other words, if your kids are naughty pigs, this is the ideal children’s book, and for all other species, this is a perfect read for delight-hungry deviants of all ages.