Since we’re… er, creeping up on Halloween season, it only made sense to pull some seasonally appropriate titles off the shelf. And when it comes to my shelves (oh, who am I kidding?)… when it comes to my bookshelves and many many piles of graphic novels, none felt more appropriate than the first two volumes of Drew Weing’s The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo (First Second Books).

The first book came out back in 2016, and the second – The Monster Mall – was published late last year (2018), and each collects several chapters of Weing’s story, which he continues to publish online as a webcomic.

The story begins with Charles, who just moved to Echo City with his parents and into a nearly abandoned apartment building that his father is going to renovate. Almost immediately, he meets his first monster. Of course.

In this world, monsters of all types (goblins, imps, vampires, blobs, etc.) are very real and have entire communities – entire cultures – living in the shadows and trying to avoid human contact.

But sometimes things happen and the worlds collide. And kids freak out.

Enter Margo Maloo, renowned monster mediator. Margo has an “in” with most of the monsters and is able to arbitrate most conflicts and solve problems before they escalate. The monsters accept her because she prevents their exposure to humanity. Kids love her because she saves them from monsters.

The books are LOADS of fun. Seriously. They’re ostensibly all-ages and family friendly, but don’t let that put you off. Sure, if you have kids, they’ll love them. But you’ll love ’em, too!

The stories have heart, brains, cheek, and plenty of other body part metaphors.

The two volumes available now from First Second Books include chapters 1-6 of the ongoing story. Some of those chapters are exclusive to the printed books; others are available on Weing’s website, which also includes the as-yet unpublished-in-book-form Chapter 7.

So if you enjoy Margo Maloo (and you will), there’s more to enjoy online. Weing is taking a bit of a break from the story at the moment, but he’ll hopefully get back into it fairly soon.

And it’s a great read during the creepy Halloween season.