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Benny Breakiron #1: The Red Taxis

by Peyo

Peyo & Will Maltaite, illustrators

Papercutz

5 Stars

Back Cover:   Yes, BENNY BREAKIRON—a young French boy with amazing super-powers (except when he catches cold), devoted to battling badness wherever he may find it.  Like when his friend Monsieur Dussiflard mysteriously disappears after visiting the corporate offices of The Red Taxis, Benny must find out what happened tp him, even if the police don’t seem to care!

First Sentence:  In the whole city of Vivejoie-la-Grande, France, there wasn’t a nicer boy than Benny Breakiron: A model of politeness, loving flowers and animals, studious and hardworking; in short, he’s a little boy like many others, with, however, one huge difference . . . Benny’s strong!

Synopsis

Meet Benny Breakiron, a young boy who thinks of others and is always willing to help anyone with a need.  He has few friends.  One reason is his strength.  As an example, two boys are playing with a dodgeball-type ball when it goes past one boy, stopping right by Benny.    Like any young boy would do, Benny picks up the ball to kick it back to the boys, but when Benny kicks the ball . . . it EXPLODES!  Benny’s overwhelming strength popped the ball upon contact!

Benny notices the new headquarters of a new company, The Red Taxis.  These brand new models, with two-way radios and unexcelled customer service, are taking so many of Monsieur Dussiflard’s customers it might drive him out of business.  He had not had one customer that day.  Finally, a man asks for a taxi and Monsieur Dussiflard is ready.  Right before the gentleman can enter the blue taxi, a uniformed driver from the Red Taxis grabs the man and helps him into a red taxis.  A scuffle ensues, the red taxi hits a tree, and Monsieur Dussiflard takes his fare to the airport.  The next day, the blue taxi belonging to Monsieur Dussiflard is damaged.  He goes to The Red Taxis headquarters.  While Benny waits on the sidewalk below, waiting for his friend, the manager walks down and into his car.  Moments before, two Red Taxis drivers walked out of the building carrying a chest, which they put in the manager’s trunk.  Benny’s friend never returns from the building and has not gone home.  Benny fears The Red Taxis Company has kidnapped his friend.  But why?  Now, he needs to find out where the manager took his friend, free him, and then take down The Red Taxis Company.  Can Benny, with all his super-powers, do this before anything happens to Monsieur Dussiflard?

  

Opinion

Benny Breakiron is a small little boy who looks like most any other kid in France.  He relates better to adults, mostly because unfortunate things have occurred between Benny and other kids.  Benny’s tries to help others but his super-powers tend to get in his way, causing humorous results.  One friend is the taxi driver Monsieur Dussiflard.  When Dussiflard disappears, Benny races to rescue him.

The punchline will leave you laughing every time, even when you can predict what will happen.  To give one example, he tells Monsieur Dussiflard he has super-powers but Dussiflard does not believe Benny.  Benny decides to give him a show of strength, but then sneezes, losing his power.  What timing . . . how funny!

The characters are somewhat familiar.  The Boss of The Red Taxis Company is a big guy, sort of a doofus, but with enough smarts to get things done.  His drivers all look and act like criminal thugs (is there any other kind?)  On land and at sea, Benny finds his way out of one sticky situation only to find himself caught up in another minutes later.  Kids will love this comic series.  The illustrations remind me of the Dennis the Menace comic strip.  The frames are colorful, full of action, slapstick, and the unexpected.  Benny Breakiron should be a big hit.

Peyo, the author and the illustrator of Benny Breakiron—along with Will Maltaite’s backgrounds—is a classic from an earlier age.  He did not use Adobe’s Illustrator or Photoshop.  Peyo, the father of all Smurfs everywhere, drew, shaded, and colored by hand.  The sixty-four pages fly by quickly as you delve into Benny’s story.  Benny Breakiron #1:  The Red Taxis starts the series with a great start to The Summer of Peyo.  Next up is the The Smurflings.  These young smurfs will add extra color to your next adventure.  Benny will return in September, but before he jumps into the picture, the Smurfs will grab the page later this month with their first The Smurfs Anthology #1.  If you like the smurfs this book is a must have!

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Benny Breakiron #1: The Red Taxis

by Peyo    smurfs home    bio    facebook    twitter
Peyo & Will Maltaite, illustrators    website    biog    dual artist bio
Joe Johnson, French to English translator
Papercutz    website    blog    facebook    twitter
ISBN:  9781597074094
Released May 7, 2013
64 pages
Ages: 7 and up
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English Translation Copyright © 2013 by Papercutz, used with permission.
Text:  Copyright © 19—by Peyo
Illustrations:  Copyright © 19—by Peyo & Will Maltaite

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