Werewolf Jones & Sons Deluxe Summer Fun Annual Review (Simon Hanselmann, Josh Pettinger)

The ever prolific Simon Hanselmann is back with a Megg and Mogg spinoff book featuring the outrageously depraved Werewolf Jones and his wretched offspring, Diesel and Jaxon, in Werewolf Jones & Sons Deluxe Summer Fun Annual.

Joining Hanselmann this time around is a cartoonist called Josh Pettinger who draws some of the strips (maybe even writes, it’s not clear) and his art style is fine - I’ve no complaints about it but it’s not that special either.

Having read all of the Megg and Mogg books, there’s nothing new Jones is doing in this book that he hasn’t done before. He’s the world’s worst parent, he’s a drug addict, a drunk, sleeps around, and basically behaves like a complete lunatic all the time. Many of the stories aren’t so much funny as sad, like Compromise, which shows how miserable Jones and his kids’ lives are - which Hanselmann’s also done before to better effect.

Fall Follies, one of the few stories featuring Megg, Mogg and Owl, where they go trick or treating, is kinda funny at times, as is Strength, where Jones somehow manages to become the chaperone for a special needs kid and takes him to the fair to take advantage of his strength. Bully is the only story here that shows Jones’ scumminess actually working out for poor Jaxon for a change.

Werewolf Jones is often a riot when he pops up in the Megg and Mogg books - his funniest stories are in Seeds and Stems - and that’s where he works best: as a supporting character rather than the main focus of the story. Less is sometimes more with certain characters and that’s definitely the case with Werewolf Jones.

It isn’t a bad book - I was engaged by most of the stories and rarely bored, though that was in part because I was expecting some crazy, unpredictable twist to happen and most of the stories just end rather than go anywhere inspired.

It also has few standout stories with most of them feeling repetitive and underwhelming, especially if you’re a fan of the series and have read the other books where you get the same impressions/information on the character that you get here but in more entertaining stories.

Werewolf Jones & Sons Deluxe Summer Fun Annual is worth a read if you’re a fan of the series but don’t expect too much and be prepared for Hanselmann to double down on the grim, rather than go for the laughs, in most of the stories.