Very genial comic about a cat who wants to take over the universe, and his sidekick dog, Fido. Fido often does daft things, but has the best of intentions – Alan meanwhile is just evil, diverting the scientists who own a cloning machine with the promise of free calculators, so he can clone himself and make his plans easier; or inventing his own country as a first step to world domination – and then being indisposed when the Olympics come calling. The third story here is a flashback to fill us in on that second, explaining a bit of it – and showing how close Fido was to managing what Alan can't seem to.

Unlike the standard kids comic that may have lots of visual movement, all glossy colours and kinetic drama, but totally stupid with it, this is the abject opposite. Black, white and just a sort of red that allows for Alan to look kind of ginger and Fido spotted, this has visual simplicity to really bring it down to primary school level, but story-telling smarts. It's actually a sharper thing with its comedy than I expected, allowing a wider age range to enjoy it – although, oddly, knowledge of Bob Ross will help. And regardless, this can get pretty bonkers when the pair invent a new number.

All told, this is cleverly daffy fun, and I'm up for that. A strong four stars, and opposable thumbs – like Alan's own – crossed that I see the second batch of these larks in 2026.

A great comic style book, it doesn't work well on a kindle paperwhite for reading, switched to reading it through the Netgalley app and it looks great. I read it myself and then with my young son, who thoroughly enjoyed reading about Alan.

From the narrative a good story with interesting artwork and good humour - funny moments from the start. Difficult to predict how children will react to this but I found good moments and lines throughout!

Only slight concern is that I found some pages a little tricky in knowing the order the text was to be read until I got into the 'flow' of things, some children may need a little guidance. Possibly the print copy will be better quality than this digital one was in places, and be clearer.

Who doesn’t love an evil cat who wants to take over the universe? This is a great graphic novel that made me chuckle numerous times! I hope Alan and Fido are having a lovely time together ha!

I love the author's books, but I have to say it is a "not sure" for this one. It is a book that is clearly aimed at a rather young audience, so the humour is a bit lost on me. I think children might like it; it is just me being too old and not being able to get the humour.

Alan and Fido are a curious duo. They are absolutely silly, and the two-colour design is interesting for children who might be new to the style.
The humour is mostly aimed at younger ones, and stems from the characterisation.