Buster’s Neighborhood: King Comet vs. The Agents of Doom

    (Mutant Toast, 2002)
™ and © Mutant Toast

Kaja Blackley has taken Mission: Impossible and mixed it with The Iron Giant. Buster’s Neighborhood is, aptly enough, the story of Buster, an 11-year-old geek who is also a highly skilled covert agent for H.I.V.E., the Headquarters Investigating Visiting Evil. Buster does not spend his days at school, but at H.I.V.E. working on top-secret plans for the government and fighting the alien invasion that seems to be plaguing his neighborhood.

The story is told through Buster’s best friend, Zoe, the only person outside of his professional career who knows what Buster does. She is the only person who can see the problems Buster has trying to be a normal kid while also trying to hide what he really does.

Buster’s Neighborhood is a good story that shows the trouble that two friends can go through even when they are not being attacked by aliens or clones. The art by Alex Hawley is exquisite, and the story by Blackley is well done, but can get confusing.

Buster’s Neighborhood revolves around a complex storyline that can leave readers in the dust but does make it easy to catch up quickly. It is all easily forgivable because of how endearing the characters are. The two most remarkable characters are Zoe, who has to deal with a startling discovery about her life, and Buster’s one-armed bodyguard, Jack Crypt, who really grows as a father figure to Buster throughout the story.

Buster’s Neighborhood is not just the story of kicking alien butt, it is the story of a boy coming into his own while faced with keeping a huge secret and fighting a terrible evil. If The Iron Giant had not been made in 1999, this comic book would easily surpass it, if translated to a feature film.

— Nathan Melby
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