Book Review: Abigail and the Snowman

Book: Abigail and the Snowman (issues #1-4) written, illustrated and lettered by Roger Langridge with color by Fred Stresing

Edition: Single Print Issues

Description:

An imaginative young girl makes a new best friend—an invisible yeti!

Abigail is a nine-year-old with a huge imagination but when she and her dad move to a small town, that imagination only makes it harder to fit in at her new school. All that changes when she meets a loveable and sophisticated yeti named Claude who has escaped a top secret government facility. Abigail and Claude quickly become best friends, even if no one believes that he’s real. The fun can’t last and it’s not long before the mysterious Shadow Men chasing Claude are hot on his trail. To keep him safe from his former captors, Abigail and Claude embark on a great adventure to find his real home, but it might not be exactly where they expected. Eisner and Harvey Award-winning cartoonist Roger Langridge takes readers on a heartwarming journey of loyalty and friendship.



Rating: 5 stars

Review:

I bought the first issue of this miniseries on New Year's Eve of 2014 and the last issue on March 25, 2015. I'm mentioning this because I totally forgot I had this miniseries that is until I recently reorganized my books. This is why I'm trying to get out of the habit of waiting to read miniseries until I have all of the issues. It makes it far too easy to forget about them.

This charming miniseries is a delight to read as the story makes good use of action, adventure and humor as it follows an unusual friendship between a little girl and a yeti. The story opens with a couple of Men in Black looking for escaped specimen 486. From there the story follows nine years old Abigail and her father who recently moved to a new town, Shipton-on-Sea. They moved there because her father got a new job. But things don't seem to be going so well for Abigail and her father. First, she doesn't fit in among her new classmates and part of that has to do her having a very active imagination. Second, her dad was unexpectedly fired from his job due to an accident.

Her father now in the process of looking for a new job was also hoping to take on some part-time electrician work. As a way to both spend time with Abigail and fill out job applications, the two go to a local park. Not having any luck playing with the other kids, Abigail starts playing with her imaginary dog Claude which leads her to a truly unexpected discovery.

Abigail met a yeti (whose designated name is specimen 486) who was perhaps way too big to be hiding behind a tree. He was very surprised that she could see him since he was supposed to be invisible. According to him, he has the ability to turn invisible by clouding people's minds. But apparently it doesn't work on children.

The two quickly started hanging out and specimen 486 got a new name, he's now called Claude (which he thought was better than his old name). Her dad already knows about her imaginary dog named Claude, so it will make it easier to talk to Claude the yeti without her dad getting suspicious.

Abigail and Claude's fun didn't last too long because the Men in Black were approaching the park leaving Abigail, Claude and her very confused father to make a quick get away back home. Unfortunately the MIB overheard some information that may make it easier to find Claude.

Finding Claude is one thing, capturing him is another. The two MIBs had a difficult time trying to do just that when they showed up to Abigail's school trying to recapture specimen 486. Their plan backfired leaving them on an unexpected trip. But that wasn't the end of Abigail and Claude's troubles, the government sent for a new more dangerous agent to bring in the yeti.

This is a fast paced interesting story from the first issue all the way to the last and it becomes more exciting as it goes on with Abigail and Claude having to stay ahead of the agents. I love the cuteness and creativity of this story as it captures the sometimes odd yet tender and wonderful friendship between Abigail and Claude. Plus, there is plenty of humor and action and fun and vivid illustrations to keep the reader's attention.