By Dustin Cabeal

The Short Con is quirky and fun. It attempts to be all-ages in that it’s made for kids but can be enjoyed by adults, but it never finds the right balance of the humor throughout. Sometimes the jokes hit the spot and other times they felt forced or out of place.

The story is about a recently orphaned girl that’s been shipped off to the orphanage. From there it turns into a cop story about a kid detective. I’m not joking, the head nun is the chief of police, one of the other orphans is the lead detective that goes through partners like candy and the new girl must solve the case of how she became an orphan. There are twists and turns, but 90% of what you’ll read is tropes that are familiar with the buddy cop/private eye genre. The joke is that it’s two orphan girls and some nuns.

The writing is solid, the story has a tight pacing keeping the jokes flying, but it’s not without its serious moments. Again, not every joke lands and a lot of them feel forced. The character development is well developed and a staple of the story.

The art is gorgeous. There was only one design that I had a problem with, but I can’t say what it was because it’s a spoiler. Otherwise, it’s a good-looking book with strong visuals. The coloring has a water colored look to it, I have no idea if it is, but that’s what it looks like. The linework is clean and detailed with just the right level of depth. The details never drown out the rest of the artwork.

There’s not a lot to The Short Con, you’ll either see what it’s doing and like it or you won’t. It’s at times all over the place which is strange since it’s so consistent with its look, story pacing, and characters, but the humor struggles to fall in line. If you have a kid, they’re likely to love it.

Score: 4/5

The Short Con
Creators: Pete Toms and Aleks Sennwald
Publisher: Alternative Comics/Study Group Comics