3 out of 5

A very cute mini-comic that does… too much!

The Sweeper & The Bad Eggs builds off of ‘The Sweeper‘ corner of Ben Sears Double+-verse – a junk-tech near-future of expressive animals, personable robots, and Wallace & Gromit rounded bodies / heads and soft corners.

When a crossing-signal worker cannot make their shift due to being under the weather, bird, cat, and Sweeper robo from the prior comic take up the duty, helping all sorts cross the busy street and cleanin’ up da junk ta boot. And they get to eat this time! During which: they see the titular “bad eggs,” hilarious shadow-versions of themselves with bad ‘tudes. After a hilarious fakeout with some litter, the book goes in its ‘yes, and…’ redirection again, but there’s more to the story this time that is kind of weighty for the wordless art style. It’s very crowded; some sequencing feels a bit off – it makes sense cinematically, but not necessarily in comic book format – and punchlines, due to the visual clutter, don’t always land.

But you get the gist, and it is irrepressibly cute, tapping into some classic 80s / 90s movie underdog vibes.

Done with light blue ink on off-white paper.