Murphy the Rat: Tales of Tough City

Andrew Vaisius is a Winnipeg day-care director.

Paul Duggan might be reflecting on the life of a high-school teacher in
Murphy the Rat, or he might simply be having a good time. In either
case, Murphy is macabre and unredeemingly mean, despite its sprinkle of
guffaws: “Once there was a vampire / Who sucked the air right out of a
tire. / The tire was on the rig of a trucker / Who backed right up and
flattened the sucker.”

The subjects range from rats to ghouls, and include a passel of
unhinged children like Sweet Walter (“He’d fatten my eye and stomp
on my toes”); Sally, whose teeth “look like they were left beneath /
The compost in the yard”; and poor Judy with the feet that stretched
halfway across the street.

The rhymes are derivative, puerile, and anything but subtle (perhaps an
acquired taste): “Tough Cat’s on the prowl for Murphy, / But Murphy
only grins and chuckles; / ‘I hope he’ll be staying for lunch,’
says he, / ‘I’ll be serving up plenty of knuckles.’ ”

Daniel Sylvestre, who did the artwork, appears to have graduated from
the Ralph Steadman School of Ink Splatter, except Sylvestre’s work is
in glorious color. The pictures are actually an attractive eyeful, and
consistently outdo the poems in their use of imagery. Not a first-choice
purchase.