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In Science Tales, cartoonist Darryl Cunningham gives scientific myths and hoaxes the comic-strip treatment

WITH talking penguins and smoking skulls, cartoonist Darryl Cunningham debunks myths, hoaxes and bad science in his new comic Science Tales.

Cunningham鈥檚 charming artwork complements his concise arguments on climate change, the first moon landing and homeopathy, among other subjects. He consistently champions the scientific method over all forms of quackery, and his stark lines and simple layouts give his comic the feel of a scientific analysis. The artwork is uncluttered, leaving little to distract the reader from the exposition, delivered in stripped-back, staccato prose.

His direct approach is a powerful hook 鈥� he appears on the page speaking directly to the reader, though you would not recognise the real-life artist from these pictures. As well as presenting arguments from the viewpoint of an all-knowing narrator, he pays homage to a great tradition in British comics by including a reader鈥檚 voice to ask many questions.

The result is generally well researched and often humorous. In a chapter on climate change, a penguin explains the loss of ice sheets. In his tightly argued chapter 鈥淭he Moon Hoax鈥�, Cunningham dismantles conspiracy theorists鈥� notions of NASA staging the lunar landing on a film set point by point. Throughout, Cunningham pulls no punches, and includes photos to bolster his attacks. He also fleshes out the content with his own anecdotes and experiences.

But Science Tales isn鈥檛 perfect. The drawback of the bare prose is that at times the text feels like a disconnected series of statements rather than a flowing narrative. Sentences break between panels, which can jar the reading experience. And the level of detail changes from chapter to chapter, which makes it all the more noticeable when details are lacking. The section on the MMR vaccine scandal, for example, revels in specifics, but in the chapter on evolution, some ideas are presented as statements with only slim explanations.

Cunningham set a high standard in his previous comic, Psychiatric Tales, a collection of autobiographical vignettes of life as a psychiatric nurse. Science Tales doesn鈥檛 quite live up to this earlier work, perhaps because, favouring a more expository style, it lacks the personal touch.

It is still well worth a read, though 鈥� and will surely provide plenty to argue about for mythbusters and quacks alike.