Agent Lion

Agent Lion presents a familiar premise and storyline—the humorously oblivious and incompetent detective who still manages to accidentally solve mysteries despite his incompetence. Lion works for the Super Detective Agents Agency. He is good natured and loves food—jelly donuts in particular. The mystery begins when he receives a call from Ms. Chief, who informs Lion that Ms. Flamingo’s cat is missing. Lion reports to Ms Flamingo’s apartment, which appropriately is the high rise doorman apartment building on the edge of the city. After a few blundering inquisitions by Lion, and a completely irrelevant investigation that involves jelly donuts, Lion finally solves mystery by accident just as he gives up the chase. There a hammy moments throughout, like when Lion supposedly takes the “most direct route” to the scene of the mystery, but the illustrations tell a different story, showing Lion’s path instead weaving through various detours: the carousel, the pizza store, the hot dog stand, the circus, the ice cream shop, and more. Or when Lion would like to know if Fluffy the cat has antlers, wings, or a trunk. Or when he noisily enters one apartment, where a perturbed Miss Hippo begs him to be quiet because her twins have barely fallen asleep, only to insist cats love polka, loudly play a tuba, wake the babies, and decide it is time to leave because the babies are crying and it’s “much too noisy in here for a cat.” The beginning feels a bit forced, and the ending is disappointingly simple without much of a mystery or an explanation of why Mrs. Flamingo hadn’t noticed Fluffy quietly sleeping among the throw pillows on the couch, discovered only when the discouraged Detective Lion sits down dejectedly. Despite a familiar, promising premise, a good watercolor and ink illustration style, and a likeable main character, it doesn’t quite reach its potential. But it’s a series to keep an eye on.