Cton is an orange, vaguely humanoid cartoon creature with pointy ears and a monobrow. His jelly-loving best friend Blob is, well, a big, green blob who leaves a trail of slime wherever he goes. Both should be familiar to readers of Owl magazine, where they regularly appear. In this seasonally themed book of comics, puzzles, and activities, they and their friends (human and monster alike) seek out ways to have fun by skiing, building forts, trick-or-treating, and going on road trips.

There are a few nods to respectability here, as in the spread about planting a tree or the occasional visual reference to healthy snacks and recycling, but on the whole, this is slimy, goofy, nutrition-free fun. Even the spread on giving your yard a fall makeover contains directives about both composting and digging “a hole to the warm part of the earth.”

Clayton Hammer is a creator of adult indie comics in his other life, and it shows, somewhat paradoxically, in the sheer relish he takes in filling every inch of page with semi-gelatinous silliness. The many maze-like comics are so densely packed as to be potentially headache-inducing, though young ones will likely love the challenge of following the tiny figures through their adventures. Cton and Blob offer nothing more than an hour or two of pure distraction, and are the better companions for it.