Wonderful re-imagining of Meg & Mog takes stoner art to new highs

Turning beloved children’s book characters into depressed junkies is always going to be a gamble. Simon Hanselmann’s Megg and Mogg comics are tragic, sick and sort of sacrilegious – they’re also absolutely wonderful and have been my favourite thing on Tumblr for many, many months now.

The original Meg and Mog stories, written by Helen Nicoll and illustrated splendidly by Jan Pienkowski, first appeared in the 1970s and chart the adventures of hapless witch Meg and her faithful companions Mog and Owl. With a methadone-fueled 21st Century twist, Tasmanian Hanselmann has turned Meg green, added some ‘g’s and made the trio’s travails a whole lot darker. The stories mostly revolve around getting high. Along with the gloomy, squalid stuff – the Diet Coke bottles full of piss, the “sadness mattress”, the blood and borderline bestiality – is a beautifully drawn lesson in friendship. And to top it all off Hanselmann’s got terrific comic timing.