With all the stir that your average boy wizard kicks up when he hits the classrooms, it's about time a school-age barbarian came along. And this one comes along like gangbusters, transported to our world as the guardian of an evil overlord's big toe. The pint-size Conan befriends Bill, one of the losers from room 3G; encounters the sorcery of flushing toilets; convinces classmates that the sun is actually a flaming eyeball; battles monstrous invaders; and, naturally, helps his new friend go head-to-head with the school bully on the dodgeball field. Rex (Goodnight Goon, 2008) finds rollicking opportunities in this scenario, plumbing both third-grade humor (including the mother of all nose-picking jokes) and insecurities to fine narrative effect. This first in a new series makes a bizarrely appropriate companion piece for the ever-popular Babymouse series, with its lightning pace and absurd but heartfelt story. The blocky figures and zany action are fit so like Babymouse to a mainly monochromatic palette: in this case, a savagely barbaric . . . orange?