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It’s best to start this one off with a confession/explanation. Rob put out a comic in 2007 (or at least that’s when I reviewed it) called On the Banks of the Mighty Croal. That comic, like this one, was a narrated walking tour through the town of Bolton, a lot of which being adjacent to the Croal river. Now, that review was 16 years ago and, as you may have guessed, my memory of it is somewhere between hazy and nonexistent. So is this book a sequel to that comic, a continuation, or an expansion? It’s listed as having a new map in the synopsis on his website, so I’m guessing expansion/new edition. Look, since it’s been 16 years, chances are that it will seem new to you regardless. As for the comic itself, there’s not much to say that wouldn’t be me just repeating facts that I learned here, which would get boring for both of us in a hurry. Picture a walking tour accompanied by a guide who was funny and clever and also had both a lifetime of familiarity with the area and had done a ridiculous amount of research to dig up obscure facts and info. All that and it’s “narrated” by Telly Savalas, or at least it us until Rob is no longer able to afford him. It’s a fascinating journey, and if I was suddenly plopped into Bolton right now I feel like I’d have a fighting chance thanks to this comic. Now, if it was 16 years from now, probably not so much. Once again we play the conversion dance to try and guess pricing, and if I’m right it’s around $7 (but there’s a good chance I’m wrong).
