Cabin Head and Tree Head | Review

Cabin Head and Tree Head
Writer/artist: Scott Campbell
Tundra Books; $13.99
Publisher’s age rating: 6-9 years

Most readers probably know artist Scott Campbell, sometimes known as Scott C., from his picture books. He wrote and drew Hug Machine and illustrated such books as Skulls, Zombie in Love, and XO, Ox. That or, perhaps, from his Great Showdowns books, wherein he boils various films down to their core conflicts, drawing opposing characters standing on opposite sides of the page, looking blankly at one another. (If you haven’t read any of those, they are much funnier than I’m making them sound.)

As accomplished an illustrator and artist as Campbell is, he’s also a cartoonist, and he’s got a new comic book for kids out. And it’s a silly one. His Cabin Head and Tree Head stars two friends with those names, both of them quite abstract humanoid characters with, well, with a cabin and tree on their heads, respectively.

The pair live in a world of similar “Heads” of various sizes and colors, all with something on their head by which they are identified. So there’s a Pool Head, who has a swimming pool for a head (complete with little human beings playing in it). And Automobile Head, who has an automobile on his head. And…well, you get the idea at this point, right?

It’s basically our world, only everything in it—buildings, vehicles, objects—is atop a Head’s head, human beings seemingly living obliviously in those buildings, driving those vehicles and using those objects.

This idea has apparently been with Campbell for a while now. In the 2007 fourth volume of editor Kazu Kibuishi’s Flight anthology, Campbell drew a 14-page short story called “Igloo Head and Tree Head,” which reads like a rough draft for the first story in Cabin Head, as it includes some of the same beats and features some of the same characters. (Those Flight volumes are interesting to look at these days, by the way, as so many of the creators in the table of contents have since gone on to create a shelf full of popular kids comics; the volume with Campbell’s story, for example, also features a story by Raina Telgemeier.)

The 2025 book, in addition to changing the name of one of the main Heads (and, thus, the thing on its head), features slightly simpler designs, with brighter colors and more airy, breathable panels. It’s also much more leisurely paced. Still, it’s undeniably the work of Campbell, who has a very distinct style, mixing loose, super-cartoony designs and renderings with lovely watercolors.

The book consists of six short, silly stories (followed by a few far shorter, maybe sillier stories featuring various “Friend Heads”).

The first story, “Hellos,” has our leads greeting one another, and then, with Tree Head feeling “a case of the hellos coming on,” running around greeting all the other Heads, a nice introduction to this idiosyncratic world that culminates in a beautiful two-page spread full of the various Heads going about their days.

Other stories involve Cabin Head taking up painting and hanging his art on Brick Wall Head’s wall, Tree Head digging for treasure, various Heads sharing a great hiding spot until they pile up so high we meet the two biggest Heads of all get involved (Earth Head and Moon Head, I assume they are named) and Tree Head getting a “leafcut” from Garden Head, who has been using shears to create topiary on various Bush Heads.

The book’s final full story is “Bye-Byes,” wherein our leads try to say goodbye to one another and part ways, but it doesn’t quite take.

These are followed by a trio of short stories: “Story Time with Library Head,” “Pool Party with Pool Head,” and “Drawing Time with Box of Crayons Head.”

Like a sillier, hipper, absurdist comic book Frog and Toad, Campbell’s Cabin Head and Tree Head features two best friends going about their lives and enjoying one another’s company.

And should you find it charming, good news: Another book is apparently already in the pipeline. The last page features the title characters kneeling and each giving a thumbs up, along with the words “Cabin Head and Tree Head shall return for more wonderful book times!”

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