Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Muppet King Arthur #1Muppet King Arthur #1
Boom! Kids Comics
Benjamin, Storck & Alvarez

Each time I see that the Muppets are coming out with a new mini series I get excited and I cringe at the same time. I cringe because I find myself thinking the new series can't possibly measure up to the previous one, in this case Peter Pan. However, one issue into this mini series and my fears have disappeared. This comic book is fresh, exciting, funny, clever and is an overall excellent read.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe set up follows the standard Arthur lore where the Knight's aid finds himself with Excalibur and by right, becomes King of England. Kermit is Arthur. His chief opposition is the gruff Knight, Sam the Eagle, who can't seem to keep straight which country he's in.

From there the players fall into place. Kermit has his Merlin and finds the Lady of the Lake. Additionally, to make room for all of the Muppets some other spots are created like a jester-like character. A teaser at the end of the book hints at which Muppets are showing up in the next issue or two to round out the cast of characters.

As a set up issue it does a great job of getting through the introductions and the basics of the story. However, the comic book doesn't waste time telling a story at the expense of making the comic book fun. There are plenty of great sequences of funny interactions as well as an ample amount of one-liners. There is even one part where after they banter nonsense back and forth they admit that they just wasted a page in the book. It's all good stuff and it even makes use of editor's notes to break the fourth wall to the reader. It's clever and very effective.

The artwork is definitely a change from what we've seen in the other Muppet series. Even those drawn by cartoonists are not the same as this one. This style is much more Saturday morning cartoon-like as opposed to depicting the characters as if they came from the movies or the TV show. It's a nice style and makes the comic book more light-hearted, but it does take some getting used to as some of the expressions make some of the characters look like sock puppets. That's not really a negative criticism it's just an observation and it makes the dialogue have more of an appropriate silly reaction when it needs it.

A new creative team and a new setting to drop the Muppets into results in another hit on Boom's hands. This is a comic book that makes you laugh, that moves fast and puts the familiar characters in interesting situations. There's a lot to like here.

4 out of 5 Geek Goggles