Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

The Muppet Show #1 of 4
Boom! Kids
Langridge & Digikore Studios

The Muppet Show comes to comics. How does a variety show with singing, physical humor and funny voices translate into a comic? In theory, it would seem to put the Muppets into a comic book a lot of the show’s format would have to be changed. However, this comic uses much of the format from the show and pretty much pulls off a funny, witty and interesting story that captures the essence of the show and of the Muppets. It’s not perfect, but it has the feel of a lost episode of the TV series and that means it hit its mark.

The comic begins with a newscast about the Muppets taking over comics. This provides an interesting lead-in basically telling the audience, “Hey we used to be a TV show and now we are in a comic book that you are looking at right now.” It’s a unique start to the comic but seemed to fit as the story pans out to the entire Muppet cast running amuck in their theater.

This invites Statler and Waldorf to engage in some banter and with that, only three pages into the comic it immediately feels like the TV show.

Then the story begins. Kermit receives some mail that puts him in a funk. The majority of the issue is spent with various cast members trying to cheer him up, mostly his nephew, Robin. The comic only spends portions of the story on Kermit as there are skits to be put on like Pigs in Space and Close Encounters of the Worst Kind.

The comic has a lot of elements to like in it. For one thing, the characters that are involved get their personalities out on the table immediately. Kermit, Miss Piggy and Chef are just a few of the characters that see ample page time and are able to cement themselves with their audience, whether it is old or new.

Another part of the story that works very well is the mixture of skits, back stage antics and out of theater scenes. It keeps the story moving around and not spending too much time in any one area. It helps to make the comic feel like the Muppets aren’t just putting on a show the entire time.

The only parts that I felt were tough to read and required some careful Studying were the songs. It’s tough to read a tune. I ended up just reading the lyrics like a poem. The other piece that felt missing was the lack of a celebrity guest. The comic had a couple of spoofs of what seemed to be Mick and Keith from the Stones, but it didn’t have that star that the show always had. I’m not saying we needed a real actor on every page, but just the inclusion for a portion of it would have made it feel that much more like the show.

The art was as true to the Muppets and the set as you can possibly get. Perhaps the best part of the art was the usage of eight to ten panels per page to help illustrate the action and the silliness. It was good to see the stupid jokes and physical humor play out on the paper.

This was a very good first issue to the series. I am looking forward to the rest of them and I hope I see more of my personal favorites, Statler and Waldorf, as well as some of the main characters who didn’t get much page time in this issue. This was a fun comic that brings to life a show that was brilliant in its own special way.

4 out of 5 geek goggles