Comic of the Week: “The Muppets Take the Marvel Universe”

Welcome back to Comic of the Week, our semi-weekly-ish comics column. This week, The Muppet Show celebrates its 50th anniversary with a most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational comic, featuring a wide array of comic book talent. Disney is putting that corporate synergy to use and throwing two of their properties together for the crossover to end all crossovers: “The Muppets Take the Marvel Universe.”

“The Muppets Take the Marvel Universe” is a collection of stories contributed by different writers and artists. They vary in length, but the longest one is “The Greatest Show (Not) On Earth,” written by Chip Zdarsky and illustrated by Pete Woods. This is the big team-up, where the Muppets must get the help of the Avengers (and other Marvel heroes) to rescue one of their cast from Mojo and his sinister streaming service, Mojo+.

One of the most important elements of this story is how well the characters from both universes interact, and what elements from Marvel and Muppets mesh. I’m happy to say that “The Greatest Show (Not) On Earth” absolutely nails it. As soon as Dr. Bunsen Honeydew brings his fellow Muppets to “The Interdimensional Council of Bunsens” (a clear reference to Marvel’s Interdimensional Council of Reeds), the crossover elements fall into place perfectly.

Chip Zdarsky finds excellent combinations of Marvel and Muppet characters to meet and interact with to give us the best gags and character moments alike. Howard the Duck creates a smooth transition from the Muppet animals to Marvel heroes, after which everyone finds a good counterpart. We get Fozzie Bear and Spider-Man teaming up for the wisecracks, Deadpool and Gonzo bonding over their shared weirdness, and Emma Frost finding a kindred spirit in Miss Piggy.

All the while, Zdarsky maintains strong voices for all of the characters, Muppet and Marvel alike, making their interactions feel natural and not making one outshine the other. Characters like Statler and Waldorf get to heckle, Sam the Eagle embraces Captain America’s patriotic attire, and even Iron Man and Rowlf get a good little heart-to-heart. The comic even has a good blend of Muppet Show comedy and Marvel Comics action, seamlessly transitioning without making either feel like an afterthought.

So yes, it is quite funny.

Pete Woods does a fantastic job with the artwork as well, making the Muppets fit in with the Marvel Universe without losing their distinct designs. While the Muppet characters maintain their puppet appearances, their body language and the way they’re framed in the panels make them properly emote and mesh with the Marvel superheroes. Of course, Woods also does a great job with the Marvel characters, capturing their iconic designs with a style that has just enough detail and color to make them stand out without contrasting their Muppet counterparts.

One of the best elements of Woods’ art style comes through in how he frames the characters within the panels and the angles he draws them from. Important moments can stand out more with nicely angled shots, like when we see Rowlf expertly play the piano from a slightly tilted view from above. Other moments receive equal thought and care, like the upward angle when we’re introduced to the Council of Bunsens that adds weight to the moment, or the splash panel where the Avengers burst through the Muppet Show banner.

Throughout the story, the colors are bright and clean, which helps bring the disparate character designs together and makes every page visually engaging. The Muppets, in their greens and pinks and blues, fit in naturally with the Avengers and their respective shades. When the colors shift, such as the darker corners in the Mojoverse, it helps subtly shift the mood and control the atmosphere to make key moments stand out all the more.

However, “The Greatest Show (Not) On Earth” is only part of “The Muppets Take the Marvel Universe,” so you might be wondering: do the other parts work just as well?

The other stories in “The Muppets Take the Marvel Universe” are shorter, coming in at five pages each. These provide opportunities to focus on individual characters meeting up, like Rocket and Groot meeting “Pigs in Space,” or Bruce Banner and Hank Pym making an appearance at Muppet Labs with Bunsen and Beaker.

Well, I’m happy to say that each of these stories is just as entertaining. While they’re more bite-sized stories, the writers and artists do a lot with the five pages they have.

“A Terrible Invention” (written by Kyle Starks, illustrated by Mike Henderson, and colored by Yen Nitro) brings the science sides of both worlds together, as doctors Banner and Pym discuss Bunsen’s disregard for both lab safety and Beaker’s personal safety. It’s filled with amusing dialogue from the exasperated scientists and ends with a great gag, including a fantastic full-page panel of… well, I won’t spoil it, but it works wonderfully.

“Pigs of the Galaxy” (written by MacKenzie Cadenhead, illustrated by David Baldeon, and colored by Yen Nitro) has the feel of a classic “Pigs in Space” sketch, complete with dramatic narration, bickering between the characters, and special guest stars Rocket and Groot. It’s pitch-perfect in story, pacing, and voice, making it feel like it was pulled straight from an episode of “The Muppet Show.”

“Bad Man” (written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, illustrated by Athila Fabbio, and colored by Mike Atiyeh) is perhaps the most unique of the stories, featuring a nearly dialogue-free story where Wolverine meets Doctor Teeth and the Electric Mayhem Band. The lack of dialogue means the art has to do a lot to convey the narrative and control the pacing, but Fabbio’s artwork handles it nicely. This also has the most distinct art, leaning a little more to the cartoonish side than the others, but in doing so makes the characters more expressive in their faces and body language, so it sells the story all the better.

“Just What the Chef Ordered” has the largest creative team, with Ashley Allen and Chef Paul Carmichael on the story (but just Ashley credited for the script), Paco Medina as the artist, and Yen Nitro back on colors. This story has Doctor Strange trying to get a soup to help Clea recover from a sickness from the Dark Dimension, but the only person capable of cooking such a soup is the Swedish Chef. This is a comedic story that embraces the wackiness of the Chef and Marvel’s multiverse, filled with bright colors and strong lighting.

Finally, “Muppets Assemble!” (written by Adam F. Goldberg and illustrated by E.J. Su) is a short story with a simple but fun concept: what if the Muppets auditioned to be Avengers? This gives a chance for a few characters who didn’t get a chance to appear in earlier stories to appear, such as Lew Zealand and Pepe the King Prawn, as well as get a few more gags out of popular characters.

“The Muppets Take the Marvel Universe” is fun and full of love for both “The Muppet Show” and the Marvel Universe. The characters work together better than anyone could have expected, thanks to the top-tier work of the writers and art teams. Each story had its fair share of laugh out loud moments, and it’s clear from the detail that went into every element that the comic is a work of love from everyone on it.

Here’s to another 50 years of Muppets and Marvels alike.