The post Comic of the Week: “The Muppets Take the Marvel Universe” appeared first on G33K-HQ.
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“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.
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]]>The post Comic of the Week: “The Muppets Noir” #1 appeared first on G33K-HQ.
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“The Muppets Noir” is written, lettered, and illustrated by Roger Langridge, a writer and artist from New Zealand, also known for comics including “Frankenstein Meets Shirley Temple,” IDW’s “Popeye” and “The Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror,” and a few Muppets comics for Boom Studios and Marvel, so he has experience with Muppet comics. Dearbhla Kelly provides the colors, bringing both the Muppet Studios set and gray-toned noir setting to vibrant life.
So, what is the plot of “The Muppets Noir?” As one would expect, it’s a Muppet version of a black and white detective story, featuring Kermit the Frog as a private eye who narrates his every thought (you can practically hear the saxophone playing in the background while reading), taking on a case that leads him through encounters with other Muppets as various characters. Hijinks ensue.
However, the comic also uses a framing device, where it’s all Kermit’s dream, after he gets knocked out in a way that could only happen in The Muppet Show. This framing helps introduce some key elements to the story, including Kermit’s detective name and the recurring use of pies throughout the story, while adding a layer of explanation for things like random musical numbers.
Kermit’s detective story is pretty typical noir fare, which is appropriate for the comic. He’s hired to find a runaway heiress (played by Miss Piggy, naturally), and his quest takes him across the city, where he encounters familiar Muppet characters in new but appropriate roles.
We get appearances from Muppet Show staples like Fozzie Bear and Gonzo, along with recognizable characters like Crazy Harry and Sweetums in smaller roles, and a creative assortment of background characters. They all work well in their respective roles, like Sam the Eagle as a cop who’s all too eager to hand out tickets, while helping move the story forward at a steady pace.
(Of course, Miss Piggy wouldn’t let a comic go by without her having multiple appearances, so she keeps appearing in obvious disguises throughout the story; what that means for the narrative will be revealed in time.)
The comic also uses a fun story tool for musical numbers, as Kermit’s detective character has a condition where being around pies makes him see everything as a musical. This is accompanied by a shift in the color scheme, adding vibrant colors or a sepia tone to the normally black and white background, along with the dialogue switching to rhyming schemes to set a general tune for the musical number. The rhyme scheme, character positions, colors, and even text boxes help set the tune of musical numbers, so you can get a good idea of how the song goes even without musical accompaniment.
This is a comedic story above all else, and writer/artist Roger Langridge does a good job with both the visual and story humor. We get good gags both in the Muppet Studio and the flashback, ranging from clever jokes to slapstick bits to character-driven humor, so it’s easy to get a laugh out of the comic. All the while, the characters stay true to the Muppets we know and love, as Langridge has a good grasp of their voices and personalities.
Visually, the comic does a good job capturing both the chaos of The Muppet Show and the stylings of a noir detective film. The way panels are set often reflects how the camera angles and shot compositions would look in an episode of The Muppet Show, a Muppet movie, or a noir film, and while the panels are primarily regular squares, they shift shape during the musical numbers to make the moments feel all the more dreamlike and active.
Langridge’s artwork falls cleanly on the cartoon side of the realism-to-cartoon scale, as is appropriate for a comic about the Muppets. It’s not hyper-detailed, but there’s enough filling each panel to make it feel active and alive, with well-placed shadows and lining to add texture and depth to the images.
The designs for some characters match up perfectly with their Muppet counterparts, while others feel more like their designs are given a more humanoid form to better match the story. So while they don’t always match the puppets in every detail, it makes them easier to move across the panel in a way that feels natural. Kermit has a noticeable shift once he dons his detective outfit, which appears to be an intentional choice.
The colors by Dearbhla Kelly also deserve praise, bringing a bright tone to the Muppet Studios stage before shifting to shades of gray for the noir moments. The colors are mostly flat tones, but there’s just enough shading to add light and shadows around the characters that help add volume to the designs.
Color and lack thereof play noticeable roles in setting the atmosphere; we go from the colorful set to a black-and-white world, where only the characters and sound effects have color and vibrancy to them. But when the world shifts to a musical number, the color scheme changes too, further emphasizing the change.
So, is “The Muppets Noir” worth reading? If you’re a Muppets fan, especially one with an appreciation for film noir, you’re going to have a good time. If you’re not a Muppets fan… I’m sorry your life is so devoid of joy. Overall, “The Muppets Noir” is a fun Muppet story that works with the characters well and plays with film noir tropes, making it a most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, and perhaps even Muppetational comic.
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