A Muppetational Comic

A Muppetational Comic

Apr 03

I recall being a pretty big Muppet fan as a kid-I have a beat-up copy of some book called Kermit’s Garden of Verses, a book of poetry ostensibly written by Kermie himself and featuring artwork of all the characters; in the back, I wrote my own poem about my dad, which is not as good as Kermit’s deathless verse, but I tried.

But it was in college that I rediscovered the Muppets and picked up on the layers of satire, heartfelt storytelling, and subversive humor that have always coursed through the best Muppet projects.

The new Muppet Show Comic Book by Roger Langridge from Boom! Studios has all of the above in spades. Langridge has done a remarkable job taking something that doesn’t seem like it could ever translate seamlessly into a comic book and, well, seamlessly translating it into a comic book.

The comic preserves the sketch + story format of the original show, with one or two-page gags interspersed with scenes in an overall tale about Kermit missing the swamp. The bits are smart-ass, occasionally dark, and consistently funny. Kermit’s story is endearing and sweet, a bit of a coda to the first Muppet movie, in a sense.

I love how Langridge has translated the Muppets themselves into cartoons; it’s so neat to see how expressive their faces become when they’re disconnected from the “reality” of felt and plastic. Their reactions are often priceless, and I can’t get enough of the man’s Gonzo. (THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID) He draws the furry little.whatever as this tiny, crazed maniac with these bugged-out eyes. It fits the character perfectly and in fact takes him to a new level.

If you like Muppets, if you have kids who like Muppets; if you like comedy comics; if you have kids who don’t know squat about the Muppets but SHOULD know squat about the Muppets; if you like good comics; if you have a heart and/or a brain and/or a pancreas, BUY THE MUPPET SHOW COMIC BOOK.

SAM THE EAGLE SAYS SO.