Boom! Kids - Incredibly Muppetational

I almost didn't pick up these two comics, but then someone pointed out the glaring omission in my Comic Book Day post.

The Incredibles #1
The Muppet Show Comic Book #1

I was in the comic shop looking at everything that had come in. I saw these, and while not all that interested in the Incredibles (other than liking the movie, and being a fan of comics for kids). I was very excited about the Muppet Show book. I have no idea what distracted me, but I ended up turning around forgetting to pick it back up. I posted my CBD post, and then when it was mentioned the next day in a comment, I stood up and took my lunch hour at the comic store.

I wanted to go back to the store, as it is my happy place, so I didn't really need much prompting. I am really glad that I did.

The Muppet Show Comic #1 - I watched the Muppet Show pretty religiously when it first aired. I loved everything about it, and didn't mind that I was sometimes made fun of for singing the theme song at odd times in school. I owned a Miss Piggy hand puppet, and an Animal puppet as well, and saw nothing odd about that. It was definitely MY SHOW at the time. This comic seriously captures the feel of the show. The humor is spot on, the writing is great, the characters are like old friends. Will this have the same impact on people that didn't grow up with the show? Will this only be purchased by folks like me for nostalgia, or folks unlike me that grew up at some point but bought the DVD's of the show for their kids.

This comic has the Muppet Show just as you would remember it. It is certainly a kids, or all ages comic as far as the nature of the content is concerned. The art is great, without working too hard to make the characters look like photos of the originals. It even has celebrity guests in the form of a Keith Richards/ Mick Jagger analog. It has songs and gags and skits, and perhaps more 'behind the scenes story than the tv show, but rightfully so. I think this works really well, but as I said, I am not sure if it will draw the sort of audience it deserves. Hopefully good reviews will prompt people to read it, and recommend it.

The Incredibles #1 - I loved the movie. I guess it seems like a reasonable jump, but I am still not convinced that there needs to be an Incredibles comic. In comics, kids could read stories about the characters and settings that the Incredibles was in homage to. The movie was great, but why not just read a Marvel Adventures book? I think that question may miss a few possible points. There are plenty of kids for whom super hero MOVIES are their real introduction to superheroes. There are plenty I am sure, for whom the Incredibles specifically may have been the first super hero related thing that caught their interest (I suggest this because it makes sense, not because I have any real proof of this). Like the movie, this comic focuses on the family and the family dynamic, and has a bit more of the parents perspective than something like Sky High for instance. The kids are featured, but it is about the family, and the parents run the family. That isn't a bad thing to see. I think the comic is well written (Mark Waid), and looks good, but it doesn't particularly wow me. I am not sure what I would have thought of it as a kid. I think I would not have considered it a real 'Super Hero Comic', but it is better than a lot of licensed things, and hopefully finds an audience.