A Few Thoughts on Comics from a Couple Weeks Ago

Yes I'm behind, yes time is limited, yes let's get to this!

Amazing Spider-Man #630 continues the Gauntlet storyline with the return of the Lizard. Long term storylines get nudged forward. The Lizard seems bigger and less human than ever before. Nice creepy start to this part of the story.

The Spectacular Spider-Girl returns in a new number 1! Yay! Since soliciting the book, it's gone from a series to a four part limited series. Boo! The gang war that's been heating up in the various Spider-Girl appearances of late is hitting a pinnacle here as a retired 'player' returns to the game in this issue: the Punisher. Even as a white haired older man, Frank Castle still kicks butt. This should get messy very fast.

Uncanny X-Men #524 deals with the fallout of the issue previous in the 'Second Coming' storyline. It seems to be a breather issue to build importance around the tragic event that just occurred, to give it depth. I thought it succeeded in that but am forced to wonder how long it'll be before this tragic event gets reversed.

Walt Disney Comic #706 features the fourth and final part of the 'World to Come' storyline. Will Mickey and Minnie be able to stop the Rhyming Man from reshaping the world to his liking? Well, it's a Disney comic so an unhappy ending is unlikely. This was a good, solid storyline and I really enjoyed it. It was clever, it had action, it brought up some complicated thoughts in a simple way. It was a good story told in a sweet but not sugary way.

Muppet King Arthur ends with issue #4. While I wasn't completely on-board with this story, the end 'battle' where Kermit and Robin fight with bad puns is funny and very Muppety. Kermit gets a good Kingly speech and everything turns out okay, even if it's because the script demands it. A certain Scottish gargoyle that gargles Gershwin makes a brief appearance at the end. I think the ending was good enough to raise the series up a notch. Still no Muppet Peter Pan but this was okay.

The Muppet Show Comic Book #5 continues the Family Reunion storyline (there's even more? Yay!) with the reappearance of Randy and Andy Pig from Muppets Tonight. The 'Genius' (aka Scooter's 'unnamed' twin sister) is still around and helping out. Unsurprisingly, the dimwitted Randy and Andy mess things up, annoy their aunt Piggy, and get into trouble. They try to make up for everything and succeed at failing. This job is too hard! Classic. Hilarious. Get this.

Music Monday - Jim Henson

Yes, I'm aware that we had Music Monday with the Muppets not too long ago but yesterday, May 16th, was the 20th anniversary of Jim's death and, well, I can't let that pass completely without saying something. I mean, MuppetVision 3D just reopened from its refurb in time for this past weekend. That just can't be a total accident. If they can do a nod, we should too.

Much of Jim's work was tied to music. Early sketches on 'Sam and Friends' involved puppets miming to records. This no doubt made it easier for him to perform along to a recorded track later during the Muppet Show for things like this:



Those guys look familiar at all? Take another look to be sure. Yup, the Muppets are caricatures of the performers: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Jerry Nelson. Neat way to 'appear' on your own show, huh?

Musically the Muppet Show was also educational as I heard many different types of music that I wouldn't otherwise have been exposed to on my own. Was I drawn to Gilbert and Sullivan? Only so much that one of my favorite records had one of their songs on it. Sure it's Rowlf and Sam singing it but that's still cultural, right? Why is it Rowlf the Dog, Sam the Eagle, Kermit the Frog, but not Fozzie the Bear? Hmm.



I softened you up with silly songs for this moment. At least the intro sequence is trimmed back because the couple minutes leading up to this are the Saddest Thing Ever.



One more silly song? Yes, I think that sounds like a good plan.



Once again, thanks Jim. That was swell.