Best comics of 2010: No. 2 (tie) : The Muppet Show

Whoda thunk it?
There should be no way The Muppet Show would translate into a comic book. Gags are dependent on timing, and there's so much of this you just can't reproduce on a printed page.



It's so delightful in such a cornball way. There should be no way that the old guys in the balcony or the backstage antics work in a comic book.
But they do!

The drawing is perfect. Much as I like The Simpsons comic line, sometimes the art is just wrong for the characters. Not so here!

Every issue, there's a couple story lines going- the one onstage and the one backstage, just like in the show. However, in the comic, they can stretch a bit more. the layouts offer chances for innovation, and they're able to take the storyline outside the studio, which the show seldom did (aside, of course, from the immortal PIGS IN SPACE, which I still say should have been a feature film).

Charming, witty stories of werewolves and Sherlock Holmes pastiches, interspersed with wisecracking deities gaming with the lives of our troupe.
Writer/artist Roger Landridge, who sadly announced his departure from  the book amicably for his own reasons by the end of 2010, created an unexpected masterpiece out of what was largely thought of as a dated kids' show. The artist on issues 4 - 8 was one Amy Mebberson, whose work is deserving of recognition in its own right.
Landridge began doing Muppet comics in the late lamented Disney Adventures Digest. this was another haven for kid's comics.
A couple points need to be made here.
First, I'm so sick of hearing things like "safe for kids" and "fun for all ages"that I could puke coat hangers. A good story is a good story is a good story. Are there stories that are too nuanced for kids? Possibly, but you could make the same argument for many adults. Sadly, there are a  large number of adults who think this material is somehow beneath them, more fools they.
Second, this is not the first time that The Muppets have been around the funny books. In addition to appearances in The Muppet Magazine of the mid-80s, Marvel had a great Muppet Babies comic as part of their 80s Star! line of comics aimed at the youth market.

These were also very smart, imaginative comics. But Muppet Babies was the best thing on Saturday morning for 7 years (1984 - 1991), so they had great source material too.
We wish Landridge well in his future endeavors. He's also moving on from writing THOR, which means we'll probably never see this scene....

Much as I like Simonson's Thor-frog, pictured below, Landridge's might be better. You be the judge.

Next: Best of 2010: the runners-up.

THOR!

When I was a kid, one of the comics I used to defend my reading habits was Thor. I thought the mythic overtones, coupled with the faux-Shakespearean High English lent the book sufficient legitimacy that, as Thor might say, none would dare question its veracity!
At San Diego Comic-Con this year, they ran a trailer for the upcoming THOR film. Naturally (and I suspect possibly deliberately) it leaked out afterward.
As embedding appears to be disabled, please use the live link above for as long as it lasts!

In hindsight, as much fun as the Lee/Kirby Thor was, it really wasn't all that well-written. There was a sameness to the soap opera aspects, but Kirby's art was at its peak on this book, at least for me.

In the last couple years, the writing took a turn for the better under the auspices of J. Micheal Straczynski (who is no longer on the book, having jumped ship to DC, at least for now). His take on Thor reintroduced the book's majesty, while retaining its wit. Usually, when a writer is "witty" on a comic, it's at the expense of the characters. Not so here. JMS is capable of balancing humor and respect for his subject matter. That's great. Snark is nearly worthless. If you dont' respect the subject you're writing about, how can you expect that your readers will?

As for the trailer, Thor's look is based on the JMS storyline. It works. I have a minor problem with the early shots of Asgard. These are Norse gods. Their  home should look like it's carved of cold stone (as it does later on after Loki assumes power), not gleaming polished CG metal.
I shy away from many superhero comics to film adaptations these days. I'm not seeing Iron Man II until it hits Netflix. And as much as I like M. Night's work, the clips my friends showed me from The Last Airbender were quite painful.
But this looks promising.