Earlier this month, it was revealed that Disney-owned Marvel Comics would be taking over publishing duties for Boom Studios regarding the Muppet comic books. While we still have many questions surrounding the future of Muppet comics, it’s worth looking back at Boom’s legacy and the mark they’ve left on the Muppets’ history.
The year was 2009. The month was March. The day was a Wednesday. The air was cool and there was an aura of trepidation amongst all Muppet fans. For the first time in over 10 years, we would be getting regular Muppet content. Not just a book or a made-for-TV special, but original material starring The Muppet Show gang in our hands on a monthly basis.
Lucky for us, the first creator tapped was Roger Langridge, who wrote all and illustrated most of The Muppet Show Comic. Not only did he put the Muppets back in the Muppet Theater where they belong, but he also brought back the variety show format, complete with the skits and songs and backstage chaos we all remember from the TV show. Add all that to the fact that it was actually funny and (at times) heartfelt, and Langridge quickly became the only current writer successfully capturing the essence of the Muppets (and not in a creepy Skeksis-sort of way).
Concurrent with The Muppet Show Comic Book were the “Muppet Classics” titles, which put the Frog and Pig and company into the personas of fairy tale and literary characters. And while the books were overall hit-or-miss, we were given a platform for different writers and artists with very different styles to tackle the Muppet characters. Because when you can’t get the real deal (sorry, Steve Whitmire’s voice doesn’t really sound so good on a comic page), variety is truly the spice of life. And we were introduced to some amazing talents like writers Grace Randolph and Jesse Blaze Snider, as well as artists like Amy Mebberson, Shelli Paroline, and David Petersen. I know I feel a great deal of pride when I see Muppet Peter Pan and Muppet Snow White on my shelf, and I remember the satisfied feeling I got when I read them for the first time. The Muppets, albeit only on the printed page, were back.
A real highlight for me (and for you, although you probably didn’t know it) was the relationship we got to build with the Boom Studios staff. Thanks to the diligence of Chip Mosher and Ivan Salazar in Boom’s Marketing Department, we had the rare opportunity to provide our readers with preview pages of every single Muppet comic book, as well as a little lead time to ensure that our reviews would be timely and not rushed. They also helped to get us in touch with the writers and artists, many of whom were accommodating enough to give us the time for an interview. They even gave ToughPigs a quote on the back of the Muppet Snow White trade collection. Needless to say, we got the royal treatment from the Boom crew, and we should be so lucky to get the same treatment from any other company in the future.
So now the nagging question is What do we expect from Marvel? First and foremost, we’re hoping for new, quality Muppet comics (they’ll be reprinting Roger Langridge’s Muppet Show comic, but there’s no word yet on original content). Beyond that, it would be nice to have the same opportunity to deliver the Muppet comic news to you with the same amount of reliability and punctuality. I’d also like to see more Muppet work from Jesse Blaze Snider, Amy Mebberson, Grace Randolph, Shelli Paroline, and Roger Langridge, because they have all laid some amazing groundwork for the theme of the comics already, and it would be a shame to deny us of more of their talent.
In the end, I’m left wondering how these last two years will be remembered in Muppet history. Will we recall Boom Studios as the oasis in the center of the Muppet Content Desert? Or will they be overshadowed by whatever will be riding the coattails of the new movie later this year? I know how I’ll think back on Boom: They gave us the Muppets when there were no other Muppets to be found, and that will be remembered for a long time to come.
Many thanks to everyone at Boom Studios for almost two years of quality Muppet comic books!
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by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com
