Illustrated by Shelli Paroline, Braden Lamb, Lucy Kinsley, and Zac Gorman
Boom! Studios
The evil Lich continues his sweep of destruction, gathering up more of Finn and Jake's friends. But our two heroes have a plan that just might work--if they can stop eating sand sandwiches. Perhaps things aren't quite as in the bag as they seem for the dastardly Lich! Plus, it's laundry day for Finn and Jake, where they learn a lesson in cleanliness from Marceline, and the vampyric guitarist has post-gig depression. It's all contained in the second issue of Adventure Time!
I was a bit lukewarm about the first issue when it came out, because while I thought the comic had its moments, it seemed like it was mostly for fans of the show, and I have never seen an episode. With this issue, however, the series is growing on me. Not only was the North-penned opening story more attuned to his style of humor (little asides to the reader at the bottom of several pages, for example), the artwork by Paroline and Lamb does a great job of being humorous all by itself, with lots of little visual gags and depictions that match North's writing style perfectly. The running gag about sand creations might have been my favorite, and it seems like both writer and artists are getting the hang of how to make these characters their own.
The main backup story, by Lucy Kinsley, steals the show, however. Using an old comedy gag (the ruined clothes trick) to good effect, it starts and ends with a nice visual pun. I love that Finn and Jake are completely okay with doing the most ridiculous tasks just to have their laundry back. It's a neat little story that helps flesh out the book.
You have to be of a certain kind of mind to enjoy Adventure Time as an adult--probably the same type of person who watches SpongeBob Squarepants or looks for the adult references on Sesame Street--but if you are, then this is definitely a comic to add to your pull list. Issue #3 will be out tomorrow, and I look forward to seeing what North has the characters do next.
Thanks to Boom! Studios for the review copy.
