The Muppet Show: The Comic Book (2009), Volume 4

October 12, 2009
A TV musical variety puppet show that's been off the air for more than 25 years is an unlikely source for a comic book. Fortunately, Langridge is the perfect cartoonist for the job: his sense of humor draws so heavily on vaudeville, light verse and absurdist blackout sketches that it's as if the franchise were created specifically for him to play with. His timing is impeccable, and his visual style has exactly the right mix of dignified gravity and dizzy silliness. (As with the TV show, we almost always see the Muppets from the waist up only.) Each of the four episodes collected here has a little bit of a narrative through-line (an insurance investigator trying to find out exactly what kind of creature Gonzo is, for instance), but they're mostly an excuse for Langridge to fire off a fusillade of recurring routines (The Swedish Chef! “Pigs in Space”! Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker!) and single-page inventions, gracing nearly every panel with little bonus sight gags. Langridge's command of the Muppet characters is so deft and witty that this volume is as good as having more episodes of the show.

November 15, 2010
Grades 3-6 Boom! Studios is single-handedly responsible for a renaissance in quality franchise-character kids comics, with The Incredibles, Toy Story, and their Harvey-winning Muppet Show. Interspersed with old sketch favorites like Pigs in Space and Veterinarians Hospital, Kermit and the gang face behind-the-scenes chaos stirred up by visits from Miss Piggys nephews, Fozzies mother, and Scooters sister, whose ulterior motives bring a new twist of mystery to the proceedings. All the distinctive personalities come shining through, and the mix of corny vaudeville and savvy humor still scores, but the greatest triumph here is Mebbersons jaw-dropping art, which captures not only the precise look of the characters but also their ability to express themselves so powerfully using nothing but contortions of their mouths, keeping the feel of the book wonderfully true to Jim Hensons original Muppet magic. Younger readers who dont have the characters prewritten into their cultural lexicon may be caught off guard by the style of humor at first, but this book is a dandy way to discover the Muppets incomparable charm.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)