I Had Issues! My Old Review of Adventure Time #1

Adventure Time was another book I was sorry to drop when I stopped reviewing books a while back. Sadly, my girlfriend's daughter stopped reading most comics in favor of Manga, so I couldn't even use the excuse that I was buying it for her. I need to go to the library and pick it up again. Originally published February 14, 2012. Edited for further clarity.

 Despite its history of strong creators, Conan The Barbarian #1 exists partially for the sake of keeping a property in the hopes of turning it into another movie or series. "Adventure Time" is a hit TV series and new property that now exists as a comic, likely because people at Boom/Kaboom and Cartoon Network assume fans of the show will eat that up. 

This is pretty safe assumption. I've seen the show a few times now. It's good offbeat surrealist fun while still rooted as fantasy adventure with snappy dialogue between the two main characters Finn the Human and Jake The Dog and their various friends and adversaries in the Land of Ooo.

Ryan North writes the comic in the spirit of the show's quirky voice (if not quite in the same tone). He along with artists Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb add the same quirky humor and even some in-jokes (the fanfic writing Ice King, who is almost the Ooo equivalent of Comic Book Guy). It surprised me when it's main story was a two parter. I never see "To be continued" on the show. But I will be coming back for issue #2.

Like Fragile Rock by Archaia Entertainment, it's assembling a cast of alternative artists to give it their own spin. Aaron Reiner's "My Cider the Mountain" is an additional self-contained story of slow-building gross-out goodness I won't spoil with sample pages. It's nice to see another forum where the work of artists like Reiner and Jeffrey Brown (who supplied an alternative cover) can be shown in full color.

 Unlike Fragile Rock and other properties from Arachaia, Adventure Time is a comic book adaption of a new property, which is another plus for the book to survive in an uncertain market. Still, I will be handing my copy of Adventure Time #1 off to a friend's kid in the hopes of spreading the word and giving  the book the audience it deserves.