Adventure Time (Vol.1)
Written by: Ryan North
Illustrated by: Shelli Paroline, Branden Lamb & Mike Holmes
Created by: Pendleton Ward
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Titan Books (12 Nov 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1782760008
ISBN-13: 978-1782760009
When Lich, the giant zombie, skeleton monster decides he must put the entire land of Ooo into his bag, it’s left to Finn, the last human, and Jake, his dog, to save their post-apocalyptic world…
OK, if you don’t watch Adventure Time and the above introduction has left you scratching your head, then this may not be the review for you. This book is not the best place to jump onto the story. Go watch the series then get stuck into this book – trust me, it’ll be worth it.
Ryan North et all have done a great job here of capturing the spirit of Adventure Time in this book. The art work perfectly mirrors the animated show, the crazy characters are all here, well mostly, and the introduction of characters like The Dessert Princess doesn’t feel at all out of place, the story is insane, lacking any real grasp of reality, but it belongs in the world of Ooo. The final ingredient – and the most important as far as I’m concerned – is the sense of underlying darkness that permeates the whole proceedings.
The origins of Ooo are touched on in the book much as they are in the series –SPOILERS – with the little scene that shows Marceline before the mushroom bombs being a highlight of the layers that lie beneath this ‘kids show’. The series itself has interlaced themes of love and loss, the Ice King for example, the villain of the tale, has a tragic story hidden beneath his cold, mean exterior and indeed that’s hinted at here. The world of Ooo may well be our own world after the nuclear war that wiped out most of the humans, creating mutants and monsters and oddities that now wander our planet as Finn tries to find another human. Dark stuff for a kids cartoon, huh?
This first volume is a great companion to the series, faithful and note perfect, it’s a solid piece of work for anyone who finds the time between episodes much too long.
But, as I said already, if you aren’t a fan already this is not the place to start but if you’re already familiar with the world then this will be a fun little time filler.
4 out of 5 Nerds
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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