Today we have a special advance review for you, as this week brings the launch of Archaia’s new Fraggle Rock series. Featuring work from Heather White, Jeffrey Brown, Katie Cook, and Jeff Stokely, this issue packs a lot of talent into the further adventures of The Jim Henson Company’s cult classic from the 1980’s.
But is it any good?
Find out after the jump.
Also, before you begin reading this review, I highly recommend watching the theme or just listening to it while reading. Afterwards, don’t forget to dance your cares away as well.
FRAGGLE ROCK #1
Retail Price: $3.95
Page Count: 32 pages
Writers: Heather White, Jeffrey Brown and Katie Cook
Artists: Jeff Stokely, Jeffrey Brown and Katie Cook
When I watched this show in my childhood, I remember meeting it with a mix of wonder and fear. This show was a bit out there, and perhaps a bit too much for my childhood mind to handle. Jim Henson was always a bit of a covert allegorical wizard, and I was more interested in puppets and adventures than subtext. Yet, the return via Archaia’s new series piqued my interest, and I’m glad to say the first issue of their new Fraggletastic series is pretty damn fun.
In the first adventure (titled “A Throne of My Own”), Heather White, Jeff Stokely, and Lizzy John reintroduce us to our favorite characters as Gobo tries to prove himself as the best adventurer of Fraggle Rock and Red attempts to show that his bravery is no big deal. This story itself is very charming, as White has a great grasp on the characters, their odd adventures, and the lessons we learn through them. One of my favorite moments from the entire issue is when Mokey addresses all of the non-Fraggle Five Fraggles and trice tells them to not panic about Red and Gobo being trapped in the Gorg Garden.
The way Stokely renders the bottom two panels of the page, with the first being stunned silence and the second being complete pandemonium, is visual humor at its best. I loved their transition from glee to dazed to horrified in the range of three panels. Stokely captures the look of the series the best of the three issues, as he makes moments like the Fraggles Gorg domination to save their leaders really come to life on the page. Plus, he conveys visual charm and hilarity very well.
In “Time Flies”, the second adventure brought to us by Katie Cook, we’re delivered even more of an introduction to the characters. It shows us what happens when a Gorg loses his dad’s pocket watch down the well, much to Red’s delight. She turns it into a “game”, as they attempt to do various tasks in timed periods using the foreign and magical object that came down the well. Cook handles this story with an excess of both written and visual storytelling charm. She manages to make the characters all the more entertaining in her short story, and really seals the deal that Red is perhaps the most competitive lifeform on the planet, Fraggle or not. Plus, so much laundry!
The final story comes from Jeffrey Brown and Michael DiMotta and is titled “Red’s Big Idea”. It’s a funny little tale about the aha moment Red has when Goober and Wembley accidentally hit her in the head with a ball. This short story is all about the inventions Red and Cotterpin Doozer make together, with her latest design being the “Fraggleway” (aka the Fraggle version of the Segway). In an awesome last page from Brown he shows all of Red’s other inventions, which in itself is reason enough to pick the book up. It’s a fun little jab at modern culture, as all of the other Fraggles react in confusion to these popular human devices.
While this book isn’t for everyone, it is a very fun new release from Archaia for Fraggle fans and non-fans alike. I was surprised to find myself smiling throughout, enjoying the creativity the writers and artists displayed in this magical world created by the sage master Jim Henson. That makes it worthy of a recommendation in itself.
Final Verdict: 7.5 – Buy
