Boom comics has the license to make comic book adaptations of Disney/Pixar properties, and their newest comic in that line is Toy Story. We’ll see together how it fares.
Writer: Jesse Blaze Snider
Artist: Nathan Watson
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: I don’t often do spoiler synopsis, and this review won’t buck that trend. The tease, however, is this. Andy, the kid that Buzz and Woody and all the other toys belongs to, gets a new toy from his Grandma, just because, and it is a duplicate of one of the main characters. This turns out to be a bit of a problem, and grows to be a much larger one, leading to a “hook” ending.
The Good: The story does a good job of finding the middle ground between being being faithful to the movies, and having, by the sheer necessity of being a comic, to be something different. The conversational patterns, the flow of the dialogue, the inclusion of the full cast of characters all show that the writer gets what makes these characters tick, and is able to use that to keep the story quick, clever, humorous, with a touch of heart, and enough to keep the reader curious.
The Bad: Matching Pixar’s animation in comic book art is a tough thing to ask of an artist. This one tries, and while the artist does capture true, honest emotion, and the uniqueness of the situation and its dangers, there is a lack of warmth and life in the characters. I suspect this is due to a desire to make the comic look as much like the movie as possible. This is more of a critical issue than a practical one, most of the audience for this comic is going to enjoy the story and the art does tell it in a clean, clear format and does not get in the way ever.
Summary: Toy Story #0 is a good start to the line, keeping the feel of the movie while situating the story for a serialized, open ended format. Toy Story #0 is a light and fun read. This issue offers a chance to visit some fan favorite characters again. I highly recommend Toy Story #0 to fans of the Toy Story movies as well as younger readers in general.
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Shawn