ADVENTURE TIME #16 – Single Issue
Kaboom! Comics
Created by: Pendleton Ward
Writer: Ryan North (Second Story: Sina Grace, Third Story: Reed, Grant & Jai Nitz)
Pencilers: Shelli Paroline & Braden Lamb (Second Story: Sina Grace, Third Story: Pranas Navjakaitis)
Colorist: Lisa Moore
Letterer: Steven Wands
Reviewer: Derrick T. Crow
Summary: This issue sees the Ice King and our refutable heroes Finn & Jake go through a cave of the Ice King’s design to find a hidden treasure and come face to face with the Ice King’s weirdest creations. A lot of fun abounds.
Review: This issue was a lot of fun actually; it was a very Ice King filled issue. We got to see into the proposed psyche of the unfaltering Ice King and the way he looks at things. He is certainly a messed up lad, but I did kind of feel sorry for him when he began discussing how he doesn’t like to forget things. I’m right there with you on the feels trip Ice King, I hate to forget things as well and there are many things in my head I never want to forget.
We saw definitely that the King severely wants someone to love him, but he comes on a little too strong, i.e. kidnapping Princess’. He just needs to tone it down a bit and put on the charm. We also got to see why he kidnaps Princess’ other than to charm them, and it is the funniest thing given it makes no sense, but I feel that that keeps with the overall tone of Adventure Time.
Some of the creatures the Ice King created for his dungeon cave are real works of terrifying art, flying eyeballs, a female version of himself (not bad looking) and a giant arm and eye-filled fish that can only inhabit someone’s nightmares. I did like the bit about the Hall of Just Ice, if you check the kerning you’ll see it isn’t what you think it is at first.
The back stories are a lot of fun as well, seeing Princess Bubblegum deal with the Ice King’s advances on opposite day and almost marrying him till she’s saved by the stroke of midnight. Although again I did feel sorry for him at the end, she did after all put herself in that situation, the Ice King was only unaware it wasn’t opposite day.
And the final story sees Finn and Jake trying to rescue the Ninja Princess, and the twist at the end had me rolling. I’m glad to see Finn and Jake are such celebrities that they’re called on by a whole race of ninjas to fight the Ice King instead of the ninjas themselves because they have such a history with him.
Final Score: 4 Ugly Eyeball Creatures out of 5
Kaboom! Comics
Created by: Pendleton Ward
Writer: Ryan North (Second Story: Sina Grace, Third Story: Reed, Grant & Jai Nitz)
Pencilers: Shelli Paroline & Braden Lamb (Second Story: Sina Grace, Third Story: Pranas Navjakaitis)
Colorist: Lisa Moore
Letterer: Steven Wands
Reviewer: Derrick T. Crow
Summary: This issue sees the Ice King and our refutable heroes Finn & Jake go through a cave of the Ice King’s design to find a hidden treasure and come face to face with the Ice King’s weirdest creations. A lot of fun abounds.
Review: This issue was a lot of fun actually; it was a very Ice King filled issue. We got to see into the proposed psyche of the unfaltering Ice King and the way he looks at things. He is certainly a messed up lad, but I did kind of feel sorry for him when he began discussing how he doesn’t like to forget things. I’m right there with you on the feels trip Ice King, I hate to forget things as well and there are many things in my head I never want to forget.
We saw definitely that the King severely wants someone to love him, but he comes on a little too strong, i.e. kidnapping Princess’. He just needs to tone it down a bit and put on the charm. We also got to see why he kidnaps Princess’ other than to charm them, and it is the funniest thing given it makes no sense, but I feel that that keeps with the overall tone of Adventure Time.
Some of the creatures the Ice King created for his dungeon cave are real works of terrifying art, flying eyeballs, a female version of himself (not bad looking) and a giant arm and eye-filled fish that can only inhabit someone’s nightmares. I did like the bit about the Hall of Just Ice, if you check the kerning you’ll see it isn’t what you think it is at first.
The back stories are a lot of fun as well, seeing Princess Bubblegum deal with the Ice King’s advances on opposite day and almost marrying him till she’s saved by the stroke of midnight. Although again I did feel sorry for him at the end, she did after all put herself in that situation, the Ice King was only unaware it wasn’t opposite day.
And the final story sees Finn and Jake trying to rescue the Ninja Princess, and the twist at the end had me rolling. I’m glad to see Finn and Jake are such celebrities that they’re called on by a whole race of ninjas to fight the Ice King instead of the ninjas themselves because they have such a history with him.
Final Score: 4 Ugly Eyeball Creatures out of 5
ARK Volume 1
Arcana
Written by: Peter Dabbene
Illustrated by: Ryan Bayliss
Reviewer: Robert McClelland
Summary: After 13 years of space travel, now far past the orbit of Pluto, the crew of the spaceship Explorer has been mysteriously cut off from communication with Earth. In light of Earth's sudden silence, something about Explorer's mission-to find and colonize an Earth-like planet-doesn't ring true anymore. The crew grows restless, and amid the turmoil, one of the meta-humans on board discovers a secret, final message from Earth that reveals shocking news. A crew member disappears, and shipwide paranoia ensues. Will the Explorer crew band together or turn on themselves? And what is the true nature of their mission?
Review: Space travel, suspense, murder, betrayal, and a slight case of Interspecies Erotica mix together to tell one heck of a story. And the Interspecies Erotica is no where near the level of what one has seen in Clerks 2. I rather like the idea of humans and animal like people exploring space together and not all that entirely certain about one another. As that's not something you would normally see on something like Star Trek for example. And if you do, its only for a short time. And you can tell in ARK that there is a rampant theme of trust issues. Even if some are wanting to have some wild monkey fun. Peter Dabbene in my view has managed to put together quite a tale. I kind of wonder if he got the idea for the Plant like girls from Farscape. And if he did, then kudos to him for gaining inspiration from that awesome show! Unless they aren't really plant girls and are just something else instead. Bayliss' art is easy on the eyes and you don't really have a problem with telling who is who. Even the plant girls are easy to tell apart. I'm assuming he also does the colors too on this book and they go greatly with this. Granted the nose area on a lot of the human characters looks a bit odd.
And speaking of Monkeys, Gerry is one particular character I found myself quickly liking cause of his personality. To me, he seems like the type of guy despite being a genetically altered monkey man I wouldn't mind having as a friend. Sadly, he shares a trait that some of us men tend to have. That of occasionally not realizing when a girl's into him. Much to the likely chagraine of said girl when that happens. And a role she happens to play later on in this book was a nice little doing as its not something you would have really expected.
To be honest, I thought a few of the characters in this book were somewhat boneheaded after the captain of the ship had asked for any of the non crew members to join the crew in order to help maintain the ship's effectiveness since Earth was no longer in contact. I get change isn't all that great half the time, but jeez no need to act like a complete bonehead over it and possibly being more paranoid then Burt Gummer during a surprise Graboid attack.
I liked the use of the music notes while a few of the crew members talked a bit later. As otherwise including the lyrics from the songs would have just really crowded the panels. Very good move on Peter's part.
Gerry being the one who manages to uncover what Earth is up too, is one factor that helps lead to some very bad things. Plus shows why you should listen to a woman instead of taking the time to be a douche bag who really should have left well enough alone. Since you would think that showing everyone why Earth isn't bothering with them would be a very bad thing considering the high amount of tension on board. Now I kind of think that the revelation from Earth and their line of thinking could have been covered in another volume for this title. But then again, we might not have gotten to find out who gets justice for Gerry. Just one of those things I suppose that could have yielded some fairly interesting results. I look forward to seeing what else Peter and Ryan bring to the table for this story when the next volume is out. And if whether or not everyone will be able to truly get along. This is definitely something folks should give a chance on as well!
4 out of 5 Stars
Editor's Note: To grab yourself a copy of this title, head on over to the Arcana area at comiXology!
Arcana
Written by: Peter Dabbene
Illustrated by: Ryan Bayliss
Reviewer: Robert McClelland
Summary: After 13 years of space travel, now far past the orbit of Pluto, the crew of the spaceship Explorer has been mysteriously cut off from communication with Earth. In light of Earth's sudden silence, something about Explorer's mission-to find and colonize an Earth-like planet-doesn't ring true anymore. The crew grows restless, and amid the turmoil, one of the meta-humans on board discovers a secret, final message from Earth that reveals shocking news. A crew member disappears, and shipwide paranoia ensues. Will the Explorer crew band together or turn on themselves? And what is the true nature of their mission?
Review: Space travel, suspense, murder, betrayal, and a slight case of Interspecies Erotica mix together to tell one heck of a story. And the Interspecies Erotica is no where near the level of what one has seen in Clerks 2. I rather like the idea of humans and animal like people exploring space together and not all that entirely certain about one another. As that's not something you would normally see on something like Star Trek for example. And if you do, its only for a short time. And you can tell in ARK that there is a rampant theme of trust issues. Even if some are wanting to have some wild monkey fun. Peter Dabbene in my view has managed to put together quite a tale. I kind of wonder if he got the idea for the Plant like girls from Farscape. And if he did, then kudos to him for gaining inspiration from that awesome show! Unless they aren't really plant girls and are just something else instead. Bayliss' art is easy on the eyes and you don't really have a problem with telling who is who. Even the plant girls are easy to tell apart. I'm assuming he also does the colors too on this book and they go greatly with this. Granted the nose area on a lot of the human characters looks a bit odd.
And speaking of Monkeys, Gerry is one particular character I found myself quickly liking cause of his personality. To me, he seems like the type of guy despite being a genetically altered monkey man I wouldn't mind having as a friend. Sadly, he shares a trait that some of us men tend to have. That of occasionally not realizing when a girl's into him. Much to the likely chagraine of said girl when that happens. And a role she happens to play later on in this book was a nice little doing as its not something you would have really expected.
To be honest, I thought a few of the characters in this book were somewhat boneheaded after the captain of the ship had asked for any of the non crew members to join the crew in order to help maintain the ship's effectiveness since Earth was no longer in contact. I get change isn't all that great half the time, but jeez no need to act like a complete bonehead over it and possibly being more paranoid then Burt Gummer during a surprise Graboid attack.
I liked the use of the music notes while a few of the crew members talked a bit later. As otherwise including the lyrics from the songs would have just really crowded the panels. Very good move on Peter's part.
Gerry being the one who manages to uncover what Earth is up too, is one factor that helps lead to some very bad things. Plus shows why you should listen to a woman instead of taking the time to be a douche bag who really should have left well enough alone. Since you would think that showing everyone why Earth isn't bothering with them would be a very bad thing considering the high amount of tension on board. Now I kind of think that the revelation from Earth and their line of thinking could have been covered in another volume for this title. But then again, we might not have gotten to find out who gets justice for Gerry. Just one of those things I suppose that could have yielded some fairly interesting results. I look forward to seeing what else Peter and Ryan bring to the table for this story when the next volume is out. And if whether or not everyone will be able to truly get along. This is definitely something folks should give a chance on as well!
4 out of 5 Stars
Editor's Note: To grab yourself a copy of this title, head on over to the Arcana area at comiXology!