Muppet King Arthur #1
Issue 1 of 4
Written by Paul Benjamin and Patrick Storck
Art by Patrick Storck
Cover Art by David Peterson (Cover A); Dave Alvarez (Cover B)
BOOM! Studios
Price: $2.99; Release date: February 10, 2010

Do you like Arthurian legend? How about The Muppets?

BAM! Here’s a comic for you: Muppet King Arthur #1, the first of four issues in the new BOOM! Studios comic book series from Paul Benjamin and Patrick Storck.

This series sees the famous Muppets gang in Great Britain during the Dark Ages where our favorite green guy Kermit is thrust in the role as King Arthur after he pulls the sword Excalibur from the stone, ushering in the legendary Arthurian times.

Being released on the publisher’s BOOM! Kids line implies this comic book is for children, but that’s only partially true, as I found that some of the humor was clearly adult, namely the references to modern-day politics. But yes, the kids will love it too, because the Muppets are in action, and Fozzie Bear never fails to … WOCKA WOCKA … slip in a corny joke.

The comic starts out a bit slow. After the first three dialogue pages, I was about to abandon the issue out of boredom until Sir Sam of Eagle sends his page Arthur out to get him a new sword. While on his mission, Arthur meets the Lady of the Lake, and well, the rest is legend, as you know. The story really takes off here and the majority of our favorite Muppets character make their appearances as other characters of old (Miss Piggy as Morgana Le Fey; Grover as Merlin; Janice as the Lady of the Lake, and so on).

Besides this being King Arthur and The Muppets, two of my favorite things, what really got me to open this issue was the cover art by David Peterson, creator of Mouse Guard, who’s doing covers for the four-issue run (Dave Alvarez is doing the alternate covers, which are aimed more for children). I happen to love Peterson’s art, and was really enticed by his cover for this first issue, which definitely has an Arthurian feel. While vastly different from Peterson’s cover, co-writer Patrick Storck’s interior art is a perfect match for this cartoony tale and its silly humor. The artwork is clear with panels that are easy to follow, which is very important for young readers, without over simplifying the layout, which would turn off adults.

By the end of the issue, I found myself wanting to see more of Muppet Arthur’s adventure, as he embarks on a quest to gather a group of Knights that would help bring support for his proposed regime from the people of Great Britain.

Below is a preview of the first six pages of Issue #1. See page 6, which is what really got my attention and has a great joke in there about scissors. Have the kids take a look at the preview pages, if they’re not already familiar with the Muppets and/or King Arthur, this would be a cool way to introduce it to them. If they dig it, you can pick up the issue this coming Wednesday.

Preview