Monsters Inc. Laughing Factory
Written by Paul Benjamin
Art by Amy Mebberson
BOOM! Studios
Trade Paperback; Price: $9.99
Release date: March 3, 2010

The interesting thing about creating comic books based on Pixar‘s string of successful animated films is that you can further explore the universes those characters live in. One of Pixar’s early successes was Monsters Inc., owing largely to its breakthrough animation and great voice acting work from Billy Crystal and John Goodman.

BOOM! KIDS, now having the contract on all Pixar materials, has produced a volume of comics from the Monsters Inc. universe, following Sullivan and Mike Wazowski (I always thought it was hilarious that monsters would have such boring names) on their continuing adventures in Monstropolis.

At first I didn’t expect much out of Monsters Inc. in comic book form. A fan of the original film, I couldn’t see how much further they possibly could have carried the story. In the end, it turns out I was right not to expect much. While the dialogue still carries much of the humour and charm that made the original script so endearing, it is apparent that Paul Benjamin was hard pressed to come up with new ways to use the characters.

It feels like it has been a week since any news that didn’t involve Disney has come out. The Mouse House recently held their D23 Expo and a flood of announcements were made, including some new information on the highly anticipated sequels Toy Story 3 and Cars 2.

Toy Story 3 basically just made a bunch of casting announcements. /Film picked up on some Tweets from director Lee Unkrich and Disney that revealed that John Morris, the boy who voiced Andy in Toy Story and Toy Story 2, has been cast once again in the role, which now sees Andy as an 18-year-old young man. Also added to the cast is a great collection of names, some of which are Pixar veterans. Lending their voices once again will be Bonnie Hunt (A Bug’s Life/Cars/Monsters Inc., Jerry Maguire) and Jeff Garlin (Wall-E, Curb Your Enthusiasm); while new to the Pixar dance is Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost) and Timothy Dalton (Hot Fuzz), who will apparently be playing someone named Mr. Pricklepants.

Amazon has an awesome Gold Box lightning deal of the hour right now — Disney/Pixar Ultimate Collection DVD

For only $98.99, you get 8 Pixar movies: Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Cars, Monsters, Inc., Ratatouille, A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. That’s 54% off the regular price.

Note, the offer is only from 5pm to 6pm EST TODAY or while supplies last. Also, it’s listed as $109.99, but will be discounted to $98.99 during checkout.