Adventure Time Comics #1, mixed up art and Land of Oooh fun

We’re big fans of Spongebob Comics. One reason we like that comic book so much is that it features different artists and their distinctive styles in each issue. It’ll have a couple of stories, each one having a different look and feel, despite having the same character backbone. Adventure Time Comics offers creators the chance to interpret Jake, Finn, Ice King and others in their own particular way and for fans of the television series or comic book the results are one that they’ll want to discover.

Adventure Time Comics #1 has four stories. Casual comic book readers will immediately recognize the style and art of each creator, even if they don’t know their names. Toothpaste Fairy is written and illustrated by Art Baltazar. Many readers are used to seeing Art and Franco, who have been behind Tiny Titans, Action Cat and others.   Finn uses all of the toothpaste and Jake massages the old, empty tube to summon The Toothpaste Fairy. He takes Jake to Toothpaste Land where they discover a never ending supply of toothpaste refills.

In a way the stories in Adventure Time Comics, Simpsons Comics and Spongebob Comics are related to one another. All three of them are single issue stand alone comic books that are wildly creative and OK for most young readers.

I say most young readers because parts of Adventure Time Comics have too much reading required and just a little sarcasm that kids under 7 won’t understand or will use incorrectly. Ages 9 and up that already like Adventure Time will easily like Adventure Time Comics and enjoy the change in artwork that the different creators bring.

Stand Next To Me is written and illustrated by Kate Cook, whose work will look familiar to My Little Pony fans. Tony Millionaire does the story and art to Goliad Gets a Break, a fable oriented tale. And Kat Leyh handles the last story, Good Shelf about a book shelf that’s made from cursed wood. Leyh’s interpretation is the closes look to what Adventure Time looks and feels like, for us, it’s also the best story in the book. It’s kind of a bummer that this story was also the shortest, with any luck she’ll be in future episodes with longer stories.

The other grievance that I have with Adventure Time Comics is its length. It’s only 22 pages and retails for $3.99. File under grumpy middle aged comic book guy. We’ll gladly purchase comics for $3.99, but certainly walk away happier they have more pages. This is especially true when it’s a comic that could be classified as an all ages comic.

That small issue notwithstanding, Adventure Time Comics is a quirky entry into a great cannon. The more traditional (if you can use that description about Adventure Time) is still being published monthly too.