Muppet Comic Mondays: The Treasure of Peg Leg Wilson #3

The Muppet Show Comic Book
The Treasure of Peg Leg Wilson #3
Comic Book Review

Ryan Dosier – Welcome back, Muppet fans! Here to find out what happens in the next installment of the Peg Leg Wilson saga? Well, you’ve certainly come to the right place!

The Treasure of Peg Leg Wilson # 3 – “Follow The Money” was released in September 2009.

PLOT
This issue pulls no punches. It immediately thrusts us right back into the action of the ongoing story with only a three frame summary from Statler and Waldorf to suffice as back-story.

The issue opens with Animal, still dressed in his suit, running through the alleys and banging on garbage cans with drumsticks. This is odd for the rampant drummer, considering he has appeared refined and well-mannered in the previous two issues. Very mysterious, indeed!

Next, we find Kermit telling Gonzo that the closing number will be a pirate theme to go along with all of the treasure hunting mayhem that is gripping the theater. Kermit introduces Gonzo to an impersonator of Peg Leg Wilson from Kismet’s lookalike agency. Floyd comes in and asks the frog if he’s seen Animal, explaining to Kermit how the drummer has been “acting screwy lately.”

We soon catch up with Gonzo at the library. He finds a book about Peg Leg Wilson and discovers the story of the vaudeville daredevil who also engaged in a “picaresque” life. When he died, he took the secret location of his huge treasure with him to the sod.

We soon catch up with Kismet and Rizzo, who have formed an unlikely alliance in attempt to find the treasure. Kismet reveals to the rat that he’s planning to heist all of Miss Piggy’s jewels while Rizzo and the rats search for the Wilson’s treasure.

The Electric Mayhem is still having trouble getting Animal to play the drums like he used to. They even try to make him hit some trained fleas they place on his drums. But, of course, Animal is Buddhist now so he refuses to harm another living thing.

Miss Piggy comes out of her dressing room wearing every piece of jewelry she owns (which is a lot), and is immediately bombarded by the treasure-hungry dwarfs in the theater. Soon, Topaz the Dwarf reveals that Piggy’s jewels are all fakes and she karate chops the dwarfs away. Unfortunately for her, she’s immobilized by the weight of her jewels and stuck behind a wall where no one can find her.

As Kermit prepares the cast for the closing number, the fact that Miss Piggy is lost leads to Kermit being forced to use a robot Piggy previously used in Pigs in Space for the closing number. Fozzie mentions to Gonzo that the set they’re using is way out of their budget and on loan from a movie production. As you can probably guess, the set does not get returned in one piece.

The issue ends with Bunsen watering his man-eating petunias, Animal sighing at his predicament, Kismet admiring some stolen jewels, Scooter adding up the damages, Rizzo and the rats calling it a day, Link flirting with the robot Piggy, and the real Miss Piggy angry under the weight of her jewels.

Sketches in this issue include: “Animalopoly,” The Perils of Piggy, Pigs in Space, and “H.M.S. Pinafore.”

TONE
I don’t know why I keep discussing the tone in these comics. With Roger Langridge, it’s always spot-on perfect.

WRITING
The writing is also just awesome here. I really enjoy Kismet and how Langridge writes him. Rizzo is really the only one who I don’t really think Langridge can “voice.” This is probably because Langridge’s sensibilities have always come from the classic Muppet Show days and Rizzo didn’t really rise to prominence until later. Even though Rizzo doesn’t sound perfect, he’s still good.

ART
The art is so much fun here. Langridge really lets himself have a good time in this issue—especially in his “Animalopoly” page. The art is also very, very cool when Gonzo is reading through The Legend of Peg Leg Wilson. And when I laugh hysterically just seeing the angry lump of jewelry that is Miss Piggy, you know Langridge has done his drawing well.

CONCLUSION
The third issue is my favorite so far. Nothing significant or important happens, but at the same time it seems like tons of stuff did. I think this is the funniest issue of the three and I’m extremely excited to see how it all ends in issue #4.

CAST
Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo the Great, Animal, Dr. Teeth, Floyd Pepper, Zoot, Janice, Statler, Waldorf, Rizzo the Rat, Scooter, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, Link Hogthrob, Dr. Julius Strangepork, Sweetums, Kismet the Toad Uncle Deadly, Wayne, Mildred Huxtetter, Julius Prune’s Amazing Flea Circus, The Seven Dwarfs, Aladdin, Indiana Jones, Rats, pirates, and other various Muppets.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier