The Return/Beginnings of Muppet/Sesame Comic Books

James Gannon - It's been a couple weeks of inexplicable Muppet Comics news. That's a phrase I haven't been able to say in a while.

Last year, BOOM! Studios' Muppet license (soon followed by the rest of the Disney licenses) expired, just before the final arc was ready for publication. Roger Langridge, the writer/artist for The Muppet Show Comic Book, was too busy with more important matters to get the comic done on time, but finished it before the license ended. Months later, kid friendly magazine reprints of the first few arcs of the comic were published by Marvel Comics to tie into the movie. These reprints were a great boon to those who weren't lucky enough to follow the line from the beginning, but many of those who caught every single issue were left wondering if we were ever going to get the last of the Langridge Muppet comics. After all, he planned to finish his tenure with the "Four Seasons" arc anyway.

Good news, everyone! Marvel is finally publishing the Four Seasons arc this July as a four-part miniseries, the way they were originally intended starting in July. That's all I ever hoped for, myself. I'm sure other fans of these wonderful comics agree. If this leads to new Muppet comics, that's great. If it doesn't, I'm fine with that too. What's important is closure. Better late than never, especially since many comic book storylines, even finished ones, go into limbo when licenses expire, titles get canceled, or the direction of the title changes. Meanwhile, Roger Langridge has moved on to new projects. If you love comics and you're not reading Snarked yet, do so.

But more inexplicable than the return of the Muppet series is the announcement by Ape Comics that they will be publishing a line of Sesame Street comics. Unsurprisingly, we're getting some of the same great Muppet comics talent in Amy Mebberson (her artwork graces the preview cover) and James Silviani. This will be the first actual Sesame Street comic book series. It's too early to say what we can expect out of this comic series, but keep in mind that Sesame Street's target demographic is just learning how to read. This means that it will either be an easy reader with less complicated language for the young ones, or it could be written with adults in mind to share with their kids.

Either way, with such fan involvement, you can almost assume there will be some great nuggets for the older readers and fans. It's too soon to say if we'll see some classic, fan-favorite characters, but there's no doubt we'll get some cameos at the very least. Remember, you don't have to recast characters when you're just drawing them. It's great that the last of the Muppet Big Three finally gets a shot at comics. I've been calling for a Sesame Street comic since the Fraggle Rock comics were announced. I just didn't think it was too likely.

All I can safely say is, it's going to be an exciting few months for Muppet Comic Book fans.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com