Muppet Comic Mondays: Muppet Mash #2

Congratulations to James Gannon, one of the best comic book reviewers around and our go-to guy for Muppet Comic Mondays, for being quoted on the back of the Fraggle Rock Comic Book #1 trade paperback collection!! It is a huge honor for The Muppet Mindset as a whole and, I assume, for James as well. Congratulations my friend. No one deserves it more!

The Muppet Show Comic Book #9

Muppet Mash #2

Written and Illustrated by Roger Langridge

James Gannon - After that whole messy fiasco of thinking Gonzo was a vampire, now Kermit and the gang have to deal with the next monsters in Muppet Mash, Mummies. And it promises to be even more fun than that Brendan Frasier movie. I’m talking of course about George of the Jungle (see… I made a Brendan Frasier Universal Studios Mummy movie reference… you know who you are). Well, the issue itself doesn’t so much focus on The Mummy, but rather an entire Egyptian theme.

Kermit has booked the legendary Calistoga Cleo and the Pharaohs (no relation to Sam the Sham) to be on the show. Of course, they can just barely afford her after intense haggling with her manager, Mrs. Kippel.  Little does the Frog in Chief know, he is about to really make the day of his two harshest critics, who in an amazing coincidence were just talking about her in the cold opening. In fact, they were so excited by the announcement of their favorite old time Vaudeville act, they even apologize to Fozzie for heckling his act.  Cleo also has a way with the older men, as her opening number will tell you. Yessir… not only do Statler and Waldorf love her act, but they have deeply amorous feelings for her too. This, of course, causes friction between the two of them, leading up to a rotten tomatoes duel, throwing them at the first time at each other.  Fozzie must’ve loved that. What they don’t mention is that Waldorf is a married man. But I’m sure Waldorf would say “Hey, I won’t mention it if you won’t.” Of course, their deep crush on Cleo fizzles out when they learn her ghoulish secret.

Meanwhile, we have a very brief subplot involving Miss Piggy’s vanity. The negative human characteristic that is, not the furniture with a mirror of the same name. Cleo manages to get Piggy to think about her own mortality, worrying over age lines which may or may not exist on her. And of course, Piggy manages to over-react as only Piggy can. Of course, us Muppet fans know she gets a face lift every so often. After all, they carve or cast a new one out of foam all the time.

Now, I have to admit, this is a very good issue, really great character vehicle for Statler and Waldorf, but it isn’t really all that monstery, except for the fact we get another Link Hogthrob Monster Smasher sketch and the fact that one of the characters becomes a Mummy himself. Though, not in the way you’d expect. Above that, Calistoga Cleo has a distinctive look to her. While Roger manages to give a unique spin on certain characters, making them look a little more human (Statler, Waldorf, and the Chef are pretty prime examples), they still have a Muppet flavor to them. Even with special guest characters like Clint Wacky and Creepy McBoo, Cleo looks very human here. It goes without saying, this was clearly a story salvaged from the scrapped “Guest Stars” arc. She even manages to be in two numbers and later to have a backstage conversation with the Muppets, giving it a true Muppet Show guest star feel. It doesn’t even seem to have been altered all that much, especially compared to the fourth installment of Family Reunion, where unused Sherlock Holmes guest star elements were used (which seemed to come out of necessity to recycle an otherwise unused cover).

Speaking of covers, this issue only had one. I’m sure that there’s some economic reasons that started to be the downfall of multiple collectible covers that took effect, awkwardly, the second issue into an arc. While I never bothered getting both covers myself of any BOOM! publications (not even out of choice, in most cases when only one issue remained in the store), I’ll still miss having that option.  

Oh, and apparently I took a quick gander through the newly released Fraggle Rock hard bound comic collection.  Apparently one of my reviews seen here was used as a blurb. I’d probably be flattered, but somehow I feel that they’re desperate for some reviews and there weren’t enough people reading them. And as far as the Fraggle series is concerned, I think a LOT more people should be reading them--and these BOOM! published Muppet ones.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier