Review: Muppets Noir #1

I like the Muppets; I don't consider myself a great fan of theirs - mostly I think of them as something I loved as a child - but I'm not too proud to buy a new Muppets book when it comes out.

Roger Langridge's Muppet Show comics that he created for Boom! Studios (2009-2010) were books I bought because they'd received rave reviews; those comics turned me into a fan of Roger Langridge and I was disappointed when Boom! and the Muppets fell out, bringing it to an end while Langridge still had stories to tell.

This year, Langridge is revisiting the Muppets thanks to Dynamite Entertainment, who are publishing his series Muppets Noir. The scenario: Kermit is hit on the head with a brick while reading a private eye novel; Miss Piggy tries to revive him with a pie. In his dreams, Kermit sees himself as private detective Flip Minnow, on a case to find the missing pie heiress Meringue Crustworth (Piggy).

Because the plot is basically a farce for hanging jokes on, Langridge doesn't take the mystery of the missing Meringue at all seriously; she appears on the first page of Kermit's dream, then as the first person Minnow questions after leaving the Crustworth manor, then as a cab driver.

What I admire about Langridge's take on the Muppets is that he maintains fidelity to the original source material - that is, there are songs (even though you'll have to guess the tune and sing along in your head) and the jokes are kid-friendly, not adult material (Langridge's adult humour can be found in his non-Muppet works). Muppets Noir is not for jaded, cynical adults who want jaded, cynical Muppets; if you're going to read this as an adult, then you have to be in touch with a child-like sense of humour. If you can do that, you'll be rewarded.