Disclaimer: All of the comics reviewed in this column were either provided by the respective creators/companies, or were purchased from Dr. Volts Comics in Salt Lake City.
BIFF! BANG!! POW … WOW!!!
By Jerk-Bot
DISNEY KINGDOMS: SEEKERS OF THE WEIRD #1&2 (monthly comic mini-series, full color, Marvel Comics, $3.99) (8 out of 10)
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE? Brandon Seifert (script); Karl Moline and Rick Magyar (art); Jean-Francois Beaulieu (colors) and VC’s Joe Caramagna (letters).
Disney’s legendary “Imagineers” were a group of animators, artists, writers and other creators so trusted by Walt Disney that they were given free rein (sort of) to the Mouse House’s characters and stories, both in the form of cartoons and various Disneyland exhibits.
The “Imagineers” ranks included one Roland Fargo “Rolly” Crump, a former animator whose contributions can be seen most notably in Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World” and “The Haunted Mansion.” And one of his scrapped projects was “The Museum of the Weird,” a planned park attraction that would use curios that were deemed to be “too weird” for even “The Haunted Mansion” (though they were initially designed to be showcased there).
Enter Marvel Comics, which furthering its relationship with its new Disney owners with a new line of somewhat family friendly, “Disney Kingdom” comics. Included in the first offerings in this line is “Seekers of the Weird,” a comic book mini-series that was inspired by some of Crump’s character, creature and other designs. The creative team that’s trying to translate some of these Crump ideas into “four-color funnies” is writer Brandon Seifert (Image’s “Witch Doctor”) and artist Karl Moline (Dark Horse’s “Fray,” Marvel’s “Losers”).
The five-issue (at least initially) “Seekers of the Weird” follows Maxwell and Melody Keep, the teenaged children of seemingly normal curio store owners Arthur and Ellen Keep. As it turns out, the Keeps’ home and store lead into the Museum of the Weird, a “place of moving statues and wondrous exhibits.” Among these are taxidermy “monsters” that attack and kidnap the Keep parents.
Maxwell and Melody are reeling from these events when up pops their estranged uncle, Roland, who informs them that the mysterious Shadow Society is behind the attack – and worse, that the seemingly hapless teens have only precious hours to find something called the “Coffin Clock,” or else they’ll never see their parents again.
THE GOOD.
Seifert does a good job of introducing us to these characters and thrusting us into the story without too much exposition (an introduction page in the first issue, and a page-long recap in the second issue takes care of that quite nicely, thank you)
And Moline has a unique, somewhat cartoonish style that’s suited to this kind of material. His art is also fluid enough to give the action scenes the proper dynamic “flow,” as witnessed by this page from the second issue:
THE BAD.
It’s a tricky premise, so you can understand why Disney and Marvel decided to make this a limited series … again, at least initially.
However, that means Seifert and company are in a bit of a rush to tell this story, and there are a few scenes and moments that deserve more pages than they’re given in the first two issues.
THE UGLY.
Given that this is “only” five issues, it’s disappointing to see that Moline needed help to finish the second issue’s art. Inker Rick Magyar does his best to duplicate Moline’s style for the final few pages, which Moline at least laid out. However, he’s not nearly as strong of an illustrator, and this kind of move may bode poorly for the remaining three issues.
IN CONCLUSION.
“Seekers of the Weird” definitely lives up to its title. A foreboding “Candleman.” Stuffed animal hybrid displays come to life. Mummies. Flying books. A “Walking Chair.” All are featured in the first two issues, which are fun and just weird enough, and they fly by pretty quickly.
Frankly, if this book is any indication of what we’re getting from the Disney Kingdoms comics line, we’re in for some good stuff.
Overall rating: 8 out of 10
Jeff Michael Vice, aka Jerk-bot, can be heard reviewing films, television programs, comics, books, music and other things as part of The Geek Show Podcast (www.thegeekshowpodcast.com), as well as be seen reviewing films as part of Xfinity’s Big Movie Mouth-Off (www.facebook.com/BigMovieMouthOff)