LIONS, TIGERS, AND BEARS VOLUME 2 #1 REVIEW

[Andrea Speed]

Reviewer: Andrea Speed andy@comixtreme.com
Quick Rating: Very Good

Trouble in the Stuffed Animal Kingdom equals trouble for Joey and Courtney.

<a href="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/media/867/ltb21.jpg"target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/867/ltb21.jpg"align="right" border="0"> </a>Writer: Mike Bullock
Artist: Jack Lawrence
Letters: Dave Lanphear
Editor: Ron Marz
Cover Art: Jack Lawrence (shown); Mike Wieringo
Publisher: Image



(Warning - Possible story spoiler below.) I actually discovered the quaint charms of the first volume of this series through fellow reviewer Michael Hetman (thanks Mike) who shared his issues with me. The first volume was all about establishing the world and setting of this kid friendly comic, as well as the high adventure tone. Young Joey is a boy like any other, frightened of a move to a new town. His grandmother gives him some stuffed cats that she tells him are special and will protect him, and as it turns out, she isn’t kidding. They can become the “Night Pride”, real cats who are real defenders of the otherworldly place known as the Stuffed Animal Kingdom ( which can be accessed, of course, through dark bedroom closets). Unintentionally, Joey discovered the secret dual identity of his stuffed cats, and helped them defend the kingdom against the bad Beasties in volume one, as well as save a young girl around his age, Courtney, who is destined to make more of these “magical” stuffed animals.

This volume picks up shortly after the last one, although you can understand what’s going on here even if you haven’t read volume one, thanks to the recap on the inside of the cover. A day of playing in the snow and wondering about their adventure with the Night Pride has Courtney wondering about certain things, when the Pride comes to life and lets them know there’s been tragedy in the Kingdom. The evil Varlthraxx has launched an attack with Beasties, and he has been successful so far - to the point where Courtney’s magic bear, Orson, has fallen in an attempt to save King Bear, the ruler of the Kingdom. Varlthraxx wants to capture all the world’s children for his own sinister ends, and the Night Pride move to stop him with the help of Joey and Courtney, but the Kingdom’s in far more disarray than even they realize.

Yes, this is essentially a kid’s series, but adults can enjoy it too. And while it’s sweet at its core, there are flashes of darkness - it’s not a treacly children’s comic. It doesn’t pander to the audience. Kids want thrills and scares as much as the next reader, and Bullock seems to understand that.

The art by Lawrence has a wonderful animated cartoon quality to it, which keeps things moving. While he does a good job with the Human forms, the funniest thing is the cats and the rest of the Stuffed Animal Kingdom (Beasties included) almost seem more real and solid than things in the “real” world, which I believe is a deliberate choice. His “Night Pride” is utterly gorgeous, the Beasties wonderfully odd, and Varlthraxx nicely creepy (especially if you have a thing against insects). There’s also a great background bit: when the Pride tell Courtney of the loss of Orson, Venus (the tiger) looks like she’s hugging Courtney, trying to comfort her, for several panels. The posture assumed there by the big tiger is terrific and seems very natural to the character. And since the character is a stuffed tiger, that’s saying something. The coloring is animation intense and well done.

This is an energetic, fun fantasy adventure series that can be enjoyed by everyone, with a bit of ambitious world building injected into it. You should really give it a shot, especially if you have kids, or remember what it’s like being a kid.




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