COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Regular Show: Skips #1
It was no use for me to worry whether Kaboom!‘s Regular Show: Skips #1 would capture the essence of J.G. Quintel‘s original series: the wackiness, weirdness and of course, Skip’s character. He’s the most irregular out of the irregular bunch of the Regular Show, and they really got it right in this book.
The story’s an easy opener for the title: Pops takes the crazy group to the mountains for a vacation, not only sparing everyone from Mordecai and Rigby’s antics while suffering from boredom, but also to reward them for their hard work. This doesn’t spell well for Benson of course since he’s the one who’ll be in charge. But little did they know that it’s Skips who’d get the odd portion of their trip.
This book comes from a new name, Madeline “Mad” Rupert. And she’s done a great job so far, bringing us a story that shifts away from Mordecai and Rigby and comes from the point of view of the mysterious yeti groundskeeper. Not only does this shift give the character more story and personality, but it gives a different appeal to the show, seeing the craziness away from the lead duo. The story might seem a bit slow, considering it’s just a spin-off mini-series, but it could might be to allow some build-up for the mysteries Skips would face in latter issues.
The art might not be bearable for those who don’t dig the show, but I bet people who’ve seen Regular Show would think this book looks great. Rupert hits the style, so there’re no qualms as to the characters getting the correct expressions and voices. Whitney Cogar’s colors work great, too, allowing the comedic moments to stand out and the mood come across similar to how they’d look in the show.
Rupert’s challenge though would be how to insert her flavor into the title, whether she’d be able to toss in something new or not. The idea of seeing things from Skips’ eyes is good but I I don’t think I’ve seen the author’s twist in this issue. The voices, the art, the dialogues all sound like things that have come from the show, which is good, but I’m also looking for what the author would throw in to make this mini-series stand on its own and be something that could be called her’s. It must be an unreasonable expectation but that’s the way it is with comics from cartoon shows. It’s just the first issue though so perhaps we’d see more that would address this later.
The pacing could use a little more work and Rupert could use her own twists to the the title. But as for everything else, the book has done well for a first issue. The flow’s all smooth and the story’s something that I’d like to see progress. Plus it’s about Skips! About time that nipple-totting yeti takes the spotlight!
Review score:
3/5
