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‘Mr. Peabody & Sherman #3:’ Advance Comic Book Review

Well, I’ve finally got what I wanted. My previous two reviews of the Peabody & Sherman comics both noted that one of the hallmarks of the original segment on Rocky & Bullwinkle was distinctly missing, and this third issue has it: famous historical figures behaving like clueless idiots. First, we have Archimedes being inundated with heavier and heavier objects while he obliviously tries to take a relaxing bath. Then, Isaac Newton has to have a whole orchard pelted at his head in order to discover gravity.

Now, I’m not so conceited as to think that this happened because writer Sholly Fisch and the folks over at IDW have actually been reading my reviews and taking my advice. But, on the off chance that this is the case, let me just take a moment to address them personally:

Mr. Fisch and the rest of the creative team behind Mr. Peabody & Sherman, please, for the love of Jay Ward, come up with some better puns. I like your comic. Really, I do. It’s often clever and fun, and parts of it are pretty funny. But . . .

“Gosh, Mr. Peabody, why did we have to hide from those astronauts?”
“Because I wanted to give them some personal ‘space.’”

You can do so much better than that.

In fact, there are places in the comic that DO deliver better puns than that, and a few non-pun-related jokes as well, that made me laugh out loud! But, I feel like, in some places, it’s just trying too hard.

Of course, what the ultimate problem is has only just struck me after three issues: the tepid jokes and sometimes overly simplistic nature of the comic are an attempt to appeal to its target audience: kids. Somehow, it never occurred to me before that this was a kids’ comic, and the reason is that I associate it in my mind with Rocky & Bullwinkle, which technically WAS a kids’ show, but never FELT like a kids’ show. The humor was silly but also smart, so that adults could appreciate it as much as the children, if not more. The Peabody & Sherman comic has a bit of that, but it also has places where it just feels like it’s pandering.

Still, Issue #3 is a definite improvement over #2 in that regard. The pandering is reduced a bit, and there are more clever and funny bits in their place. It’s still not up to the level of the original segment, nor of the first issue, which I liked quite a bit. But, I have high hopes for the future.

Steven W. Alloway, Fanbase Press Contributor

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