Broken Frontier

The Pet Avengers, comprised of the Marvel U’s most cuddly and not so cuddly popular pets, embark on their newest adventure.

Thrust back together when one of their own goes missing; Lockjaw (Black Bolt’s dog), Hairball (Speedball’s cat), Zabu (Ka-Zar’s sabertooth), Redwing (Falcon’s psychic… falcon), Lockheed (Kitty Pryde’s pet dragon) and Ms. Lion (no clue) feel their teammate, Throg (Frog Thor) fall off the grid. After the events of the previous arc, which involves locating the Infinity Gems and fending off the Thanos, our heroes share a psychic link with one another, calling on need when necessary.  Writer Eliopoulos successfully balances the thin line of not talking down to kids while still making it accessible to all audiences, making this a great starter comic.

Eliopoulos, better known as the comic industry’s most prolific letterer, has been dabbling in young adult and children’s fiction within the realm of comic books for some time. Most notable were his annual and sometimes seasonal books featuring a precocious Franklin Richards, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman’s son. It was within those pages that Eliopoulos was able to write outside of current continuity, but pleasantly within the confines of the Marvel Universe. He constructed evergreen stories made for children but also appreciated by their parents.

It’s with this same tone and goal that he and artist Ig Guara approach Lockjaw & the Pet Avengers. They’ve comprised the team with a representative of every facet of Marvel’s world. Cosmic, street level, teenage, mythical, mutant, and the ordinary are all presented here as a cohesive team, brought together by chance and kept that way by friendship. Sure, it sounds heavy handed on paper, but the creators ever so slickly make it a constant subtext as opposed to postured platitude filled monologues by any of the anthropomorphic characters.

Ig Guara’s art is absolutely wonderful. His talents seal the deal on this book being a success. He possesses a fluent and slightly cartoonish line that gives his forms, no matter how silly, real weight on the page. He also chooses to make the animals more realistic in dimensions and physiology and still able to illicit emotions from their faces and body language. Most artists can’t truly capture the elegance of how a dog or horse moves. Guara, on the other hand is levels above that, able to successfully pull off comedic moments and child appropriate gravitas. It really is a sight to behold, capturing what could be a child’s first encounter with comic book magic.

This is the second miniseries featuring these characters and anyone interested need not worry about having to catch up. Give this a shot. If you have kids, nieces, nephews, or any tyke you think might be interested in the art form, this book is a perfect gateway. More importantly than that, though, is if you long to reconnect with that not so jaded, continuity oblivious kid who just loved the art and motion, then this really is the read for you. I’d strongly recommend picking up the first collection. Did I mention they take on Thanos?