Broken Frontier

Ape Entertainment’s prequel to the Shrek movie spin-off is great swashbuckling fun for all-ages.

The past year has seen some big stories hit the comic book industry like a succession of digital tidal waves cascading across the Internet. Ultimate Peter Parker died and was replaced by an overtly more politically correct Miles Morales. DC rebooted its entire universe – again (but this time they meant it – going date and digital with their all-new 52 first issues). DC also lost some of the rights to Superman. No longer were Lois and Clark an item. No longer could red gitch be worn outside of one’s pants.

Things will never be the same again.

Simmering beneath all of these high profile headlines is a more concerning theme: the absolute, utter lack of all-ages friendly material on the shelves of our local comic shops. DC said their primary reason for its line-wide reboot was to streamline the brand to make it friendly to a new generation of readers. Miles Morales seems blatantly (if a little clumsily) targeted towards an ever more culturally diverse youthful audience. The repercussions of both of these major events are still being felt and their exact impact on the medium won’t be known for some time. Meanwhile, smaller publishers such as Ape Entertainment, IDW, and BOOM! Studios have forged lucrative licensing alliances with everyone from Dreamworks to Disney in an effort to corner the market on the youth audience.

Ape Entertainment’s prequel to the recently released blockbuster animated adventure Puss in Boots is a prime example of how sometimes a simpler, more direct approach can achieve the same measure of artistic success as drastic alterations in publishing strategy. Weighing in at a hefty forty-five pages, Puss in Boots features two tales of swashbuckling hijinks chronicling the titular outlaw’s misadventures, before his fateful first encounter with his on-screen comrades Shrek and Donkey. This is definitely a book that will keep your kid occupied for an hour or two.

While the plots may seem a little basic for adult readers, writers Dye and Kelesides pepper both stories with enough socially relevant references and in-jokes that parents reading the book with their kids won’t get to annoyed or exasperated by condescending dialogue or transparent plots. The artwork in the main feature directly recalls the animation style of the movies, except in 2D, while artist Massimo Asaro takes a few more risks stylistically and shines through a little more strongly than Dario Brizuela, who seems to lose his voice in the source material.

Great fun for parents and kids, with some neat extras promoting the movie, Puss in Boots is a sterling example of an all-ages title with wit, charm, and craft.