It’s not every day you get quoted on a cover of a comic that you kinda liked. I applaud the humor of the creators behind Mr. Teacher and Panda because that’s a funny quote that reminds me of some Gross Grandpa type humor (that’s a good thing by the way). If you read my review for the first issue… well, then you already know how this book is set up. If this is your first foray into Mr. Teacher and Panda, it’s essentially a buddy comedy about a man named Mr. Teacher and his friend Panda… who is a panda.
Each page serves as one story and even though there are some stories that continue to another page later in the comic, each page stands on its own. Examples then. One story is about voting in which Panda and Mr. Teacher find out that their votes will cancel each other out since one is a Republican and the other a Democrat. So they decide not to vote… only they both secretly still vote and still cancel each other out.
On the flip side, there’s a story about Mr. Teacher fucking up some cars in a parking lot trying to sell car insurance. Gotta love this guy because he thinks that will actually work. He gives a fake name and ends up getting a real person at the job fired. This story of the fired man’s shitty life continues through two more stories, but Mr. Teacher and Panda proceed to do different things that inadvertently screw this man’s life over. I actually liked this tale and its continuation a lot.
As a hole the stories are slightly better than the first issue. The jokes were more diverse and it didn’t feel as if I was reading different stories that all ended with the same gag. Overall the writing is pretty simple due to the one-page story layout. In many ways it’s reminiscent of daily comics, but obviously bigger page real-estate.
The art also various from story to story, creator to creator. Both characters have a distinct look so it seems to be a fairly easy task for each artist to capture their design. That doesn’t mean that the art doesn’t struggle and each artist definitely has their own strengths and weakness, but because its goofy one page stories you’re in and out quickly. You never really get comfy with any one style which is both good and bad.
The issue itself unfortunately leaves too many continuous stories hanging by the end. Granted the creators only have so many pages for an issue, but it would have read better if stories like the one following the guy that was fired, were truly resolved by the end of the issue. Sure it’ll bring me back for the next issue, but it definitely hurts the pacing. Otherwise this continues to be an entertaining comic following the adventures of two random ass characters. It’s truly something that could only exist as a comic and that’s reason enough for me to enjoy it.
[button btn_url="" btn_color="pink" btn_size="large" btn_style="default" btn_outlined="no" link_target="self" link_rel="" icon_left="Score: 3/5" icon_right="Score: 3/5"]Score: 3/5[/button]
Mr. Teacher and Panda #2 Writers: Andrew Bratica, Michael Saver Artists: Various Self-Published Price: $6.00 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital Website