Well I decided to check in with this series again because I did have fun reading the first issue even if it really wasn’t created for me. It’s still predominately for kids and only kids, but there were some classic cartoon moments to enjoy in this issue. It also became very apparent that the voice acting for the series is severally missed. In the last issue we learned that Mojo Jojo wanted the antidote to Chemical X so that he could go back to being a regular monkey. The Professor of course administers it and there’s a slightly touching moment between the Professor and Jojo. It also reveals that their relationship is a bit like Curious George and the man in the yellow hat, if it had involved science and gone horribly wrong. The catch is that now Jojo is going to live with the girls and the Professor.

The charm to this cartoon was that it almost always focused on the girls. Yes there were episodes in which the story would follow the villain or some of the supporting cast, but 95% of the time it was the girls. The reason being that it’s their world; they’re the stars. They’re actions and personalities are what give the rest of the characters their charm. Without them the world isn’t as interesting. The girls are in this issue a lot, but they aren’t. We’re really only given one scene that captures their characters and the rest of the time is spent building the plot. It made for a boring issue that wasn’t very funny and a set up for everything to go wrong in the next issue.

There are two problems with cartoon shows when adapted to comics, the first is the focus. Creators look at the characters they have and forget what the show is about which is what I’ve already talked about. I mention it again, because it’s become a common problem. The second problem is that certain characters do not translate to the page. I won’t spoil it for you, but a character with a very distinct voice makes an appearance in this issue and it fails on the page.  This is something that also happens often with cartoon adaptations because the creator’s want to get all the fan favorites in, but some characters should be left in the cartoon.

The art still manages to capture the look and style of the cartoon show, but the storytelling is choppy. I’m not even comparing it to animation now, I’m saying that compared to a normal comic book narrative it’s choppy.  Rather than feeling as a scene is playing out realistically it’s more like some describing a scene to you and using the phrase, “then this happened” over and over.

If you have a kid that’s a fan of the series then go ahead and give them this issue as they probably won’t notice or care about my criticisms, much like a die-hard of the show won’t either. For me though this series misses the mark when it comes to capturing the magic of the cartoon and frankly that’s important. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s clearly not made to capture a wide demographic either.

Score: 3/5

Writer/Artist: Tony Little Colorist: Jeremy Colwell Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 10/30/13