Rotten plants come from bad seeds.
Well, well. Popcap’s back at the comics game, and, this time, Paul Tobin and Ron Chan are serving up a double heaping of their brain nuggets . . . uh . . . ideas for us to chuckle at the ineptitude of evil while cheering on the victory of the righteous! Capturing the tone of the game perfectly, this team brings the madcap of Popcap to brilliant life and imagination, with all the humor, wit, and ice cream you could hope for.
It’s pretty easy to see where Paul Tobin is sending us with our Bully title, but seeing a cool theme park doesn’t ruin getting there for me. This is a great all-ages title, and there’s plenty of humor for youth and adults alike. The story is great fun, and there’s a plethora of silly, one-off jokes throughout, some eliciting a groan with a smile, and some laugh-out-loud moments. The gutbusters outweigh the dad jokes, but this would be a stellar Father’s Day gift for sure. The breaking-of-the-fourth-wall humor is as on point as Deadpool, without all the blood and brains . . . well, without the blood at least.
Ron Chan has a solid hold on the visual style of the game that inspires the work, but he has no problem putting his own stamp on it. There are so many fun visual gags to team up with Tobin’s story and quips; they seem like the perfect team for this kind of book. I will say the sight gags got me even more than the one-liners. Chan has a great knack for pacing and dropping a bundle of laughs in your face, right when you least expect it, even in a funny book. I could reread this one a few times without anything feeling any less fun.
Two backup stories in this issue round out the goodness and give us some depth to the world at large, the first being a somewhat bittersweet and surprisingly sentimental journey of a side character from the main story, the second being a fun, ’80s training montage for the ever-mighty Bok Choy. They’re great additions to an already stellar product.
Fans of the games will definitely get some giggles and a ton of enjoyment from this title, and newcomers will feel welcome and engaged without any need for background info. Check it out, when it hits your shop (or find out how to pre-order your copy below and help to support comic book creators and the comic book industry).
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*Plants vs. Zombies: Bully for You #1 will be released in June. Be sure to pre-order your copy at your local comic book shop by Monday, May 25.
