The Secret Life of Pets #1 (Family Comic Friday)

Max. Duke, Chloe, Snowball. Ozone! All of your favorite characters from The Secret Life of Pets are back. But I'm not talking about the sequel due in theaters next month! This weekly column is called Family Comic Friday and we're going to look at Titan Comics' new comic based on the hit series from Illumination Entertainment.

The Secret Life of Pets #1

Written by Stephanie Lapuss
Art by Goum
Published by Titan Comics
Retail: $3.99
Fans of The Secret Life of Pets can enjoy over 30 vignettes starting their favorite characters! I'm really cool with this concept. My favorite part of the movie was that opening montage that let us into the personal lives of all the pets living in the apartment complex. And each of these shorts seem to riff off of that premise.

Stephanie  Lapuss (The Minions series), adds unique comic touches to all of the characters in such a way, I felt that this comic was written by the original screenwriters. The comedy is that seamless. As a result, I laughed out loud several times.

One thing that I didn't have a problem with, but some young readers might, involves the artwork. The art is done by an artist named Goum. A quick Google search brings up literally nothing about this person other than he or she also did the artwork for The Secret Life of Pets #2.

Goum's style is nothing like the movie version. It has an almost impressionistic style to in. Take Gidget, the white Pomeranian who is in love with Max. In some panels, she is rendered like a tiny ball of white fluff with only the face of Gidget.

I remember that as a kid, if a comic didn't look exactly like it should on TV or film, it was off-putting. Some kids just want their Disney products to look Disney. So I hope that the expressive art style of this comic doesn't detract young readers from this series. Those that might not be a fan of the art will miss out on some very, VERY funny stuff!

I didn't know that Titan Comics even did kids comics. (I'll let you all debate whether Doctor Who is a kids property or not.) Anyways, I am excited to see Titan entering the family comic scene and I hope to review more all-ages stuff from them in the future. They've proven that they've got what it takes to make a funny and fairly accurate comic book version of an animated comedy the whole household can enjoy!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The Secret Life of Pets #1 debuted in print and digital formats on May 22, 2019.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 debuts in theaters nationwide on June 7, 2019.

This review was concurrently published on Outrightgeekery.com.