Care Bears: Unlock the Magic #1
Written by Matthew Erman and Natalie Shammas
Illustrated by Agnes Grabowska
Published by IDW Publishing
Colors by Slivana Brys
Pages 25 + a 5 page preview of Sonic the Hedgehog: Tangle & Whisper #1
Retail: $3.99
Let’s assume that you know nothing about this news cartoon series about the Care Bears. In Unlock the Magic, a sinister bully named Bluster and his Bad Crowd are seeking to turn the land of Silver Lining into Bluster’s personal playground. Silver Lining is the home of the Whiffles; small cupcake looking creatures that plant the seeds of caring that helps Care-a-Lot thrive.
To protect Silver Lining and the seeds, the team of Good Luck Bear, Funshine Bear, Cheer Bear, Grumpy Bear, and Share Bear are sent to this wondrous new land. In their Cloudseeker mobile command center, our team of Care Bears are able to travel anywhere in uncharted Silver Lining whenever trouble arises.
Here in issue #1, the Care Bears are sent to the Glass Glaciers. It is here that anyone who gazes into the reflective glaciers can catch a glimpse of their true inner selves. Unfortunately, Bluster has done something to the reflections and has caused dissention among the Whiffles that maintain the crystalline formations. With the Care Bears on the case, immediately it is determined to be the work of the Bad Crowd. And this means that our heroes have walked into a trap!
Having grown-up when the first generation of Care Bears toys and cartoons debuted, I am not a fan of the modern design of the protagonists. I don’t fault artist Agnes Grabowska (My Little Pony). She is just following the design bible of the series. I for one, just do not like how these Care Bears look. They look like they were designed by the creators of the Cartoon Network series Stephen Universe and they look too anime for my tastes.
I did like the work Grabowska did on the Cloudbreaker and the Rainbow Scooters. They had a very sleek yet classic design to them. Also, I am not sure how the Whiffles or the Bad Crowd are supposed to look. But I thought the art involving them looked just fine.
The opening chapter by Matthew Erman (Long Lost) and Natalie Shammas was pretty good. They do a fairly decent job getting the uninitiated to Unlock the Magic up to speed. (Though a quick visit to Wikipedia really did the trick!)
I felt that most of the characters and their attributes were captured quite well. Except for Grumpy. Instead of being constantly annoyed, here Grumpy seemed like her was one day away from retirement and just too old for the antics of his fellow Care Bears. Grumpy was supposed to be the comic relief of the Care Bears; always wanting to do the opposite of his colleagues. Here, I felt like at any moment, he was going to yell at a bunch of kids to stay off his lawn. The character is called Grumpy Bear- not Disgruntled Senior Grandpa Bear!
I do like the new bad guy, Bluster. He’s much more dastardly than the very saccharine villains of the original Care Bears series. He’s also got a very good comedic sidekick, named Robbie. Both have that perfect and oh-so-vital chemistry of egomaniac leader and buffoonish helper.
Unlock the Magic is about as wholesome as you can get even with the better villains. Kids will enjoy the colorful antics of the characters. Parents will love the pop culture references peppered throughout the first issue.
With a couple of scenes that seemed over-edited for time constraints, this first issue felt a little chaotic. I think if IDW had decided to not include the Sonic the Hedgehog preview in this book and add 2-3 more pages of story to the Care Bears, it would have been a much smoother read in which the reader could better understand some of the finer points of the plot.
In all, Unlock the Magic captures the wholesome essence of the Care Bears very well. But that modern Manga/Anime look of the Care Bears is just not right. Families will enjoy this book as pure family fun. But the nostalgia factor is missing here and some parts of this issue are uneven. More care and less promotion of other titles would be much appreciated for issue #2.
Care Bears: Unlock the Magic #1 debuted in print and digital formats on July 10, 2019.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
This review was concurrently published on Outrightgeekery.com.
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