Imaginary Friends

Rex Montana is the greatest imaginary friend of them all. His ability to craft adventures with nothing but a pack of pencils, a teddy bear and the mind of an 8-year old in a thing of beauty. Rex has helped dozens of youngsters enjoy childhood to the fullest. Now Rex Montana is the world's greatest hope!

Along with an odd assortment of characters, Rex Montana must travel through the mythical realms of folklore and tradition in order to stop a rogue bunbury named Shift Valentine from becoming real and turning the domain of humans!

This was a pretty clever story in the vein of Inside Out and Toy Story. If it was for the fact that this book was rated for ages 14 and older, Imaginary Friends could have been a Pixar classic. For all we know, we might see this story could one day get that Pixar treatment. The Ninja Turtles were originally designed for adults but was crafted into a beloved franchise for fans of all ages. It could happen here too!

Created by Praetorian's Jason M. Burns, I really dug the creativity of this book. But some of the dialogue stunk. There's a character called Bones MaGee, who is a bit of a cut up (literally). His jokes are awful. So bad, that I couldn't figure some of them out. I could have done without him. But Cindy- wow! She's a character that I would love to have seen another miniseries starring just here. 

The artwork was very wild and colorful. It's got the right balance of fancy and cartoonish mirth. It's the work of Richie Rich: Rich Rescue's Dustin Evans and I loved how it was both innocent and quite adult at the same time. 

I got this at a dollar used book store in the Raleigh area. I don't know if such a thing exists in other parts of the country. But my state has had quite a few pop up over the years. Why it took me so long to read this, I don't know. But it was a very good distraction from the insanity of 2020. Hopefully, one day when we all get to go to the movies once again, we might see an adaptation of Imaginary Friends on the silver screen one day!

Worth Consuming!

8 out of 10 stars.

(Note: upon further research in my database, this is a re-read for this Madman. Review is based on that second reading.)

Imaginary Friends

  A ragtag bunch of characters with special powers is called together to save all of reality from being destroyed. This kinda sounds like your typical Justice League or Avengers tale. Only these characters are all imaginary and their powers are so strange (Miss Capicola has the ability to manifest meat whereas JoJo the Clown can make anything out of balloons), they wouldn't qualify as members of the Legion of Substitute Heroes. 

   I know this all sounds bizarre but it actually works. This imaginative tale takes something that we can all relate to- the imaginary friend- and it spins the concept on its ear. With adventures that will take you from the depths of the Boogey Man's house all the way to a Santa's Land beyond your wildest dreams or in this case, nightmares, everything you think you know about beings of dream and fantasy is actually worse than you can imagine. 

   The art was a little off. Everything is heavily inked. It looks like it was all done on a computer but without those annoying pixeled edges. It's all quite surreal looking but I think that's the point. 

   That being said, I want more of Imaginary Friends! Jason M. Burns crafts a world that while comprised of characters that every child from ages 1-92 knows by heart, it's all completely new territory here. I just hate that the book kinda ends very abruptly and that one of the main characters to the story (unrevealed as to not give up spoilers) is straight out forgotten and I really wanted to know how they turned out after the conclusion of these exciting events. 

   Imaginary Friends is perfect for fans of Harry Potter, Rise of the Guardians, and fantasy in general. If I had the money, I'd buy the rights to turn this into a movie or a TV miniseries event. Or even better, start a Kickstarter campaign to get a sequel published. It was that enjoyable a ride!

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.