Minions, Book 3: Viva Le Boss!

Family Comic Friday embraces it’s inner villain this week. We just don’t do it very well as we take a look at those rascally (and quite clumsy) Minions!

Minions, Book 3: Viva Le Boss!Written by Stephanie Lapuss
Art by Renaud Collins
Published by Titan Comics
Pages: 52
Retail: $6.99

Relive over 6 million years of villainy history in Titan Comics’ Minions: Viva Le Boss! Based on the hit 2015 movie, Stephanie Lapuss explores the unsuccessful relationships that the Minions have had with all of their evil bosses. If the name of Stephanie Lapuss sounds familiar, that’s because she also wrote the first issue of The Secret Life of Pets #1, which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago.

As with The Secret Life of Pets, Lapuss does a great job capturing the hilarious spirit of the Minions. Also, each story is just one-two pages long vignettes. However, since the Minions don’t really speak a coherent language, some of the stories tend to get lost in translation. I had to re-read several stories in order to figure out just what was really happening.

Okay- if a book has literally no words, are you still reading it? Other than some pictograms in words bubbles and a couple of pigeon English words, this is basically a picture book comic. This book is recommended for readers aged K-5 to 3rd grade. However, some of the slapstick comedy is rather ghoulish- for the villains! Bosses catch on fire, lose body parts and get eaten. It’s all done in the style of Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry. But some parents might object to that sort of violent humor.

The person behind the artwork is French illustrator Renaud Collin (The Town of Whispers). His presentations of the characters don’t look exactly like the characters in the movie. But here, based on the level of horseplay, that exaggerated look of the Minions and their masters actually work here!

I find myself going opposite of my preferences of the story and art of The Secret Life of Pets. With that comic, I thought that the humor was perfect but that the art just wasn’t 100% right. With Viva Le Boss, I felt that the caricature was perfect but the plotting of the Minions’ exploits needed just a little more clarification. It just goes to show that preferences can differ based on just the slightest of changes.

If the young reader in your life loves the Minions, they’ll love this collection of Minions comics. Reprinting the 2-issue miniseries of the same name, at $6.99, Minions: Viva Le Boss is an affordable romp that will bring laughs over and over. But if the antics of The Three Stooges is considered too mature for your youngster, you may want to hold off of this book. Just remember that you might also have to explain some of these interludes as a few are just a little too complex to understand without words.

Minions, Book 3: Viva Le Boss debuted in print and digital formats on June 6, 2019.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

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.