Friday, August 30, 2013

CBR Bravest Warriors Vol. 1


You know what Time it is?

It's Pendleton Ward Time!

Comic title: Bravest Warriors: Volume One
Art by Mike Holmes & Ryan Pequin
Written by Joey Comeau & Ryan Pequin

Published by Boom! Studios inprint KaBOOM!
From 2013
Lineup Bravest Warriors series
Format: Trade Paperback collecting Bravest Warriors #1-4.

Bravest Warriors is another series from the mind of Adventure Time creator Pen Ward.

Some call it a scifi take on Adventure Time, set in the year 3085!

Similar to Adventure Time, the show first saw life as pitched pilot for the Nicktoons Network way back in March 2010. Sadly it never got picked up by Nickledeon.

Now that Pen Ward's a more familiar and popular name he was able to bring it back, but instead of opting for Cartoon Network, Frederator Studios debuted this cartoon series on their own Cartoon Hangover Youtube Channel.

So far a first Season aired for free on youtube, and before the start of the 2nd one later this year they are currently airing Summer "minisodes" at the moment.

Naturally the studio looked into a similar adaptation treatment with Boom! Comics.

But since this show has just recently started and only aired a few very short episodes, the comic book series is allowing for more development and much bigger/longer stories instead.

Released alongside the beginning of the show, this comic book actually introduced some characters before they even appeared on the animated show.

The series started under the Kaboom! label in 2012.


The Bravest Warriors are four 16-year-old space-faring adventurers.

The team is composed of Beth Tezuka - kickass powerhouse of the team, Chris Kirkman - dorky leader who has a secret crush on Beth, Danny Vasquez - the brains behind the Warriors' tech and Wallow - strongman romantic who happens to have an AI in love with him living in his left arm.

Add to that the fifth unofficial Bravest Warriors Plum - a mysterious mermaid-alien-girl with two distinct brains, the mischievous Catbug and their "Jake The Dog" Impossibear.

Both Impossibear and Plum appeared first in the pages of this comic before being introduced on the show.

This trade collects the first 4-issue long story arc. As well all of these issues' back-up second features.

After yet another job well done (fighting sexism in space!), Chris, Wallow, Beth and Danny decide to take a little break. Watching some movies.

They end up fighting for the choice of the movie, each preferring his own pick for the evening.

Thankfully the Bravest Warriors get a new mission! Saving a "clown" planet from being super-down.

But Danny turns out to be super scared of clowns!

On the way there, our totally righteous and bodacious heroes face some space kitties, face their own fear and end up facing the biggest defeat villain of all... Sadness herself!!


The creative duo of Mike Holmes & Joey Comeau completely get the world of the Bravest Warriors right on the first try, right down to each character's voice.

It's a pretty fun, colorful and epic adventure!

Similar to Adventure Time, Joey Comeau put some little annotations/comments at the bottom of some pages.

It starts with some little sidenotes in the first issue but by the last one Comeau found a similar humorous and sarcastic tone like Ryan North on the Adventure Time comics.

This trade also collects the sidestories presented as back-up features when the series was released as stand-alone issues.

Those are written and drawn by Ryan Pequin with several different colorists.

They go from little random stories, a paintball fight gone wrong, Chris sick with space flu to the most epic tale "Bravest Warrior" by Ryan Pequin Danny. Danny retelling the past events of some adventure the others can't remember, through his own glorified perception! Epic!


It's a pretty fun series, probably one of the best all-ages title available at the moment!

While the animated version aims for a slightly older audience than Adventure Time, the Bravest Warriors comics is fun for everyone!

Since each issue of this series was printed through many, many alternate covers, there's an entire bonus Cover Gallery!

Like Adventure Time, it's a great way to have look at the Bravest Warriors universe through the interpretation of other artists! It ranges from Tyson Hesse to Bob Flynn, Shelli Paroline & Braden Lamb, Jason Ho, Zack Sterling, Victoria Ying & Mike Yamada - many of these artist even going for look of the original Bravest Warriors pilot - to even Pendleton Ward himself!

Bravest Warriors is a fun book telling the adventures of teenage heroes, each one braver than the last one, facing evil in all shapes and colors, fighting for justice!


Overall, it's a fantastic comic!

Fans of Adventure Time, the cartoon or comics, will surely love it. It's quirky and random.

It's slightly more mature in some subjects it mentions, but still for a younger audience mostly.

Great humor and jokes, it's a perfect introduction to the series!

And unlike Adventure Time, Boom Studios collected the backup features this time!

Highly Recommended!

I give it:
3 / 3 Snoopies!

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