Adventure Time: Ice King #1
Story by: Emily Partridge
Writer: Pranas Naujokaitis
Artist: Natalie Andrewson
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Reviewed by: Kelsey Hlavaty
The status of Adventure Time in our culture is pretty much at an all time high. The show is funny, quotable and downright heart-wrenching at specific moments. The comics? Even better! They dive so much deeper into the backstories of characters and their relationships – something I never expected when I sat down and tuned into Adventure Time. It even spawned into different shows that have similar art styles and messages, often because the creators of the show work on these projects: Steven Universe (Rebecca Sugar) or Bravest Warriors (Pendleton Ward).
I, for one, absolutely positively adore this art style and the different storylines that develop within these worlds. Recently, Adventure Time creators like Olivia Olson have taken Marceline’s story line and shifted it dramatically, making her a female character worth her own show. When I saw that the Ice King would be getting his own comic, I was super excited. As any Adventure Time watcher will know, the Ice King is the “villain” in the series. I say this in quotations because he ain’t so bad some of the time. He used to be a scientist named Simon Petrikov who found a magical crown that allowed for him to control snow and ice. But wearing the crown for an excessive amount of time caused a sad twist – Simon began to lose his sanity and his memories, making him the weird princess kidnapper we know today. Needless to say, the development of these different characters is like a drug to me and I truly needed to fill this craving. This brings us to my Adventure Time: Ice King #1 review!
The issue begins with the Ice King waking up from another “Fionna and Cake” dream. As he is making his breakfast, he begins a conversation with his penguin, Gunter, but Gunter doesn’t respond. Worried, the Ice King begins to completely turn his house upside down in absolute despair. He’s throwing around his other penguins looking for Gunter – even visits his good ol’ pals Jake and Finn. The boys wake up to find the Ice King frantically looking through their fridge and garbages for any signs of his lost friend. We then see the Ice King searching all over the Land of Ooo asking all sorts of familiar faces for any clues. The Ice King comes home to find a ransom letter taped to his fridge. He promptly makes a trip to the Wizard City as he knows he will find help there. The issue ends with Ice King making plans with another wizard in the hopes of finding the person who kidnapped Gunter.
The fact that Partridge would write about such a weird character is so wonderful for a fan like me. The Ice King’s story is slowly touched upon in this first issue. We only know a couple of key plot elements and characters, but no real climax has been reached yet. Because of this, I think bigger plot points will be touched later on in the series as the Ice King moves further into the Wizard City. I am excited to see where this simple storyline will go. Will she touch on some of the Ice King’s secrets? Or will this be a light fun story of a man who lost his penguin? The way Naujokaitis portrays the Ice King is perfect; I read his lines exactly how he would say in the show – he is exactly as irrational and hopeless as I wanted him to be. Andrewson also draws the Ice King in such a way that truly captures his emotions. I found myself laughing at some scenes simply by his expressions. Each page is extremely colorful and bright and I find the rough sketch-like art that she uses extremely charming.
Verdict? If you’re a big Adventure Time fan like me who will enjoy all the small gags and familiar faces, I would pick up this issue. Although I am hoping it opens up into a bigger plot, I am still able to enjoy it as a light hearted and adorable mini-series. BOOM Studios provides its readers with another all-ages hit!
