Review: Mr. Stuffins #2

Batteries, we need more batteries

Less than a foot tall and capable of taking out a team of commandos.  It’s not the premise behind the latest Baby Geniuses movie, rather it’s what happens when an animatronic teddy bear gets a programming boost thanks to a government AI program.

While it may seem like a crazy improbability, the Mr. Stuffins title ends up being just as fantastical as a team of scientists getting bombarded with gamma raise and returning to Earth as superheroes. In the latest installment, Boom! Studios pushes the envelope of believability even further by having Mr. Stuffins take down twenty of the world’s greatest black ops agents in a fight scene that is straight out of your favorite over the top action flick.  It’s not that the fight scenes are that unbelievable, or that an artificial AI could be programmed to take out guys dressed like ninjas carrying flame throwers and shock sticks, but it’s down right laugh out loud funny that Mr. Stuffins is able to pop a guy in the jaw with his stuffed paw and take him down.

While the bear and his ward are able to escape the clutches of the ne’er-do-wells, it’s ironic that the little bear gets taken down by a bunch of drained batteries.  Needless to say, Mr. Stuffins is out of commission when it is revealed Zachery’s mother and sister have been taken hostage, and their going to die if Zach’s dad doesn’t bring the bear to the big bad.

This issue did move the overall story forward, and there is a moment that draws father and son closer together.  There is plenty of action – easily a third of the issue is devoted to the stuffed bear beating the crap out of the bad guys, but the funny one-liners that owned the first issue, are missing here.  That being said, the action sequence brings the  funny, and makes the issue work so well.  Mr. Stuffins is certainly not a comic book to be taken as a serious work of high fiction, but rather a spoof of all those Saturday matinee popcorn action flicks we enjoyed in the ’80’s.  If Boom! were to sell the movie rights to this movie, I’d be in line to watch it, especially if they had Bruce Willis providing the voice talents of the title character.

On the art side, Axel Medellin Machain is able to flip his art style to make Mr. Stuffins menacing and dark one moment, then cute, cuddly, and sympathetic as his batteries begin to die.  I’m not a big fan of the coloring and shading of the issue as everything seems to have an evenly lit look, even for scenes that take place in a warehouse in the middle of the night.

I get a chance to check out a lot of comics early, and of the 15 or so titles that were slipped to me early, Mr. Stuffins was at the top of the stack.  The issue isn’t as polished as the first issue, but it is still enjoyable.  If you are on board for a funny action packed bear and his boy story, Mr. Stuffins delivers, and Mr. Stuffins #2 earns 4 out of 5 Stars.