Review – Bee & PuppyCat #4 (BOOM! Studios)

Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer(s): Writers: Anissa Espinosa, T. Zysk, Mad Rupert, Coleman Engle, Aimee Fleck, Pranas Naujokaitis
Artist(s): Writers: Anissa Espinosa, T. Zysk, Mad Rupert, Coleman Engle, Aimee Fleck, Pranas Naujokaitis
Release Date: 24th September 2014

I’m so very torn with the Bee and Puppycat comic series. I’m a huge fan of the webshow, and also of its BOOM! Studios stablemate Bravest Warriors, and was hoping that the comic would tide me over until there were more episodes, while also perhaps giving me some insider hints on where the story would eventually go. What I have instead found is a comic which is mostly cute (so, unbelievably, cute), made up of little stories which barely have their own impact, let own alone any impact on the ongoing story.

Where last month saw the comic fracture into four separate stories, this month we see that total increase to six. Luckily, the majority of these stories are entirely self-contained, and therefore at least feel like fun little side stories which aren’t meant to be taken too seriously. However, some continue to be two-parters, split by over a month of indifference since the storylines usually revolve around something mundane like building a kite. It feels rather silly to see a story split apart, with the conclusion kept away from the reader for a month, only to reveal three more pages about deciding to have a picnic before the story ends.

That is not to say that there is nothing here to enjoy. The art styles are always varied and interesting to inspect, and usually deliver nice little sight gags. The one-shot stories fare better than the content-stretching two-parters, as they tend to just focus on the jokes and the art. But even these leave me wishing we could further explore the spacey backstory of Bee and Puppycat’s world, rather than spending most of our time running errands with Bee. She’s a lovely girl, and very relatable (and weird as well, as the line “Dumpsters have never failed me!!!!” shows) but I would rather see how she deals with the weird things in her life rather than how she avoids them to continue doing everyday things.

The final story builds up more a loving relationship from Puppycat towards Bee, something that I’m glad has finally been expanded upon, as Puppycat often just felt inconvenienced by her. But even in this story, the only one which chooses to deal with the more cosmic part of the show, nothing is expanded upon. I genuinely hoped to see these aspects of the series expanded in the comics, not just taken for granted.

Ultimately, this comic just doesn’t feel like good value for money. It’s a delight to look at, but the lack of any meaningful content leaves me feeling disappointed, especially when compared to what Bravest Warriors has achieved in terms of expanding its mythos through the medium comics. If you’re a Bee and Puppycat fan looking for literally professional-grade fan art with cute stories behind it then you will undoubtedly find something to like here. I just wish there was more to this series than just the ‘cuteness’ factor.

Rating: 2/5

PREVIEW ARTWORK.

[Click thumbnail for full size image]