"Rumble in the Jungle"

A crash on an unexplored planet persuades Leela to don a leopard-skin bikini and become the queen of the jungle. No, she didn't land on her head. Bender finds himself out of sorts, and Fry seeks revenge for a fallen friend.

Boothby first hilariously breathes new life into the old cliché of marooned parents losing their lives in the jungle, only to have their son or daughter become its royalty. The Claytons were shipwrecked. Tarzan was their son. Sheena's parents died in a plane crash. In Futurama Comics Boothby has The Planet Express victimized by gravity. No parents die, but the principle is the same.

On the jungle planet, gorgeously colored by Kane, another twist on an old chestnut draws Leela into the fantasy of nerds. Here's where the book loses a tiny bit of momentum.

The show displays different social mores, so viewers have seen Leela mostly in the buff. Nudity in the future is no big deal. The animators made these moments sensual. Whereas Tom King and Dan Davis capture the look and feel of Futurama, Leela simply doesn't looks sexy enough, and she should look damn sexy in a leopard skin bikini.

I think the main problem is that Mr. King doesn't scale Leela properly. She's not tall enough or supple enough. I can't really fault him too much because it's difficult to work within a specific model, especially the Groening model, but if you have the opportunity to outfit Leela in a leopard bikini, go for broke, man!

King's art for the most part complements Boothby's devastating wit. A character that's more annoying than Scrappy-Doo pops up with typical useless advice. Scenes where Fry follows Bender's trail work nicely as an in joke, and King excels in illustrating expressions. The terror on the inhabitants' faces as they encounter Fry is palpable, and Leela's anger impresses. It can't be easy drawing a cyclops with a narrowed eye.

"Yivo Loves You!," and I love Futurama Comics. Boothby, King, Davis and Kane continue the fine tradition of beautifully rendered absurdity inherent in all of The Planet Express crew's deliveries.

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