Left to their own devices on a cruise ship, the toys are enjoying a spot of freedom until Buzz and Jessie fall overboard. Meanwhile, Andy’s mother falls sick. Yes, it’s just another day in the life of Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and the gang. The kind of toys who could probably burn your house down with a chocolate bar and a pencil if you turned your back on them for long enough.
Jesse Blaze Snider manages to accurately capture this vibe along with some of the overall charm of the Toy Story films in his script and, far from being the distraction I thought it might be when I began reading, the cruise ship and wide open sea setting feels quite inspired by the end of the book.
One thing that really strikes you about a Toy Story based comic, however, is how flat everyone and everything looks. Don’t get me wrong, Morgan Luthi does a bang up job on getting the toys looking just right (and there’s a fantastic Jaws homage, too) but after seeing the characters in CG for the past 15 years, it took a little adjustment. Ultimately, however, I liked the look. It felt retro.
Naturally, there is no escaping the fact that this is very much a children’s comic and while the films are reasonably enjoyable for older folks to sit through, with or without children, it’s unlikely that as many older folks will be reaching for a copy of this book to read on their own. Of course, they might get roped into reading it a couple of hundred times if they know any children!
Objectively, this is pretty much average fare for the children’s genre of comics but any young ones who love Toy Story won’t notice that fact at all. They will eat this up and ask for seconds next month.