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Mystery Science Theater 3000
The hit Netflix show has come to comics!
The riffing hilarity of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 comes to comics when Kinga Forrester pairs her Kingachrome Liquid Medium with her latest invention--the Bubbulat-R! Jonah Heston, Crow T. Robot, and Tom Servo find themselves thrust into the 2-D world of public domain comics, with riffing as their only defense!
From its humble beginnings on a tiny mid-west TV station in 1988, through its years as a mainstay on The Comedy Channel/Comedy Central and the SciFi Channel all through the '90s, to its spectacular resurrection on Netflix in 2017, Mystery Science Theater 3000 has had a transformative effect on television, comedy, and the way old, cheesy movies are viewed. Now creator Joel Hodgson has set his sights on the comics medium, and the four-color pamphlets will never be the same!
The riffing hilarity of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 comes to comics when Kinga Forrester pairs her Kingachrome Liquid Medium with her latest invention--the Bubbulat-R! Jonah Heston, Crow T. Robot, and Tom Servo find themselves thrust into the 2-D world of public domain comics, with riffing as their only defense!
From its humble beginnings on a tiny mid-west TV station in 1988, through its years as a mainstay on The Comedy Channel/Comedy Central and the SciFi Channel all through the '90s, to its spectacular resurrection on Netflix in 2017, Mystery Science Theater 3000 has had a transformative effect on television, comedy, and the way old, cheesy movies are viewed. Now creator Joel Hodgson has set his sights on the comics medium, and the four-color pamphlets will never be the same!
160 pages, Paperback
Published September 24, 2019
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49 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
February 13, 2022
UPDATE: With all that's going on in the world, needed something genuinely stupid and funny, and this totally filled the bill. Holds up just as well second time around, with at least 2-3 laughs per page, and you can't ask for more than that.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: Maybe not a true 5 stars, but close enough for me. If you loved the show, you should get a big kick out of this book, a compilation of its individual six comic run. Wasn't sure how they could pull it off, but the concept not only works it builds on the show by putting the MST3K characters into the stories themselves. Execution was pretty flawless too, with them actually overdrawing and overwriting on the original artwork of what were such lame comics that they are now in the public domain.
Like the show, not all the jokes land, and some of the references I'll still have to Google. But much of it was laugh-out-loud funny, particular the jokes making fun of the actual (and generally awful) 1940s-50s artwork. One question, thought: what's the deal with the extra robots - some green dude and a little tiny guy whose names I can't remember? Don't see them referenced anywhere else...
Anyway, as an old fart without Netflix access, I still haven't seen the new show - but this fresh-off-the-presses book (a birthday present from my B&N-working son) brought back so many fun memories I will definitely look for the DVDs at our library!
(NUTHER UPDATE: Have since seen the show - thank you, local library! - and the new cast does a great job...including those mysterious new robots!)
ORIGINAL REVIEW: Maybe not a true 5 stars, but close enough for me. If you loved the show, you should get a big kick out of this book, a compilation of its individual six comic run. Wasn't sure how they could pull it off, but the concept not only works it builds on the show by putting the MST3K characters into the stories themselves. Execution was pretty flawless too, with them actually overdrawing and overwriting on the original artwork of what were such lame comics that they are now in the public domain.
Like the show, not all the jokes land, and some of the references I'll still have to Google. But much of it was laugh-out-loud funny, particular the jokes making fun of the actual (and generally awful) 1940s-50s artwork. One question, thought: what's the deal with the extra robots - some green dude and a little tiny guy whose names I can't remember? Don't see them referenced anywhere else...
Anyway, as an old fart without Netflix access, I still haven't seen the new show - but this fresh-off-the-presses book (a birthday present from my B&N-working son) brought back so many fun memories I will definitely look for the DVDs at our library!
(NUTHER UPDATE: Have since seen the show - thank you, local library! - and the new cast does a great job...including those mysterious new robots!)
June 28, 2020
It’s dangerous trying to re-boot a great idea in a new medium, especially because there will be old fans like me who don’t want to accept any changes or new developments in the thing they have loved. In fairness to Joel and his team, he definitely has come up with a slick, appealing product that will probably bring new fans into the fold and make them curious about this odd little artifact of the 1990s. But, yeah, it didn’t quite work for me.
Let’s start at the beginning: Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3k) was a series that began on a Minneapolis UHF TV station, in which a guy and some very cheap puppets made to look vaguely like robots threw witty comments out at the screen while a bad movie played (called “riffing” on the film). To give this odd idea some sense of continuity, he created a background story in which his character had been trapped in space by some mad scientists who wanted to use bad movies to control minds and Rule the World. Partly because cable companies were starved for content in those days, the show managed to get contracts with first Comedy Central and later the Sci Fi Channel and ran for ten years, also releasing one big screen movie in the process. When it was canceled in 1999, millions of fans like me started obsessing over the tapes and eventual DVD releases that came out. Then a few years back a kickstarter brought the show out for a few short seasons that eventually “aired” on Netflix. Somewhere along the line this tie-in comic book came along. It is set in that same “universe,” with some additional robots and a moon-based army serving the current mad scientist, and it tries to take the concept of riffing to the comic universe.
Three comics are riffed here, although not in sequence. One is about a “teen reporter” who saves a movie star from some kidnappers, one is “The Black Cat” a typical female superhero fighting some gangsters (so far as I can tell she is unrelated to the “Spider Man” character of the same name), and one is a horror anthology. Of these, the horror anthology gets the most attention, with the character of Crow transforming into a kind of Crypt Keeper and meta-narrator for the stories. I would have liked to see more of “The Black Cat,” myself, and I could have lived without the teen reporter.
My biggest criticism is that the wraparound story and riffing totally drown out the source material – if there was actually source material. I haven’t been able to find the credits for the bad comics being riffed here, and I almost wonder if the artists created them rather than deal with copyright issues. That sense of not being able to “see” the original comic really undermines the concept for me. Also, I don’t really get the running joke about pizza rolls. Unlike the series, where the characters sit in a theater and mock a movie that the audience is also watching, here the characters are inserted into the comics they are riffing, and it is hard to separate them from the stories. I do like the Crow-as-Crypt-Keeper theme, and a number of full page artworks are dedicated to this at the end. Overall, I would say this comic is worth at least four stars for the art, but it only gets two from me for the writing.
Let’s start at the beginning: Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3k) was a series that began on a Minneapolis UHF TV station, in which a guy and some very cheap puppets made to look vaguely like robots threw witty comments out at the screen while a bad movie played (called “riffing” on the film). To give this odd idea some sense of continuity, he created a background story in which his character had been trapped in space by some mad scientists who wanted to use bad movies to control minds and Rule the World. Partly because cable companies were starved for content in those days, the show managed to get contracts with first Comedy Central and later the Sci Fi Channel and ran for ten years, also releasing one big screen movie in the process. When it was canceled in 1999, millions of fans like me started obsessing over the tapes and eventual DVD releases that came out. Then a few years back a kickstarter brought the show out for a few short seasons that eventually “aired” on Netflix. Somewhere along the line this tie-in comic book came along. It is set in that same “universe,” with some additional robots and a moon-based army serving the current mad scientist, and it tries to take the concept of riffing to the comic universe.
Three comics are riffed here, although not in sequence. One is about a “teen reporter” who saves a movie star from some kidnappers, one is “The Black Cat” a typical female superhero fighting some gangsters (so far as I can tell she is unrelated to the “Spider Man” character of the same name), and one is a horror anthology. Of these, the horror anthology gets the most attention, with the character of Crow transforming into a kind of Crypt Keeper and meta-narrator for the stories. I would have liked to see more of “The Black Cat,” myself, and I could have lived without the teen reporter.
My biggest criticism is that the wraparound story and riffing totally drown out the source material – if there was actually source material. I haven’t been able to find the credits for the bad comics being riffed here, and I almost wonder if the artists created them rather than deal with copyright issues. That sense of not being able to “see” the original comic really undermines the concept for me. Also, I don’t really get the running joke about pizza rolls. Unlike the series, where the characters sit in a theater and mock a movie that the audience is also watching, here the characters are inserted into the comics they are riffing, and it is hard to separate them from the stories. I do like the Crow-as-Crypt-Keeper theme, and a number of full page artworks are dedicated to this at the end. Overall, I would say this comic is worth at least four stars for the art, but it only gets two from me for the writing.
June 3, 2019
In news that should surprise absolutely no one, Mystery Science Theater 3000 makes for a really funny, really enjoyable, and really good comic. I reviewed the first issue back when it came out and found it to be a pretty enjoyable read. Now, I've finished the final issue of the run and I can confirm that it remains an enjoyable read throughout its run, intertwining the signature
The MST3K comic plays out very similarly to the MST3K show: there's a host segment, some riffing over a movie/comic, an ad break, more riffing, and a final host segment. The purpose of these host segments (illustrated by Todd Nauck) is, mainly, to introduce the concept of this comic series to readers (both those familiar with MST3K and any who might be discovering it for the first time) and to facilitate the switching between the various story strands - more on those momentarily. In the host segments, we find out that Kinga has invented this new technology – called the Bubbulat-R – that can put people inside of comic books and allow them to both live through the events of the comic and riff on them. So, naturally, she puts Jonah and the ‘Bots into a comic and sets them loose. The host segments throughout the series really feel like one from the revival of the TV series. All of the characters’ voices are captured perfectly and Nauck’s illustrations perfectly encapture the look and feel of the series. They're a marvelous touch and they help facilitate the flow of the series very well.
The actual meat of the series, however, is filled with three different comics that Jonah and the 'Bots are sent into: "Tom Servo: Teen Reporter" (a take on "Johnny Jason: Teen Reporter", "Black Cat" (where Jonah teams up with Black Cat, a public domain superhero), and "Horrible" (where Crow takes on the role of a Crypt Keeper-esque facilitator of spooky moral tales). It's kind of nice having the crew split up between several different stories as it gives each character plenty of time to shine, but I'm not sure I liked how each issue would switch between the three comics. It made it very hard for me to follow what was going on in the individual comics that were being riffed and it became a bit tedious as the focus would keep switching. I understand that this might be the point; that our focus should probably be on how funny the riffs are and how cool it is seeing these beloved characters in comic book form, but it didn't always make for the most fun reading experience. It might have worked better had each issue of the MST3K comic focused on a singular public domain comic, much like the TV series does with films. Then again, maybe I'd be wrong and that would have worked even less! Overall, the writing was still really good and the artwork in each separate comic-inside-the-comic was remarkable. Each artist (Jack Pollock, Mike Manley, and Mimi Simon) did a superb job at replicating the original artwork from the public domain series and mixing the MST3K characters into those worlds.
What makes this comic unique, however, is how it handles the riffing. As you watch the MST3K TV show, you'll notice a few different kinds of riffs: one is the kind that is made overtop of the film (Jonah/Joel/Mike and the 'Bots making a comment about the film), the other is made as if one of the characters says it. In the TV series, this is usually accomplished by whichever character who's delivering the riff impersonating the character they're delivering it as. In the comic, this is accomplished as a word balloon with an extra dot coming from that character. At first, it can be a bit tricky to differentiate what is actual dialogue and what is "riff"-dialogue, but once you get the hang of it, it ends up working out pretty well. All the jokes feel like things that might be said by these characters in the TV series and most of them land really well, being that perfect blend of obscure/topical/silly. It's a whole lot of fun.
That's a good way to sum up the MST3K comic, as a whole. It's a lot of fun. It’s really silly, just like the TV series. The artwork is nice, especially the artwork within the comics getting riffed. The writing is on point and feels like an extension of the universe of the TV series. The host segment was clever, well-written, and felt true to the characters and situations present in the TV series. The way that Joel Hodgson and the other writers tweaked the MST3K formula to best work within the medium of comics was really clever, surprising, and enjoyable. This is just a really fun comic. It’s light reading, but still insanely worthwhile. If you’re a fan of the show, check this out. If you’re new to the world of MST3K, still check it out. This might be the thing that hooks you.
4 out of 5 wands.
The MST3K comic plays out very similarly to the MST3K show: there's a host segment, some riffing over a movie/comic, an ad break, more riffing, and a final host segment. The purpose of these host segments (illustrated by Todd Nauck) is, mainly, to introduce the concept of this comic series to readers (both those familiar with MST3K and any who might be discovering it for the first time) and to facilitate the switching between the various story strands - more on those momentarily. In the host segments, we find out that Kinga has invented this new technology – called the Bubbulat-R – that can put people inside of comic books and allow them to both live through the events of the comic and riff on them. So, naturally, she puts Jonah and the ‘Bots into a comic and sets them loose. The host segments throughout the series really feel like one from the revival of the TV series. All of the characters’ voices are captured perfectly and Nauck’s illustrations perfectly encapture the look and feel of the series. They're a marvelous touch and they help facilitate the flow of the series very well.
The actual meat of the series, however, is filled with three different comics that Jonah and the 'Bots are sent into: "Tom Servo: Teen Reporter" (a take on "Johnny Jason: Teen Reporter", "Black Cat" (where Jonah teams up with Black Cat, a public domain superhero), and "Horrible" (where Crow takes on the role of a Crypt Keeper-esque facilitator of spooky moral tales). It's kind of nice having the crew split up between several different stories as it gives each character plenty of time to shine, but I'm not sure I liked how each issue would switch between the three comics. It made it very hard for me to follow what was going on in the individual comics that were being riffed and it became a bit tedious as the focus would keep switching. I understand that this might be the point; that our focus should probably be on how funny the riffs are and how cool it is seeing these beloved characters in comic book form, but it didn't always make for the most fun reading experience. It might have worked better had each issue of the MST3K comic focused on a singular public domain comic, much like the TV series does with films. Then again, maybe I'd be wrong and that would have worked even less! Overall, the writing was still really good and the artwork in each separate comic-inside-the-comic was remarkable. Each artist (Jack Pollock, Mike Manley, and Mimi Simon) did a superb job at replicating the original artwork from the public domain series and mixing the MST3K characters into those worlds.
What makes this comic unique, however, is how it handles the riffing. As you watch the MST3K TV show, you'll notice a few different kinds of riffs: one is the kind that is made overtop of the film (Jonah/Joel/Mike and the 'Bots making a comment about the film), the other is made as if one of the characters says it. In the TV series, this is usually accomplished by whichever character who's delivering the riff impersonating the character they're delivering it as. In the comic, this is accomplished as a word balloon with an extra dot coming from that character. At first, it can be a bit tricky to differentiate what is actual dialogue and what is "riff"-dialogue, but once you get the hang of it, it ends up working out pretty well. All the jokes feel like things that might be said by these characters in the TV series and most of them land really well, being that perfect blend of obscure/topical/silly. It's a whole lot of fun.
That's a good way to sum up the MST3K comic, as a whole. It's a lot of fun. It’s really silly, just like the TV series. The artwork is nice, especially the artwork within the comics getting riffed. The writing is on point and feels like an extension of the universe of the TV series. The host segment was clever, well-written, and felt true to the characters and situations present in the TV series. The way that Joel Hodgson and the other writers tweaked the MST3K formula to best work within the medium of comics was really clever, surprising, and enjoyable. This is just a really fun comic. It’s light reading, but still insanely worthwhile. If you’re a fan of the show, check this out. If you’re new to the world of MST3K, still check it out. This might be the thing that hooks you.
4 out of 5 wands.
January 4, 2021
3 stars. I’m a big, huge, ginormous fan of MST3K. The original run and the Netflix reboot. It’s my favorite show of all time and sparked my love for bad movies. So to say that I was excited about this comic is a gross understatement. I see and can appreciate what Joel was going for but I just don’t think this concept really works in comic form. Or I probably should’ve read these as their individual issues instead of in one go. The plot loses steam and gets really incoherent by the end. The humor was hit or miss but I will say I personally think that Crow’s comics were the best part and had the best riffs. Not to say Jonah and Servo’s weren’t entertaining because they were but Crow’s were superior. I’m not mad I read this and I had fun while reading it for the most part but I’d say just stick to the show.
October 25, 2019
I'm a big fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, so when I saw a comic based on the show was available I picked it up as soon as I could. The artwork is a lot of fun and I'm sure it was painstaking trying to reproduce the exact look and feel of vintage comics. I love the overall concept and the idea of riffing on a variety of comic genres. Unfortunately most of the time the jokes fall flat. I think this is, in part, due to the delivery. Most of the dialogue for the comic has nothing to do with the story, so instead of following something resembling a plot, the reader is basically reading jokes over comic panels. I know, I know . . . the TV show doesn't rely on plot to keep it funny. But in book form it seems to make quite a difference.
August 3, 2020
It pains me to rate this so low, because I've been an avid fan of the show since the Comedy Central days, but loving something means recognizing its flaws, not pretending they don't exist. Initially, I was wondering if it was the general state of the world that had me in the wrong mindset for something like this, but after perusing some of the other reviews, I see it isn't just me feeling this way. MST3K: The Comic is a misfire on several levels.
First, I should mention that even the show had its stumbles. The best episodes featured movies that were unarguably bad, but there was something about them that would carry a certain ironic entertainment, even without the riffing: over the top acting, ridiculous scripts, terrible special effects, etc. The worst episodes were films that were the wrong kind of bad: lifeless acting, boring plots, endless scenes of padding, etc. Sadly, everything here falls into the latter category. With three separate crappy comic series, you'd think at least one of them would be a Pod People, or a Gamera vs. Guiron, or heck, even a Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders. Instead, they're all more akin to Monster A Go-Go, and The Wild, Wild World of Batwoman: downright painful slogs.
Which brings us to the second failure: the writing itself. I chuckled here and there, but the majority of the jokes just...didn't hit the mark. I think this is partly due to the nature of the printed word, and trying to do the MST3K approach in this format. It's entirely possible to do comedy in comic book format--just look at the best runs of Deadpool--but it has to be done a certain way: well-timed quips from characters, scenes that are framed to set up the humor, and most importantly a narrative built around comedy. Doing the callbacks at the screen in MST3K the show works, because they can have perfect timing, and the whole experience has a certain uninterrupted flow to it. On the page, though, much of that is lost. The quips slow things down, and there's often so many of them on a page, that they make an already bad source comic worse, by making it take two or three times as long to get through.
And again, many of these jokes just...aren't good. The recurring Totino's Pizza Rolls bit was kinda funny the first time, but they just kept flogging that horse. It also didn't help that a surprising number of the quips referenced things that are really pretty old; heck sometimes they aren't even jokes, but just references that I guess we're supposed to laugh at just because we recognize them. And that's if we recognize them. The Prisoner? Most of a page devoted to Night Court references? I'm 37, and while I'm vaguely familiar with these, they're really before even my time. I can't imagine even someone in their 20s getting much out of jokes like that.
All of that made MST3K: The Comic distressingly hard to get through. With even the worst of the episodes of the show, you can at least have it on in the background, and still get something out of it, but with a comic book, you have to actively focus on the entire thing to get through it. There were a handful of parts that made me chuckle, and the art is pretty good overall, but the rest of it was eminently disappointing.
First, I should mention that even the show had its stumbles. The best episodes featured movies that were unarguably bad, but there was something about them that would carry a certain ironic entertainment, even without the riffing: over the top acting, ridiculous scripts, terrible special effects, etc. The worst episodes were films that were the wrong kind of bad: lifeless acting, boring plots, endless scenes of padding, etc. Sadly, everything here falls into the latter category. With three separate crappy comic series, you'd think at least one of them would be a Pod People, or a Gamera vs. Guiron, or heck, even a Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders. Instead, they're all more akin to Monster A Go-Go, and The Wild, Wild World of Batwoman: downright painful slogs.
Which brings us to the second failure: the writing itself. I chuckled here and there, but the majority of the jokes just...didn't hit the mark. I think this is partly due to the nature of the printed word, and trying to do the MST3K approach in this format. It's entirely possible to do comedy in comic book format--just look at the best runs of Deadpool--but it has to be done a certain way: well-timed quips from characters, scenes that are framed to set up the humor, and most importantly a narrative built around comedy. Doing the callbacks at the screen in MST3K the show works, because they can have perfect timing, and the whole experience has a certain uninterrupted flow to it. On the page, though, much of that is lost. The quips slow things down, and there's often so many of them on a page, that they make an already bad source comic worse, by making it take two or three times as long to get through.
And again, many of these jokes just...aren't good. The recurring Totino's Pizza Rolls bit was kinda funny the first time, but they just kept flogging that horse. It also didn't help that a surprising number of the quips referenced things that are really pretty old; heck sometimes they aren't even jokes, but just references that I guess we're supposed to laugh at just because we recognize them. And that's if we recognize them. The Prisoner? Most of a page devoted to Night Court references? I'm 37, and while I'm vaguely familiar with these, they're really before even my time. I can't imagine even someone in their 20s getting much out of jokes like that.
All of that made MST3K: The Comic distressingly hard to get through. With even the worst of the episodes of the show, you can at least have it on in the background, and still get something out of it, but with a comic book, you have to actively focus on the entire thing to get through it. There were a handful of parts that made me chuckle, and the art is pretty good overall, but the rest of it was eminently disappointing.
December 26, 2019
If you’re an MST3K fan and you enjoy the trippier, more nonsensical and WTF-filled episodes, you will likely enjoy this!
September 19, 2019
I love MST3K, and I thought the idea behind this miniseries was solid: apply the series' signature riffing style to old comic books. Unfortunately, I found the actual delivery extremely disappointing. Most importantly, I didn't find the jokes funny; I'm not sure whether it has to do with this style working better as a performance than as the written word or whether the writing was simply weaker than the TV series', but whatever the cause, I didn't laugh at all. I also felt the source material was a little too mashed up -- one of the benefits of the TV series is that you get to watch cheesy movies in their entirety (more or less) at the same time that you laugh at them, and if you're a genre fan, this scratches two itches at the same time... but in the comic, I felt that the comics were so heavily altered that it crossed the line from riffing into rewriting, which seemed out of keeping with the spirit of the show. While the approach used here was more creative than simply annotating old comics with new jokes, I think the annotation approach might have actually ended up being more entertaining. Last (and, in this case, probably least), I didn't find the framing story particularly engaging (or even coherent).
I didn't necessarily have high hopes that this would be a work of staggering genius, but I had at least expected it to offer a little more amusement value than it actually did. I hope that this failed experiment doesn't discourage future attempts at bringing MST3K to the comics medium; I still think it's a great idea, but I'd like to see a slightly different approach to the execution next time.
I didn't necessarily have high hopes that this would be a work of staggering genius, but I had at least expected it to offer a little more amusement value than it actually did. I hope that this failed experiment doesn't discourage future attempts at bringing MST3K to the comics medium; I still think it's a great idea, but I'd like to see a slightly different approach to the execution next time.
September 9, 2023
The first sign of trouble is in the introduction, where Joel Hodgson refers to the "early iterations" of a fast-food tie-in comic he read as a kid. Iterations? We're lucky he doesn't go on to talk about comic book praxis or deconstructing genre tropes. It lowered my expectations for what followed - just as well, since while the concept seems promising, with the current MST3K cast invading crappy 1940s or '50s public-domain comic books to participate in and comment on the action, it isn't very funny. They need to spend less time on world-building and thinking up unnecessary characters like Synthia and whatever the new robots are called, and more time working on the jokes.
And furthermore! *Inhales deeply* Did I mention how far the show itself has fallen since the '90s? I'm not being nostalgic for my youthful TV viewing - I saw my first episodes about 10 years ago on YouTube, and marveled at the talents of Kevin Murphy, Trace Beaulieu and the rest. There's no one on that level now. Jonah Ray is pure vanilla, the bots are characterless, Felicia Day plays villain by the numbers, and Patton Oswalt is of course doing an impression of Frank Conniff, who's still around and could probably use the work. Hard to tell where bad writing leaves off and indifferent acting begins, though. Anyway, it's no surprise that the comic book version isn't better.
And furthermore! *Inhales deeply* Did I mention how far the show itself has fallen since the '90s? I'm not being nostalgic for my youthful TV viewing - I saw my first episodes about 10 years ago on YouTube, and marveled at the talents of Kevin Murphy, Trace Beaulieu and the rest. There's no one on that level now. Jonah Ray is pure vanilla, the bots are characterless, Felicia Day plays villain by the numbers, and Patton Oswalt is of course doing an impression of Frank Conniff, who's still around and could probably use the work. Hard to tell where bad writing leaves off and indifferent acting begins, though. Anyway, it's no surprise that the comic book version isn't better.
July 28, 2020
Mystery Science Theater meets comic books as Kinga Forrester has a new plan and this one involves sending our long-suffering heroes into public domain comics to produce a comic to take over the world.
So our heroes are injected into the storylines of old comics with Tom Servo becoming a Teen Reporter, Jonah becoming the sidekick for a scantily-clad 1950s Superheroine, and Crow becoming a crypt-keeper like storyteller in some old light horror comics, while Kinga works her way into the stories to insert ads to sell Totino's Pizza Rolls (in a nod to old comic book ads), and the rest of the bots hop around doing the riffing.
This is a genuinely funny book with some great lines, as well as some new inserted dialogue making fun of the weird creative choices many of these 1950s comics make. The art is also generally quite good with fairly good likenesses of the TV characters and I think the insertion of Noah and the Robots into the comics is done fairly smoothly.
If I did have a complaint, it was that sometimes the book could be a little bit confusing with not only the inserted characters and inserted dialogue but also some robots riffing. It could be a little difficult to keep track of what dialogue from where, which seems to add a bit of unwanted confusion.
Still, there's more than enough funny to make up for it and this is a great read if you love Mystery Science Theater 3000.
So our heroes are injected into the storylines of old comics with Tom Servo becoming a Teen Reporter, Jonah becoming the sidekick for a scantily-clad 1950s Superheroine, and Crow becoming a crypt-keeper like storyteller in some old light horror comics, while Kinga works her way into the stories to insert ads to sell Totino's Pizza Rolls (in a nod to old comic book ads), and the rest of the bots hop around doing the riffing.
This is a genuinely funny book with some great lines, as well as some new inserted dialogue making fun of the weird creative choices many of these 1950s comics make. The art is also generally quite good with fairly good likenesses of the TV characters and I think the insertion of Noah and the Robots into the comics is done fairly smoothly.
If I did have a complaint, it was that sometimes the book could be a little bit confusing with not only the inserted characters and inserted dialogue but also some robots riffing. It could be a little difficult to keep track of what dialogue from where, which seems to add a bit of unwanted confusion.
Still, there's more than enough funny to make up for it and this is a great read if you love Mystery Science Theater 3000.
July 6, 2022
I'm not sure why there are so many negative reviews for this comic, particularly from fans of the show. If you are a fan of the tv show MST 3000 then you know what to expect and this comic series is consistent with the show. Unlike the tv show, the host and robots don't just heckle the stories instead in this they are characters in B-grade old comics.
As with all humour, some jokes are hilarious and some fall flat. But MST is at their best when they are making fun of the conventions of the medium and the flaws in production. I love old comics (as I am of old B films) and I love their poking fun of them.
Yes, the framing story needed work - but overall I thought this was very innovative and a treat for diehard comic fans.
As with all humour, some jokes are hilarious and some fall flat. But MST is at their best when they are making fun of the conventions of the medium and the flaws in production. I love old comics (as I am of old B films) and I love their poking fun of them.
Yes, the framing story needed work - but overall I thought this was very innovative and a treat for diehard comic fans.
October 19, 2020
The MST3K gang do for public domain comics what they've been doing for movies. If you like their humor, you'll probably like this. I found the gags hit and miss, but generally entertaining. Almost all of the original dialogue and captions have been replaced, although sometimes with too much riffing to make much sense, but then you don't come here for a coherent story. The writers are Harold Buchholz, Joel Hodgson, Matt McGinnis, Seth Robinson, Sharyl Volpe, and Mary Robinson. The host segment art is by Todd Nauck, in a very good modern style. The original art is by Mike Manley, Jack Pollock, and Mimi Simon, in the nondescript, generic style of the 1950s.
May 10, 2021
Wacky fun. If you like the MST3K show, especially the latest run with Felicia Day, Patton Oswalt, and Jonah Ray, then you will find much to love in this comic. It was odd to think of "riffing" in the bounds of a comic book. But they make it work.
We get a three types of public domain stories: a teen detective, a lesser known superhero, and an old horror comic. All ripe for the riffing! Crow, Tom Servo, Jonah, & co have a blast with the medium switch.
I especially love Todd Nauk's art in the interstitial stories.
I want to give this 3.5 stars, but obviously that is not possible. To err too high or too low? That is the question.
We get a three types of public domain stories: a teen detective, a lesser known superhero, and an old horror comic. All ripe for the riffing! Crow, Tom Servo, Jonah, & co have a blast with the medium switch.
I especially love Todd Nauk's art in the interstitial stories.
I want to give this 3.5 stars, but obviously that is not possible. To err too high or too low? That is the question.
November 29, 2021
This is the combination of public domain forgotten COMIC BOOKS and the classic public domain forgotten movie riffers, Mystery Science Theater 3000. Redrawn with Tom, Crow and THE REST interjected into the drab and hurried comics of yesterday, this is exactly the treatment into previous publishing you could want and more than hope.
December 31, 2021
I really wanted to like this more, but MST3K translated to comics turns out to be too overwhelming...it took me a while to determine, and then get used to, which thought/speech bubbles were riffs vs. actual dialogue. There were a few good jokes here and there, along with some throwbacks to the classic series. An okay reading experience, but takes much longer to read than your average comic.
October 9, 2019
Hilarious
MST3K seemed like an odd choice to based a comic book, especially given how it works. However, MST3K The Comic manages to perfectly adapt the show's format to the comic book medium.
MST3K seemed like an odd choice to based a comic book, especially given how it works. However, MST3K The Comic manages to perfectly adapt the show's format to the comic book medium.
August 17, 2020
I was never a fan of MST3K. It was never that funny. The comic isn't that funny either, but this mashup of 70+ years of schlock-pop history sustains its length, mostly because of the conceptual and visual execution.
December 24, 2021
This is a very generous three stars. I appreciate the hard work that went into this, and the concept in general. But it just wasn't very funny. To be fair, I'm a hard sell in regards to humor on the printed page.
November 25, 2019
A fantastic read for anyone is a fan of the classic TV series and its recent seasons.
December 31, 2019
Pretty confusing, but a really fun concept and the art is stellar. Confusion or not, if it's MST3K, I'm supporting it.
January 5, 2020
kinda confusing, graphics are excellent, coloring excellent - story line.....just so, so - lots of references that I had to look up for them to make any sense
March 2, 2020
Crow is legit scary in this. For reals.
April 26, 2022
The Tom Sorvo, Teen reporter story was genuinely funny, but unfortunately, nothing else was. Too bad, the idea had potential.
October 7, 2023
This was campy and fun. If you are a fan of MST3K, then you should definitely check this out. It was quirky and filled with silly stories and fun riffs. I enjoyed the foray into comics.
November 3, 2023
This is a fun collection of the mini-series. It's fun and a goofy look back at some public domain comics and characters. It's not knee-slapping funny, but it's amusing.
February 2, 2025
This is my first comic book so I have no point of reference, but I loved it!
December 12, 2022
On an intellectual level, I get what they were trying to do with this comic. MST3000 humor is rather distinct after all and tailored to the TV experience. How does one insert shallow commentary and asides into a comic after all?
I get what they were aiming for, but it just didn't quite land for me. Maybe it was because the characters entered the stories more directly instead of being distinct from them and that blurring of the lines resulted in a very different kind of narrative. And it's story that had funny bits and one-off gags but it wasn't all that funny when you put things all together.
I get what they were aiming for, but it just didn't quite land for me. Maybe it was because the characters entered the stories more directly instead of being distinct from them and that blurring of the lines resulted in a very different kind of narrative. And it's story that had funny bits and one-off gags but it wasn't all that funny when you put things all together.
November 27, 2023
Listen to our review on our podcast:
https://anchor.fm/hew-j-la-france/epi...
Or read our review on our website:
https://pagesinthecorner.com/f/review...
https://anchor.fm/hew-j-la-france/epi...
Or read our review on our website:
https://pagesinthecorner.com/f/review...
December 10, 2023
A really interesting experiment to bring MST3k to comics by having them riff actual public domain comics, with plot and exposition in between issues. A lot of the jokes hit and hit well but for me it is definitely better read in shorter doses to avoid burnout on it.
December 22, 2024
MST3K works great as a comicbook because it is actually comedic.
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