CBR Adventure Time: Sugary Shorts Vol. 1

C'mon grab your friends, we'll go to very distant lands!

You know what time is it? It's ADVENTURE TIME!!

Adventure Time
Adventure Time Vol. 1 / Vol. 2 / Vol. 3
Marceline and the Scream Queens
Playing With Fire
Bravest Warriors Vol. 1

Comic title: Adventure Time: Sugary Shorts Volume One
Art by various
Written by various

Published by BOOM! Studios
From 2013
Lineup Adventure Time series
Format: Hardcover trade paperback collecting the back-up features from Adventure Time #1-14..

Straight from the pages of the main Adventure Time on-going series comes these back-up features I kept asking for on each of my reviews.

Series creator Pendleton Ward allowed several creators he personally selected from the indie comic scene to have some fun in the sandbox that is the Land of Ooo.

An exercise in style only possible through the comic book medium really.

These artists and writers from all around the world were allowed free reign to play with Finn and Jake and the rest of the wonderful characters inhabiting this fictional world.

Some decided to interpret Adventure Time through their unique style and different sensibilities. Other decided to come up with complete reimagining or tried to mimick the style of the show. Others simply focused on minor characters and brought their own take or point of view on some past Adventure Time stories.

What followed is this collection of short stories, the very first volume of "Sugary Shorts"! A unique look at Adventure Time!

All these tales coming from the back-up features of the main Adventure Time comic, they all differ in content and page count.

The book opens with "My Cider The Mountain", written and illustrated by Aaron Renier. In this cute little story Princess Bubblegum doesn't need Tree Trunks' personal homemade cider. But someone's been around the woods of Tree Trunks house.. Who is that strange looking mummy...? The art's lovely. And this is a fun little simple story to launch off this collection.

"Laundromarceline", written and illustrated by Lucy Knisley, sees Finn and Jake with a little laundromat problem. All their clothes ended up red all over! Surely they know some friendly neighborhood vampire who could help them out..? Very random and in tone with the show.

"After the Show" written and illustrated by Zac Gorman is very short - only one single page - and seems like a deleted scene from Marceline and the Scream Queens. Gorgeous art by the by, great news since Gorman did several back-ups for the series!

"Bacon Fields" written and illustrated by Michael DeForge sees Lumpy Space Princess having to take care of some "breakfast people". But when Breakfast Princess and Toast Princess will be back for them, they might not find them in the exact "state" they originally were in... Very funny story, lovely art.

"The Ride of Sir Slicer" is another one-pager by Zac Gorman. Straight from the episode "Blood Under the Skin" from Adventure Time's Season 2. Very short but hilarious. A look at the most *click-click* knight ever, Sir Slicer's point of view/life if you will... One of my favorite for sure!

"The Ultimate Party Dip" written and illustrated by Chris Eliopoulos tales a little story of Party Pat, the raddest bear in Ooo. An adventure of his own! Love his art style, funky and groovy! Kind of reminiscent of PaRappa the Rapper.

"Emit Erutnevda" by comic book legend Paul Pope. Paul Pope gets to slightly reimagine Finn and Jake while mimicking the cartoon nature of the show, telling a story of parallel dimensions, making a little tribute to other comic book legend Moebius and having the time to insert himself on the page for a little random panel. Absolutely amazing short story!

"Ice Kingdumb" written by Georgia & Chris Roberson illustrated by Lucy Knisley. Basically one page-joke where the Ice King wanna marry Marceline. (which is a bit disturbing nowadays, considering the evolution and background of both characters more recently)

"Level 99" by Anthony Clark. Finn is depressed because he's stuck in a videogame. So Jake and BMO made him a little encouraging movie. Hilarious little story very much in the same style as the main Adventure Time book.

"Time Waits for no One" written and drawn by Shannon Wheeler. PB explains time theories to BMO. With a lot of side-jokes and references to actual Mathematicians and renowned scientist. In a time bending story no less! Another of my favs!

"Lumpy Space Drama". Zac Gorman is back! A look at the highly dramatic life of LSP! Only one page long as well. Perfect!

"Happy Birthday Hotdog Princess" written and illustrated by creative duo Frank Gibson & Becky Dreistadt. Hot Dog Princess and Peppermint Butler challenge death for the lost soul of a loved one. Simply gorgeous to look at, but also funny, with a side of creepy. Just like the best Adventure Time episodes.

"Fishling" written and drawn by Shane & Chris Houghton. Finn and Jake get on a Super Intense Fishing contest, it quickly escalates out of control... Pretty funny with crazy fishing like you've never ever seen before!

"Hot Deals in Ice Kingdom" written by Jon M. Gibson and illustrated by Jim Rugg. The Ice King needs some cash to clean up his old crown. He makes a big sale in the Ice Kingdom, Jake wants to buy a doomsday device.. Waitaminute, if the world explodes, how come he's retelling this story from the future?

"The Meaning of Bravery". Zack Giallongo takes Susan Strong in a more traditional superhero direction as she faces the one and only... Billy! Loved this one, really different plus it spotlights some minor characters that were due some screentime.

"The Ice King and his Magical Matchmaking Mini-Comic" written by Alexis Frederick-Frost and illustrated by Andrew Arnold. Let's make some mini-comics with Finn and Jake! A longer short story that gets a bit meta.

"The Devilish Devourer of Delicious Delicacies" written and illustrated Josh Lesnick. A pretty silly cartoony 2-pager about eating Jake. No, not really. But almost!

Finally "Princess of Rad Hats" by Chris Schweizer. Long story short, Finn becomes the Best Princess Ever! That's right! This one's pretty silly but hilarious! Loved the artstyle.

 And that's it for this volume! Covering the three first Adventure Time's worth in back-up stories, issues #1-14.

Overall, it's a very fun, very entertaining all-age book! Perhaps one of the best of the entire year.

Really fun if you're a fan or either a newcomer.

Offering a look at Adventure Time's world through different artists' interpretations.

For comparison, it has that sort of similar anthology feel to Rocketeer Adventures 2 or Jingle Belle comics. Only, here the source material comes from back-up short stories published in the main Adventure Time comic book series.

With such a variety of artists and stories, this comes highly recommended, probably even more so than the actual main on-going series.

I give it:

3 / 3 Snoopies!