Langridge does a couple really profound things–wait, only one profound thing–the other thing isn’t profound as much as interesting.

I don’t remember a lot of “the Muppet Show,” mostly the movies, so I don’t know if the theater’s history was ever discussed “in canon,” but here Langridge establishes the theater was around before Kermit and the gang, which is something of a crazy idea (just imagine, a prequel series–someone call Hayden Christiansen).

The profound thing is taking Statler and Waldorf out of their balcony seats and sending them home for the night. It’s an incredible moment.

Otherwise, it’s a nice, pleasant issue. There’s lots of funny Muppet Show sketches, there’s the heartwarming conclusion. It’s a fine series.

I think some of the problem just stems from the constraint–it’s about the Muppets doing the show, which cuts into how much dramatic plot points each issue can contain.

I just read this issue and I can’t tell you a thing in it except a Pigs in Space episode–not as funny because Piggy’s not in it–something about Piggy being covered in fake jewels–and a really touching scene with Animal.

The series has been full of touching scenes with Animal. It’s more of a character than I’ve ever seen him, but I’m not entirely sure I read Muppet comics for Animal’s character development. Pretty sure I read them to laugh and, here, Langridge does come up with some impressive writing… only not plotting. The rhyming alone is exceptionally impressive.

I can’t figure out what Langridge’s doing with this issue because it’s nothing like either one before it and it doesn’t exactly raise the drama for the last issue. Instead, he has this flop of an issue. It just doesn’t do anything. There are some smiles, no laughs.

This issue has almost no Muppet Show stuff, as in sketches. Instead, Langridge is developing the Peg-Leg Wilson story. It’s a different, very successful approach (I just expected him to open the series with it). This issue is more akin to one of the Muppet feature films. There’s lots of plot.

There are a couple sketches and both work, but instead Langridge’s asides are just nicely presented single page emphases on certain characters or events (Scooter’s investigation into Kermit or the search of Animal’s replacement).

The issue ends on a strange note, like something’s been resolved, even though it hasn’t (except the Kermit mystery). I wonder if Langridge is going to solve on mystery an issue, though I suppose the Animal changing isn’t actually a mystery.

The best thing about the comic is the nuance. Langridge suggests, never says, Animal is scared he ate one of the stage rats.

Animal’s getting smarter, Rizzo and the rats are digging for treasure in the studio and Kermit’s acting very strange (leather jacket and shades). There’s also a ninja hanging around.

While the series has a subtitle, suggesting a unifying theme (at the least), Langridge is really just doing another Muppet Show comic, with bits from the show interspersed with the behind-the-scenes goings on. It’s all incredibly solid, though the laughs are more in the show bits (for whatever reason, the Pigs in Space sketch is really funny–even though there’s almost no punchline at all).

Langridge gets it, but the idea of a unifying factor–The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson–just distracts. It’s clear the book should be run as a loose ongoing, with the comic format allowing for some brief sketches and so on.

It’s not a fast read and it requires attention, which is pleasantly surprising.

Say what one may about Romita’s artwork, but damn if he doesn’t draw the cutest little feet on the Beyonder the last issue? Does Secret Wars II really boil down to penis envy?

Similarly, even with Claremont’s awful writing–he really thought he needed to explain Cerebro to readers in an endless expository thought balloon–he does pack the issue. It’s a chore to get through it, because it’s so lame, but it’s a packed issue. Lots of thoughts, lots of action, lots of dialogue. Though I don’t know where Nightcrawler went. He wasn’t in the big battle scene.

The more I read Secret Wars II and its endless tie-in issues, the more it’s clear what dumb ideas Shooter had for it. Seriously, they could have left the Beyonder alone–he doesn’t really do anything this issue to provoke an attack from the “heroes”–they’ve decided to preemptively strike.

It’s so, so bad. I mean, I thought since Grant turned in a decent third issue, he might be able to pull off a fourth too, but no. It’s just awful. It’s hard to explain how bad it is without sitting down and reading it because it’s just so unbelievable.

Grant goes for this melodramatic ending and then somehow gives his terribly paced limited series too many endings, the first time showing the inspiring human spirit of Robocop with his girlfriend–sorry, sorry, his female lab technician friend–and then having a comedic finale with the U.S. government about to kill Robocop and him getting saved by some asinine nineties punk criminal guy who he teamed up with for a bit.

It’s so funny Dark Horse let their licensed properties tarnish the image. I mean, I always thought Dark Horse at least tried at this point, but not at all.

Ok, so this issue of Robocop is a little more interesting than usual–a little more interesting, maybe, than any licensed property comic outside of Dark Horse’s Star Wars ones where there was a “enhanced continuity” or whatever LucasFilm called it–this issue of Robocop features one of the series’ mainstay characters, the sidekick and token black executive, Johnson, going bad.

It means next to nothing to anyone who isn’t a Robocop fan (the third film ignores the Marvel comics continuity, apparently–and unfortunately) but it’s a big deal. It’s also amusing because the opening shot of the character looks like an Obama campaign poster.

Anyway, otherwise there’s a lot of lame stuff, like Robocop’s partner still not getting to him and some evil military cyborg who’s got daddy issues.

Sullivan draws some amazing panels and the inks just fail him, over and over and over again. It’s tragic, really.

The issue’s a wee bit speedier of a read than I would have liked–it took a heck of lot less than five minutes to read–and it seems like a joining issue anyway. There’s the conclusion to a cliffhanger from the previous issue–Barreto handles the superheroes, Krause handles the Plutonian, which is efficient, sure, but not necessarily the way to make a fluid comic book–but Waid cops out on the Plutonian’s family story.

Spoiler alert–the Plutonian kills his former foster brother and sister and leaves his mentally handicapped foster brother to starve to death. In other words, he’s a really, really terrible piece of shit.

In some ways, it might be the worst thing Waid’s shown him do so far, torturing someone so exaggeratedly helpless. I’ll bet Waid wanted to have him brutally kill a kid and Boom! wouldn’t let him.

Still, it’s way too quick.

I probably grew up on Tom DeFalco’s Spider-Man and never even knew it. All I think of when I hear the name now is Spider-Girl and that’s about it. I guess I did read another DeFalco Secret Wars II crossover Spider-Man issue and the result was me thinking I should read more.

This issue just cements it.

The issue mostly follows Puma–I’d totally forgotten about Puma, Marvel’s attempt at some Native American sensitivity (strange how comic book companies used to worry about these things and now, with the lovely internet, can’t do a thing without getting attacked by fans)–on a loony quest to kill the Beyonder.

DeFalco’s got so much going in this issue, it’s impossible not to call it a soap opera. How anyone kept up–how I kept up as a kid–is beyond me, yet I’m familiar with lots.

It’s quite good.

Holy cow, Robocop, it’s almost an okay issue!

It doesn’t take much for an issue of this series to be better than before, since the first two issues–and lots of this one–are so exceptionally terribly, but this issue does have some imagination to it.

No, not imagination, sorry, what was I thinking… not imagination. Storytelling competence. Steven Grant’s probably written two thousand comic books, it’d be hard for him not to have one acceptable moment and he does, here in the third issue, and it’s a pretty good moment.

Robocop saves some crooks who are going to strip him for parts and it pays off for him.

Amid Grant’s idiotic Denver as lawless future robot city with Grapes of Wrath bad guys (in terms of setting up labor camps), there’s that one decent moment. Oh, wait, there’s Grant’s super-buff, super-tough guy too. He loves those lamers.