Scream Queen

Meredith Gran’s “Adventure Time” mini-series comes to a nice close in “Adventure Time: Marceline and the Scream Queens” #6 along with a standalone short about the band by Rich Tammaso. Gran’s art is deliciously on model throughout this issue, with every character feeling perfectly executed, which really nicely anchors the story in the “Adventure Time” world. The push and pull of Marceline and Princess’s friendship, and the pressure Marceline has been under as she becomes a big star has all worked very well throughout this series. The stakes raise considerably in this final issue. As things come to a head, fully manifesting when Princess leaves and Marceline physically transforms into a monster, overwhelmed by anxiety. It takes Princess returning and talking her friend down (in a bit of reverse psychology) to bring everything around and get to that happy “Adventure Time” ending that’s expected. Great lines like “She won’t listen to kindness!” and “You and I have creative differences!

The “Adventure Time” ongoing series from Boom! Studios is by far one of the best all-ages comics being published (between it and “Snarked” they’re rapidly cornering that market), so I had high hopes for Meredith Gran’s spin-off mini-series “Adventure Time: Marceline and the Scream Queens.” Two issues in, though, it’s settled down into an absolutely average comic. That’s not to say it’s bad, of course. But in the case of “Adventure Time: Marceline and the Scream Queens” #2, the wit and humor that flies so fast and furious in the regular “Adventure Time” comic (as well as, of course, the animated series that it’s based on) isn’t quite at the same level. After setting up a road-trip/buddy-adventure story in the first issue, “Adventure Time: Marceline and the Scream Queens” #2 falls into predictability. Neither Princess Bubblegum nor Marceline come across as terribly enticing characters here; Bubblegum swerves between snippy and a little too saccharine, while Marceline comes across as a