Comic Review: Figment

I'm sure I've brought this up before, but I love the creativity and storytelling that go into the creation of Disney Theme Park attractions.  As you can well imagine, I'm also quite fond of the Disney Kingdoms comics line that is being produced by Marvel Comics.  It is easily the best series Marvel is currently producing.  As I'm sure you guessed by now, we're going to be reviewing one of the additions to the Disney Kingdoms line today.  Specifically, we're taking a look at Figment. 

Figment takes place in London in the year 1910.  It follows an aspiring inventor named Blarion Mercurial.  He might not look it, but he is destined to become The Dreamfinder.  Blarion works for The Academy Scientifica Lucidus.  He's always been a dreamer and he wants to harness the power of imagination and creativity.  Unfortunately, his boss, Chairman Illocrant, is only interested in creating a device that can during thought into energy.  While working on the device, Blarion brings Figment, his childhood imaginary friend, to life.  He also opens a portal into a realm of pure imagination.  Before long, our heroes embark on a journey into imagination.

This comic is based on the beloved EPCOT ride Journey into Imagination.  As such, why don't we talk a little about the ride.  A ride/pavilion dedicated to imagination might seem out of place in a theme park dedicated to science, technology and world culture.  I, however, would argue that it was a perfect fit.  As Dreamfinder famously reminded us all, one little spark of inspiration is at the heart of all creation.  Submarines started out as an imaginary machine dreamed up by Jules Verne.  Then they became real, and today hundreds of Nautilus' prowl the depths of the oceans.  Similarly, Robert Goddard was inspired to create rockets after he read War of the Worlds.  Dozens of scientists and inventors have been inspired by what they saw on Star Trek.

The point being, all of these inventions wouldn't have been possible without someone dreaming them up and imagining them first.  Imagination is the spark that leads to several scientific discoveries, and many wonderful artistic creations.  In fact, you could even go as far as to say that without imagination EPCOT, and Disney World as a whole, wouldn't exist.

Journey into Imagination debuted in 1983 and delighted guests of all ages with a whimsical journey into...well, into imagination of course.  Dreamfinder and Figment delighted guests by showing them all of the wonderful things imagination is capable of doing.  Throughout the ride there was a bit of a theme of "science and imagination can work together to solve the world's problems" which is a pretty great, and fairly timeless, lesson to impart.  Dreamfinder and Figment are notable for being one of the few walk-around characters early EPCOT had.  When it first started out, EPCOT had a strict policy of not incorporating pre-existing Disney characters into the park.  For a while, Dreamfinder and Figment were the unofficial mascots of EPCOT.

Unfortunately, in 1998 the ride closed down are part of a contract with the ride's sponsor Kodak.  EPCOT had a policy of having rides sponsored by various companies.  This was to provide the companies with free advertising in the hopes that they would help pay for the upkeep of the rides.  This model...didn't quite work out, to put it succinctly.  By the late 1990s Kodak was in some serious financial trouble as digital cameras began to replace convention film.  They didn't want anything to do with Journey into Imagination, but were contractually obligated to renovated.  So, they went with the cheapest solution they could find.

The new version completely removed Dreamfinder and Figment and stared Eric Idle.  Idle played a scientist who insults the guest for having no imagination, but he fixes that with the power of science...I guess.  Unsurprisingly, this version, called Journey into YOUR Imagination, was universally hated and closed down in 2001.  In 2002 the ride opened again as Journey into Imagination with Figment.  This version starts out similar to the second version, but quickly goes off-the-rails as Figment takes over and brings things, somewhat, back to the original ride.  While better received than the second, fans agree that this version just doesn't have the magic of the original.  Especially since Dreamfinder is still nowhere to be seen.

Okay, now that we've talked about the ride, let's talk about the comic.  So, as you may have surmised, this comic is very much an origin story for Dreamfinder and Figment.  Dreamfinder is very much cut from the same cloth as character such as Willy Wonka or Ms. Frizzle.  They're characters you don't know much about, but you don't need to know much, because they're just that awesome.  As such giving these characters backstories must be handled with great care, because there is a lot that can go wrong.  So, how does it work for this comic?  Quite well, quite well indeed.

Even before Blarion embraces his destiny as Dreamfinder do see little hints of what is to come.  He's good natured, friendly and wants to make the world a better place.  Yet at the same time he's being kept down by various forces in his life, such as his boss, and needs Figment to show him that his dreams aren't in vain.  Or to put it another way, Figment shows him that a dream can be a dream come true.  If you pay attention, you'll spot many references to the original version of Journey into Imagination throughout this comic.  Also, there is an introduction at the beginning of the comic written by famous Disney imagineer Tony Baxter.

The artwork wasn't the best I've ever seen, but it gets the job done.  There were a few touches I did appreciate.  Figment, and everyone else from the realm of imagination, has somewhat more vibrant coloring than the real-world characters.  He's also noticeably more cartoony, which is in keeping with his appearance, and make him standout more.  Blarion also takes on a more whimsical art style once he fully embraces his destiny as The Dreamfinder.

The realm of imagination was a joy to experience.  I loved the Audio Archipelago, home of the Sound Sprites, and all the various sound puns it had.  For example, when Blarion and Figment get arrested they are put in a jail cell at the bottom of the Archipelago known as the Bassment.  They were arrested because, apparently, failing to speak in alliteration is one of the most heinous crimes to the Sound Sprites.  In other puns, our heroes get swept up in the gales of a brainstorm at one point.  The entire realm of imagination was a joy to experience because of how whimsical it was.

I liked that the real-world portions are set during the Edwardian era.  Dreamfinder and his inventions have always had a bit of a steampunk feel to them.  The Edwardian era was a more optimistic time than the Victorian era.  Of course, four years later all of that hope and optimism was dashed by World War I, so good that Blarion become Dreamfinder when he did.

On that note, I feel like the concept of Dreamfinder could have been introduced a bit better.  Now granted, we all know that's what Blarion is destined to become, but within the context of the story, it kind of comes out of left field.  It wouldn't be too hard to fix.  We know Figment was his childhood imaginary friend, so maybe include a few lines/scenes about how he used to play games or tell stories where he went on adventures with Figment as Dreamfinder.

This is really just a minor point, overall this comic was a joy from start to finish.   I'm not the only one who thought this.  Figment went on to be a surprise hit for Marvel, even Disney CEO Bob Iger was taken by surprise, and a sequel was immediately ordered.  Before you ask, yes, I will review that one eventually.

If there is a message to take from this comic I think it is this.  Trying means that you might fail, and that can be scary, but never trying means you never succeed.  You have the power to achieve your dreams within you, even if you don't know it yet.  All in all, an excellent message to impart to readers, and very in keeping with the theme of the ride.  I should mention that this is an excellent all ages comic.  Of course, this is a Disney creation, so that is to be expected.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now.  I hope you all enjoyed this review very much, and I will see you all next time. 

Comic Review: Seekers of the Weird

One of the things I’ve always loved about Disney is the imagination and creativity that goes into their parks. The different lands and attractions all have very intricate back-stories, and I was obsessed with them in my younger days. So what better way for Marvel and Disney to work together than making comics based around Disney Park attractions?

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Disney Kingdoms. This gem of a series was born when a group of Marvel and Disney executives talking during a baseball game. Among those present was Joe Quesada, the man behind the infamous One More Day arc of Spider-Man. Despite his past misgivings, Disney Kingdoms has partially redeemed Mr. Quesada in my eyes.

Disney Kingdoms is divided into a series of five issue miniseries, each based on a different Disney attraction, that take place in a shared universe. Today we’re going to be talking about to first of these miniseries: Seekers of the Weird, based on The Museum of the Weird.

 It follows two siblings named Max and Mary Keep. They live in New Orleans, where their parents run an occult curio shop. One night the shop is attacked by strange magical creatures. Mad and Mary are saved by their uncle Roland, but their parents are captured. Roland revels that their parents are members of a secret organization that guards a museum of strange and powerful artifacts. This is of course The Museum of the Weird. Now it’s a race against the clock to save Max and Mary’s parents before time runs out.

Some of you might be scratching your heads wondering why you haven’t heard of The Museum of the Weird. Well there’s a reason for that: it was never built. The Museum of the Weird was conceived as a walk-through experience that would be complimentary to The Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square in Disneyland. For various reason it never got built, but it remains one of the most intriguing “what-ifs” for Disney Park enthusiasts. There was really a lot of planning involved with it, lots of backstory and miniature models, and it’s well worth looking into.

Anyway, let’s talk about the comic itself. Well first of all, if you’re looking for a great all-ages comic book series then Disney Kingdoms has you covered. Hey, it is a Disney series, so of course it’s going to have appeal to all ages. That having been said, this is a horror comic and there are a few scene that might be a little scary for readers on the younger side. Just use your own discretion and it’ll all work out fine.

Now let’s talk about the characters. Max and Mary are your typical yin-yang siblings. Max is intelligent but not much for physical activity; while Mary isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but she’s is quite the sports star. So it seemed like the comic was setting things up for moral about the importance of teamwork and how everyone has something to offer, but that’s not quite how it panned out.

The main problem came down to the old adage “show, don’t tell”. We are frequently told that Max is intelligent and knows about the occult and weird thing. We are told this, but we never really see any evidence of this other than his love of reading books. For the most part, Mary seems to get by pretty well just by punching her way through the museum. I’m not sure if it was clumsy writing or maybe it just seemed that way to me.

In other characters we have Uncle Roland. He’s got the outfit of a dashing explorer and he has a gun that shoots ghosts out of it. His main role is to act as the adviser and moral support since he loses his legs early on. He does manage to get in on the heroics towards the end, but I wouldn’t want to spoil that for you.

The villains don’t really have much motivation beyond the typical take over the world for evil’s sake motive. Admittedly, that is rather par for course as far as Disney villains go. Their main goal is to summon their boss, The Reaper King. He’s got a pretty simple design, and he doesn’t appear for very long, but he is a powerful presence for the scenes that he is in. The last time he got loose the Black Death happened and 1/3 of Europe died. Those of you up on your history will remember that this was actually good for Europe in the long run. After all, it did lead to the collapse of feudalism. I will concede, however, that those who lived during the Black Death would beg to differ about it being good for Europe. Though admittedly, that stuck out more to me since I’m a history nerd.

There are plenty of little details and artifacts throughout the museum that are just begging to be elaborated on. I guess the artists and writers were trying to save something for potential sequels. Hey, Dreamfinder and Figment got a sequel to their series, so you never know. The Haunted Mansion has its own series now, so maybe there will be some shout-outs and hints in it. Speaking of art, the artwork itself is that same top-notch work we’ve all come to expect from the artists who work for Marvel.

Well there you have it. Thrills, chills and fun the whole family can enjoy. Seekers of the Weird is the first in the Disney Kingdoms line, but you don’t have to start there. Each miniseries is self-contained so any of them can be your starting point. It’s always refreshing to find a comic book series that isn’t bogged down in years of continuity. I really enjoyed Seekers of the Weird, and I’m sure you will too.