Muppet Sherlock Holmes by Patrick Storck

Since today is the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I thought it would be a good time to review a comic book adaptation of his work with this graphic novel by The Muppets. Our Book-a-Day blog has reviewed some of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books before and we have also reviewed some Muppets books before — so, much like Reese’s peanut butter cups, here are two great things that go great together. In true Muppet fashion, they have put their own humorous spin on one of Doyle’s most famous lines: “Once you eliminate the rational, whatever remains, no matter how absurd, must be the Muppets.”

This graphic novel collects four of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories with Gonzo the Great as the world’s greatest detective and Fozzie Bear as his loyal companion, Dr. Watson, who narrates the stories. Inspector Lestrade is played by Kermit the Frog, and many of the large cast of Muppet characters also make appearances throughout the stories. The first story is The Speckled Band, a classic locked room mystery, which even contains a 19th century version of the Veterinarian’s Hospital sketch from The Muppet Show. The second story to be re-told by Gonzo and crew is A Scandal in Bohemia featuring Miss Piggy as the intriguing Irene Adler — who was always referred to as the woman by Holmes. And, just as he did in the first season of The Muppet Show, Gonzo (Holmes) falls madly for Miss Piggy (Adler). The third story is The Red-Headed League in which shady goings on lead Holmes, Watson and Lestrade to don red wigs and take up menial clerical jobs with the league to try and deduce why their client, Mr. Wilson, is paid so handsomely for work that keeps him away from his shop during the day. The final tale is The Musgrave Ritual about an old aristocratic family legend which just may turn out to be some sort of treasure map. This version, however, concludes the final story with an abbreviated version of the events which occurred at Reichenbach falls (in the original Doyle story The Final Problem) with Holmes/Gonzo facing down his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty (played by Uncle Deadly).  The writers did an excellent job of re-telling these tales as faithfully as possible, while also putting the unique “Muppety” spin on them at the same time.

For you more serious Sherlock Holmes fans (who should still totally give this graphic novel a try), you can find many different collections of Doyle’s stories and novels in our catalog.

Find and reserve this book in our catalog.

P.S. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle shares his birthday with my wife, so Happy Birthday my love!

Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire

An evil queen with a bent toward vanity.
A mirror that reveals “who is the fairest one of all”.
A girl with skin white as snow and hair black as night.
Seven dwarves in forest cottage
A poisoned apple.

Sounds familiar, right? True to form, in this novel Gregory Maguire reimagines a fairy tale and embellishes  the tale with darker and quirkier details than even the Brothers Grimm could concoct.  Maguire paints the world of Bianca de Nevada (Maguire’s name for Snow White) with just enough reality and vivid detail that the fantasy aspects are nearly believable.  The novel is set in 16th century Italy, the era of oligarchy, political intrigue, and papal corruption.  The evil “queen” in this version is Lucrezia Borgia, the real-life illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI, who is obsessed with her own beauty and power.  She enters the tale collaborating with her brother, Cesare, to convince Bianca’s father to go on a dangerous quest. They want him to steal three apples from the Tree of Knowledge that are protected by an order of monks.  Even though Vicente de Nevada does not want to leave his daughter to go on the quest, the Borgia’s threaten Bianca’s life if Vicente does not comply.  After he leaves, the tale continues, including the basics of the original story, with the addition of many scrumptious details.

After listening to the audio version of Wicked several years ago, I was intrigued by the writing of Gregory Maguire, and I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to try another one of his novels.  Having seen the musical, Wicked, before reading the book, Maguire’s writing style initially caught me off guard.  It was much darker and more postmodern than the theater version, and I wasn’t sure if I liked it at first, because I wasn’t prepared for some of its more “adult” content. But, once I stopped comparing the two versions, I was able to really appreciate Maguire’s ability as storyteller.  Because of my previous experience with Maguire’s writing, I was better primed to enjoy Mirror, Mirror.  I enjoy adapted fairy tales, historical fiction, and writing that makes me reread sentences so I can fully grasped the depth of thought contained in them.  Mirror, Mirror is a wonderful mix of all three.

Long story short, this novel is a reimagined fairy tale, rich in imagery and unexpected interpretations.  Maguire’s literary talent very evident, which makes for an enjoyable, yet thought-provoking read.

Click here to find this grown-up fairy tale in our catalog.

Muppet Snow White by Jesse Blaze Snider, et. al.

“It’s time to start the music, it’s time to light the lights! It’s time to get things started on The Muppet Show tonight!”  If you remember that catchy little tune, then you’ll love this new comic book style re-telling of the classic story of Snow White by your favorite Muppets.  Just as they did with other classic tales (the movies A Christmas Carol, & Treasure Island) the Muppets have now put their own hilarious spin on this beloved fairy tale.

Jacob & Wilhem Grimm (Gonzo & Rizzo) narrate the story for us, in which The Queen (Miss Piggy) discovers from her magic mirror (Fozzie Bear) that she is not the fairest of them all.  The woodsman (Sweetums) must take young Snow White (Spamela Hamderson – who is accompanied by her agent, Pepe the King Prawn) into the woods to kill her, but he can’t do it, so she ends up finding a nice little cottage to live in.  That cottage is occupied by the seven dwarfs (not dwarves, as the Muppets are keeping with the original spelling from Brothers Grimm), portrayed by the band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.  The band turns out to be one dwarf short, so they hold auditions.  Meanwhile, Prince Charming (Kermit) is about to meet Snow White when he’s captured by Queen Piggy who has somehow gotten ahold of the dragon from Sleeping Beauty.  Kermit is kept prisoner by the Queen – if Piggy can’t have her frog, then no one can – and Snow White eventually falls under the sleeping-in-a-death-like-trance spell, leading to a very long line of potential suitors who are each charged $1 for a kiss and the chance to be the one to break the spell.  Hilarity ensues throughout the story and just about all of your favorite Muppet characters make an appearance!

As with the best books, movies or TV shows for children, there’s plenty of humor for grown ups in here too.  In fact, there are several “in jokes” that only true Muppet fans would get and that will go right over the heads of kids (or almost anyone under 30).  I don’t want to spoil anything here, but suffice it to say that if you don’t know who the “Mahna Mahna” guy is, then you won’t get the joke he’s in. There are several other Muppet versions of classic “tales re-told” (Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, & King Arthur) in comic books form, and I hope we’ll see them all in the library one day.  But, for now, after having read this, maybe I’ll watch some of the original Muppet Show via Netflix while I eagerly await the new movie “The Muppets”, written by and starring Jason Segel, coming out this Thanksgiving.

“Why don’t you get things started” by reserving your copy of Muppet Snow White!