Comics Fondle

I’m a big fan of talking stuffed animals. I’m not sure if it’s an established genre (it should be), but I also think whoever makes these things, they’re going to make a fortune. Who wouldn’t want a walking talking teddy bear? Who knows, they could make farting sounds at inopportune moments and so on. Mr. Stuffins (so far, it is only the first issue) features no such scenes, but instead has the bear as a espionage agent, dedicated to protecting his owner. Instead of over-explaining the bear being reprogrammable or the government computer scientist programming in the same language as toy companies, writers Cosby and Stokes ignore all that malarkey and concentrate on what works–a teddy bear who’s a secret agent.

There’s a good deal of time spent on the boy’s family problems (parents separated, teenage daughter dating man on motorcycle) and it doesn’t really contribute anything. It’s a standard troubled family (the dad even works too much) but it does a couple things: first, it does position the boy in a place where he might need Mr. Stuffins (the bear) and, second, it gives Mr. Stuffins the opportunity to inquire about the boy’s family life. It’s a standard line, but whatever… it’s a rough-talking secret agent teddy bear asking the question and it’s awesome for that reason.

Mr. Stuffins is one of those hard-to-describe reads–how do you explain something’s cool because it’s about a teddy bear who intimidates a stuffed rabbit–but Cosby and Stokes are both excellent writers, so even when the content’s pat, the dialogue’s good. Lee Carter’s art mixes the various elements quite well. From the parents fighting to the teddy bear in action or just the kid walking into school, he does a great job. My favorite panel’s not even of the bear, but just a reaction shot from the mom.

My only complaint is the book’s a little dark. It makes the reading experience unsteady, bringing up a lot of somewhat useless concerns. For example, is it dark because Mr. Stuffins is supposed to ominous and dangerous? It’s a small problem and, otherwise, it worked rather well.

B+

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