Reviewer: Chris Delloiacono
Story Title: N/A
Written by: Chris Bunting
Penciled by: Neil Edwards
Inked by: Randy Emberlin
Colored by: Don Mackinnon
Editor: Ric Burnston
Creative Supervision & Inspiration by: Mr. T
Publisher: AP Comics
Mr. T is one of the biggest stars the world has ever seen. In the 1980s he was everywhere. Being a child of the ’80s, I experienced the titanic popularity of Mr. T firsthand. From the time that I saw him in Rocky III he had made his mark on my psyche. Of course it was difficult to like the “evil” Clubber Lang, but more lovable roles soon followed. As an elementary schooler, The A-Team was a show I couldn’t get enough of. I still have the A-Team action figure of Mr. T’s character B.A. Baracus, which my parents hunted down for a birthday present.
Mr. T was so big in the mid-eighties that the true definition of success in entertainment followed when the cartoon Mr. T appeared on Saturday mornings. When Mr. T made the transition to wrestling, top-lining the original Wrestlemania, his place as an icon in American culture was secure. I continued to enjoy his work and even fondly recall his series T and T which aired at the end of the decade. While Mr. T wasn’t in the spotlight quite as much after the eighties, he never disappeared completely.
Now, AP Comics, with Mr. T as creative consultant, are launching a comic series featuring the adventures of everybody’s favorite mohawked hero. Now, I have to be honest, as big a fan as I was of Mr. T, I didn’t think much could be done with a comic book. In fact, the idea really seemed quite silly. I can’t think of too many instances where a comic series featured fictionalized adventures of a real-life personality and actually worked.
Thankfully, I was wrong. Mr. T’s appeal is more towards an older demographic at this point, and Chris Bunting’s script delivers an intelligent story that should appeal to the 20, 30, and 40-somethings that grew up with Mr. T. Still, although the story has an adult flavor, there’s plenty of opportunity to market the book at the youth set. The book is about the rise in crime in Mr. T’s city, but more importantly there’s a message about drug abuse that can be found within. Bunting doesn’t beat you over the head with the anti-drug message. Instead, he weaves it into the story’s narrative making it an integral part that tells its message without preaching.
The story follows Doctor Johnson, a friend of Mr. T, who is trying to put an end to a new drug craze. Fearing for his life, Johnson seeks out a disgraced Mr. T who still lives in the city, but is now a recluse. We learn that Mr. T was framed for a crime some time past and served time in prison. Unfortunately, he can’t prove his innocence and refuses to keep the streets clean until he can. The use of Mr. T as a disgraced heroic figure is very well done. The script gives us a great deal of backstory while advancing the storyline that we’re involved in. I like the tactic of using Mr. T as a vigilante-like figure that fought to keep his streets clean. There aren’t any superpowers at work, just a man with a mission. Of course, until he gets over the shame of his fall, Mr. T can’t help the city he loves. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of catharsis in the script.
Pulling the book together is the fine work of penciler Neil Edwards and inker Randy Emberlin. The one fault of the script may be the laborious reveal of Mr. T, who we don’t see full-on until the final page. Still, Edwards and Emberlin do a great job of keeping Mr. T in various states of shadow. The characters all leap from the page with vitality and the dour city streets of Mr. T’s neighborhood set the stage for the story perfectly.
The creators of Mr. T succeed in telling a story with a message that’s also a heck of a lot of fun. The writing and the art do a great job of bringing the real-life Mr. T to the fictional world of the comic page. Take a look, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the craft used within the pages of Mr. T #1. I’m anxious to see where they go from here.
This is an advance review. Mr. T #1 will be in stores on June 29, 2005.
