When we were kids, especially those of us who grew up to read comics, we had overactive imaginations. How cool would it be to live in the world with all our cool toys instead of the boring one where we have to eat our veggies, go to bed on time and basically do whatever out parents tell us to? Lions, Tigers and Bears is all about that kind of kid wish fulfillment, as Bullock creates a cast of protectors to defend young Joey against the monsters in his closet that want to snatch him, and Lawrence does an amazing job of bringing them to life. There's a slight disconnect in the writing, as the style seems to appeal to younger readers but the actual subject matter seems more aimed at the older audience with a nostalgia for their youth, but it's a charming debut and I'm interested to see more.
We've seen a number of books of these kind come and go, suffering from long delays between issues and even random disappearances. Herobear and the Kid comes right to mind, and Lions, Tigers and Bears reminds me somewhat of the utterly charmed and impressed feeling I had when I read the first issue of that book. Of course, that also means I'm reminded of other books, so Lions, Tigers and Bears doesn't seem 100% original, but it's really only copying archetypes like that of magic going on that adults don't know about and kids having special protectors that adults don't believe in. There's plenty of originality here, and if Bullock and Lawrence can avoid the deadline problems, maybe they can live up to the potential that Herobear and the Kid story never quite managed.
I think the key innovation of Lions, Tigers and Bears is in positing the protectors as not unique to Joey. Instead, the toys given to Joey by his grandma are bought from a store, and to most kids (and almost all adults), they're just toys. In a nice touch that still makes the protagonist special, it's only those who believe in magic who will see what the toys really are. Another nice touch is that Bullock and Lawrence really imbue each member of the "Night Pride" with their own personality. True, in this first issue, those personalities are mainly given to them by Joey reading ad copy off the box, but I like the difference in personalities and roles, and I liked seeing them battle the beasties as talking, thinking adversaries, rather than silent, iconic protectors. Either role is of course fine, but we've seen the former a lot less. One gets the impression from this first issue that the Night Pride are going to be easier to relate to than the perfect protectors of so much children's fiction.
Some time back, Jack Lawrence's art probably would have really raised eyebrows, but the animated cel look for this kind of book has almost become de rigueur. Whether Lawrence's style is shockingly new or not really is immaterial, however, because either way his art style looks gorgeous. Bright, flashy colors, terrific designs for the protector animals and their foes and expressive, believable "real life" moments are all highlights of his work. It's easy to imagine Lions, Tigers and Bears as a cartoon, because the art and dialogue brings the story to life that effectively, that the illusion of motion is there for the reader.
As with a lot of young readers' (or "all ages") work, there is a tendency on Bullock's part to over-narrate. The opening sequence, wherein Joey lays out his fears and worries about moving to a new house and moving away from his grandma, is a bit on the nose for a young kid, even a bright one like Joey, and would probably have been better in third person, although even then it could have used some trimming. Bullock could stand to be a little more economical in his storytelling, as the special nature of the Night Pride is clear much sooner than it is revealed, and I can't help thinking that the story could be further along if the scripting were tightened up just a bit. However, there's still plenty to satisfy and intrigue in this first issue, and those with kids (or those of us still re-living our childhoods to some extent) are well-advised to give it a look. 8/10
