123. Toy Story: The Return of Buzz Lightyear

Toy Story: The Return of Buzz Lightyear by Jesse Blaze Snider. Art by Nathan Watson (Canada) - (USA)


Pages: 112 pages
Ages: 8+
Finished: Jul. 3, 2010
First Published: May 4, 2010
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Genre: graphic novel, children
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

Oh no, it can't be ... it's a present!!!

Acquired: Received a review copy from Harper Collins Canada.

Reason for Reading: While not being what you could call Disney fans, the whole family loves Toy Story and I don't know who was more excited to read this me or the 10yr old.

This is a bind up of the first four comic books of a new ongoing series featuring the original Toy Story characters. Set in the time after the first movie all the favourite Toys are present. Buzz and Woody take centre stage but a handful of the others play major secondary characters to the plot with everybody chiming in at least once. By the end of the book there are two new toys added to the collection but I somehow doubt they will show up in future volumes.

A present arrives for Andy and the fact that this is a "just because" present really upsets the Toys. When Andy opens it and finds a Buzz Lightyear he is disappointed and his mother makes arrangements with him to return it that night and get a different "Space Control" character. The new Buzz is not going down without a fight though and the two Buzzes have it out but in the end the wrong Buzz is returned to the store. Woody gathers the Toys together and they make a midnight run to save Buzz and switch him with the unwanted Buzz.

Lots of fun! The writing is splendid! You can hear the character's voices in your head as you read. I love that we are back to the original Toy Story time period! A typical storyline that one expects from these characters and the graphic novel format is a wonderful way to showcase some of the lesser characters. For example, the slinky dog, while not having a major plot role, is featured often and we get to know him as he deals with the woes of keeping his slinky kink-free. My only negative is that the ending is a bit far-fetched but others could see it as sentimental. A fun and light read for pure simple enjoyment.