The Pull List – Mystery Science Theater 3000 #1

If the crew of the Satellite of Love didn’t suffer enough from being forced to watch terrible movies, the crew now find themselves transformed into the 2D world of terrible comics. The evil scientist Kinga Forrester has a new experiment for Jonah Heston, Crow T. Robot, and Tom Servo and it involves comics. Kinga has a new technology that allows people to visit comics and live all of its whimsical experiences firsthand. Sucked into the crazy world of forgotten comics, Jonah, Crow, Servo and other robot helpers comment and poke fun at their new realities and find ways to outsmart bad comic plotlines.

Issue one of MST3K continues the adventures of the crew of the Satellite of Love and their tormentors Kinga Forrester and TV’s Son of TV’s Frank (Also known as Bill). Kinga Forrester wants to take on the comic world and offers a new way to experience comics. Using the Satellite of Love’s crew as test subjects, she liquifies the crew and sends them into a vintage comic, Johnny Jason: Teen Reporter. This comic is an actual real comic from the early 60’s about young reporter Johnny Jason who would stumble onto crazy situations. Tom Servo finds himself playing Johnny Jason and is assigned to cover a famous young actress that was recently abducted. Having human arms and legs, but still his robotic head, Tom Servo sets off pretending to act like Johnny and make fun of the whole situation one joke at a time.

The writers and producers of Netflix’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 lead their talents to build up the concept of making commentary onto comics. Their writing and level of self-awareness make the comic feel like an authentic MST3K experience that translates very well into written text. The visual gags are fantastic as Todd Nauck, Mike Manly, Wes Dzioba, and Michael Heisler add great details to build up the settings. An original issue of Johnny Jason: Teen Reporter is edited to include new art and dialogue, and the new artists have put in great effort to mimic the original artists. There is subtle detail hidden in the pages such as the copyright and the mock newspaper print designs. (And of course, Tom Servo as a human with a Tom Servo head). Any comic fan that has read a vintage comic and scratched their head in confusion trying to make sense of its plot will easily understand what this series is making fun of. All fans of MST3K should definitely pick up this series as it’s an excellent parody series that fills in the time for the next season of the TV show.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 #1 will be on sale this September 12th, 2018