Books like Mystery Society

On balance, Mystery Society is a fun frolic, a high-speed romp through a world where talking skeletons, disembodied science fiction writers, and nuclear powered little girls can simultaneously take on the full strength of the United States army and locate the missing skull of Edgar Allen Poe. Fiona Staples' artwork alone makes this worth the price of admission. She is to drawing comics what Egon Spengler is to dropping references to obscure, arcane texts. But, while the high concept is wonderful, the execution isn’t always as superb. Willing Suspension of Disbelief is such a core element of the plot that it’s required that you capitalize it when referencing it in reviews of the book, and there are a lot of potentially thorny story challenges that are resolved with the nonchalant toss of a semi-witty bon mot. Then there’s the recovery of Poe’s skull, which plays like the B (or even C) plot of a Tim Allen sitcom—in the context of a long-running series, you might shrug and say, “Hey, not one of the best subplots the gang at Mystery Society has ever done, but it made for some fun moments.” In the midst of a five-issue limited series, however, where storytelling space is at a premium, it feels distracting and illogical (like the basic premise of a Tim Allen sitcom).Still, there’s more than enough delightfulness here to make it a worthwhile diversion—it’s like watching a dog eat peanut butter. We’ll call it 3.5 stars and round up.