Broken Frontier

Deus ex Ursus--a programmer on the run hides a top secret disk inside an interactive bear, which replaces the song and dance with bullets and martial arts.

Nine year old Zach Taylor is going through a rough spot. His parents are on the verge of a divorce, his older, defiant sister is getting most of their attention and he finds himself regularly at the mercy of the school bullies. But when his dad buys him a Mr. Stuffins from the local mall toy store, it comes as both a curse and a blessing. Zach’s Mr. Stuffins has had its normal program disk replaced by one that turns this cute, cuddly little teddy bear into an ass-kicking mercenary. But there are dark forces that would do anything to obtain technology such as this, and Zach is in the line of fire.

Mr. Stuffins reminded me of several different, popular movies as I was reading it. The programmer running from deadly forces, who hides his program where it is picked up by unknowing innocents, reminded me of Enemy of the State. The little bear that comes to life with an uncharacteristic attitude was reminiscent of the Chucky franchise. This attitude and demeanor were played as if the bear were cousin of 007. And the little boy who is just trying to cope with life and this new, "magic" friend was sort of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.

Fortunately, the absurd horror of the Chucky stories is nowhere to be found here. Instead, Cosby and Stokes bring a nice balance of espionage and lighthearted humor to the table. Mr. Stuffins is a take-no-prisoners type, very committed to his objectives--primary of which, luckily for Zach, is "safety of your child." The bullies won’t be bothering little Zach for awhile thanks to Mr. Stuffins, but the men in the dark suits…we’ll have to see how the huggable little sentinel handles them next issue.

The book is visually darker in tone than your typical stuffed animal fare. For reasons stated above, this is obviously a good thing. Carter moves the story along clearly and in a quick pace, giving the correct proportion of weight to the comical (for instance, a foam bullet harmlessly bouncing off Zach) and foreboding scenes alike.

BOOM! Studios always seems to bring something a little different to readers who might be interested. Mr. Stuffins certainly maintains that track record. And even though the price tag for these books is an average of $1 higher than most mainstream fare, I’d like to see these types of ideas coming from the publisher for years to come.