“Dang it, Red, put on some pants!”
Super Angry Birds #1
IDW Publishing (September, 2015)
I should note that using ComiXology means I don’t always have access to the cover date. Usually I can go to the Grand Comics Database and find it easily. Not with this one. They don’t even have a cover image. I went to a few different sites before Comic Book Realm finally gave me the cover date. Even the Angry Birds fandom wiki has so little on this that I’m kind of worried, and I usually like this writer’s work.
“The Eagle’s Eye”
WRITER: Jeff Parker
ARTIST: Ron Randall
COLORIST: Jeremy Colwell
LETTERER: Pisara Oy
Red, Chaser, Bomb, and Thunderbird. They’re the Super Angry Birds, vigilantes trying to clean up New Yolk when it’s basically taken over by the King Pig of crime. Said Pig forces Mighty Eagle, owner of the local newspaper The Eagle’s Eye, to do an exposé on the heroes, and the reporter he sends is able to easily find their names and headquarters, a greenhouse run by Matilda, who it turns out is an old friend of Mighty’s. She’s able to convince him not to run the story since the Birds are just trying to clean out the pigs’ corruption; instead he prints a story about how dangerous the area near the greenhouse is for pigs, protecting their secret headquarters.
What they got right: Yeah, they took the Angry Birds game and recontextualized them as a bit more humanoid in a superhero style story. It’s actually a fun idea, but it’s also a good story of the birds trying to take the city back from the pigs after their version of the Great Depression allowed them to get their “people” into positions of power and take over the city. The art is also really good.
What they got wrong: I’m not sure why the humans are here, though. It’s just humans, humanoid birds, and humanoid pigs, and not just the main cast taken from the games. The humans feel unnecessary since the only humans tied to the games are the players. King Pig also calls them “costumed” when none of them are wearing a costume. Bomb has a cape and Chaser hides under a trenchcoat when not doing his speedster routine in his birthdayhatching day suit, but Red is full on naked and Thunderbird just has street clothes on.
What I think overall: I might be biased because I love Jeff Parker’s work but this was an interest take on the games and a good story on its own.
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