If any of you read my review of The Incredibles: Family Matters #01 (thanks for featuring it on the main page, iFanboys!), you’d know just how excited I am for the Disney/Pixar line of comics coming from BOOM! Kids. I’ve talked about my excitement and how important I think these comics are going to be at length in that review, so I’ll skip that here and head straight to the review.

At first, I wasn’t certain I was going to pick up Cars: The Rookie #01. I loved the Cars movie, but wasn’t sure if it would translate well to the comics format, and didn’t really know if I wanted any more stories from it. After reading the aforementioned Incredibles book, I felt like I needed to give this book a chance.

…And I’m sure glad I did. Cars: The Rookie #01 takes a look at what happens before the movie, and explores a little bit more about Lightning and some other, smaller characters. It explores the cockiness of a rookie turned into an overnight sensation that happens in almost every sport. It has the right mix of funny quips, action, and actual story that makes it very enjoyable to read, and something I feel like anyone, whether they’ve seen the film or not, and regardless of age, could enjoy thoroughly.

One criticism I do have is that this book shows how difficult it is to translate the Pixar animation style to a 2-D comic book. In The Incredibles: Rookie #01, the characters are superheroes, and so they’re already the types of characters comic book fans are used to. Their clothes, the situations, their looks, etc. are all familiar, and proven to work in comic book format. When you take something like Cars and adapt it, it’s harder to catch how beautiful and dynamic the artwork was, because when it comes down to it, all the cars are kind of oval-looking, simple designs. The art itself was good and fine, but it failed to really capture that Pixar excellence.

Still, I’d recommend this to anyone, and I hope that you’ll all read this and give Cars: The Rookie, Incredibles: Family Matters, and any and all of the other BOOM! Kids comics a chance. Think of the children!