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With the general tone set in the first volume, ADVENTURE TIME VOLUME 2 takes the opportunity to blaze entirely new trails in its quest to tell fun stories that can appeal to people of all ages. Definitely not afraid to tell a rather complicated story, this volume tackles an old trope, time travel, in a way that is refreshing and very much ADVENTURE TIME.

 

With the Lich vanquished, this volume opens up slow, with a smart little story taking Finn and Jake far from home on a quest to earn some baking that BMO made. While away they meet Adventure Tim, an alternate version of themselves who has similar (but slightly altered) adventures. It's a cute aside, and even though it seems at first to be inconsequential, it actually plays a rather important part in the rest of the story, as well as establishing a new element to the series.

 

The main story, though, involves time machines and evil robots and Finn and Jake traveling to the future. It's in keeping with the tone and comedy of the show while also expanding the mythology, showing the world as it could be with mechanical enhancements and a grown Finn and Jake. The humor throughout is spot on, and the characters mesh well with their television iterations, and between the writing and the art it's still easy to hear the voices from the show through the pages.

 

Of course, ADVENTURE TIME VOLUME 2 is also a bit of a departure from the stricter adherence to the show that existed in the first volume. From Adventure Tim to the evil Finn and Jake robots, the series has begun to craft completely original stories, and while the characters from the show are still the main movers and shakers, it's interesting and fun to see the setting grow beyond what has already been established.

 

One small complaint, if there must be one one, is that the story gets a little out of hand. As an ADVENTURE TIME story that's not the biggest of sins, but the resolution to this arc felt a bit too easy, a bit of a disappointment given the build up. This is mentioned in the story, but it doesn't quite do enough to get past the fact that the solution to the conflict is largely handled off panel. In the end it didn't hinder the enjoyment of reading the volume, or the story, but it could have been a little better done.

 

Still, the volume is a joy to read, entertaining and funny and action-packed, but with a heart and morality that is both complex and rewarding. The comic does an admirable job of taking the show and making it into a comic, able to work as more than just a tie-in but as it's own unique entity. And as it builds up its own unique mythology it seems like the series will only be growing more comfortable with itself, that the comic works in ways that are unique to the medium. The groundwork has been laid, and the small asides on the bottom of many of the pages are a purely comic book flourish, and help to add layers and humor to an already fun read.

 

For fans of the show, the comic continues to hit it out of the park, to provide an experience that is like the show without feeling derivative. For new readers or people unfamiliar with the source material, the series does quite a bit to deserve picking up anyway. The world building and plotting are solid, the characters crisp and clear and fun, the tone humorous, the scope cartoonishly epic, all culminating in a great series for all ages.

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