Comics Review: Adventure Time Marshall Lee Spectacular

Featuring your favorite vampire prince.

Spoilers Below

The Marshall Lee Spectacular is a series of stories featuring Marshall Lee. It is exclusive to Kindle and Comixology, and only available for online purchase. 

The first story is “Not Funny” by Mariko Tamaki and Audrey Mok. Gumball tells a joke to Fionna and Marshall Lee, but only Fionna finds the joke funny. Later, Gumball falls down a hill, and Marhsall Lee bursts out laughing. Marshall Lee reveals that he was cursed by a witch to only laugh at things that aren’t funny. Gumball does not believe it, and he sets off for the palace. As soon as Gumball and Fionna separate from Marshall Lee, they are attacked by a multi-eyed goo monster. The goo monster overwhelms them both, but is confused when Marshall Lee stands up to it. Since the situation is dire and therefore not funny, Marshall Lee starts laughing, which weakens the monster and makes it shrink. Soon, the monster is small enough to fit in Marshall Lee’s hand.

Later, in the treehouse, Cake hears the story and tells Marshall Lee that his inappropriate laughter saved the day. Cake wonders if he would laugh if he got hurt, so she pinches his cheek. He does not, but that makes Fionna laugh instead. 

Second up is “The Bravest Prince” by Melanie Gillman and Trungles. Marshall Lee is practicing guitar in a tree when he hears Gumball talking to his fellow princes. Gumball tells a story about a problem he had in the Candy Kingdom, and how he managed to settle it diplomatically. Marshall Lee challenges him, saying that it’s easy to be diplomatic when the candy people are mostly docile. He says that Gumball would have a much harder time in Marshall Lee’s home realm, the Nightosphere. Undeterred, Gumball agrees to try it out. Marshall Lee ups the stakes by fashioning Gumball a flower crown, whose scent will attract the ragged souls of the Nightosphere.   

When they arrive, they are greeted by two skeletons. The skeletons marvel at the flowers, and are thrilled when Gumball offers to lend them the flower crown for a while. They think that the flowers would look good on Marshall Lee and offer him one, but Marshall Lee panics and transforms into his monstrous form to scare them off. When he transforms back, he apologizes to Gumball. Gumball insists that it’s okay. He puts a spare flower in Marshall Lee’s hair, and says that next time, he can be straightforward if he wants Gumball to visit his home. 

Third is “Disqualified” by S.M. Viduari and Asia Kendrick-Horton. Gumball is walking through the woods when Marshall Lee insults him. Bothered by Marshall Lee’s attitude, Gumball stands up for himself. Marshall Lee explains that he’s there to watch the Semi Bi-Annual Biennial Great Villain Off, a competition where villains compete with each other to be the best. Intrigued, Gumball enters the competition. He claims that he is probably more villanous than Marshall Lee, and Marshall Lee accepts his challenge. 

The competition begins between Flame Prince, Marshall Lee, Fionna, Gumball, and the Ice Queen. Fionna explains that the rules involve tricking your opponents to do un-villanous things. Marshall Lee is out tormenting some candy people, when he hears Gumball call for help. Gumball has fallen into a clearing, and Marshall Lee chides him for being so vanilla. Overhearing this, the Flame Prince gets embarrassed, since he misheard the competition to be a Vanilla Competition, not a Villain Competition, and made a whole vat of vanilla. 

Gumball admits that Marshall Lee has won, but asks if Marshall Lee could at least help him up. When Marshall Lee extends a hand, Gumball pulls him down, showing that it was all a trick, making him the winner. Gumball says he knows that Marshall Lee is not all that bad, but acts like a jerk to maintain his tough image. Marshall Lee playfully retorts that he plans on winning the next competition.

The final piece is an original music composition by S.M. Viduarri, called “It’s Hard To Be Bad”. 

Overview:

These stories add some insight into Marshall Lee, who does not technically exist in the regular Ooo – he is a character dreamed up by the Ice King. He seems abrasive, but is actually quite tender-hearted, much like his counterpart, Marceline. However, Marshall Lee seems to be more rougher with his words and actions. 

Overall, the anthology was more cute than plot or development based. Each story offered small, random slices of Marshall Lee’s life, rather than hugely important moments. As a result, the stories were more lighthearted since they did not have high stakes. For those who enjoy fun, charming reads, this is worth picking up. 

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