A Very Merry Muppet Christmas (AVMMC) was a made for TV movie that aired on NBC in 2002, and is terrible. When you read this article don’t misunderstand and think I am recommending watching AVMMC or not watching The Muppets. I really feel quite the opposite. However when watching this I found a surprising number of similarities between it and the new movie. I am not accusing Jason Segel of ripping off this horrible TV movie. He would be better off never watching this unless using it as an example of what not to do. Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen either movie.

1. The main story is about losing the theater if they don’t put on a show.
   In both these movies there is a greedy evil corporate CEO that wants to take over the Muppet Theater if they cannot raise enough money by a certain time. The only way for the Muppets to raise the money is to put on a show!

2. Kermit doubting if they are going to make it.
   In both of these movies Kermit doubts himself and whether they are going to be able to make it. In AVMMC he takes it to a ridiculous extreme. When it seems like all is lost Kermit wanders out into a snowstorm and sits down to wait to die.

3. Both comment on the meanness of current television
   In The Muppets no one wants to put them on air because they aren’t as edgy as newer shows that are just downright mean. And I have to agree, there isn’t a lot of feel good comedy on TV right now. However, on AVMMC during an “It’s a Wonderful Life” sequence Kermit sees that if he was never born Rizzo would have to be on a negative show like Fear Factor. On a sidenote I think that it is great that on NBC when they show how bad the world is, they use their own show as an example.

4. In the end Kermit realizes it’s not the theater that is important, as long as they have each other.
   In both movies they don’t get the money in time and lose the theater. But then they realize that it’s not the place that is important as long as they have each other.

5. Both use a goofy human guy as a framing device.
   Both movies have a human who gets the story going and helps out the Muppets. In the new movie it is Jason Segel and in AVMMC it is David Arquette.

6. Both have chickens singing a popular song.
   In AVMMC a group of chickens cluck to one of the songs from Moulin Rouge and in the new one they do Cee-Lo Green’s “Forget You”.

7. Whoopi Goldburg.

Resurrection Man
What I think is going on: Every time this guy dies he comes back to life with a new super power somehow tied to how he died.
Will I keep reading it: Yes, I liked this one a lot.

Savage Hawkman
What I think is going on: A guy doesn’t want to be Hawkman and burns his armor. The armor is like “screw you, I’m going to make you Hawkman even harder”
Will I keep reading it: No. Not very interesting.

Static Shock
What I think is going on: I’ve heard this is supposed to be the DC version of Spider-Man
Will I keep reading it: No. I don’t really understand his powers.

Stormwatch
What I think is going on: Martian Manhunter and a couple other guys form like a space Justice League.
Will I keep reading it: Yes. I read that Apollo and Midnighter were brought in from another comic label and I want to see where they go with it.

Suicide Squad
What I think is going on: The first rule of this terrible Thunderbolts knockoff is that you don’t talk about this terrible Thunderbolts knockoff.
Will I keep reading it: No, even though it does have Harley Quinn.

Superboy
What I think is going on: They’ve grown a Superman clone in a tube who totally strolls by people in danger.
Will I keep reading it: Yes. It was a good introduction issue.

Supergirl
What I think is going on: Supergirl arrives to Earth.
Will I keep reading it: Yeah. I need to read a few more issues before I can pass judgement.

Superman
What I think is going on: Superman fights a fire monster for short periods of time in between boring dialogue.
Will I keep reading it: No. Every time I started to get into the action the page would turn and there would be a dense piece of dialogue with Lois at the Daily Planet. If I want to read about Superman I’ll stick with Action Comics instead.

Swamp Thing
What I think is going on: A guy is Swamp Thing or something, I don’t remember a lot.
Will I keep reading it: No. I’ve always heard how great Swamp Thing is but this comic was boring.

Teen Titans
What I think is going on: Teenage superheroes are being hunted.
Will I keep reading it: Yes, this was one of my favorite ones. I loved that Kid Flash tries to stop a fire and ends up making it worse. I also like that there are 4 different Robins now so it makes sense that 2 could be in teams. Contrast that with Marvel where there is 1 Wolverine but he is in a dozen different teams.

Voodoo
What I think is going on: Aliens travel millions of miles to work in our strip clubs.
Will I keep reading it: No. Not even pages and pages of near nudity can trick me into reading.

Wonder Woman
What I think is going on: Wonder Woman is part of Greek mythology now?
Will I keep reading it: Nope. I’ve never been a fan of Wonder Woman.

That’s it for my reviews. Here are my final results:

Comics I’ll definitely keep reading: Action Comics, Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Green Lantern New Guardians, Justice League Dark, Justice League, Nightwing, Resurrection Man, Stormwatch, Superboy, Supergirl, Teen Titans

Justice League International
What I think is going on: This is like the B squad of the Justice League.
Will I keep reading it: Probably not. I like team books but this one didn’t hook me.

Justice League
What I think is going on: In a flashback, Batman and Green Lantern are investigating this “Superman” guy.
Will I keep reading it: Yeah. I see they are going to drag out this origin of the JL but I’ll stick with it.

Legion Lost
What I think is going on: Total incomprehensible crap.
Will I keep reading it: Definitely not. They didn’t put any effort into introducing this team or these characters.

Legion of Super Heroes
What I think is going on: A super hero team of the future with like a million members.
Will I keep reading it: Maybe. I like the idea of a comic that takes place in the future. But I need to reread the first one to take in all the information.

Men of War
What I think is going on: Army guys go on missions in a world where Superman could stop all conflicts if he wanted to.
Will I keep reading it: No. I’m not a fan of army comics in general.

Mister Terrific
What I think is going on: Is this guy like Magneto? They didn’t really explain how his powers work.
Will I keep reading it: Probably not. It had some interesting moments but wasn’t as good as other titles.

Nightwing
What I think is going on: Dick Grayson took over as Batman for awhile but now he is back to Nightwing.
Will I keep reading it: Maybe, I like the character.

OMAC
What I think is going on: A computer nerd gets transformed into a mohawk sporting Hulk.
Will I keep reading it: Maybe. This issue left me wanting to know more.

Red Hood and the Outlaws
What I think is going on: Another former Robin goes by Red Hood and is putting a new team together.
Will I keep reading it: No. Starfire is a slut and not at all like the cartoon version.

Red Lanterns
What I think is going on: So Red Lanterns are like Green Lanterns, but angry and pointless.
Will I keep reading it: Nah. I would like a first issue to give you some hint to what the title normally be like. And I didn’t get that.

Stay tuned for more reviews!

Frankenstein Agent of SHADE
What I think is going on: Frankenstein and some monsters form a super hero team.
Will I keep reading it: Probably not, but it is pretty fun.

Fury of the Firestorm
What I think is going on: Two guys who don’t like each other get the same powers and can combine to form a fiery Hulk.
Will I keep reading it: No. Seeing the bad guys kill a little boy and his family turned me off from the start.

Green Arrow
What I think is going on: Green Arrow is more like how the character was on Smallville and doesn’t have terrible facial hair.
Will I keep reading it: I think so. I liked this book.

Green Lantern
What I think is going on: I know almost nothing about Green Lantern and didn’t see the new movie. Hal doesn’t have a ring anymore but Sinestro does.
Will I keep reading it: Yes. I like that a bad guy is now a Green Lantern and this issue left me wanting more.

Green Lantern Corps
What I think is going on: 2 other Green Lanterns are trying to find day jobs. I thought each Lantern was for a specific sector. If so why are so many humans?
Will I keep reading it: No. I liked the other Lantern books better.

Green Lantern New Guardians
What I think is going on: Now another human is becoming a Lantern. In fact he gets 1 ring of each color.
Will I keep reading it: Yes. I want to see what happens with this guy getting all these rings at once.

Grifter
What I think is going on: Sawyer from Lost is being chased by weird monsters.
Will I keep reading it: Nope.

Hawk and Dove
What I think is going on: A guy who is stupid and angry is forced to team up with a girl.
Will I keep reading it: No. I have the entire first run of X-Force so can’t take any more Rob Leifield.

I, Vampire
What I think is going on: Some vampires (or werewolves, I can’t even tell) alternate between being emo and standing over dead bodies.
Will I keep reading it: No. This could be the fatigue of reading all these #1s setting in but I had no interest in this comic.

Justice League Dark
What I think is going on: The regular Justice League falls apart whenever magic is involved. So they have to bring in a new team.
Will I keep reading it: Maybe. I like Zatanna and John Constantine.

Stay tuned for more reviews!