Roger Langridge’s ‘The Muppet Show’ Comic Moves to Marvel

Marvel Comics confirmed on Monday speculation that BOOM! Studios has indeed lost the rights to publish comic books based on Disney's The Muppet Show property. The publisher announced via press release that it will release in July Disney-Muppets Presents: Meet the Muppets, a 96-page comic book reprinting material previously published by BOOM! and created by cartoonist Roger Langridge.Last month Langridge published unreleased pages from his still incomplete The Muppet Show work. That material was commissioned by BOOM! Studios but was delayed by Langridge for personal reasons. Now that the Muppets license is with Marvel -- also owned by Disney -- Langridge's unpublished work may be in a legal limbo. He explained as much in a blog post:

As far as I understand it, the unpublished work I've done for Boom isn't technically Disney's until it's published, and obviously Boom can't publish it without a license. So it's in a kind of limbo right now. In the best of all possible worlds, I'd like to think that Boom and Marvel can come to some kind of arrangement whereby Marvel can eventually release the work. I'm only a cartoonist, real business stuff makes my brain hurt, so I'm not sure how that would work - I guess Disney/Marvel buys the rights from Boom or something. Or maybe they have to go out into the woods at midnight and bury Kermit in effigy with some chives in order to break the curse. Something like that. However it happens, I would very much like for it to see the light of day eventually.

Marvel's Disney-Muppets Presents: Meet the Muppets will go on sale in July for $5.99 and feature the story of the Muppets' attempt to revive their variety show. According to the press release, stories include Kermit feeling homesick for his swampy homeland and Scooter attempting to identify Gonzo's species.

"Together with Disney Publishing, we're extremely excited to bring the Muppets to the comics world and continue to grow their audience" said Axel Alonso, Marvel Entertainment Editor-in-Chief. "Marvel will ensure that DISNEY•MUPPETS PRESENTS will be available at all retail segments for its cross-generational fan base. The Muppets are some of the most beloved pop culture icons ever, so we can't wait for fans to experience these great stories from Roger Langridge"

Langridge is a ComicsAlliance favorite for his work on Thor: The Mighty Avenger, so we very much hope his unreleased The Muppet Show work will find a home at Marvel.