Sunday, June 29, 2025

Advanced Comics Review: Disney's "ZOOTOPIA #4" in Free Fall

ZOOTOPIA: VOL. 1 #4
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Jeff Parker
ART: Alessandro Ranaldi
COLORS: Dearbhla Kelly
LETTERS: Jeff Eckleberry
EDITOR: Nate Cosby
COVER: Trish Forstner
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Alessandro Ranaldi; Craig Rousseau
32pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (June 2025)

Rated “Teen”

“Viewpoint Break”

Zootopia is a 2016 animated buddy-cop comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios.  Zootopia is set in a world of anthropomorphic animals (animals that talk and act like humans).  The film follows a rabbit named Judy Hopps, who is rookie police officer, and a fox named Nick Wilde, who is a con artist.  Judy and Nick end up working together to uncover a conspiracy involving the disappearance of predators.  At the end of the film, Nick graduates from the police academy and becomes Judy's partner.

Dynamite Entertainment has been producing licensed comic books based on Disney characters and IP since 2022.  The latest is a Zootopia comic book series, entitled Zootopia: Volume 1.  It is written by Jeff Parker; drawn by Alessandro Ranaldi; colored by Dearbhla Kelly; and lettered Jeff Eckleberry.  The series continues the adventures of Officers Hopps and Wilde and is set after the events of the original film.

Zootopia: Volume 1 #4 (“Viewpoint Break”) opens inside Zootopia Police Department, Precinct One where Hopps and Wilde get their latest assignment.  They must investigate a rash of thefts at “View Point Terrace,” the high-rise apartment tower that is the home of Zootopia's elite.

The top suspects are a pair of daredevil performers called “the Flying Squirrels,” and Hopps and Wilde will have to catch them before they can bring them in for questioning.  That is easier said than done when half of the investigative team has a petrifying fear of heights.  And who is the mysterious “Anonymous,” the mastermind that is paying cash for thieves to commit unusual thefts?

THE LOWDOWN:  Since July 2021, Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department has been providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  Zootopia: Volume 1, Issue #4 is the latest.

I passed on Walt Disney's 2016 computer-animated hit film, Zootopia, when it first played in theaters.  Later, I started hearing good things about it, so I gave it a try on DVD (via Netflix).  I loved it, and I'm excited about the sequel film, Zootopia 2, which is due November 2025.

My enjoyment of the film virtually assured that I was going to give Dynamite's new comic book adaptation a try.  Issue #4 continues to offer the fun adventures that this series has given readers since the first issue.  Jeff Parker, who manages to keep intriguing his Zootopia readers with novel plots and conspiracies, has blended anthropomorphic fun and crime-fighting comedy into a sparkling adventure comic book that would be perfect for young readers and also for fans of Disney comic books.

The series' artists, penciler-inker Alessandro Ranaldi and colorist Dearbhla Kelly, create exciting storytelling no matter where Parker sets the story.  Ranaldi's art hops and dashes across the pages, and, in this issues, the story soars from one side of a high-rise apartment tower to the next.  Kelly's colors have the spark of Disney's animation magic and also makes the chapters fly off the page.  As usual, Jeff Eckleberry's lettering sells this story's conceit that strange things can happen anywhere.

I look forward to more Zootopia Volume 1.  Anyone who reads this fourth issue, dear readers, will feel the need to keep coming back for more.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Dynamite Entertainment's Disney comic book series will want Zootopia: Volume 1.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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