3 out of 5

Every review talks about The Blue Baron the same way: as a classic body swap (i.e. Freaky Friday) story told with Archie Comics cheek. Arted via a classic team of penciller Ron Frenz and inker Sal Buscema, it’d be easy, and not really incorrect, to assume this book is all pastiche. But writer Darin Henry – pitching his new Sit-Comics line as standalone, general appeal books (sitcoms + comics, if that wasn’t clear) – while happily allowing for pastiche to be dripped liberally upon the look of the series, erring toward silver age Marvel / DC, and the tone certainly meets the general-appeal requirement – scribes Blue Baron with an awareness of and appreciation for its reader; Henry’s not especially trying to sound forcibly modern or meta, rather, it’s written for today’s audiences, just with a sincere appreciation for a particular age of comics.

The net result is something that’s never surprising, but it’s always a lot of fun, often moreso than comics that for something with bigger payoffs or “smarter” content, as Blue Baron’s creators never seem misaligned with what their intentions are and what they’re presenting.

Which is: teen Ernie, who lives in a world of colorful heroes and villains, their exploits captured on TV and merchandised and so on, and who happens to be in a particular room of the local science lab when heto Blue Baron crashes through the roof, tussling with a baddie, and a mix of a cosmic ray and some entrapped energy leave BB in Ernie’s body and vice versa. Our two issue intro has the swapped duo coming to a basic understanding of how to operate in the others’ world, and agreeing to work together to find a solve.

As part of the book’s self-awareness, Henry avoids most of the easy fish-out-of-water gags: Ernie acts like a teen and the Baron like an adult, both with their own chips on their shoulders and concerns, and doesn’t directly “cheat” the swap in that each remains out of character in their switched bods. Mistakes are made, casual stakes are established, amusing yuks are had. So despite nothing in the book being the most original, intelligent, or thrilling thing you’ve ever read, because the writing respects the reader and characters, it is rather original and intelligent, and consistent in its entertainment value.

Also satisfying is that Henry (and Frenz) don’t make the goods and bads easy Marvel or DC proxies. Blue Baron isn’t superman or cap, for example, and the various creations we see all feel fitting for, specifically, the Sit-comics world.

The comic is, in short, fun. Some seasoned pros set out to make a fun, somewhat throwback book, and they absolutely succeeded.