The second issue of BOOM! Studios’ Toy Story comic is a slight improvement on the first. The story is a bit more complex, the character interactions are more enjoyable, and there’s a greater sense of tension in the plot, which sees the toys of Andy’s Room embark on a mission to infiltrate Andy’s school science fair in order to repair his project (which is broken by Rex, in a typical moment of clumsiness).

It’s a fairly straightforward story that doesn’t contain too many surprises, illustrated ably by Chris Moreno in a style that isn’t particularly dazzling but which is clear and consistent throughout. For the most part, there’s nothing particularly memorable about the story, but there’s nothing particularly wrong with it either--especially given that it’s aimed at quite a young audience.

However, the book does contain at least one interesting moment that makes its otherwise simple story noteworthy for Toy Story enthusiasts. It comes during a scene that young readers probably won’t think twice about, but which introduces some quite thought provoking ideas to the Toy Story universe. In the scene, Hamm the piggy bank finds a science project that revolves around an automated toy robot that simulates a conversation with its user, spitting out a series of stock responses based on whatever it has recorded the user saying. Hamm is dismayed at this, wondering why he and the other toys (who, of course, are alive and really can talk) are required to stay quiet in order to keep their secret from their owners. After a couple of seconds, I began to wonder the same thing.

Based on the movies, I had always assumed that the toys played dead because they wanted to keep their true nature a secret from humans, and because they enjoyed being played with by their owners as it gave their life meaning and purpose. However, the fact that Hamm expressed dissatisfaction with his life as a toy made me wonder: why should the toys have to lie down and keep quiet for their owners? Why shouldn’t Hamm break away from his life as a mere plaything if he’s not happy with it? And why is there a difference between the living toys and the dead robot? These sorts of questions have been deftly sidestepped by the movies, since they’re difficult to answer without breaking the innocent reality of the "toys come to life" conceit. But this scene actively encourages readers to ask them. I wonder whether the series will attempt to provide an answer to them in future issues.

Admittedly, this is the only part of the story that really stuck with me after I’d finished reading it. But it adds some color to an otherwise fairly straightforward and bland issue that will probably entertain young readers and die-hard fans of the movie, but which will be fairly forgettable for anyone else.

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