Disney Kingdoms: Figment

I’ve had no direct experience with the character of Figment, as he’s an Epcot character and I’ve never been. I remember loving his design, when I was a child, and as an adult I get excited about the fact that he had a Sherman Brothers song associated with him. I might’ve had a model that I picked up at Disneyland at one point. He is so beloved a character that, when he was all but removed from the Journey Into Imagination dark ride, a stockholder personally asked Michael Eisner about it. The outcry, including that moment, caused Figment to be returned.

In this comic, we initially meet Blairion Mercurial, an employee at the Academy Scientifica-Lucidus. They are expected to justify their existence by finding new, presumably clean forms of energy. Blair believes he can harness the power of imagination and power things that way; unfortunately, when we first encounter him, his machine has caught fire and melted. Kind of a problem. He manages to fix the machine and it pulls his childhood imaginary friend into existence. Hence Figment. Then things happen and he kind of has to save London from killer robots obsessed with order. Like you do.

It’s a fun comic, but I think it’s trying too hard. I did smile at the Mathmagic Land reference that got thrown in, but every once in a while, I’d think, “Boy, they’re pushing it with that reference.” (The sequel, which I also read, is even worse about this; there’s a character who pretty well spends the whole time they’re in it quoting Disney movies.) They’re really forcing a lot of the company’s talking points into it, about the power of imagination and how much you can accomplish if you just put your mind into it.

And, yeah, I really do think of it as the company’s talking points. One of the problems I have with Disney is the conflict between Disney as a company and Disney as the art they produce. Because boy howdy are those two in conflict. It’s not surprising, if you think about it, if you know anything about Eisner, that it was under the Eisner that Figment was sidelined until the fans rose up. Figment, the character, is supposed to be imagination personified, and the forces of order—and, it’s worth noting, profit—are the problem.

This article is really giving me trouble, and I think that’s why. Taken on its face, this comic, and its sequel, are cute, pleasant, well-drawn comics about the importance of animation and a guy and his dragon having wild adventures. But it’s almost impossible, if you know arguably too much about Disney the company, to separate it from the cynical focus on profit over creativity. The corporation is the villain in this comic, and while the writer, Jim Zub, might know that, I’m fairly sure the corporation does not.

Props to Filipe Andrade, the artist, and Jean-Francois Beaulieu, the colorist, for the comic. Really. There are some really amazing panels to the comic. Not all of them, but it’s by and large a quite well-drawn comic. And a fair amount of the writing is good, even if there are a few bits that grated. It’s short enough that I don’t feel we really get to know most of the characters regardless of the intent of Zub, but that’s the medium for you.

But, look, it’s only possible to support Disney corporate when they’re up against, like, Ron DeSantis. You need a much larger villain than they are to root for them. And what this comic reminds you about is how much Disney’s creative people are fighting against the forces of order and profit. You can’t get great art if you don’t let the artists do what they want to. And, no, I’m not saying that everything people put out when they’re forced to rein things in is great art, and some people need the controls on them. I’m just saying it’s not helpful to make corporate in charge of art.