Gravity Falls will pull you back into its orbit with four new and adorable adventures

Gravity Falls: Lost Legends

I could start by exploring how each of Gravity Falls: Lost Legends' four new stories develops its main characters further along their individual arcs. Or I could focus on the bubbly, energetic artwork that mimics the animation of the cartoon almost perfectly. Or I could count up all the references to Bill Cipher and to mysteries as yet unsolved in the Gravity-verse. (Fall-iverse? Gravi-verse?)

But the only thing I really want to say is ... I missed these guys.

If you're like me, Lost Legends (by Alex Hirsch) will sate your hunger for more stories about Mabel, Dipper, the Grunkles Stanford and Stanley, and Soos while also leaving you wanting more. Wendy and Pacifica also join in for one or two stories, all of which are character-driven with as much action as you might expect from watching the show. First, Pacifica teams up with Dipper to find the hidden paranormal black market. Second, the Mystery Shack gang gets pulled into the world of graphic novels comic books—literally. Then, Mabel stumbles on a dimension where other versions of her from other universes end up. And lastly, we get a peek into the past as the Stan Bros try to solve a mystery that may involve the secret of the Jersey Devil. Any of these could have been episodes in their own right: the level of quality and care is the same, making for a flawless transition from one medium to another.

But what I appreciate most about Gravity Falls is its attention to its characters. Not only do we get some beautiful closure to Stanford and Stanley's bonding journey, but we get to see Pacifica and Mabel confront character flaws that trace back throughout the whole series. Soos gets to comfort Stanley. Wendy and Stanford get to be bad-asses. If I had a complaint, it would be that Dipper gets shunted to the sidelines. He gives Pacifica a nice pep talk and we get some glimpses of his obsessive nature, but for the most part he's kept in the background after the first story. But all of the characters are written so well that I could hear the actors' voices in my head as I read the dialogue. I almost expected to see the same cast list at the back of the book that I do during the credits of the show. (This is obviously a testament to both the voice actors and the show writers.)

A lovely detail that I wasn't expecting was the creativity that the writers brought to the comic format. There are a couple of two-page spreads that invite you to pore over every tantalizing detail for Easter eggs. Additionally, the format allows for the crack comic timing that the show displays: a particularly eerie/hilarious page featuring a faceless Mabel made me laugh out loud in the store, and in fact convinced me to buy the book right then and there. The illustrators also have fun playing with the format, such as when Dipper—in comic book land—grabs his own hat off of his head from the panel below. It's so trippy and off-beat, just like the show. Did you ever want to know what the manga version of Gideon Gleeful would look like? It's your lucky day!

Here's where I'd put in a complaint about Lost Legends being too short. But that sounds like I'm an pedantic, demanding fan who cannot appreciate a gift when it lands in her hands (courtesy of all the hard work of the show's animators and writers). And I'm incredibly happy with it! I'm sure creator Alex Hirsch has enough material for a sequel if he wants to go in that direction. But I think even the most obsessive fan will find enough closure among these pages to tide them over for a while. We can always imagine the twins' next summer and what adventures it might bring. We can always follow the Stan Bros as they keep tabs on the more interesting weirdness going on in Gravity Falls. And we will always have the shipping wars. Always.

(Hint hint.)