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The Stuff of Legend #4
The Stuff of Legend, Book 4: The Toy Collector
Continuing the saga of the New York Times Bestselling Graphic Novel! Following the tragic ending and shocking revelations of Stuff of Legend Volume 3: The Jester's Tale, Maxwell the Bear has taken it upon himself to find a weapon capable of defeating the Boogeyman forever. Meanwhile, the Boogeyman continues to manipulate all of the players in his grand scheme as he attempts to construct an army filled with soldiers who may well be indestructible. Could the boy's loyal warriors be waging a war they can never truly win? Revelations concerning allies, new and old, will be unearthed in Stuff of Legend Volume 4: The Toy Collector.
124 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 30, 2022
My! We've come along way since the first book! What appeared like a simple and shaky start back then has grown to become a monumentally epic work!
Charles Wilson's art is as enthralling and joyous as ever with the continuing antique and otherworldly atmosphere, but it's the story telling that is undoubtedly in full stride here.
Where as the original first book stuck to the basics, with book four we're treated to the payoff in the form of intriguing plot twists, surprise character developments and confrontations!
At this point in the adventure I've really grown to love these characters and this book really solidified this.
Overall, I can't recommend this enough. Reading this further re-enforced how underated this little gem is and just how much I adore this series! The fourth installment of The Stuff of Legend does not disappoint!
______________________
My score: 8/10
Goodreads: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
______________________
Charles Wilson's art is as enthralling and joyous as ever with the continuing antique and otherworldly atmosphere, but it's the story telling that is undoubtedly in full stride here.
Where as the original first book stuck to the basics, with book four we're treated to the payoff in the form of intriguing plot twists, surprise character developments and confrontations!
At this point in the adventure I've really grown to love these characters and this book really solidified this.
Overall, I can't recommend this enough. Reading this further re-enforced how underated this little gem is and just how much I adore this series! The fourth installment of The Stuff of Legend does not disappoint!
______________________
My score: 8/10
Goodreads: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
______________________
August 12, 2026
The Toy Collector, the fourth volume of The Stuff of Legend, continues to demonstrate just how ambitious this series has become. What began as a deceptively simple story about toys rescuing their kidnapped boy has evolved into a sprawling dark fantasy filled with secrets, shifting loyalties, betrayals and increasingly disturbing revelations.
Following the devastating events of A Jester's Tale, Maxwell the Bear takes matters into his own hands, embarking on a quest to find a weapon capable of finally defeating the Boogeyman. Meanwhile, the Boogeyman's own plans are becoming increasingly terrifying. His attempt to create an army of apparently indestructible soldiers raises a disturbing question: what if this is a war that the heroes simply cannot win?
That question gives this volume a particularly bleak atmosphere. The toys are brave, but bravery may not be enough. Their enemies are powerful, their numbers overwhelming, and even the nature of the conflict itself seems increasingly difficult to understand.
Once again, Raicht and Smith show an impressive ability to expand the mythology without losing sight of the emotional core of the story. New alliances emerge, old relationships are reconsidered, and revelations concerning both friends and enemies continually force us to question whom we can actually trust. The Boogeyman, in particular, becomes an increasingly fascinating antagonist precisely because his greatest weapon isn't necessarily physical strength—it is his ability to manipulate everyone around him.
And, as always, Charles Paul Wilson III's artwork is extraordinary. The visual world of The Stuff of Legend remains one of the series' greatest achievements: grotesque, beautiful, imaginative and occasionally genuinely disturbing. The contrast between the familiar innocence of children's toys and the nightmarish world they inhabit gives almost every page an unsettling quality.
What I particularly appreciate about this fourth volume is how much the stakes have changed. This is no longer simply a rescue mission. It is a war, and the characters are beginning to understand that winning it may require sacrifices they never imagined making.
The Toy Collector is another superb chapter in a series that continues to become richer and darker with every volume.
Beautifully drawn, wonderfully imaginative and increasingly sinister.
Following the devastating events of A Jester's Tale, Maxwell the Bear takes matters into his own hands, embarking on a quest to find a weapon capable of finally defeating the Boogeyman. Meanwhile, the Boogeyman's own plans are becoming increasingly terrifying. His attempt to create an army of apparently indestructible soldiers raises a disturbing question: what if this is a war that the heroes simply cannot win?
That question gives this volume a particularly bleak atmosphere. The toys are brave, but bravery may not be enough. Their enemies are powerful, their numbers overwhelming, and even the nature of the conflict itself seems increasingly difficult to understand.
Once again, Raicht and Smith show an impressive ability to expand the mythology without losing sight of the emotional core of the story. New alliances emerge, old relationships are reconsidered, and revelations concerning both friends and enemies continually force us to question whom we can actually trust. The Boogeyman, in particular, becomes an increasingly fascinating antagonist precisely because his greatest weapon isn't necessarily physical strength—it is his ability to manipulate everyone around him.
And, as always, Charles Paul Wilson III's artwork is extraordinary. The visual world of The Stuff of Legend remains one of the series' greatest achievements: grotesque, beautiful, imaginative and occasionally genuinely disturbing. The contrast between the familiar innocence of children's toys and the nightmarish world they inhabit gives almost every page an unsettling quality.
What I particularly appreciate about this fourth volume is how much the stakes have changed. This is no longer simply a rescue mission. It is a war, and the characters are beginning to understand that winning it may require sacrifices they never imagined making.
The Toy Collector is another superb chapter in a series that continues to become richer and darker with every volume.
Beautifully drawn, wonderfully imaginative and increasingly sinister.
February 2, 2020
Several of our characters hunt for the night light, which might help them win against the Boogeyman.
There are several separate plot lines going in this book: the Indian Princess seeks Jester, the Toy Maker puts broken toys together, Max tries to find the night light, and Storybook Land characters (the big bad wolf among them) try to find a way past the brick wall built by the pigs to keep others safe. I had a general idea that this was the last volume in the story and it obviously wasn't. I liked this one more than the previous volume, but I'm frustrated to see that the next volume still hasn't been printed. It looks like the author/artist have been creating a Stuff of Legend board game, which looks pretty cool, but I want to find out how the story ends!
There are several separate plot lines going in this book: the Indian Princess seeks Jester, the Toy Maker puts broken toys together, Max tries to find the night light, and Storybook Land characters (the big bad wolf among them) try to find a way past the brick wall built by the pigs to keep others safe. I had a general idea that this was the last volume in the story and it obviously wasn't. I liked this one more than the previous volume, but I'm frustrated to see that the next volume still hasn't been printed. It looks like the author/artist have been creating a Stuff of Legend board game, which looks pretty cool, but I want to find out how the story ends!
July 20, 2026
Ah, so much!
What a volume! I can't wait to see how this series ends!!
What a volume! I can't wait to see how this series ends!!
September 25, 2020
Well written and illustrated, just wasn’t my cup of tea.
October 28, 2024
This series has lost its appeal. I cannot find Book #5, The stuff of Legend: A Call to Arms in my library system or local bookstores so I guess I’ll never learn if the boy escapes from The Dark.
February 25, 2017
This quest has taken such turns and twists, I would never have expected. I am wondering if the bogeyman in this series is some sort of imaginary friend pushed back to "the dark" of forgetfulness turned rotten.
I've been hating on Percy the pig from the start, and I may have reached the point in which I won't care for him even if he turns a new leaf. So he was going to be broken when he was full of coins. It's what he was made for, deal with it. We humans aren't even made for certain roles and we still have to work and bear the fact our jobs don't satisfy us.
The boy, for a toy owner, doesn't seem that unkind or brute. His brother is much more moronic, with no appreciation for a present someone else took the time of choosing for him. So I see all these toys and book characters holding grudges about their fates or about having to suffer each time their story is read, and I just feel like burning them all. Because, honestly, they only exist for a certain purpose. They were made by humans to entertain us, if they can't turn against us in the future, then I hope the boy starts a campaign that will lead the world to never make a toy again.
I've been hating on Percy the pig from the start, and I may have reached the point in which I won't care for him even if he turns a new leaf. So he was going to be broken when he was full of coins. It's what he was made for, deal with it. We humans aren't even made for certain roles and we still have to work and bear the fact our jobs don't satisfy us.
The boy, for a toy owner, doesn't seem that unkind or brute. His brother is much more moronic, with no appreciation for a present someone else took the time of choosing for him. So I see all these toys and book characters holding grudges about their fates or about having to suffer each time their story is read, and I just feel like burning them all. Because, honestly, they only exist for a certain purpose. They were made by humans to entertain us, if they can't turn against us in the future, then I hope the boy starts a campaign that will lead the world to never make a toy again.
January 7, 2014
I have really loved The Stuff of Legend series so far, so I was incredibly excited to get the 4th volume in the series for Christmas. This book does not wrap up the series, so there will be at least one more book. I loved this book it was absolutely excellent. It’s like a darker Toy Story with a bit of an Alice in Wonderland feel to it. You definitely want to start with reading the first book in the series.
The toys have been broken up into different groups. The Indian Princess is desperately seeking the Jester, the Jester has been badly wounded, and the Boy is struggling through the Dark seeking a way out. Maxwell the Bear has grouped with some of the other toys to journey to retrieve the Night Light which is a sacred object that he hopes will defeat the Boogeyman once and for all.
This is a fantastic graphic novel series. It is an excellent read for all ages (except really young kids who might find it kind of scary). The illustration is stunning and the story is epic. All the characters come to life and are engaging and the world of the Dark is imaginative and absolutely stunning.
Our characters are more scattered in this book since the Boogeyman is seeking to drive them apart from each other. So the story switches viewpoint quite a bit. It was well done and I enjoyed that we got to spend more time with The Boy in this story.
Our beloved toys meet more of the Boogeyman’s minions in this novel and they are excellent new characters. The main two are the Toy Collector and the Toy Mender. As you can tell by the title, the Toy Collector plays a major role in things and makes some important decisions that have a large effect on the storyline. The Boogeyman is as creepy as ever and very well done.
A lot of the story features Maxwell too. He was chosen by the animals of the Jungle to be their ruler, however he doesn’t want to rule...he wants to seek out the Night Light.
I love how there are different story threads woven together in this book. I am desperate to know how things play out in the next book. This is a great book to read for kids and adults alike. The boogeyman is pretty scary, the plot gets a bit complicated, and there are scenes of war which get pretty intense...so I wouldn’t recommend for little kids. I am going to wait a couple more years before reading these with my son who is 6 years old right now. However, middle grade and older readers should be fine.
The illustration is amazing. It is all done in sepia tones and the drawing is intricate and beautiful; it really adds so much to the story and I love it. This is one of my favorite graphic novel series out there for the quality of illustration.
Overall a spectacular continuation of this series. I absolutely love this graphic novel series. Think darker Toy Story, or a lighter Plucker by Brom. There is also a bit of a Wonderland feel to this. I love the characters, the story, the world, and the illustration...it is all absolutely perfect. I would recommend to fantasy and graphic novel fans middle grade and older.
The toys have been broken up into different groups. The Indian Princess is desperately seeking the Jester, the Jester has been badly wounded, and the Boy is struggling through the Dark seeking a way out. Maxwell the Bear has grouped with some of the other toys to journey to retrieve the Night Light which is a sacred object that he hopes will defeat the Boogeyman once and for all.
This is a fantastic graphic novel series. It is an excellent read for all ages (except really young kids who might find it kind of scary). The illustration is stunning and the story is epic. All the characters come to life and are engaging and the world of the Dark is imaginative and absolutely stunning.
Our characters are more scattered in this book since the Boogeyman is seeking to drive them apart from each other. So the story switches viewpoint quite a bit. It was well done and I enjoyed that we got to spend more time with The Boy in this story.
Our beloved toys meet more of the Boogeyman’s minions in this novel and they are excellent new characters. The main two are the Toy Collector and the Toy Mender. As you can tell by the title, the Toy Collector plays a major role in things and makes some important decisions that have a large effect on the storyline. The Boogeyman is as creepy as ever and very well done.
A lot of the story features Maxwell too. He was chosen by the animals of the Jungle to be their ruler, however he doesn’t want to rule...he wants to seek out the Night Light.
I love how there are different story threads woven together in this book. I am desperate to know how things play out in the next book. This is a great book to read for kids and adults alike. The boogeyman is pretty scary, the plot gets a bit complicated, and there are scenes of war which get pretty intense...so I wouldn’t recommend for little kids. I am going to wait a couple more years before reading these with my son who is 6 years old right now. However, middle grade and older readers should be fine.
The illustration is amazing. It is all done in sepia tones and the drawing is intricate and beautiful; it really adds so much to the story and I love it. This is one of my favorite graphic novel series out there for the quality of illustration.
Overall a spectacular continuation of this series. I absolutely love this graphic novel series. Think darker Toy Story, or a lighter Plucker by Brom. There is also a bit of a Wonderland feel to this. I love the characters, the story, the world, and the illustration...it is all absolutely perfect. I would recommend to fantasy and graphic novel fans middle grade and older.
March 23, 2014
My rating here is probably clouded by the distance now between me and the first three volumes of this fabulous series. I didn't remember the details as well as I would have liked, and this is primarily due to the timing of the reading, but there was enough that felt cloudy to me as I pushed through that this one wasn't quite a five for me.
Raicht continues to do wondrous things here though. I like the additional insight received on the Boogeyman, although I'd like more. He's still a bit of a "paint him black and call him evil" villain who we see doing nasty things without a comprehension of why he's doing them except that He's the bad guy, bwa-ha-ha! Fantasies often get away with this by making the villain/dark lord a side note to the series as it/he/she is really just an embodiment of evil as the author sees it, and therefore the story is really about characters who stand against it/him/her vs. those who choose to embrace the darkness for whatever reason they do so. It is the "human" characters in these stories that rightly capture and hold our attention. But the Boogeyman is an increasingly prominent character in his own right in this series and yet we see just the tiniest glimpses of who/why he is what he is. I don't need a whole origin story in novelized detail, but if we're essentially going to get boogeyman POV passages, I want to understand this guy a bit more than I do.
The threads spread all over the dark in volume three as the party of toys chasing the boy split up in various directions begin to cross and in some cases rejoin one another in this volume and we get further cool glimpses of new areas of the dark which is as fantastically inventive a fantasy land as I've encountered in long time, and as good as anything I've ever wondered into in comics.
The series continues at a very, very high level. I eagerly await volume five. Perhaps a re-read before the next one...
Raicht continues to do wondrous things here though. I like the additional insight received on the Boogeyman, although I'd like more. He's still a bit of a "paint him black and call him evil" villain who we see doing nasty things without a comprehension of why he's doing them except that He's the bad guy, bwa-ha-ha! Fantasies often get away with this by making the villain/dark lord a side note to the series as it/he/she is really just an embodiment of evil as the author sees it, and therefore the story is really about characters who stand against it/him/her vs. those who choose to embrace the darkness for whatever reason they do so. It is the "human" characters in these stories that rightly capture and hold our attention. But the Boogeyman is an increasingly prominent character in his own right in this series and yet we see just the tiniest glimpses of who/why he is what he is. I don't need a whole origin story in novelized detail, but if we're essentially going to get boogeyman POV passages, I want to understand this guy a bit more than I do.
The threads spread all over the dark in volume three as the party of toys chasing the boy split up in various directions begin to cross and in some cases rejoin one another in this volume and we get further cool glimpses of new areas of the dark which is as fantastically inventive a fantasy land as I've encountered in long time, and as good as anything I've ever wondered into in comics.
The series continues at a very, very high level. I eagerly await volume five. Perhaps a re-read before the next one...
January 1, 2014
This graphic novel is about toys of a boy (and his puppy) that go into the realm of the Dark to rescue their boy from the Boogeyman in the year 1944, with the help from local animals.
The toys are separated into several groups by the Boogeyman, just so he can see how they interact under stress and desperation, and also to give him time to construct an indestructible army from broken toys. (btw, the toys can die, though they could be fixed, by the Toy Maker. However, there's always a cost…)
The Boy, still in his pajamas, must also fight the Boogeyman, on his own terms. With his uncertainty of surviving bothering him and the fear for his father's life, who has gone off to the War, he must grow up or perish.
This series is not just for children adults will find the topics of loyalty, bravery, camaraderie, and redemption just as compelling.
As is the ART! Done in a sepia tone, it carries the flavor of 1944 and is quite intriguing. Drawing a toy, then drawing then as if alive makes for surprising art!!
My comment at the very end is just this: "Oh, Percy…"
The toys are separated into several groups by the Boogeyman, just so he can see how they interact under stress and desperation, and also to give him time to construct an indestructible army from broken toys. (btw, the toys can die, though they could be fixed, by the Toy Maker. However, there's always a cost…)
The Boy, still in his pajamas, must also fight the Boogeyman, on his own terms. With his uncertainty of surviving bothering him and the fear for his father's life, who has gone off to the War, he must grow up or perish.
This series is not just for children adults will find the topics of loyalty, bravery, camaraderie, and redemption just as compelling.
As is the ART! Done in a sepia tone, it carries the flavor of 1944 and is quite intriguing. Drawing a toy, then drawing then as if alive makes for surprising art!!
My comment at the very end is just this: "Oh, Percy…"
July 22, 2016
I love this fricken series. The art , the characters , the imagination , the story , .. its magnificent from top to bottom , inside and out. This has to be made into an animated feature some day. Jester has become one of my current favorite characters right now , he's so awesome.
If you're new , the best and easiest way to describe 'Stuff of Legend': LOTR + Toy Story + Wonderland. If that intrigues you , this is the series for you. However , do I recommend book 4 as a jumping on point? no , not for noobs , for noobs , I recommend book 1.
If you're new , the best and easiest way to describe 'Stuff of Legend': LOTR + Toy Story + Wonderland. If that intrigues you , this is the series for you. However , do I recommend book 4 as a jumping on point? no , not for noobs , for noobs , I recommend book 1.
June 12, 2016
The plotlines are getting more complicated - a lot is happening! I enjoyed this one. More character development for a few individuals, which is good. The next book(s) have been delayed a long time but there are somewhat recent updates on The Stuff of Legend's Facebook page for those who want to know what's going on.
November 4, 2013
4.5 stars. Another beautiful installment in the series, both in artwork and story. The tale of courage, friendship, and betrayal continues its poignant course, with the odds against the little band increasing even more.
January 26, 2014
Closer to 4.5 stars. This was definitely a step in the right direction after the slight drop off of the last book. Beautiful both in artwork and story. The sepia toned artwork instantly grabs hold and the story tightens the grip. Not ready for this series to ever end.
November 24, 2015
We explore the back story of Max, the teddy bear, and also discover other early toys that were set aside by the kids years before. An intricate tale, that is growing in momentum and keeps you looking forward to the next installment. Art gorgeous as ever.
March 7, 2014
I love how this story is developing. I can't wait to read the next installment!
September 24, 2021
Fills in a bit more backstory while mostly acting as a setup for the battle to come.
August 20, 2014
The Stuff of Legend just keeps getting better and better. This is my favorite cliffhanger so far.
September 12, 2014
Review actually for books 2-4 since I read them all in a rush and now I want more! Gripping and haunting and disturbing as the first. I have no idea what will happen but I want to find out!
December 15, 2014
Ends on a very dark note - looking for some hope in book 5!
July 24, 2022
excepcional
Me encantó la trama, despertó sentimientos de nostalgia, honorabilidad y alegría, pero también tristeza y nostalgia, sobretodo el último capítulo.
Me encantó la trama, despertó sentimientos de nostalgia, honorabilidad y alegría, pero también tristeza y nostalgia, sobretodo el último capítulo.
April 18, 2014
Legendary stuff!
April 29, 2017
Can't wait for more of this series. If you haven't read it, do so.
May 5, 2018
Amazing artwork and superb storytelling. There's just so much to love in this series. I cant wait for the next book to release.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews