Tiny Titans #24

The bats from the Batcave have invaded the Titans’ treehouse, and they’re demanding cake and milk! Well, who wouldn’t, right? But now they’ve drunk all the milk Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Blue Beetle were going to use on their Aqua-Oh’s cereal. Luckily, they’re able to borrow some milk from the Atom’s family (Snap! Snap!), but unfortunately, the milk has a strange effect on them — they all shrink as small as the Atoms! The perfect size for the bats to snack on! Can the Atom and his friends help the Titans? The Ant calls on his uncle, Uncle Ant (Uncle Aunt? No, Uncle Ant!), who has the power to enlarge them — but will he enlarge them too far?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Extremely cute, as always, and perfect reading for kids or adults who love goofy stuff. All that, plus guest starring appearances from the Batcow, the Ryan Choi version of the Atom, and more tiny pictures of Bat-villains on the Bat-computer.

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #12

The mirror Captain Marvel has been revealed as Mister Mind — and he’s managed to take away Billy’s powers! Though Billy is soon able to turn back into Captain Marvel, Mr. Mind has released a horde of demons on the city and he even manages to drop a skyscraper on Captain Marvel! Meanwhile, Mr. Tawny is trying to deal with losing his shapeshifting abilities and being stuck permanently as a talking bipedal tiger.

Verdict: Ehh, not too bad. Might be a tad predictable, but it’s good all-ages fun. And it’s nice to see Tawky Tawny back in his traditional suit and tie, too.

Tiny Titans #23

Robin’s having to share his home with a whole lot of penguins and bunnies. Bad enough they’re filling his bathtub with ice and trying to get him to eat carrots and fish for breakfast, but they’ve scared all the bats out of the Batcave. And Batman wants his bats back in the Batcave ASAP! Can Batgirl, Batmite, two familiar toddlers, and a bunch of miniature Batman costumes fool the Dark Knight Detective? And where did all those bats go anyway?

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s an awesome and hilarious story, and that should be enough, but then Baltazar and Franco show us, on the Bat-Computer, the Tiny Titans version of Two-Face:

That may be the coolest Two-Face ever.

And there’s this:

The Tiny Titans versions of Jason Todd and Tim Drake, the first two post-Dick Grayson Robins. I laughed out loud when I saw that. Does this mean we can look forward to Stepanie Brown, Damian Wayne, and Carrie Kelly showing up in “Tiny Titans”?

Batgirl #5

There are a series of arsons targeting a building development on the rougher end of Gotham, and Batgirl tracks down the arsonist, a weirdo named Diesel who has gasoline for blood. Batman and Robin (Dick Grayson and bratty Damian Wayne) show up to grab the glory, and to stop Diesel from torching Robin, Batgirl hits both of them with some freeze-arangs. As expected, this makes both Dick and Damian very snippy, which makes Barbara Gordon, Stephanie’s mentor, very snippy. Once they’re off the clock, Barbara meets a cop that her dad is trying to set her up with and proceeds to get snippy on him for no real reason, and Stephanie spies on a dishy classmate whose dad may be involved in shady business connected to the arsons. Stephanie later has an amusing argument with Damian and tries to meet up with her classmate for an improvised date, only to run into a bunch of kidnappers with murder on their minds.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Outstanding dialogue, funny situations, and top-notch superheroics. Stephanie is an extremely charming lead, Barbara is almost as much fun as she was in “Birds of Prey,” and even the normally insufferable Damian comes across as merely a ten-year-old pill. This book is getting some of the best buzz of any DC series right now, and it’s still early in its run, so there’s time for you to jump aboard and enjoy the ride.

Secret Six #16

The Six get hired to help a serial killer escape from the police? But it turns out that one of his victims actually hired the Six, so too bad about your drastically shortened lifespan, Mr. Serial Killer! But they’ve been found out by Black Alice, a somewhat nutty gothpunk with the power to duplicate the powers of any magic-based superhero or villain. And she’s willing to blackmail them into letting her join the group. They stop off at the nudie bar where Scandal’s sweetie works when the rest of the team shows up and tells Alice to get lost. Then the cops show up, Black Alice steals Jeanette’s banshee powers and beats up on the cops… and the rest of the Six. Is there any way to calm her down and get her to lay off?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good grief, Black Alice is awesome. I mean, the rest of the group is fine — Ragdoll gets to crack his usual ton of great one-liners. But Black Alice is just the bee’s knees.

Tiny Titans #22

This issue features the introduction of Offspring, Plastic Man’s son, who kinda freaks the rest of the Tiny Titans out with his colossal enthusiasm. Plus we also get to meet the rest of the DCU’s stretchy guys:

Indeed, there is nothing more awesome than a stretchy guy party.

Anyway, Bumblebee and the Atom kids lose a super-duper bouncy ball, which creates a lot of havoc, drenching Robin in oatmeal, getting coffee on Principal Slade’s hot dog, and tangling up the stretchy guys. We also attend a meeting of the Bird Scouts — will Robin be able to maintain his leadership of the club in the face of the amazing shininess and adorability of Golden Eagle?

Verdict: Thumbs up. The whole thing was great, but the Elastic Four were just outstanding.

PS238 #41

I tried to hold off on this one for a while, ’cause I missed Issue #40 somewhere down the line. I was hoping to be able to pick up a copy of the missing issue, but my usual sources have all come up empty. Might be a good time for me to start collecting the trade paperbacks of this one.

Anyway, sometime last issue, Emerald Gauntlet, the pint-sized Green Lantern clone, lost the emerald gauntlet that gives him his powers. He got it back, but now he’s having trouble using its power for even simple tasks, like holding up a tennis ball. His dad, the original Emerald Gauntlet brings his son to the Earth Defense League to see if they can figure out what’s wrong. They can’t, and even worse, a bunch of aliens create a teleportal vortex through the Emerald Gauntlet energy and kidnap the two Emerald Gauntlets and Alexandra von Fogg, kid sister of PS238 student Victor von Fogg, though she’s a student at the rival Praetorian Academy. This sets off a chase as the aliens pursue the kidnapped heroes (and kidnapped pre-teen megalomaniacal super-science villainess). What are the aliens really after? And meanwhile — is Captain Clarinet, now calling himself Argonaut, about to have an unhappy family reunion?

Verdict: Thumbs up. I wish I’d been able to see the previous issue, but it’s still a fun story. Nice to see some focus on Emerald Gauntlet, who seems to be a background character more often than not.

Tiny Titans #21

It’s an all Pet Club issue! Everyone is bringing their pets to the Tiny Titans Pet Club — but what about students who don’t have pets? Well, Cyborg has some cute robots, and Starfire and her sister Blackfire send a letter to their home planet asking for their pets. Let’s meet their pets, shall we?

Heh. Poopu.

Other pets include the Atom Family’s dog Spot, Terra’s pet rock, Blue Beetle’s bug collection, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, and the Bat-Cow! But with all these pets, the tree house is now too small for everyone? Can the Titans find a new Pet Club meeting place that they won’t wreck?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Fun artwork and story — and very funny material, too, with Poopu and the return of the Bat-Cow being the real standouts. This is excellent reading for kids, or for grownups who enjoy good, funny comics.

Sugarshock #1

I absolutely love this story, but the problem is it’s already available online for free. And it’s also in the first volume of the MySpace Dark Horse Presents trade paperback collection. This comic has the exact same story, with a nice cover by Fabio Moon and a few sketch pages in the back.

Verdict: I can’t bring myself to give this a thumbs down, because this story is absolutely one of my favorites — Fabio Moon’s artwork is awesome, Joss Whedon’s story and script are hilarious. If you haven’t read the story, you really, really should, and you can definitely read it in this comic book. But dangit, I was hoping for a new Sugarshock story, and I’m a bit grinched that Dark Horse didn’t get one cooked up here.

Power Girl #6

Power Girl is trying to corral a bunch of superpowered aliens — three fashionmongering partygirls and Carl, a guy who’s trying to bring them back to their home planet. Kara sticks the guy in the ferris wheel on Coney Island to keep him occupied, but loses the girls after they get picked up by a chubby guy in a limousine. And while she’s looking for the girls, Carl manages to escape, too. Without any other leads, she picks up her horrible, horrible cat from her office and takes him to her new apartment, meeting up with Terra and discovering that some stalker has been taking pictures of her and has discovered her secret identity! Not much time to worry about that — Carl tracks Kara down and reveals that the girls’ tracker chips have stopped in Atlantic City — and their chubby limousine pal is in big trouble with the mob. Can Power Girl rescue everyone in time and with a minimum of bloodshed?

Verdict: Thumbs up. A pretty lighthearted issue, so the deaths here and there seem a bit out of place, but it’s fun, nicely humorous, and packed full of excellent characterization. Kudos to Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti. And as always, Amanda Conner’s artwork is an absolute dream. Is there anyone else out there who can do such outstanding facial expressions and body language? Just check out the scenes on the subway and in the emergency room — there is so much to see and enjoy in both of those settings.

The Brave and the Bold #28

Barry Allen agrees to help test some scientific equipment and ends up getting shot back in time to the Battle of the Bulge — and he’s got a broken leg, too, so he’s not going to be able to get up enough speed to get back home. Luckily, the Blackhawk air squadron is on hand to help — unfortunately, they’re down here without their planes, so their ability to help is a bit limited, too. The Blackhawks want Flash to help them fight, but he’s unwilling to take lives. Can Flash find a way to help win the war?

Verdict: Ehh, not that bad, but not that great either. The story wasn’t that bad, but why give us the Blackhawks without their planes? Sgt. Rock and Easy Company would’ve been much better fits here than the ‘Hawks. I’m also not buying the Blackhawks’ insistence that Barry has to kill the Germans, nor the ease with which he gives up his principles.

Tiny Titans #20

Raven has a great shortcut to school — she just conjures a black hole and steps through to get where she wants to go. Soon enough, everyone in school is using black holes to get around school and to get school supplies they forgot at home. Is there a downside? Not really, other than Beast Boy accidentally hitting himself in the face with a rock. But Terra can do that for him all by herself. Meanwhile, Alfred doesn’t trust the kids to play in the Batcave unsupervised, so he sends a penguin along to keep an eye on things. Of course, the kids soon get into mischief, with Beast Boy trying on a jetpack. Does anyone else suspect this is going to end with everyone standing in a corner?

Verdict: Thumbs up, as always. Beast Boy is the star this issue, since he’s the guy who gets into all the trouble, but Action Alfred is always fun to watch.

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #8

Dr. Sivana is at the controls of a new Mr. Atom robot, now powered by the Marvels’ magic lightning and by Tawky Tawny! The robot is stronger than ever, and every time Captain Marvel or Mary Marvel hit it, Tawny feels all the pain. Even worse, the battle releases Kull, who immediately wants his revenge on Captain Marvel. Luckily, Mary remembers something from science class, using some copper wire and some magic lightning to turn Kull into an electromagnet. Can the Marvels use the magnetic Kull to take care of Sivana and Mr. Atom and save Tawny at the same time?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Nice to see a little comic-book science make its appearance here with Mary’s electromagnet. Cute art and cute story, too. My only complaint? Even for the conclusion of a lengthy storyarc, this felt a little lightweight.

Another long work-week is done, and for a lot of students, it’s the first week back in school. And all that excitement and stress means it’s a great time for all us, grownup and pre-grownup alike, to get the weekend started right — and though SpaceBooger still has us officially taking a break for another week, I think we can still squeeze in some FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS. I keep having trouble getting these break-weeks hashed out, so let’s see if we can finally get some mindless, savage brutality in here with absolutely NO HUGGY-KISSY LOVE STUFF! Phooey!

From last week’s Tiny Titans #19 by Art Baltazar and Franco:

Well, crud, that didn’t work out at all. That may have been the least violent Friday Night Fights ever. I guess I’d feel a lot worse about it if it weren’t all so goshdarned cute…

Tiny Titans #19

Most of the story is all right there on the cover — Bumblebee and Plasmus meet on a dreary, rainy day, fall in love, and all the world erupts in a symphoy of sunshine, butterflies, rainbows, tandem bicycles, ice cream, lollipops, and movie outings together. Their affection is so infectious, it even gets Mallah and the Brain running around with cartoon hearts around them (which is really, really funny if you’ve read Garth Morrison’s old “Doom Patrol” comics). Elsewhere, Robin can’t do his homework because girls keep stopping by who are in love with him, and the Titans Apes Club meeting suffers from a severe lack of apes.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Yet another classic from Baltazar and Franco. They could’ve made every last bit of this issue focus solely on Plasmus and Bumblebee (and Mallah and the Brain), and it would have still been awesome.

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #14

Hawkeye and the Blonde Phantom run into a bank robbery where the robbers are using a hostage Bruce Banner as a threat to get what they want — if everyone doesn’t hand over their cash, they’ll make Banner mad, he’ll turn into the Hulk, and he’ll start smashing up everything. But Hawkeye and B.P. have met Bruce Banner, and that guy isn’t Bruce Banner — he’s part of the gang masquerading as Banner to help the heists go smoothly. Can they track down the gang before they make their big getaway?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Seemed a bit long, but it was a cute concept for a story, and the chemistry between Hawkeye and B.P. is great.

Tiny Titans #18

It all starts quietly enough with a coffee spill in the hallway. Principal Slade calls in the school’s janitor — well, actually, Sidekick Elementary doesn’t have a janitor. Instead, he calls for… Lunch Lady Darkseid!

And he designates the dark god as Janitor for the Day. Which Darkseid is entirely down with, as long as he gets a nice jacket. And because Darkseid is such a control freak, he uses his “authority” to stick Robin in detention. After that, Kroc shows up and busts out the light bulb, creating… the Blackest Night.

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s a pretty light issue this time, but anything with Lunch Lady Darkseid is a winner for me. Maybe they should give him his own series…

Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #13

The Sensational She-Hulk pays a visit to Avengers Mansion to visit Spider-Man and Tigra. Shulkie and Tigra convince Spidey to join them for a shopping trip/picnic in the park, but the fun gets derailed by a superpowered bulldog running amok in the city. A bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents soon appear to reveal what’s going on — the bulldog is actually an L.M.D. (Life Model Decoy — err, Doggie), an advanced robot that has been co-opted by the Hulk’s enemy, the Leader, so he can steal data from the super-spy agency. While the heroes join the search, they soon find themselves under attack from hostile robotic pigeons, police horses, and pelicans before the Leader and his giant killer robot make their own appearance.

Verdict: Another thumbs up. Outstanding dialogue and characterization on display here. The entire story is very fun and funny — and like nearly all of Marvel’s all-ages comics, it works great for both kids and adults. Go pick it up!

Tiny Titans #17

There’s a lot of stuff happening this issue. First, Raven shows off her new book of magic spells by summoning Mr. Mxyzptlk. The gang then repeatedly steals his hat, calls him an elf, and after he disappears, re-summons him over and over, just to wart him. Later, Beast Boy, Robin, and Cyborg match wits with a cow that has stolen Batman’s cape and cowl — and of course, they actually call it the “Battle for the Cow.” Robin later celebrates his birthday as his friends get him a whole bunch of new costumes, ranging from his Earth-2 uniforms, a couple of Tim Drake’s costumes, a couple different Nightwing uniforms (one with a detachable ponytail) and even the Carrie Kelly Robin costume from “The Dark Knight Returns.” And finally, Cyborg gets excluded from a sidekick picnic because he’s not a sidekick.

Verdict: Yet another thumbs up. I still think this is DC’s most consistently fun all-ages comic. As always, it’s full of cute cartooning, funny plots and dialogue, the goofiest sound effects around, and unexpectedly bizarre moments. It’s a great comic for kids of all ages, and it’s also fun for grownups who enjoy a nice fat dose of silliness.

Tiny Titans #16

Sidekick Elementary’s PE coach is Lobo, which isn’t quite as cool as having Darkseid as a lunch lady, but it comes close. Anyway, Coach Lobo has decided that the best way to get all the students in shape is to have them race all the way around the world, which really isn’t going to be fair for most of the kids. We also get to meet the Tiny Titan version of Bombshell and Mas y Menos.

In addition to that, we also get this deliriously odd panel:

Mmmm, that’s great non sequitur!

Verdict: Thumbs up. As always, this is just a very, very fun comic. It’s marketed to kids, but I think it’s a good read no matter how old you are.

Marvel Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1

Another in Marvel’s special comics to commemorate their 70th birthday, this one puts most of its focus on Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch, and the great rivalry they had during the Golden Age. We also get guest starring roles from Toro, the Angel, and Electro — not the Spider-Man villain, but an old robot hero from the ’40s. They’re all fighting Nazi saboteurs (of course) and a bunch of robots that burn with green flames. Once that’s over, we get treated to some reprints of classic Golden Age stories, including one with the Human Torch and another starring a guy called the Ferret, a detective whose gimmick is a trained ferret. Yeah, no kidding — pet ownership used to be enough to get you a comic book series…

Verdict: Thumbs up. The reprints at the back are pretty silly, but the main story is solid work — good script, excellent art, and I love Namor’s near-constant state of offended rage. It’s really too bad that we don’t see that version of the Sub-Mariner very much anymore.