Busting the Curve

Tiny Titans #8

DC’s most enjoyable kids’ comic keeps rocking. The kids get their report cards, Starfire helps Blue Beetle become Neon Technicolor Beetle, Robin is afraid of the clown at a birthday party, and the Pet Club meets in Atlantis.

Verdict: Thumbs up. This is probably one of the best issues of this series that I’ve read — every story was funny or clever, the art was grand fun, and the characterizations were just wonderful. Yes, this is a kids’ comic, but I recommend it for anyone, just because it packs so much awesomeness and fun into every issue.

And it doesn’t hurt that it includes things like this:

The Tiny Titans version of the Persuader carries an Atomic Toothbrush.

That’s awesome, baby.

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #2

Being the World’s Mightiest Mortal isn’t always easy. Billy Batson may possess the Power of Shazam, but he’s still in big trouble, thanks to Theo Adam, a bully who used to the Wizard Shazam’s protege thousands of years ago. He was a real bad guy, and Shazam imprisoned him for a long time, but now that he’s escaped, he’s figured out that Billy is Captain Marvel, and he plans to find out what Billy’s magic word is so he can become a supervillain. So Billy and his sister Mary have to be careful using their magic word, or Theo will discover what it is. And when they’re finally able to reach the wizard, he reveals some more bad news — the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man have escaped their own imprisonment, and they’re now serving Theo.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Wow, this is the wordiest all-ages comic, I’ve ever read. Nothing wrong with that, ’cause they’re really well-done words. And Mike Kunkel’s art is gorgeous.

Have you noticed that just about the best comics that Marvel and DC are putting out are all-ages books?