Squeaky Clean!

Tiny Titans #13

It’s time for another meeting of the Tiny Titans Pet Club! This time, everyone shows up at Robin’s house while Alfred goes off to run errands. Unfortunately, Aqualad brings his new pet, Inky the Octopus, who promptly squirts ink all over everyone. In an attempt to clean up before Alfred gets back, everyone gets the costumes into the Bat-Washing Machine, fills it full of a bit too much detergent, and floods the house with soap. Besides that, Hotspot gets to join the Bird Scouts, and Psimon attends a Science Club meeting.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Lots of excellent stuff from Baltazar and Franco here. Inky the Octopus really is quite funny, as are the repeated “SOAP!” sound effects, Robin’s completely nonchalant penguins, the return of Beast Boy’s pet elephant, and the Kroc Files. This here is certainly my favorite panel:

No doubt about it, I loves me some superfluous Brainiacs.

Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #33

Looks like New York City has a pest problem — in this case, an infestation of dinosaurs! The Avengers are barely holding their own, and Wolverine even gets eaten, briefly, by a T-Rex. And their resident dinosaur expert, Ka-Zar of the Savage Land, is trying to learn how to drive. Who’s behind the dino invasion? It’s Stegron the Dinosaur Man, and he has a way to create super-dinosaurs that’ll let him defeat the human race! While Wolverine uses a ketchup packet to track Stegron, Spider-Man tries in vain to teach Ka-Zar how to drive a car. But when it’s time for the big fight, when Ka-Zar is the only guy who can save the day, where has he disappeared to?

Verdict: Thumbs up. I was actually a little concerned about the language — because it ends up talking down to the reader. Sure, sure, this is an all-ages comic, but the best all-ages comics don’t treat their readers like babies. But other than that, there’s a lot of the stuff that makes these comics so much fun, from the crazy dinosaurs to the bizarre subplot about teaching the Jungle Lord how to drive, to the little background details. Definitely worth picking up.