#IReadsYou Review: DC SUPER HERO GIRLS: Finals Crisis

DC SUPER HERO GIRLS: FINALS CRISIS
DC COMICS/DC Zoom – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Shea Fontana
ART: Yancey Labat
COLORS: Monica Kubina
LETTERS: Janice Chiang
EDITOR: Marie Javins
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6247-1; paperback; (June 29, 2016)
128pp, Color, $9.99 U.S., $11.99 CAN

Age Range: 8 to 12

DC Super Hero Girls is an action figure franchise and animated web series that began in 2015.  It features high school versions of classic and popular female DC Comics characters, as well as some male characters.  The DC Super Hero Girls line has already been rebooted and re-branded, and now includes an animated television series, various consumer products, and both print and digital comics.

DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis is the debut entry in the DC Super Hero Girls original graphic novel series.  It was first published in June 2016, and, as of this writing, the ninth graphic novel in the series is about to be published.  Finals Crisis is written by Shea Fontana; drawn by Yancey Labat; colored by Monica Kubina; and lettered by Janice Chiang.  Finals Crisis focuses on the core group of friends that includes Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Katana, and Bumblebee.

DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis opens at Super Hero High in the city of Metropolis.  Principal Amanda Waller and vice-principal Gorilla Grodd are generally tough on the students, and especially now because of semester finals, which are just a day away.  Supergirl, Bumblebee, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Katana, and Poison Ivy are all studying hard, but they are also breaking rules.  That puts them in danger, making it easier for a mysterious villain to trap them.  Will these super hero girls outsmart their captor in time to make it to school for finals?

I have been putting off reading DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis since I first heard about it a few years ago.  I finally got a copy when I decided to cash in a gift certificate, and the verdict is that I like it.  DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis is the kind of comic book that the seven-year-old me would have loved when I first starting reading books.  I would have loved just looking at the pictures, as my nephew loved looking at the pictures in the Spider-Man comic books that I gave him when he was four or five-years old.

The art by Finals Crisis artist Yancey Labat is just fun to look at.  He draws big, round faces and big, expressive eyes on the characters, which will pull in a young reader.  The art is drawn in a big and open manner, but Labat depicts the backgrounds and environments in nice detail.  Colorist Monica Kubina layers paint-like coloring over Labat's art, which makes it stand out.  Janice Chiang letters the art with a variety of fonts that perfectly capture the moments, moods, and action of the story.

DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis may not be a great comic book for adult readers, but I bet elementary school and middle grade readers will think it's great.  I can certainly see myself reading another volume... or two... or three.  Why not?  DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis captures the fun and sense of wonder that is inherent in DC Comics characters and in the comic books in which they star.

7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: DEAR JUSTICE LEAGUE

DEAR JUSTICE LEAGUE
DC COMICS/DC Zoom – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Michael Northrop
ART: Gustavo Duarte
COLORS: Marcelo Maiolo
LETTERS: Wes Abbott
EDITOR: Sara Miller
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8413-8; paperback; (July 31, 2019 – Diamond / August 6, 2019)
176pp, Color, $9.99 U.S., $13.50 CAN

Age Range: 8 to 12

Dear Justice League is a 2019 original graphic novel staring DC Comics' marquee super-team, the Justice League.  It is written by Michael Northrop; drawn by Gustavo Duarte; colored by Marcelo Mailol; and lettered by Wes Abbot.  Dear Justice League features some of the greatest superheroes of all time answering questions sent to them by young fans via text, email, and letter.

Dear Justice League was originally published under DC Comics' “DC Zoom” imprint, which offered original graphic novels for readers that were 8 to 12-years-old or that were classified as “middle grade” (MG) readers.  DC discontinued many of its imprints in 2019, so Dear Justice League would now fit under a new designation (“DC Graphic Novels for Young Readers”?).

Dear Justice League finds its members going about their usual business, but they occasionally take time to answer questions sent to them by young fans.  In a “Dear Superman” letter, the Man of Steel is asked, “have you ever messed up?”  In “Dear Hawkgirl,” the high-flying hero, who is also known as Kendra Saunders, is asked if she, as Hawkgirl, eats small animals.  In “Dear Aquaman,” Black Manta has high-jacked a nuclear submarine, but Aquaman wonders if he smells like fish, as one fan has asked.

In “Dear Wonder Woman,” a young fan who is about to turn 11-years-old wants to know if Wonder Woman remembers her eleventh birthday.  In “Dear Flash,” two envious boys, “T-Bone” and “J-Dawg,” pose a time-centered challenge to “the fastest man alive” via a dishonest question.  In “Green Lantern,” the newest Lantern, Simon Baz, is asked if he has ever suffered a fashion faux pas.

In “Dear Cyborg,” a young fan asks for Cyborg's screen name so that the fan can challenge the hero in an online video game.  Meanwhile, Cyborg/Victor Stone is monitoring a possible alien invasion.  In “Dear Batman,” the new kid in town asks Batman if he has ever been the new kid in town.  Finally, in “Dear Justice League,” eight of the world's greatest heroes, the Justice League, battle an invasion of “Insectoids” from the planet, “Molt-On.”  So a fourth-grade class sends a letter asking the members of the League, “How do you always manage to show up just in time and save the day?”

Well, how do they do it?  And have they done it this time in order to stop an Insectoid invasions?

I am slowly making my way through DC Comics's first wave of original “DC Zoom” and “DC Ink” titles.  I still have a few to read before the lines were discontinued.  I have to say that I am quite surprised by how much I like Dear Justice League.  It is not a great work, because it has some missteps, but it is exceptional because there is nothing else like it on the superhero comic book market.

In Dear Justice League, Michael Northrop has written a funny comic book, and some of the fan questions are quite good.  Asking Aquaman if he smells like fish falls flat, although asking Hawkgirl if she eats small animals seems just perfect.  Asking Wonder Woman to recount her eleventh birthday strikes the right story notes, and that question carries over into “Dear Flash,” in a clever little bit about two jealous boys.  Batman gets a great question – has he ever been the new kid in town – but Northrop doesn't execute the answer as well as he could have.

Gustavo Duarte's illustrations and graphical storytelling are perfect for a kids-oriented Justice League comic book like Dear Justice League.  His stretchy drawing style, which recalls classic Looney Tunes cartoon shorts of the 1940s and 1950s, captures the funny side of the eight particular heroes of Dear Justice League.

Marcelo Mailol's colors on Duarte's art look as if he used color pencils and also recall classic four-color comic book coloring (but is better than most of it was back in the day).  Letterer Wes Abbot turns on a symphony of lettering fonts that provide a colorful and varied graphical soundtrack for a story that offers a lot of different sounds, from the noise of battle to the rackets of errors and mistakes.

I highly recommend Dear Justice League to readers who want to share Justice League comic books with younger readers.  It would also be nice as a semi-regular series.

B+
7 out of 10

Dear Justice League includes the following extras:

• A six-page preview of the original graphic novel, Dear Super-Villains, by Michael Northrop and Gustavo Duarte
• A six-page preview of the original graphic novel, Superman of Smallville, by Art Baltazar and Franco
• the two-page, “Hall of Justice Top Secret Files”
• the one-page, “Auxiliary Members” (pets of the Justice League)
• biographies of Michael Northrop and Gustavo Duarte
• “Dear Michael Northrop,” a letter from younger Michael Northrop to older Michael
• a mock-up of a page of lined paper so that the reader can write a letter to the Justice League
• bonus illustrations

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: SUPER SONS Volume 1: The Polarshield Project

SUPER SONS V. 1: THE POLARSHIELD PROJECT
DC COMICS/DC Zoom – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Ridley Pearson – @RidleyPearson
ART: Ile Gonzalez
COLORS: Ile Gonzalez
LETTERS: Saida Temofonte
EDITORS: Ben Abernathy and Michele R. Wells
ISBN:  978-1-4012-8639-2; paperback; (April 2, 2019)
176pp, Color, $9.99 U.S., $13.50 CAN

Age Range: 8 to 12

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster; Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger; Superboy created by Jerry Siegel

They are the sons of Superman and Batman.  Damian Wayne is the son of Batman/Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul (the daughter of Batman nemesis, Ra's al Ghul).  Jonathan “Jon” Samuel Kent is the son of Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane.

Jon and Damian became the stars of the comic book series/franchise, Super Sons.  Now, these young heroes make their graphic novel debut in the DC Zoom original graphic novel, Super Sons Book 1: The Polarshield Project, the first book in a three-book series.  The Polarshield Project is written by bestselling novelist, Ridley Pearson; drawn and colored by Ile Gonzalez; and lettered by Saida Temofonte.  Set in the near future, The Polarshield Project finds the sons of Superman and Batman trying to uncover a global conspiracy that begins with an epidemic.

Super Sons Book 1: The Polarshield Project is set on an alternate Earth and not in the mainstream DC Universe.  In the city of Metropolis, Superman is trying to repair the sea walls that protect the city from the rising oceans.  The polar ice caps have nearly melted away, causing devastation to coastal cities like Metropolis.  Even the technology of Bruce Wayne and Wayne Enterprises is struggling to stop Metropolis from drowning.

Erratic, deadly weather forces everyone inland, tearing families apart.  When Metropolis is abandoned, Clark Kent and his family: reporter Lois Lane and their son, Jon Kent, relocate to Wyndemere.  Bruce Wayne and his son, Damian “Ian” Wayne, are also new residents of Wyndemere.

Jon Kent and Damian Wayne are opposites in every way except one; they are the sons of the world's greatest heroes, and these two boys also want to do their heroic best to help the world.  To unravel the the conspiracy of a mystery illness, this unlikely dynamic duo is forced to trust each other and to work together to save the Earth.  Joined by a mysterious girl named Candace and by Jon's friend, a teen girl named Tilly, Jon and Ian will find adventure and danger.

DC Comics' Super Sons has turned out to be an enjoyable teen superhero comic book franchise, in a decade that has seen the arrival of several stellar comic titles featuring teen heroes, including Marvel Comics' Mile Morales/Ultimate Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel.  Jon Kent's affable nature and Damian Wayne's arrogant kid-ninja-assassin are like oil and water, but writer Peter J. Tomasi made them work, in the original Super Sons series, as a believable crime-fighting, adventure-having unit.

In Super Sons Book 1: The Polarshield Project, Ridley Pearson presents his own version of Jon and Damian.  Pearson's Jon Kent is stubborn, more proactive, and uses his powers with a rapidly growing confidence.  Pearson's Damian Wayne does not at all want to be called Damian and goes by the name “Ian.”  Ian is less elite-assassin-in waiting and more like a Batman, Jr.; he is a superhero-in-training, working his way up to having his own real superhero costume.

Pearson's Super Sons is set on an alternate Earth, and the concept is a near-future scenario that is a kind of juvenile science fiction.  This world looks familiar, and young readers will recognize that story's ecological and environmental dangers could very well be our own world's fate.

I don't know to what extent young readers will identify with the characters here or how much they will recognize of our world in the world of The Polarshield Project.  I think that they will identify with the conflicts, dilemmas, and obstacles facing these young characters.  They will identify with the personal and relationship issues.  I think they will also find themselves taking in by Jon, Ian, Candace, and Tilly's call to adventure.  Ridley Pearson, known for his mystery and young adult adventure novels, offers readers engaging mysteries and thrilling adventures here.

DC Comics has been hiring the writers of bestselling young adult novels to author its DC Zoom (readers 8 to 12) and DC Ink (readers 13+) graphic novels.  On the book covers of these graphic novels, the young adult authors get top billing, but the names of the artists are at the very bottom of the cover.

In the case of The Polarshield Project's artist/co-author, Ile Gonzalez, this placement is crock of shit.  Gonzalez is every bit as important as Pearson to the creation of this graphic novel.  She has a wonderful energetic graphic style, and her rich coloring makes this story vibrant.  Here, Gonzalez's art is spiritually related to the comic book art of the early Superman and Batman comic book artists:  Joe Shuster in Action Comics (Superman) and Bob Kane in Detective Comics (Batman).

In terms of graphical storytelling, Gonzalez makes Super Sons Book 1: The Polarshield Project seem like something entirely new.  It is as if Ridley Pearson's Jon Kent, Ian Wayne, the other characters, and the world in which they live are not an alternate take of an established universe, but are instead something fresh and different.

Super Sons Book 1: The Polarshield Project is not perfect.  There are lapses in the narrative that make it seem as if a page or two is missing in some spots.  However, that does not take away from the fact that The Polarshield Project is a damn fun comic book to read.  In fact, it should say so on the cover, “Damn fun to read.”

8 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


[This book contains two previews.  The first is preview is of Super Sons Book 2: The Foxglove Mission.  The second is a preview of Dear Justice League by writer Michael Northrop and artist Gustavo Duarte.]


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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