THE CAT'S MEOW: What's Good on the Shelf This Week- #179 ____________________________________________________________________
Reviews by John Norris, April 20, 2010

BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #11: “The Fearsome Fangs Strike Again!” (All Ages)

J. Torres (w); Carlo Barberi (p); Terry Beatty (i); Heroic Age (c); Rob Clark, Jr. (l); cover by Scott Jeralds

Publisher: DC

Format: monthly series

Concept: Jumping out of your TV and into your comics comes the highly anticipated new cartoon BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD! Each month, The Dark Knight Detective faces challenges that only he can solve – with a little help from his DC Universe pals! Thrill as Batman visits new places and old friends. Chill as he chases down the most powerful villains in the DCU, armed with only his Bat-gadgets and his wits!

In this issue : The return of the Terrible Trio! Batman must team up with Green Arrow to stop the Fearsome Fangs from obtaining a secret weapon that would give them ultimate power! (from grahamcrackers.com)

Review: It's all about the competition as Batman goes from fighting the Sportsmaster with—and trading sports humor with—the Huntress to competing with Green Arrow to see who can take down more Fearsome Fangs and their ninjas.

Torres once again provides an entertaining story, and the *terrific* trio of Barberi, Beatty and Heroic Age continue to produce some pleasing artwork.

BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM! #10: “The Legacy Of Mr. Banjo!” (All Ages)

Art Baltazar & Franco (w); Byron Vaughns (p/i); David Tanguay (c); Travis Lanham (l); cover by Vaughns

Publisher: DC

Format: monthly series

Concept: Welcome to the brand-new, all-fun adventures of Billy Batson as the World's Mightiest Mortal — Captain Marvel!

In this issue: As Captain Marvel struggles to keep his power under control, a new, dangerous enemy enters the scene and takes Mary Marvel out of the picture. Will our favorite Captain succeed in this new adventure all alone? (from dckids.kidswb.com)

Review: Billy and Mary are off to see the wizard to find out what's been going on with Captain Marvel. But since crime never stops, those plans will have to wait until after a bank robbery. Normally I support musicians, but not when they're bad guys! Baltazar and Franco really make things interesting by allowing whatever is affecting Captain Marvel to affect Billy as well, an internal struggle that Vaughns captures beautifully in Billy's facial expressions.

MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #57: “The Silencer!” (All Ages)

Paul Tobin (w); Chris Samnee (p/i); Sotocolor (c); Dave Sharpe (l); cover by Skottie Young

Publisher: Marvel

Format: monthly series

Concept: Bitten by an irradiated spider, which granted him incredible abilities, Peter Parker learned the all-important lesson, that with great power there must also come great responsibility. And so he became the amazing Spider-Man!

In this issue: Night is falling, and it's already been one LONG day for Peter Parker. Between Emma Frost coming into town, and a mysterious new supervillain, and his kind-of girlfriend Chat maybe being something other, or something more, than she's been pretending, Peter would love to call it a night. But when he finds out that Midtown High's newest teacher, Jack Russell, has been kidnapped along with a group of other people, it's up to Spider-Man to get Jack out of trouble, and away from the other hostages, and to do it FAST. Because Spider-Man has just received inside information that Jack Russell is a werewolf, and night is falling. (from marvel.com)

Review: More than most other all-ages titles, I really feel for the main characters in this book. Tobin has done a nice job with the relationships, and this issue is chock full of proof. The scene in which Chat tells Emma to stay away from Peter sums up their strained friendship in a nutshell. And Peter's scenes with Chat and Jack Russell's girlfriend Topaz really show that he cares about people. Samnee and Sotocolor do a nice job with the artwork. While Peter looks every bit like the teenager he is, Spider-Man actually looks a little older…which isn't a bad thing at all.

TINY TITANS #24 (All Ages)

Written by Art Baltazar & Franco; art & cover by Baltazar

Publisher: DC

Format: monthly series

Concept: It's all your favorite Titans, in their cutest possible form!

In this issue: The Tiny Titans get tinier than they've ever been when a mishap in the Treehouse makes them all Atom-sized! Even the most familiar things become strange and new when you're suddenly very bitty – will the Teeny Weeny Titans ever be just Tiny again? Don't miss the all-small issue! (from dccomics.com)

Review: Two lessons are to be learned in this issue: Don't drink milk intended for a tiny superhero's baby, and never feed cake to a bat. Both things happen to the Titans, and chaos (and a lot of fun) ensues. As always, Baltazar and Franco add bits of commentary, sound effects and DC in-jokes.

By thy side,

John “Figaro” Norris

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