THE CAT'S MEOW: What's Good on the Shelf This Week  

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THE BATMAN STRIKES! #35: “The Clown Prince of Late Night” (All Ages)

Russell Lissau & Christopher Jones (w); Christopher Jones (p); Terry Beatty (i); Heroic Age (c); Rob Clark, Jr. (l); cover by Dave McCaig

Publisher: DC

Format: monthly series

Concept: Follow the adventures of Bruce Wayne in his early years as Batman.

In this issue: When the Joker and Harley Quinn take over a late-night talk show, Batman and Robin end up in a race against time! They'll have to keep the crowd from being Jokerized while making sure the Clown Prince of Crime doesn't become the Clown Prince of Late Night! (from dccomics.com)

Review: Late-night talk show host Corwin O'Dooley has just been named the “Clown Prince of Late Night,” which does not sit well with the Joker at all. There's only room for ONE Clown Prince in Gotham , and that's him! Throw in appearances by Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Harley, and you get a chase sequence that can only be described as classic screwball comedy. That's what separates this issue from the others; it's played for pure entertainment. You get the feeling that the creative team had a blast working on it. Highly enjoyable!

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MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #3: “Swiped From Dimension X!” (Teen/Young Adult)

Story and art by Mike Allred; colors and separations by Laura Allred; lettering by Nate Piekos; cover by the Allreds

Publisher: Image

Format: monthly series

Concept: Frank “Madman” Einstein returns in an all-new series.

In this issue: Frank Einstein must run the gauntlet through multiple realities in various comic strip and comic book universes in a story you'll have to see to believe! Will Frank make it back to Snap City ? Or will he settle into a new world and just try to make the best of it? (from imagecomics.com)

Review: Mister Excitement shows up to help Frank reconnect with his body in his true reality. But in order to get there, they will have to pass through phases so Frank can sort out what constitutes reality. What Allred does in this issue makes it an absolute visual KNOCKOUT. He represents each phase by emulating the style of a different comic artist—and Frank goes through LOTS of phases. There are pages where every panel is in a different style, and Allred runs the gamut. Everyone from Windsor McCay, Carl Barks and Jack Kirby to Matt Groening, Erik Larsen and Todd McFarlane is represented. I felt like I was seeing the entire history of comic art in the space of a few pages, yet Allred manages to take all of those styles and still make something his own. And I would be remiss if I didn't give props to Laura, whose colors take Mike's linework to the next level.

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Last week, faithful readers, I reviewed the TRANSFORMERS MOVIE ADAPTATION. Now it's time to find out what happened before that. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you…

TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE PREQUEL (Teen/Young Adult)

Chris Ryall (story); Simon Furman and Ryall (w); Don Figueroa (p/i); Josh Burcham (c); Robbie Robbins (l)

Publisher: IDW

Format: trade paperback

Review: This is the story in which we see the events that led the Autobots and Decepticons bringing their war to our world, brought to us Ryall and two guys who really know their Transformers, Furman and Figueroa. In this tale, we find out how the Allspark ended up in space, how Bumblebee lost his voice capacitator, how Megatron became frozen in ice, how Captain Witwicky discovered him, and how his glasses and other belongings ended up in his family's possession. We learn how Bumblebee chooses a Camaro as his disguise and ends up in the town of Tranquility . All this and much more is here, making it not just a companion to the film and movie adaptation, but essential reading that puts things in perspective. Also included is an art gallery by Figueroa and a ten-page preview of the movie adaptation. It's available in bookstores everywhere.

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To be reviewed in next week's column:

ALL FLASH #1

GARGOYLES vol. 2 #5

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31 st CENTURY #4

MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #26

MARVEL ADVENTURES HULK #1

SONIC X #22

TEXAS STRANGERS #2

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #111

By thy side,

John “Figaro” Norris

July 14, 07