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And we’re back! After a week off, From Friendly Ghosts To Gamma Rays, is back again, and I have to say there are a ton of great titles floating around out there right now for all-age comics. This week we’ll look at the amazing Super Dinosaur, the lovable return of Little Archie, and flash back to the TV screen of campy weirdness with a ton of DC heroes in Legends of The Super Heroes now on DVD. Let’s get down to it!
Out On Stands: Super Dinosaur #1
Publisher: Image Comics/Skybound
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Jason Howard
BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can easily say in a single breath this is a solid all-ages comic. I didn’t know what I was going to get when I picked this up off the stand. I wasn’t sent a reviewer copy, and I didn’t hear too much about this title, only little blips here and there. Then while picking up some weekly titles, this kick-ass-dinosaur-in-a-robot-suit caught my eye. I’m glad it did. Super Dinosaur, created by the team of Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard, who worked together on The Astounding Wolf-Man, have re-teamed up to bring us an amazing tale on the comic book page, with the heart of Captain Marvel, the action of a Ben-10, and the flare of a Pixar flick.
Super Dinosaur tells the tale of young Derek and his scientist father Dr. Dynamo, who team with a genetically altered Tyrannosaurs named Super Dinosaur to protect the world from the evil Dr. Maximus and his army of genetically altered dinosaurs. From that plot alone, what is not to love already about this title? The writing and art are both fantastic. The team behind Super Dinosaur has given us an exciting action story with fantastic action all over the place. The array of villains fighting Super Dinosaur and Derek are cool, and the team also provides us with these wonderful little moments of heart; seeing Super Dinosaur playing video games had me melt with kid-like happiness for a moment.
If there is one all-ages comic you want to pick up this year, put your money down on Super Dinosaur.
Out On Stands: Archie and Friends #154
Publisher: Archie Comics
Writer: Angelo Decesare
Artist: Fernando Ruiz
Issue #154 of Archie and Friends turns into Little Archie and Friends! Seems Archie after the Tiny Titans/Little Archie cross over mini-series wants to keep Little Archie going, which is too much pleasure for this reviewer who has a huge soft spot for the misadventures of Riverdale’s gang as kids. This issue is packed full of goodness. Not only do we get the Little Archie gang, but also Little Sabrina joins them and all their animals too!!!! The plot is simple: a day at the State Fair gets better when the gang finds a competition for “Power Pets,” in which people’s pets show off their ridiculously cool tricks. However, competition even exists amongst the pets, who can all hear each other’s thoughts in an amusing turn for the story, and Reggie’s iguana, Spike, has his eye out for stopping Archie’s dog Spotty (who can skateboard). Is it a little silly? Yeah. Is it a lot of fun? Double yeah and an exclamation mark! The artwork and its colors bounce off the page, making it one of the most enjoyable cartoons to lay eyes on. Issue #154 hits all the fun things we want in a Little Archie tale and makes us look forward to both the re-read and the next issue.
Something To Watch: Legends Of The Super Heroes
Night of the Lepus, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, The Star Wars Holiday Special; so many things have been committed to film that some people love with a passion and many people are left scratching their heads wondering how they were committed to film in the first place. The 1979 Hanna-Barbera live action TV special Legends Of The Super Heroes is one of those things that joins those ranks and leaves many DC fans saying, “DC approved of this?” For years, like The Star Wars Holiday Special, you could only find copies on bootlegs at conventions, but recently Warner Brothers has released it officially on DVD from their Warner Archive line.
The thing is in two parts, one an adventure and one a roast hosted by Ed McMahon….yeah, you read that right. Sadly the adventure part as well is played like a TV show comedy (laugh track and all), which is unfortunate considering we get live action versions of Captain Marvel, Green Lantern, Flash, Black Canary, the Huntress, and Batman and Robin (reprised by Adam West and Burt Ward from the TV show). Sadder yet is that the comedic writing wasn’t even played wisely like in the Batman All-Star Movie, which also featured West and Ward; it’s just bad. Now, I apologize to fans of this; I know how it is to love a bad movie (I’d knife fight someone for talking bad about Rikki Oh: The Story of Ricky myself), but I honestly feel this is terrible. Maybe I’m missing out on something here. Maybe it was a sign and product of the times. However, the characters look perfect in their live action style, like they climbed right off the pages; where they went wrong there I can’t tell you. The whole thing is ridiculous. Maybe your kids will like this. Maybe if you’re one of our college readers you can come up with a really clever drinking game. All I know is that I think this was a waste. It had good casting and great costumes, but it just went wrong. Even Adam West looks like he is giggling in every frame. Oh, and the roast portion features a superhero named Ghetto-Man, no joke. You have to see it to believe it, and luckily if you are brave and bold enough, you can buy it on DVD from the Warner Archive collection.
That’s it for this week, and remember, Red Baron loves you!

Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net