DC Super Hero High! A great place to go to school, so long as you’ve got yourself some powers and such… Your Major Spoilers review of DC Superhero Girls Halloween Fest Special Edition #1 awaits!
DC SUPERHERO GIRLS HALLOWEEN FEST SPECIAL EDITION #1
Writer: Shea Fontana
Artist: Yancy Labat
Colorist: Monica Kubina
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Editor: Marie Javins
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: FREE
Previously in DC Superhero Girls Halloween Fest Special Edition: “Class is in session! Welcome to DC Super Hero High! DC Super Hero Girls is an exciting new universe of superhero storytelling that builds character and confidence and empowers girls to discover their true potential. This special Halloween Comic Fest issue features two exciting, action-packed stories from the upcoming original graphic novel, DC Super Hero Girls: Hits and Myths, that readers of all ages will enjoy. Don’t miss this chance to meet the students as they find out that fun, friendship and hard work are all part of growing up!”
HALLOWEEN FEST ’16
We spend a lot of time at Major Spoilers opining how best to get young people and new audiences interested in comic books, and Halloween Fest is, in my mind, a great way to do that. Providing not only free comics to read, but packs of minicomics to give out to trick or treaters, the idea is to raise awareness of comics and hopefully bring new readers into the fold. The DC Super Hero Girls franchise posits young tweenage versions of DC’s biggest characters hanging out and getting educated at Super Hero High. It’s a fun premise, to be honest, even though it’s going to draw all sorts of mockery from those outside the target audience. This issue takes place the day before a big party, wherein young Princess Diana will be taking her best super-friends home to Themiscyra for a slumber party, only to find that, somehow, Batgirl’s jet (their ride) is missing! Can they find the missing airplane in time to make it home for the festivities?
IT’S KID’S STUFF IN ALL THE BEST WAYS
There is a big cliffhanger ending (one which will be resolved in the upcoming DC Super Hero Girls graphic novel release) but the interactions here are all at once adorable and perfectly in-character. The most amazing part of this issue is the clean, beautiful art, taking the action figure-inspired designs and making them come to life with expressive facial features and exiting figure work. I even chuckled at bit at the sight of “Mister Etrigan”, the history professor, glossing entirely over the part where he’s an immortal demon who saw all of the things he teaches about firsthand. The bright coloring also appeals to me, though that’s likely my childhood memories of Super Friends, talking. In short, it’s a really fun issue that manages to serve as the kind of preview that makes me want to pick up the graphic novel.
THE BOTTOM LINE: I LIKE IT!
In short, this is a colorful, entertaining, inventive book, and the fact that there are activities and puzzles in the back makes me incredibly happy. DC Super Hero Girl Halloween Fest Special Edition #1 is good stuff, and I’d love to see more of this franchise in comics (or on TV), balancing clever with all-ages and looking beautiful, earning 4 out of 5 stars overall. It may not be for everybody, but I think it’s well-done enough to bring young readers into the comic book fold without scarring them for life…
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Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.