Wednesdays Reviews

Batman Inc Special #1

The Batman Inc. Special #1 is a one-shot anthology of a sorts, telling short stories of the various bat-heroes who were featured in Batman Inc. All of the heroes are there including Mr.Unknown, Knight and Squire, Raven Red, Man-of-Bats, Nightrunner, Dark Ranger, El Gaucho, and everyone's favorite bovine crime fighter, Bat Cow.

The bulk of the anthology is not set in continuity, though the Knight and Squire story does take place after Batman Incorporated issue 6. The rest of the stories are simply one-off mini adventures featuring the various team members, each fun in its own way. The book features five individual stories from a big list of creators including Chris Burnham, Joe Keatinge, Dan Didio, and others.

Though Grant Morrison's fantastic run with Batman Incorporated has come to a close, this #1 special is still a good example of how much fun the title can be. The world of Batman Incorporated has, for a long while now, been populated with some of DC's less utilized, more unique characters. This one-shot continues that by giving fans more than a few great moments with these characters. Hopefully they'll branch out into other New52 titles as time goes on. This issue is a good chance for fans who haven't read Batman Incorporated to enjoy some new characters and get a feel for the main title.

Itty Bitty Hellboy #1

While on the surface, Itty Bitty Hellboy might look like a youth oriented comic, it's in fact a book geared towards all fans of the medium. Along with the B.R.P.D, Hellboy stars in a series of micro stories as well as some lengthier ones. Issue 1 (of 5) is a lighthearted, funny look at the characters you know and love from Mike Mignola.

Itty Bitty Hellboy is brought to us from the creative team behind Tiny Titans, Superman Family Adventures, and Aw Yeah Comics. Sure enough, it retains the same look and humor as the other titles, but with the entire Mignola-verse to play around with, there sure seems to be a ton of potential with this title. Not only is it a fun read for comic fans, but it's a great book for the younger kids to get their hands on.

The book feels a little like old Charlie Brown stories mixed with more modern humor that you'd find in Adventure Time. The stories are short (some only two pages) so it's not an incredibly length read, but the content is more than satisfying wether you're a fan of Hellboy, or just a fan of the creative team on the book.