{"id":28084,"date":"2023-05-30T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T09:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=28084"},"modified":"2023-05-27T11:06:55","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T11:06:55","slug":"fann-club-batman-squad-the-justiest-justice-of-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/05\/30\/fann-club-batman-squad-the-justiest-justice-of-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Fann Club: Batman Squad – the Justiest Justice of All"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Jim Benton<\/strong> (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-7795-0889-8 (PB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

In recent years DC has opened up its vast and comprehensive shared superhero universe: generating Original Graphic Novels featuring its many stars in stand-alone adventures specifically tailored for kids and also that tricky demographic so sadly misnamed Young Adult. To date, results have been rather hit or miss, but when they\u2019re good, they are very good indeed\u2026<\/p>\n

Another sublime example of the process at its best is this cheery elegy to the joys of crimefighting as channelled through the pristine but so-blinkered purview and perceptions of a youngster who believes in the process with all he\u2019s got\u2026<\/p>\n

Ernest Fann<\/em> is a little kid with a big imagination and a colossal passion. This drive has made him an absolute expert on Superheroes, Vengeance, Justice and The Batman<\/strong>, and that status comes with a necessary burden.<\/p>\n

There is anxiety, impatience and even a motivating tragic loss – when something chewed his precious collectors\u2019 item socks. His life is troubled by flashbacks and his sleep by the oddest dreams. It\u2019s a mystery even his dog Westy<\/em> can\u2019t explain, whilst the neighbours\u2019 kid and babysitter Harriet<\/em> are completely oblivious to his inner life and secret\u2026<\/p>\n

Aware at he is probably the World\u2019s Second Greatest Detective, he swears to share his gifts and the way of the Batman by founding\u2026 a fan club.<\/p>\n

When willing recruits drawn by his cunning outreach arrive, he clothes them in the costumes he made and code names the (completely anonymous) strangers Night Terrier<\/em>, Nightstand<\/em> and Eyeshadow<\/em>. He, of course, is the mighty Gerbilwing <\/em>and Evil has never been more scared\u2026<\/p>\n

With his Batman Squad equipped it\u2019s \u2018Time to Begin: Fanning the Flames\u2019<\/em> as their training montage shares secrets – like learning how to scowl and stand mysteriously – before going \u2018On Patrol\u2019<\/em> to note all the wickedness and mystery besetting the neighbourhood. All those little clues add up to trouble and before long Gerbilwing & Co. are unleashed when they intercept a bank robbery and uncover the true source of all the strange events\u2026<\/p>\n

Jim Benton began his illustration work making up crazy characters in a T-Shirt shop and designing greetings cards. Born in 1960, he\u2019d grown up in Birmingham, Michigan before studying Fine Arts at Western Michigan University.<\/p>\n

Tirelessly earning a living exercising his creativity, he started self-promoting those weird funny things he\u2019d dreamed up and soon was raking in the dosh from properties such as Dear Dumb Diary<\/strong>, Dog of Glee<\/strong>, Franny K. Stein<\/strong>, Just Jimmy<\/strong>, Just Plain Mean<\/strong>, Sweetypuss<\/strong>, The Misters<\/strong>, Meany Doodles<\/strong>, Vampy Doodles<\/strong>, Kissy Doodles, jOkObo<\/strong> and It\u2019s Happy Bunny<\/strong> via a variety of magazines and other venue\u2026<\/p>\n

His gags, jests and japes are delivered in a huge variety of styles and manners: each perfectly in accord with whatever sick, sweet, clever, sentimental, whimsical or just plain strange content each idea demanded, and his SpyDogs<\/strong> effortlessly made the jump to kids\u2019 animated TV success.<\/p>\n

He seamlessly segued into best-selling cartoon books (those are the best kind) such as Man, I Hate Cursive<\/strong>, Clyde<\/strong>, Catwad<\/strong>, Jop and Blip Wanna Know<\/strong>, Dog Butts and Love. And Stuff Like That. (And Cats<\/strong>) and Attack of the Stuff<\/strong>. It\u2019 been 10 minutes since I started typing this, so there might be a few more published since then\u2026<\/p>\n

Perfectly capturing the wonder of childhood and sheer force of a kid\u2019s unbridled imagination, Fann Club: Batman Squad<\/strong> is hilarious with a huge amount of heart and empathy and literally cloaked in the moody charisma of Frank Miller\u2019s Dark Knight<\/strong>. The combination is utterly irresistible.<\/p>\n

Also include is a teaser preview of \u2018Young Alfred: Pain in the Butler\u2019<\/em>, but that\u2019s not the point and can wait for its own review. Here you just need to swear your oath, kit up in your own justice gear and join The Bat Squad ASAP.<\/p>\n

Tell them Gerbilwing said it was okay and Eyeshadow would be there to keep things safe\u2026
\n\u00a9 20223 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n

Fann Club: Batman Squad<\/strong> will be published on June 6th<\/sup> 2023 and is available for pre-order now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jim Benton (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-7795-0889-8 (PB\/Digital edition) In recent years DC has opened up its vast and comprehensive shared superhero universe: generating Original Graphic Novels featuring its many stars in stand-alone adventures specifically tailored for kids and also that tricky demographic so sadly misnamed Young Adult. To date, results have been rather hit … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Fann Club: Batman Squad – the Justiest Justice of All”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,77,76,97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-batman","category-childrens-books-and-comic-strips","category-dc-superhero","category-kids-all-ages"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7iY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28086,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28084\/revisions\/28086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}