{"id":30992,"date":"2024-11-30T16:44:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T16:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30992"},"modified":"2024-11-30T16:44:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T16:44:29","slug":"tiny-titans-volume-3-sidekickin-it-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/11\/30\/tiny-titans-volume-3-sidekickin-it-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny Titans volume 3: Sidekickin\u2019 it"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Art Baltazar<\/strong> & Franco<\/strong> with (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-4012-2653-4 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Fun Family Fables \u20269\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

DC\u2019s characters have become a mainstay of kids\u2019 television fare with their much-missed Cartoon Network imprint arguably the last bastion of children\u2019s comics in America, consolidating the link between TV and 2D fun and thrills with stunning interpretations of such TV landmarks as Ben 10<\/strong>, Scooby Doo<\/strong>, Powerpuff Girls<\/strong>, Dexter\u2019s Laboratory <\/strong>and others. That kids\u2019 comics line also reverse-engineered truly exceptional material based on TV iterations of their proprietary characters like Legion of Super Heroes<\/strong>, Batman: Brave and the Bold<\/strong>, Supergirl <\/strong>and Krypto the Super Dog <\/strong>as well as material like Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! <\/strong>which was merely similar in tone and content.<\/p>\n

For many – me included – the imprint\u2019s finest release, and one which has a created a sub-genre recreated at many different publishers, was a series ostensibly aimed at beginning readers, but which became a firm favourite of older fans… and a multi-award winner too.<\/p>\n

Superbly mirroring the magical wonderland inside a child\u2019s head where everything is happily mixed up together, Tiny Titans<\/strong> is a sublime antidote to continuity cops and slavish fan-boy quibbling (erm, uh… \u00a0I think you\u2019ll find that in…) by reducing the vast cast of the Teen Titans Go!<\/strong> animated series, the greater boutique of the mainstream comic books and (ultimately) the entire DC Universe to little kids and their parents\/guardians in the wholesome kindergarten environment of Sidekick City Elementary School<\/em>. It\u2019s a scenario spring-loaded with in-jokes, sight-gags and beloved yet gently mocked paraphernalia of generations of strip readers and screen-watchers…<\/p>\n

Collecting issues #13-18 (April to September 2009) of the magically madcap and infinitely addictive all-ages mini-masterpiece, this third volume begins on a petulant note with Pet Club at Wayne Manor<\/em>. Art Baltazar and co-creator Franco (Aureliani) have mastered a witty, bemusingly gentle manner of storytelling that just happily rolls along, with the assorted characters getting by and trying to make sense of the great big world, having \u201cAdventures in Awesomeness\u201d. The method generally involves stringing together smaller incidents and moments into an overall themed portmanteau tale and it works astoundingly well.
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\nAfter a handy and as-standard identifying roll-call page, \u2018Tough Cookie\u2019<\/em> features Raven<\/em> feeding park critters but desperately striving to keep her hard-as-nails rep intact, after which bubble-headed Psimon<\/em> goes to science club and gets caught in some uncool name-calling. The main event kicks off with the kids and their pets convening at Stately Wayne Manor and incurring the wrath of dapper, long-suffering manservant Alfred<\/em>. The Penguins don\u2019t help… no, wait, they actually do. \u2018A Hot Spot\u2019<\/em> then finds Raven and Kid Devil<\/em> trading power sets with Firestarter Hotspot<\/em> and evoking the joys of being a Bird Scout, after which The Kroc Files<\/em> shows the Wayne\u2019s wonderful ultimate butler and the roguish reptilian each demonstrating \u2018How to Pick up the Dry Cleaning\u2019<\/em>, before the issue ends with a Tiny Titans Bubble Squares <\/em>puzzle and a pinup of bird-themed champions Hawk<\/em>, Dove<\/em> and Raven.<\/p>\n

Sea-themed issue #14 opens with a proudly shouted \u2018Aw Yeah Titans!\u2019<\/em> and class trip to Paradise Island. The boys just can\u2019t understand why they have to stand on tables while the girls can run about freely wherever they like and play with the all the weird animals…<\/p>\n

Back in Sidekick City, Cyborg\u2019s vacuum cleaning invention runs amok while Beast Boy<\/em> and little Miss Martian<\/em> stage a shapeshifting duel, even as on Paradise Island \u2018Stay for Dinner\u2019 <\/em>sees Wonder Girl<\/em> and the other Wonder Girl<\/em> guests for lunch – as lunch – of Mrs. Cyclops<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Wrapping up affairs is another Kroc Files (\u2018How to Bake a Chocolate Cake\u2019<\/em>), a string of gags in Time for Jokes<\/em> by the Riddler\u2019s kid Enigma<\/em> plus a \u2018Paradise Island Pet Club Pin-up!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The next issue finds \u2018Bunnies, Bunnies, Everywhere Bunnies\u2019<\/em> at Wayne Manor, where Alfred opts to stay home and watch the kids and their pets. Sadly, magician Zatara<\/em> joins the fun and once more loses his magic wand to playful Beppo the Super Monkey<\/em>. Cue rapid rabbit reproduction…<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Deathstroke<\/em>\u2019s daughter Rose<\/em> lands her share of babysitting duties, and soon learns how to handle the Tiny Terror Titans<\/em> before a \u2018Tiny Titans Epilogue\u2019<\/em> reveals a marvellous secret regarding one of those proliferating bunnies, as issue concludes with more activity freebies: \u2018Pet Club Mammal Travel\u2019<\/em> and a bonus pin-up of Rose and those Tiny Terrors…
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\nIssue #16 revisits a perennial puzzle of comics, specifically \u2018Who\u2019s the Fastest?!\u2019<\/em> as Coach Lobo<\/em> sets his heart on making the Sidekick Elementary kids ultra-fit. Part of the regimen includes a footrace around the entire world, and Supergirl<\/em>, Inertia<\/em> and Kid Flash<\/em> all think they have it nailed…<\/p>\n

Lesser-powered tykes find unique ways to cope with natural obstacles – such as the ocean – in \u2018As the Race Continues…\u2019<\/em> while the Coach takes a load off with coffee and comics, and the Wonder Girls and Shelly<\/em> trade costume tips. Down south, late starters Mas y Menos<\/em> join the final dash to the finish where a non-starter surprisingly triumphs…<\/p>\n

In the aftermath, shrinking-hero contingent The tiny Tiny Titans<\/em> indulge in \u2018One more Contest\u2019<\/em> before an \u2018Aw Yeah Pin-up\u2019<\/em> of Supergirl and Kid Flash follows a Tiny Titans Coin Race <\/em>activity page. \u2018Raven\u2019s Book of Magic Spells\u2019<\/em> starts as a play date but is bewilderingly disrupted when Trigon<\/em>\u2019s devilish daughter shows off her latest present in \u2018Mixin\u2019 it Up\u2019<\/em>: accidentally manifesting unlikely mystical heavyweight Mr. Mxyzptlk<\/em>. And so, hilarity and impish insanity ensue…<\/p>\n

Back in what passes for the land of reason, Robin<\/em>, Beast Boy<\/em> and Cyborg<\/em> are tasked with recovering Batman\u2019s cape and mask in \u2018Battle for the Cow\u2019<\/em> (if you read DC regularly, you know how painful a pun that is). Naturally, Starfire<\/em> and Bumblebee<\/em> have a sensible, pain-free solution to their woes, after which the Boy Wonder\u2019s birthday party displays a fashion parade of alternative costumes in the present-giving portion of festivities…<\/p>\n

Those tiny Titans go clothes hunting in \u2018Shop Shrinking\u2019<\/em> while Kid Flash, Robin and Cyborg ask \u2018Hey, What\u2019s Continuity?\u2019<\/em> Wrapping up is another Kroc Files<\/em> contrasting how Alfred and the lizardly lout cope with \u2018Walking in the Rain\u2019<\/em>, topped off with Special Bonus Pin-up \u2018The Return of the Bat-Cow!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Concluding the juvenile japery is a fall from grace which can only be called \u2018Infinite Detention\u2019<\/em> as lunch lady Darkseid<\/em> is demoted to Janitor for the Day<\/em> and typically overreacts to boisterous behaviour in the hallways. With both good kids and bad suffering after-class incarceration, arguments ensue and the stern Monitor<\/em> increase the tally for the slightest infraction. Soon kids are facing days of detention. Sadly for the Monitor, his nemesis Anti-Monitor<\/em> has popped by with coffee and more stupid pranks…<\/p>\n

One final Kroc Files<\/em> reveals \u2018How to go Bowling\u2019<\/em> and Enigma offers another session of \u2018Aw Yeah Joke Time!\u2019<\/em> before the tome terminates with a selection of character sketches and studies repackaged as \u2018Class Photos\u2019<\/em>.
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\nDespite being ostensibly aimed at super-juniors and TV kids, these wonderful, wacky yarns – which marvellously marry the heart and spirit of such classic strips as Peanuts<\/strong> and The Perishers<\/strong> with something uniquely mired and marinated in pure comicbookery – are an unforgettable riot of laughs no self-respecting fun-fan should miss: accessible, entertaining, and wickedly intoxicating. What more do you need to know?
\n\u00a9 2009, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Art Baltazar & Franco with (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-2653-4 (TPB\/Digital edition) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Fun Family Fables \u20269\/10 DC\u2019s characters have become a mainstay of kids\u2019 television fare with their much-missed Cartoon Network imprint arguably the last bastion of children\u2019s comics in America, consolidating the link between TV and 2D fun and thrills … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Tiny Titans volume 3: Sidekickin\u2019 it”<\/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":[10,113,76,125,97,296,11,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-batman","category-comedy","category-dc-superhero","category-humour","category-kids-all-ages","category-school-stories","category-teen-titans","category-wonder-woman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-83S","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30992","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=30992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30997,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30992\/revisions\/30997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}