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Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! Review

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It’s time for another Charlie Brown special! I got to see this one right after the ball dropped to ring in the New Year right! I actually missed the ball dropping because I had been playing video games right before this, but that’s okay…these things happen. I knew that it would be tough to beat the Charlie Brown Christmas special, but that’s all right. It’s still a solid film and the main plot about Charlie Brown having to get some reading done is good. Unfortunately, he still cannot manage his time very well.

Charlie was looking forward to New Year’s, but his teacher decided to spring a big homework project on him during the last day of class. He now has to read War and Peace during Winter Break. He decided not to start it until a few days before New Year’s Eve though and then he spends a lot of time spacing out. It doesn’t help that there is a big party going on to celebrate the New Year and this means that he has naturally been invited. Charlie is stuck on page 5 for days and things are not looking up for him. Then again, things rarely go over very well for Charlie Brown and that’s because he’s not a very strong individual. He lets the other kids push him around the whole time.

Charlie loves to pull out the friend zone card when the other kids try to make a move on him, but they always ignore him. The only person that Charlie actually likes also has the friend zone card at the ready, which means that it is a very vicious cycle, but one that I can get behind. Given that all of the other kids were able to finish War and Peace a while back, it just goes back to show that Charlie may not have the best work ethic and his attitude towards life in general is a little negative. He aims to be more positive moving forward, but I can’t say that it is a great improvement for him at the moment. An improvement is an improvement though and while Charlie is still not one of the more likable main characters out there, he’s not terrible. I just don’t particularly like the guy and getting stuck in the mail slip when trying to send a letter across was pretty sad. He could have tried opening the mail slot again, but I suppose that it was simply too much work.

Snoopy really stole the show this time, but that’s no surprise. He was ready for this party a day in advance and didn’t have to worry about doing any required reading. Snoopy took care of everything that needed to be taken care of so then he could have a good time at the party. The only thing that wasn’t very fun with Snoopy in the Christmas special was that he would pick on the little bird a lot, but here they were closer friends and now worked together as Snoopoy looked after the little guy. He even knows how to dance, further cementing the fact that Snoopy is the most complete character in the entire cast.

The animation style is certainly iconic. It may be very old, but at least the animation has a standard air about it and they didn’t try going for any gimmicks, which would have made the film not age as well. I can get behind this animation and I also like the voice acting more than expected. I like how the characters are practically yelling the whole time. Since there aren’t many background sounds to distract the audience from the words, each character really gets to project and it makes them all look like they’re about to just go back home and take a nap as they’re so hyper with a sugar rush. That being said, the characters did decide to drink some Root Bear with a plate of cookies to celebrate so maybe I’m on to something here. I do think that the food combo is quite brilliant though.

There was a game of musical chairs at one point, which was neat. I was definitely surprised that Charlie Brown performed so well in the match. He got second place, but spaced out at the end as he was listening to the music, which led to his untimely demise. Game Over Charlie….it’s why you must stay focused when playing any game. You can’t underestimate your opponent or how your hunger for dinner can alter how well you perform. The song wasn’t quite as catchy though and I can’t say that any of the songs were particularly interesting, but the kids don’t have the greatest voice out there so the song choices have to be a bit limited.

I enjoyed the ending a lot as the teacher realized that Charlie Brown was trying to pull a fast one and acted accordingly. Even Charlie couldn’t defend himself and quickly had to admit to it all. Maybe he will start reading the next book a little sooner to avoid a repeat of what happened this time, but seeing as how Charlie Brown doesn’t always learn his lesson..it may be a bit tricky. Still, I do think that he mostly handles the situation with his friends pretty well. There’s a lot of drama everywhere so Charlie tries to keep out of it and that’s usually a small move. Now, if only Peppermint would get the hint.

Overall, Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! is a pretty good TV special. As far as the main plot goes, it was pretty engaging and can hold its own against the Christmas special. That being said, the special doesn’t have the great morals that the Christmas one had, which sets it down 1 star. Still, I definitely recommend checking this out for New Year’s and if you already missed that date, then watching it whenever you have time is another good option. Think of your New Year’s Resolution and then compare it to Charlie Brown’s to see if you gave yours enough thought. These specials are also very short so they don’t drag out and the plot keeps moving at a rapid pace. It’s a winning strategy. The Charlie Brown specials have definitely been enjoyable thus far and hopefully Snoopy continues to get the leading role. He really outshines everyone else!

Overall 7/10

Finding Nemo Review

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It’s rare for me to actually dislike a video game, but sometimes you just end up pulling out a bad egg. This was one of those times and it is safe to say that without exaggeration…Finding Nemo is one of the worst video games of all time. It is simply a sad experience and the puzzles will frustrate you to no end. Mix that in with the bad graphics and drawn out story mode, and you’ve got yourself a broken game. It’s too bad since I went to great lengths to finally get this game again after selling it many years ago. Of course…I can see why I sold it the first time around.

The plot of the game is just like the movie of course. Nemo gets kidnapped by some humans so his father and a fish that he meets along the way must travel to save Nemo. This leads to a lot of missions which will have you solve puzzles, navigate through dark tunnels, and play tag sometimes. In theory, this sounds pretty good…maybe that’s a stretch. It doesn’t sound bad anyway, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, I was about to be amazed as how sad it was.

For starters, the graphics are really bad. The whole game is so dark that you can’t really see where you are going a lot of the time. You just have to crawl forward and hope that an enemy is not there to greet you. The dark levels are almost unbearable at times and you have to alter the brightness settings on your TV to keep yourself from dying over and over again. It helped a little, but I feel bad for my TV. I definitely should not have to adjust my settings just for the sake of this video game.

Let’s jump to the worst part of the game right away though. There are puzzles in this game that are so long, so boring, and so artificially difficult that I can’t imagine how it ever lived in the final version. There is no way that the kids in this game’s target audience would be able to complete the puzzles. It was so boring that I would have to play the game while on the phone to keep myself from falling asleep. It’s essentially a Rubix Cube and you have to arrange the pictures without harming the others. That’s not terrible in theory, but with no way to reset the puzzle once you’ve started, you can constantly set yourself back quite a few plays and never even know about it. It’s madness. One level took me over an hour as a result..an hour on a single puzzle. That’s not cool.

The average level is more like 1-4 minutes so you can see the contrast. The puzzles don’t seem like they’re supposed to be so long, but it just ends up happening that way because of how they are constructed. It’s a shame since the rest of the game could have probably gotten a 5 or so, but the puzzles destroyed it. They’re hardly the only issue of course, but certainly the most important one.

Even the final boss is fairly annoying because Nemo dies due to a single hit. That’s present in the whole game of course, but you can at least gather little fish to protect you in certain levels. In the final boss, that is not the case. You have to tag Dory 10 times while dodging falling rocks that move very quickly and appear out of nowhere. It took me quite a while to finally beat the level and it’s not an experience that I would want to have again. The game is really just annoying and I feel like the developers did not know what they were doing. Just about any company could make a better game than this.

It’s also a little hard on the hands. You have to keep pressing the A button to swim faster and faster during the levels and it’s really hard to keep up the pace. There are booster rings that help with that, but it’s hard to hit them because of the graphics. It’s a bad mix of elements that combine to make each one all the worse. Let’s also talk about the long loading times, which are pretty sad.

I usually don’t even bother with the loading times in my reviews, but these are infamously bad. You have time to go and make a sandwich while the game is loading between levels. They just drag on for minutes at a time and it’s very uncanny. It’s not surprising once you actually play the game, but it’s like adding insult to injury. My salt levels would always rise when playing Finding Nemo so you should be sure to have a bottle of water at the ready during your playthrough of the game.

How about replay value? I’d say that it’s basically at a 0 since the game is no fun to play. There are some collectibles though. You can get 3 stars during each level by doing certain things. Of course, these things aren’t actually explained so you’re completely out of luck unless you’ve picked up a strategy guide or can find a good walkthrough. It would be a very loooooong case of trial and error otherwise to find out the requirements for each star. They’ve thought of everything haven’t they?

Overall, Finding Nemo is a game that I highly recommend avoiding at all costs. The graphics are terrible and make games from 20 years ago look good. The loading times make Super Smash Bros look instant and just having the fish float around while staring at the audience doesn’t look very impressive. The soundtrack is very bland and while the game only has 18 levels, the puzzles really stretch out the play time. If you’re curious about this game, watch some Youtube videos of it. It’s definitely not worth purchasing at any price and you will likely regret getting this game. There really aren’t any positives to say about Finding Nemo. The only promising parts of the game, like hopping across little lily pads, are wrecked by the fact that any contact with any enemy will send you back to the last checkpoint. Not having any health in a game where enemies pop out of nowhere is definitely not cool.

Overall 2/10

Superman Adventures Volume 1 Review

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Mail time Mail time…Mail Tiiiiiiime! Anyone remember that classic jingle? Well, it’s time to dip into the DCAU for some fun comics. If there’s any character who can always give you a good time, it’s Superman. These comics are a nice blast from the past and really feel like they could have been Superman episodes from the TV show. Everyone’s in character and that means you can expect the colorful cast to each play their parts with good ole Superman in the center of it all.

This collection brings 10 issues although the back only talks about 5 of them. A little harsh to the half that are left out right? Well, each issue will get its turn in this review. Starting things off in this collection was when Lex Luthor made a fake Superman to frame the real thing. This takes place very early on in the show so Lex Luthor wants to eradicate Superman since he knows nothing about him. Lex can’t control the Man of Steel after all, but Superman’s one step ahead of him the whole time. It was a fun way to start the collection and the fight between the two was definitely great. The android was tough, I’ll give him that. Superman always has the last laugh though and the ending was pretty hardcore since Superman made Lex give him more credit. That’s how you get the villains in line.

Another story had the return of General Zod and Mala. They had been shrunk down to an ant’s size, but thanks to prison guards allowing the cell to be attacked, they escaped and Zod turned into a giant. Can a pea sized Superman stop Zod and force him to turn from his evil ways? I don’t think so, but it would be pretty intense! It was a fairly amusing story, but not quite as action packed as the others. Dan Turpin certainly looked good though and he actually got some good shots in. It’s always good to see the cops and detectives get some props over here.

One of the most interesting comics was about Clark Kent remembering his days as Superman. He once came upon a plot that actually blew up Metropolis. So, his classic pal, Mr. Mxy—-etc decided to rewind time to give Superman a fighting chance. Superman got to follow the cause of the explosion a very long way and it turns out that it all started because a clock exploded, which made a kid throw a curve ball, which, etc, etc. Superman also had to deal with a guy who had a kryptonite rock, which made things very difficult as well. It was fun seeing the chain reaction in motion and Superman had a pretty good line when he told the kids not to play Baseball. Just a fun story through and through.

One of the sadder stories involved Livewire. She realized that the world had grown to be very sexist so she decided to control the media so that whenever a guy would be seen on screen, the station would only play static. The female news anchor loved this, but it was pretty extreme so Superman decided to step in. He got crushed since it’s hard to trap lightning so this comic saw the big team up between him and Lex Luthor. The big fight with Livewire happened and it was pretty epic. I only say that the story is sad because then Livewire is locked up and the people around her start to make sexist comments once again. It was a bit much since Metropolis shouldn’t be quite That bad and I felt like the comic didn’t need to add that in. Superman’s around to keep everyone in check after all right? Still, Livewire is one of Superman’s deadliest foes so their fights are always fun.

Continuing on from that, another story involved a kid who looked up to Lex Luthor and Superman. Little did he know that his father was framed and died because of Lex though and his mom finally breaks the news to him alongside Lois. Visibly shaken and startled, the kid must try to get past this as he attempts to save his sister from a burning building. It was a decent story and it actually tried to make Lex look at least a little good. If nothing else, he never meant for the kid to get hurt and actually wanted to honor his part of the bargain about helping the guy’s son since he would end up staying quiet on the Lexcorp issue. Unfortunately, minions aren’t very good at counting and the karma caught up to Lex. No real fighting in this story though.

Toyman’s back in town and he means business! He starts to sell a lot of Superman action figures in Metropolis and then a lot of thefts occur in the city. Everyone is baffled by what’s happening, but a little girl tells Clark that it is all the action figure’s doing. he decides to follow up on this lead and the kid was right! Can Superman stop Toyman from damaging the Superman brand? It could hurt his marketing sales for years to come if something is not done. Another good story and the plot is definitely classic. The figures are relying on quantity vs quality and they manage to cause some damage, but Superman’s always got the edge. Even if Toyman escaped rather easily.

Many black cats appear on the streets and it turns out that Brainiac has decided to attack Metropolis to get Superman’s orb and find out what it knows. Superman will not stand for this and decides to fight, but the black cats can merge into a Super Fighting Robot. It’s actually a pretty even fight and lasts for most of the issue. That instantly makes this one of the better issues. Lois doesn’t look too good here though as she is easily turned into a captive and as a result, Superman is forced to let Brainiac get to the orb. He can’t really do anything while inside of there, but the memories have now been defiled. Noooooooooo.

Due to an enraged citizen telling her hot dog stand owner that she is Superman’s girlfriend, Metallo decides to kidnap her. This story was another decent one, although you wouldn’t expect the super villain to walk around thinking that just anyone who claims to be related to Superman is on the money right? Either way, it’s a good thing that Superman is always around since he comes through when things are at their diciest. Metallo is usually a good villain although it depends on the continuity, but in this case, he was just a little bland and didn’t actually put up much of a fight, which was a little disappointing.

Finally, we had a comic where Jimmy tried to prove himself as he took pictures of Superman in action. It was probably emotional for his fans to see Jimmy in such duress, but he proved that with a little guts and some pizzazz, he could take pictures with the best of them. There were no super villains this time, but a new gravity gun took away Superman’s ability to fly, which made for a neat tribute to the old comics as Superman had to run everywhere. He even got an epic burn against Lex, although I give Luthor credit for going through the front door. He is certainly courageous.

As for the art in the collection, I’d say that it’s good. Superman’s chin can be a little too big, even for him, but I suppose that the art can’t be perfect right? It’s still pretty smooth and makes for easy reading as you blast through the collection. It’s bright and fits the Superman tone. It’s certainly a far jump above the Teen Titans Go issues, I’ll tell you that much. I also do like how the artists are able to draw the DCAU to the point where you could look at a single pace and say “Ah, that’s from the Superman TAS designs right?”

Overall, This collection does the Superman series justice. I highly recommend this to any Superman fan and certainly to anyone who likes to see a good fight scene. Superman may be the strongest comic book character of all time, but he doesn’t let it go to his head. He never forgets about the smaller folks and comes across as a really nice guy, even if he has to pretend that he’s a little meek as Clark Kent. Unlike most collections, I can’t say that I actually disliked any of the issues. I didn’t like the ending to the Livewire one and the Jimmy comic wasn’t very eventful, but they were all fun and entertaining with their respective plots. Hopefully the library gets more volumes of this series since the Superman Adventures is definitely a keeper.

Overall 8/10

Naruto Powerful Shippuden Review

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It’s time to finally review one of the newest Naruto games. As you may recall from my Rock Lee review, I was not a fan of the manga series and I actually gave it a 0 for effort. The game’s story is pretty bad to be honest and shows me why the series didn’t know what it was doing, but the gameplay is good. This raises a pretty big issue that I’ve never really had to tackle in a video game before. What wins out, the horrendous plot or the gameplay? It’s a tough call so it’s time to explore this issue in the review.

There are two story modes in the game, but it may as well just be one since you have to keep on going back and forth between the two. The story modes belong to Naruto and Rock Lee. Each character will have 4+ missions at the ready when starting and you can keep on completing the missions until a gate appears. The gate can only be opened by a certain amount of keys. Let’s say you’re in Naruto mode and the door will only open if you have 2 Naruto keys and 2 Rock Lee keys. Can you guess what that means? It means you have to go to Rock Lee mode and beat some missions to get the necessary keys. It’s odd because this sort of defeats the purpose of having two different story modes right? It’s just not right!

Naruto mode plays it straight for the most part and actually adapts the manga. It covers the Shippuden series all the way through the Kage summit, which is pretty impressive. There are also a lot of filler missions that you have to play along the way to defeating the final boss since you need those keys. It’s slightly luck based as to when you will beat the game as well since there are a lot of paths that just lead to more filler missions and keys. It’s why I completed Naruto’s story at level 75 without beating Rock Lee’s, where I got to level 100 a long time ago. You just have to try and pick the right path or you may complete just about all of the filler missions along the way.

Rock Lee’s story is the one that decides to include as much low quality humor as possible. Those certainly get old fast and you’ll want to just focus on the gameplay so you can ignore the plot. Remember how I mentioned that I got to level 100 very quickly with Rock Lee? Well, wait until you make it to the Kisame boss battle and then use that one to grind with the expert criteria “Don’t get hit” Completing the mission while following that guideline will give you over 4000 exp points per battle and that’s enough for 3-5 level ups. You can easily just keep on beating that boss until you are at level 100 and it should take you about 30-40 seconds to beat the boss each time. It’s an incredible grinding level and I felt pretty proud of myself for figuring that out. I’m sure that there’s somewhere like that for Naruto, but it’s barely even needed. Just beating all of the filler will likely get him to level 90 or higher.

The levels follow a specific formula depending on the objective. There are survival missions, where you must survive for 30-90 seconds without fighting back. Those are certainly the toughest missions since a few hits can typically down you if you’re not prepared. It’s always good to have an ace up the sleeve for these missions. (Meaning a level up that you haven’t bought with your EXP yet) The best missions are the boss battles since they’re just a classic 1 on 1 fight where you can overwhelm your opponent with pure power. The only boss battle that wasn’t too enjoyable was the Deidara one and that’s because he just hides in the sky the whole time. Not very sporting of him is it?

Another fun mission type is the one where you just have to defeat 30 enemies. Simple and to the point. Another tricky type is one where you can’t let enemies pass you to the goal line. For the most part this was easy, but towards the end it got a little dicey. The minions are just so fast and it’s hard to stop them all. The most annoying missions are the ones that play out like a platformer. You have to find scrolls, minions, or just the goal line. You can actually get lost with how many rooms are available and the levels are just a little too long for my liking.

The gameplay is smooth though and it should remind you of the original Naruto Ninja Council games. It’s essentially the same concept so it’s cool to see them making a comeback into the modern day. Just keep on attacking and the bosses will certainly fall before you. As for the graphics, I’ve heard that they were great from one reviewer, although I’m not sure if he was serious or not. Regardless, they’re all right, but all of the characters are drawn really small with disproportionate bodies so it’s a little hard to say for sure. Everything is fairly bright and clear so I suppose that I’ll give the game kudos for that. Aside from the PSP, there still aren’t any extremely powerful portable consoles yet so you have to weigh in your expectations accordingly. I will say that the graphics are pretty good when you really think about it. They hold their own and then some.

As for the soundtrack, it’s typically just the same themes over and over again. There is not a whole lot of variety , but there is one or two really good themes that managed to sneak in there. When those scenes arrive, just be sure to savor them and to remember the good ole times of Naruto as you defeat whichever boss is before you.

As far as replay value goes, the game has a little. By the time you will have beaten the game, there shouldn’t be a whole lot of missions left, but enough to last you 2-3 hours. After that, you’ll probably be at level 100 with both characters so then the game will be over. Considering the size of the game though, I’d say that it’s not lacking in content. There’s enough here to certainly warrant your purchase.

Overall, Naruto Powerful Shippuden is very good from a video game perspective. The gameplay is solid, the graphics are good, and the soundtrack can also be pretty epic at times. Unfortunately, story mode really drags it down. The game has a constant stream of bad jokes that would only make the cast of Pixels smile and it really drags on. You’ll enjoy the game more if you just skip all of the cutscenes and jump right into the gameplay. I definitely have to deduct a pair of stars for the story. That means that this is probably the most positive Rock Lee product that I’ve reviewed since the show will probably get a 1-2 at best and the manga was a big 0. So, the gameplay is good enough to recommend this title, but I’ll recommend picking up Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 instead.

Overall 5/10

Mario Pinball Land Review

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I’ve played most of the Mario games at this point so it’s always neat to finally play one of the elusive ones. I love pinball and I’ve had fun playing many variations of the game. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a big fan of Pokemon pinball and the Metroid Pinball game that I bought never actually worked. It’s the risk of buying used games, but only 1 in every 100 doesn’t work so it’s been a fair trade off. I’m happy to say that Nintendo once again showed that the extra effort they put in can pay off big. Mario Pinball Land isn’t your average Pinball game and chooses to alter the core gameplay a bit to make this more of a complete game. It comes at the expense of the old style where you would try for high scores, but that’s fine since it ends up making Pinball Land feel like more of a full Mario game.

Peach is kidnapped by mean ole Bowser so Mario makes the hero call and turns himself into a pinball. He’s taking the fight to Bowser now, but since he’s a ball and his friends launched him to a circus instead of the castle, it’ll be a long journey. Mario must now gather the four star keys to open the doors to the areas where he can really deal some damage to big bad Bowser. Can he make it in time or is he toast?

The gameplay is essentially pinball. You have two flippers and you must try to bounce Mario around. Unlike an average game of Pinball, there are typically 2 or more exits in the levels, which you can use to get to other parts of the world. When you want to leave, you must go to one of the pipes in the level. That part can be a little annoying as you can’t just pause and escape to the next world. You must make it to the pipe or die trying. Meanwhile, the pipe only shows up once you beat the boss of that world, which can be tricky. Your only other recourse is to get a game over, which takes you to the first world, where you should have a pipe since you must have beaten the first boss…right?

There are around 35 stars to obtain in the worlds, but you only need 15 to go and fight the final boss so that’s pretty lenient. You should get that amount as you wander through the levels, but don’t underestimate the doors. You’ll find yourself getting rolled to the next room whether you want to go or not, which can definitely get sad at times. I was actually surprised at the merciless difficulty within this game. It may be a Mario game, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that it’s an easy ride. This will require patience as the final boss took me around an hour or so. At one point, it took me 2 hours to get 4 stars because of how many times I would shoot past the enemies and have to redo the battle.

Each star is won by achieving certain feats. Typically, this involves defeating each of the enemies in a room or something like that. You’ll know if a room has a star because a star will glimmer for a split second as you enter. The enemies aren’t tough and the risks of falling through the level and losing a life are slim so it’s really just a matter of time. Eventually you will be able to secure the win and the whole game is auto save ready so that’s a nice plus.

The graphics are surprisingly good and Nintendo did a good job of giving each character 3D models. It’s sort of like playing Mario 64 portable with a different control scheme. Everything seems to be based off of that game and why not right? Mario 64 is still the ultimate Mario experience. So, the graphics aren’t just good, but very good. Meanwhile, the soundtrack is decent, but certainly less remarkable. I probably couldn’t tell you any of the themes from the game because they definitely were not all that memorable. It’s Pinball so that’s to be expected and the constant sound effects would distract you from that anyway.

Since the game is so tough, the duration isn’t as short as you would expect. Getting the 15 stars will take you some time unless you’re some kind of Pinball whiz. It’s a complete game and there’s a good amount of replay value as you can go back and try to get the rest of the stars. One important aspect of the game that will help you during the tough fights are the power ups that Toad gives…for a price. You pay him in coins and he can give power ups like Mushrooms, Lightning, or 1 Ups. Lightning is the best power up in my opinion as it destroys all enemies on the field. A perfect way to instantly get a star. The Star power up is also good since it makes you invincible and sometimes you can injure bosses that way instead of going through the actual fight.

Speaking of which, I actually believe that Mario Pinball has the toughest Mario final boss from any Mario title. That fight was seriously hard and I could not beat it at will. It may take less grinding than the final boss of a game like Mario and Luigi or Paper Mario, but once you get the level ups, then you’re set. In this fight, even though I know what to do, it would still probably take me a few more shots if I tried to complete it once more. Luckily, the second phase of the boss is pretty easy, which helps to balance that insane first part.

Aside from the replay value, I also feel like mentioning that Mario Pinball Land has difficulty that is fair. Some games (Finding Nemo) are tough, but for all the wrong reasons. Poorly explained puzzles, bad graphics, etc. Mario Pinball Land is tough, but the mechanics are all solid. Your reaction times just have to be on point and eventually you will be able to hit the ball where you want it to go. It’s all about player skill and none of that luck or puzzle nonsense. This is a game that leaves you feeling satisfied.

Overall, Mario Pinball Land is a great pinball game and probably the best one that I’ve played. It easily beats the Pokemon version and the Metroid one has not worked yet so I can’t say for sure, but I’m pretty sure that it beats that one. I finally got it to work earlier today so I may play it a bit for a review later on. I definitely recommend Mario Pinball Land. It’ll give you a nice challenge and it’s still close enough to the real Pinball game so that Pinball fans can enjoy it. It’s a very unique Mario game and one where you can feel proud of yourself upon completing it.

Overall 7/10

Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July Review

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Rudolph is back for another adventure and this time he’s being assisted by Frosty The Snowman! This was my favorite Rudolph special and we even get a nice action scene to top it all off. In the previous specials, I was a little annoyed by how timid Rudolph could be. He shirked away from the fights and never seemed to defend himself, but that all changed in this special as he finally stood up for himself. Frosty’s guest star appearance was also a blast.

Rudolph and Frosty are the best of pals. When they heard that starring in the circus could help one of their human friends in his rushed romance, they decide to help out. Unfortunately, it’s in a very warm area where Frosty can’t normally reside so they ask a shady fellow to give them magical wards. They will only work for a little while so Frosty calls in Santa to save the day, but Santa gets lost and starts driving in a circle for days. Without Santa, Frosty and his family quickly melt so then it’s all up to Rudolph to make a deal with the villain. The problem is that these deals typically come at a steep price.

As you can see, we can blame most of the film’s problems on Frosty and his family. They should not have agreed to come to the circus if it would force them to be dependent on a mysterious sorcerer. You never want to be in someone’s debt if you don’t have too and much more so if it’s a sketchy looking fellow who probably does not have your best interests at heart. Frosty was also the only reasonable Snow person in the film. His wife and kids are ingrates who shove Rudolph aside right away. “They wouldn’t let him play any reindeer games!” Why does no one understand poor Rudolph?

Frosty’s a good character at least. He tries his best to make things right and goes to the magician to stop this madness. Unfortunately, he’s as gullible as he is kind so everything is up to Rudolph once more. Unlike the New Year special where Rudolph didn’t know how to fight, that changed in this special as he launched into action and we got an aerial fight. The sharp shooter parody also got to jump into the action as she used her gun to destroy the magical wand. A little action is always a nice touch to make the ending of something a little more epic.

This film also helped to bring together just about the whole franchise of stop motion characters from this series. Rudolph, Frosty, Jack Frost, Santa, and more characters got to show up for this event. Jack Frost’s role is a little sad for his fans since he has to keep blowing cold air for hours and hours. Truly a sad fate and Santa didn’t fare much better as he got lost in a snow storm for the whole film despite his magical abilities supposedly being immensely powerful. Even the whale got to appear to give Rudolph a helping hand when the going got tough he knew when to get going.

I won’t comment on the animation since you know my views on that already from older Rudolph specials. This kind of animation just isn’t my style, but I won’t let it hurt the film too much. After all, we finally got an evil Rudolph in this film, which was a neat parrallel. The film could have done more with this angle though as the idea has a lot of promise.

Meanwhile, this film also adds a plot twist to the original Rudolph film, which makes it imperative that you quickly re watch that one after this film before rewatching this one. Let’s just says that big storms don’t just happen randomly. Frosty’s story is also retold and while there is no twist, we are reminded on how high tier his hat is. Frosty’s hat has more magical power than most fighters can even dream about. It was fun to see both films again since they actually got decently long flashbacks, which served as film recaps.

Bringing the universe together like this and also setting the power levels was most impressive. Not to mention that we also got a very large soundtrack as a result. Songs from both titles ended up appearing and even the Misfits song played, which was nostalgic. Of course, Frosty and Rudolph’s main themes are probably still the most catchy even if Rudolph’s may make you want to cry since the lyrics are so sad…in theory.

I haven’t really talked about the villains right? Well…they are all right I suppose, but they didn’t do much. Scratcher was a pretty decent villain. Getting kicked off of the Reindeer team made things personal for him, but Scratcher was still unable to really deal any damage here. Winterbolt had some pretty powerful magic and it may even be deadlier than Santa’s since he beat the old man rather easily with the storm. It was a little iffy, but it seems like he can’t beat Frosty or Rudolph in a fair fight since the hat is too powerful and Rudolph’s determination never lets him give up. There’s also a human villain, but he’s of no consequence in the long run.

Overall, Christmas in July is a fun film and it’s actually the best Rudolph film that I’ve seen. The idea of a crossover is a good one and it’s safe to say that people had been waiting for this team up for some time now. It’s like Batman vs Superman, you can imagine the hype that was building up when this film was announced. If I had to choose which fighter I think would win, I’d go with Rudolph. Frosty’s powerful, but Rudolph’s quick and he can basically fly. That being said, Frosty can probably throw snowballs so maybe I had better rethink this. Like with Batman and Superman, I can think of scenarios where either fighter can claim victory. I hadn’t heard of this film myself until a few weeks ago, but it’s still most impressive that the two heavyweights could finally fight and hopefully this gets a sequel someday. That being said, hopefully Rudolph’s friends are a little more loyal since just about all of them betrayed him when it counted. That’s not what I expect to see from these guys, but Frosty stayed strong and knew that Rudolph wouldn’t steal things that weren’t his. After all, you can’t steal something that you already own and that’s the only way Rudolph would pull off a heist because he’s a nice Reindeer. I certainly recommend checking this out for Christmas.

Overall 7/10

Rudolph’s Shiny New Year Review

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Everyone’s favorite reindeer is back for this uplifting adventure. He may have saved Christmas, but there is no rest for the weary as this takes place immediately after his first iconic adventure. It’s not quite as enjoyable as the first film of course, nor does it beat the crossover with Frosty. That being said, it’s still a complete Rudolph adventure and a nice way to get set for the New Year.

Santa Clause learns that the New Year will never come and December 31st will last for eternity because the New Year ran away. In this world, time is a physical being and the years are all babies that he raised. Unfortunately, the New Year had big ears so everyone laughed at him. He decided to run away so that he would be understood a little better. He’s just a newborn baby though so he crawls his way up to the islands in the northern most part of the world. Rudolph is given the task of finding him within a few days or all is lost.

Rudolph sets out and is accompanied by a few of time’s friends like an Alarm Clock and a Whale. The Alarm Clock is one of the guys who laughed at the New Year so I can’t say that he’s a great friend, but the whale was always sensible and helped Rudolph out when he was in a pinch. Unfortunately, a bird by the name of Aeon aims to stop Rudolph in his quest. Aeon loves to laugh and he actually has the upper hand against Rudolph. Poor Rudolph looks nervous when Aeon appears and can’t seem to land any good hits in. If only Rudolph had more fighting experience.

Aeon isn’t your average villain though and you can sympathize with his goals. He knows that he will perish in the morning if the New Year starts so he wants to prolong this day forever. After all, what’s the worst thing that can happen if the New Year never rolls around right? His life is on the line here so it’s not completely unreasonable. Still, Rudolph fights for the greater good, but also knows that there is always another way. The ending is very fortunate for Aeon and even the baby learns that he shouldn’t mind the ears. In a sense, the plot was completely ripped from Dumbo, but we’ll let it slide this time.

The songs aren’t quite as good as the original Rudolph’s, but when you consider the nostalgia and the iconic status of the original, then it all makes sense. No amount of sequels can measure up to that level of greatness when it comes to the audio, but they can try. The songs still aren’t bad either of course and they’re nice and retro. The animation style still isn’t my favorite, but this came out ages ago so it’s not as if there were a whole lot of choices back in the day. The graphics certainly won’t be hurting the score.

What does hurt the score a little bit is that the film actually has some boring moments despite its short duration. I really didn’t care about Father Time and his plot. It was rather boring to see him slowly walk around the room and explain to the audience that Rudolph already succeeded when the film was just getting started. I never cared for the gimmick of spoiling the ending so that we could enjoy the journey a little more. The George Clooney film where the heroes have to save the future did this as well. Tomorrowland was the name and spoiling was its game. I feel like it’s just used because otherwise the film would have been too short or they couldn’t think of anything for Father Time to say. They could have cut the character out of the film and nothing would have really changed.

I also can’t say that I cared for the Caveman all that much. From all of the islands, that was probably the most uneventful and I definitely prefer the knight in shining armor. That being said, as was commented on during the film, it was impressive for the caveman to be singing so well while he was jumping around the place and engaged in strenuous exercise. That takes guts and a solid lung capacity so bravo there! Doesn’t change the fact that it was an island that dragged on.

Well, you get the point. These supporting characters dragged Rudolph down instead of strengthening the movie. Rudolph doesn’t really need a supporting cast and the whale was the only other character needed. Aeon as well of course since every good story needs a villain. The actual journey just isn’t as good as the original Rudolph since it’s not quite as fun or enjoyable and that’s what keeps it from being as good as the original. There’s no rushed romance here though so that’s always a plus!

Rudolph is also more likable than his portrayal in the original film. Controversially, I wasn’t a huge fan of him there. In this film, he’s more experienced and is glad to go out and save the world even though it’s Christmas. He’s always thinking of how he can help everyone else and ends up being one of the most selfless heroes around. That’s why you always want to have Rudolph in your corner if a fight breaks out. He’s got your back even if he hasn’t learned how to fight just yet.

Overall, This is a good film to watch for New Year’s. Or rather, it’s one of the only films for you to watch on New Year’s. Santa Clause is definitely in character as he lets Rudolph do all of the hard work while he just chills out at home. The film is short so you’ll be done with it very quickly. It may drag a little and the supporting characters aren’t great, but I’d still call it a good movie. A little underwhelming, but good all the same. The writing is strong and Rudolph makes for a good main character. It’s hard to top that…but the sequel pulls it off rather easily!

Overall 6/10

Dial H Volume 1 Into You Review

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I remember reading the classic Dial H comics back in the day. It was definitely a pretty neat concept about how a phone dial could let the kid turn into many different superheroes. This modernized version definitely takes a darker twist on the classic series, but keeps in the key elements. It’s a fairly interesting start to the series, even if it is very convoluted. It can’t quite match up to the original, but it’s safe to say that it’s a little better than expected.

The main character is an overweight guy by the name of Nelson. He smokes a lot and his body’s not doing so well anymore. His friend tries to get Nelson to adopt a healthier lifestyle, but the guy won’t hear it. He likes the way that he is and doesn’t plan on changing. Of course, Nelson has little choice in the matter when his friend is beaten up by the gang that he had been working for. Nelson finds a dial and manages to turn into a superhero! He has fun messing with the gangs for a while, but the villains hire a super powered thug of their own. A mysterious individual by the name of Roxie (Well that’s her real name. I forgot the alias) appears to help Nelson fix his dial so that they can stop an evil threat that is quickly approaching. Will they be able to stop the villain?

Throughout the whole collection, we don’t really get to see what the Dial can really do since Nelson’s is broken the whole time. This means that he can’t control which hero he will turn into and some are definitely weaker than others. There was an interesting Chicken form, which had a chicken whose legs were just a cycle. Another form was an Indian who was essentially just a guy with arrows so he wouldn’t be much help against the monsters that the heroes would fight. Nelson actually got off pretty easy for the most part since he mainly just had to deal with ordinary crooks.

Towards the end of the collection, we got to see the all powerful villain, Abyss. He’s essentially made of cosmic energy and seemed to be just about invincible although X.N. was able to injure him a little. He doesn’t make a whole lot of sense like several of the other characters and speaks in backwards/fragmented English a lot of the time. Despite his gibberish, he is powerful and I like the design, even if the actual character is pretty bland as a result of his nonsensical dialogue. X.N. was also pretty insane. She tortures Roxie even when it’s obvious that the hero doesn’t know anything about what’s happening. None of them really had a clue since everyone was guessing with the dials. She wanted to revive Abyss, but didn’t think too much about what would happen after that. Naturally, Abyss wasn’t about to listen to an ordinary human and he was too powerful for her to control afterwards. She had a dial as well and got some pretty cool forms like a robot suit. It’ll definitely be neat to see how many other forms the author can think up as the issues go on.

I’m not a big fan of Nelson or Roxie either, which makes the cast one of the comic’s weak points. Nelson arguably means well as he uses the Dial for good, but he doesn’t have much of a personality and he certainly didn’t look so good in the intro comic. Hopefully he’s taking better care of himself now though and he’ll need to be ready for action since the Dial villains are only getting stronger. To clarify, Nelson’s not a bad character, but he’s not ready to be called a good one yet either. I’ll need him to get more personality in future volumes.

The art isn’t my favorite style as it’s more noir centered, but it’s not bad. The writing keeps the issues interesting and the art is clear enough for you to follow with what’s happening. It shows signs of being a DC styled book artwise during some of the scenes, but naturally takes a different approach from the average superhero adventure. I’d say that the art is “good” if I were to give it a ranking and is definitely passable in the end.

This volume was a little light on the superhero action bit, which makes sense for the series. Abyss made for a decent antagonist, but I’m certainly more hyped for the next arc. Near the end of the fight, the heroes were saved by another character wielding a dial. This character defeated Abyss with ease and we finally got to see a dial that could work. One that lets you switch between heroes in the blink of an eye. I definitely look forward to seeing more of that character, especially since the scene proved to be too much for the art. It couldn’t keep up with the forms and that’s one moment where the art could have been better.

Furthermore, the final issue showed us a glimpse into the other world where the heroes are from. As you likely suspected from the first issue, the heroes are real. That’s why they come with their own set of personality and memories. Whenever Nelson or another character summons them from the dial, it steals away their abilities in the other world. It proved to happen at a fatal moment so one of the heroes went into the real world and destroyed the Dial user. She went to jail willingly, but this does prove to be a serious issue for the residents of that planet. If Earth continues to suck away their powers whenever the users feel like it, the heroes will always be in danger. I’m assuming that they are going to have to invade Earth soon and maybe that could be an opportunity for some guest stars since the Justice League should be present for something like that. Yes, I’m definitely anticipating that to be a fun arc and hopefully it happens before the series is over since I found out that Dial H only made it to 15 issues.

Overall, Dial H was an interesting comic. It went for plot over action and that’s always a decent option to have at the ready. I nearly gave it a 7, but the weak characters coupled with Roxie getting kidnapped and Nelson just chilling out at home while she was being interrogated was a little iffy. Nelson shouldn’t need to be reminded that he has a job to do. Throwing in the new characters should definitely be a lot of fun and it’ll give us some extra action as Nelson hopefully fixes his dial so we can have some hero against hero battles. I recommend checking this volume out if you’re looking for a unique superhero story. It’s not like the usual comics so it’s a good change of pace.

Overall 6/10

Batman vs Superman The Greatest Battles Review

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With the Batman vs Superman film coming out, this collection definitely makes a lot of sense. Now I can read what various authors feel would happen in this famous fight. I feel like more issues could have been included since these two have fought many times, but maybe it’s for the best since there would almost inevitably be some terrible fights that would make you cringe through the years. I’d say that the selection is pretty good and both characters get some props depending on the issue. I’d say that Batman seems to be favored more of the time, but most of the fights are from his point of view, which really changes how you look at the fight. Well, let’s look at each fight.

The first fight is from when Poison Ivy brainwashed Superman. Superman’s will power was not enough to keep up with Poison Ivy’s tricks so Batman finds himself in a position where he must take the Man of Steel down once again. Catwoman is also around so Batman tells her to go take a hostage from the Daily Planet to snap Superman out of this while he distracts him. This fight is from Batman’s perspective and he gives Superman a lot of credit as the dark knight takes him down a few pegs. He has a Kryptonite ring, which helps out a lot in this fight. While Superman would win in the end, Batman fared pretty well considering that he had no real prep time and Superman’s superior strength and speed were only mildly useful. That’s how crafty Batman is, but I suppose that we should give Superman the win here. The bulk of the issue was the large fight scene and the art is really good. I’ve seen bits and pieces of this fight many times before and the art is the classic 2000’s look that is nice and detailed. The characters aren’t thin and streamlined like in the New 52 so you can really appreciate how tough they are. I love both styles and I still prefer New 52, but this is another great moment in DC’s character design history.

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The second issue isn’t really a fight as the two never go at it. Superman finds out that Batman is in his city and he sees that the Dark Knight is being a little excessive in his interrogation so Superman quickly puts a stop to that. Batman knows that he cannot get away, but he does pull a quick vanishing act and plants a bomb on himself so that Superman can’t make a move. It was a very good plan on Batman’s part and it definitely worked, no going to jail for him this time! The actual villain was Magpie, who’s psychotic and manages to create a lot of havok and destruction considering that she has no real super powers. She doesn’t last long against the two heroes. The art was a little on the retro side to the point where I almost thought that it was going to be about Batman and Superman Jr when I had flipped through the issue. It’s another fun style and this was another very good comic. The heroes didn’t really fight, but we can chalk it up as another Superman win since Batman had to use the bomb plot.

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Next up, is the comic with the best art, but the fight can’t really be counted…or can it? Two kids are debating whether Batman or Superman would win if both of them were fighting. These kids are the two magical imps who are always causing the heroes a lot of trouble so their imaginations are pretty vivid. We get references to many comics and both heroes get to have their laughs as they try to debunk the arguments of the other. It’s a lot of fun and as I mentioned, the art was actually very good. The real Batman and Superman even get to appear as they listened to the story. Batman admitted that Bat-Mite did a good job of explaining many of the ways that he would take Superman down. Superman gets a little worried at this so I’ve gotta give Batman the win here. A fairly fun comic, even if none of it was real in the end.

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After that is a very quick issue from the New 52. It’s so bite sized that you would almost think that the collection just grabbed a few pages from the issue. It’s the famous moment where the Justice League first met in the new universe. Batman is taken out instantly since the issue is actually the one after Batman has already been defeated. I think I know who gets the point here. It’s a great comic though and even has the Flash vs Superman fight that was cut out of the movie for some bizaare reason. It was probably one of the film’s biggest failings since it was an incredibly impressive moment for Superman since the Flash had just displayed an incredible feat of speed. The New 52 really did have a great beginning with the League forming there. Green Lantern also got to throw some hits in, but Superman’s win was never in doubt here. Technically, this issue has the best art, but since it’s so small, I’m not really counting it for anything other than the score.

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Superman would be mind controlled yet again as the Joker takes him over this time. He has managed to take over the Justice League so that they can finish off Batman once and for all. Batman clears out a section of Gotham City so that he can take the League out without hurting any civilians. He takes out the members very quickly, but Superman proves to be another story since the Man of Steel isn’t holding back this time. The fight is very close with both fighters getting their due credit as the match escalates. It’s effectively a draw, but since Superman has more stamina than Batman, I think we’ve got to give him the win here. Keep in mind that it is hinted that the fear toxin that Scarecrow hit Batman with is still in effect so the whole thing may have been a dream. Personally, I’m pretty sure that it’s all a dream since Batman mentioned that all of his nightmares end with the Joker’s laugh. An interesting ending to a very good comic. It’s neat to see how Batman would handle the Justice League and you always have to debate whether it is plot hax or just prep time.

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Finally, the collection wraps up with the famous Dark Knight Returns battle. I’ve never been a fan of the comic and even the fight is a little lackluster next to the others. This saga got 2 issues though so they could fit in as many pages as possible. The art is the worst from all of the stories in the collection as I’m not a fan of this style. It’s very cluttered and makes the encounter a little hard to read as you have to go through it slowly. Regardless, this is a decisive victory for Batman as he shows Superman what it’s like to be a man. He falls first, but could have destroyed Superman if he had wanted too. Superman was weakened before the match started, but we don’t hand out excuses here. Of course, it’s hard to root for anyone here since Batman is crazy and Superman seems to have lost his sense of justice as he grew older. Ah well, some issues are just like that.

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Wow, did I originally say that Batman was favored? When you really look at the comics, it doesn’t matter who was more likable, Superman had a tendency of winning their encounters. It’s possible that Batman’s wins were left out intentionally, but more likely, Superman just ends up taking the wins because he’s incredibly powerful. No amount of prep time can come close to compensating for the large gap in ability between the two. That being said, Batman and Superman are some of the best comic book characters out there. Superman is actually number one for me. So, regardless of who wins the fight, I am typically satisfied. I may call for plot hax either way, but I can make arguments for either side winning since I love the concept of Prep Time while I also believe that Superman’s might is essentially unrivaled.

Overall, This was a great batch of comics. Many different art styles collide and they were all great in different ways aside from the final saga. These were definitely some great battles between the two iconic heroes and hopefully a lot of people are able to read these stories before the film hits theaters. I highly recommend checking out the collection and while it feels incredibly short since the issues have so much action, they are quality stories that definitely deserve to be read. I look forward to reading more DC comics soon as I have reviews for Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern coming up in the very near future. Even a DC hero who is often overlooked, but is always the first one dialed when someone needs help!

Overall 8/10

Teen Titans Go! Volume 1 Truth Justice and Pizza Review

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Teen Titans was a great TV show and I definitely enjoyed the animation and action scenes back in the day. It was so good that I still consider it to be better than Young Justice and is the best DC show that wasn’t in the DCAU. Teen Titans Go, the current comedy show is pretty bad, but this comic is about their normal return so it’s still shown seriously and the characters are in their original designs. The stories are fun for the most part and it’s great to see the old characters back, but the art is verry wonky. It feels like the artists are either very bad or some of the illustrations were done on purpose because some of the pictures feel like they must have been on purpose…right!?

There are quite a few stories here and each one is a stand alone, which naturally means that some will be good and some will be bad. One of the decent stories involved Cyborg feeling bad because some kids thought that he was boring. His reaction to this was very overblown though and the plot could have been a side issue instead of the whole issue. It seemed to be a little out of character if you ask me. It was a decent story aside from Cyborg randomly getting a crush on the teacher. That basically wrecked the story and destroyed the moral at the end. Cyborg shouldn’t have needed to be reminded that he’s a cool fighter.

The worst story of the bunch involved Raven getting a zit and having the rest of the Titans tease her about it. That’s something that I would expect from their parody selves in the flash cartoon, not the characters form the real deal. Even Robin and Starfire get in on it at one point and the whole thing is pretty grating. The Trigon appearance comes out of nowhere and even though we did get a little action, there was nothing that could save the story at the end. You could tell that the writers were simply desperate for attention at that point.

The best story was the first one, which is pretty good from the writer’s point of view since it means that you can hook the readers in very quickly even if the stories go downhill from there. The Teen Titans had a blast playing video games, but little did they know that the HIVE was using the intel to see how the heroes were able to fight. It’s pretty ingeniious and computer software can help villains to try and anticipate what the heroes will do next. That being said, the villains have to still be strong enough to do something about this and I feel like Gizmo and his little crew will never be a match for the Teen Titans. Even Slade gets a small appearance here, which was neat. Action and video games make for a deadly combo and that’s really why this story could not be beat.

Another story featured the Gordanians. As I had just seen Justice League Starcrossed, it was neat to see them again. They arrive on Earth looking for the Dodo birds, but as the creature is basically extinct, that will be tough. Beast Boy must get his teammates to trust him so that they can all stop this alien menace. Unfortunately, BB has a tendency to lie for fun and his teammates can’t be sure if he’s telling the truth or not. It wasn’t a bad comic, but Beast Boy was way too mean and there’s no way that Starfire should have brought him a pizza at all since he tricked her in such a mean way. There was some action though and that’s always good.

There was also a Valentines comic where Robin had to take Starfire to an amusement park to show her why the day isn’t celebrated quite as nationally as days like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Unlike Teen Titans Go, this version of Robin isn’t interested in romance and it was a nice contrast to his parody self. He was too busy breaking high scores in DDR to worry about anything else and that’s the Robin that I remember. A fight is squeezed in there somewhere I think, but it was only a decent comic. Not a bad one though since Robin looked quite good and that’s always a big positive.

Finally, Thunder and Lightning returned as they had an argument with each other. It’s pretty nonsensical and they start fighting for no real reason, but the Teen Titans decide to join in and the big brawl starts very quickly. It’s mainly through misunderstandings, but it was good to see Robin charge in to stop the nuisances. Thunder and Lightning made for good villains in the TV show, but as heroes they aren’t very interesting and don’t add anything to the table. They certainly won’t be the next Dynamic Duo.

As for the art….it’s pretty bad. I still feel like it must have been at least partially intentional because of how bad it was. Seriously, I’ve seen fan art and fan comics that were drawn more accurately than some of these issues. The issues have many artists so the style keeps changing, but most of them turn out to be subpar. The anatomies will be seriously out of proportion in some moments and then the characters will have odd facial expressions in another. There is no sense of consistency and this also makes it difficult for any fight scenes to gain a whole lot of traction. The first issue was the best and had the best art, I don’t think that this is a coincidence. The art is clear and easy to read so it automatically beats some other styles like, dare I say, The Dark Knight Returns? Still, it’s way too spacy for me to call it anything other than bad art. It may not take a full star away, but coupled with the fact that the stories don’t knock it out of the park, I can’t give this comic the usual 7. It’s just not fun or good enough to get that kind of praise.

This is much better than the new Teen Titans Go and I’ll look forward to reading future collections of this series, but Teen Titans can do so much better. The series had a rich cast of super villains to choose from and the characters are also interesting enough to hold their own stories so the comics shouldn’t be afraid to give us some epic battles. The art needs to improve though and in this modern age there is no excuse for the art to not be dynamite. Daredevil and Black Widow’s new series may have bad art, but in their case it is completely intentional. For this collection, it’s just hard to say for sure if that is the case.

Overall, I recommend this comic to Teen Titans fans and to people who enjoyed the TV show. It’s nice to see the old characters back and that they are in character. Unfortunately, the stories aren’t the greatest and while some are good, others are downright bad. It’s the problem with stand alone stories since the quality always varies. The next comic that I’m reviewing has a similar format, but it works a lot better since the stories are all decently action packed.

Overall 6/10