Reviews
"An awwwwesome package arrived @ Shrine Central last week--a set of the new DC Super Pets books! Aw, yeah! There are six books in all, but of course the one we're the most excited about is Heroes of the High Seas, starring Aquaman! Written by J.E. Bright and drawn by Art Baltazar, Heroes of the High Seas stars off with a little primer explaining who all the characters are: Following this is an entry from the Atlantis High Command Sea Computer, giving us some details on Storm the Sea Horse--his skills, his relationship to Aquaman, and more. Chapter 1, ""Wild Whirlpool"", opens with a full-page illustration that makes me nearly giddy in its Aqua-rifficness: you've got Aquaman, Mera, Aqualad, Tula, Arthur Jr., Topo the Octopus, and more, all exquisitely rendered in day-glo colors by Art Baltazar. I want this on a t-shirt, greeting cards...everything. Anyway, the concert is interrupted by Aquaman's seal friend Ark (who first appeared waaaay back in More Fun Comics #89!) who says there's a giant whirlpool just outside the city, and its growing! Aquaman jumps aboard his loyal steed Storm and investigates. They see a mother whale getting caught in the vortex trying to save its calf. Aquaman goes to rescue the whales, while ordering Storm, Topo, and Ark to see what's causing the whirlpool. In Chapter 2, ""Into the Deep"", Aquaman's three pals get too close to the vortex. Finding themselves with a thud on the ocean floor, our three heroes spy another denizen of the deep called a Diggler, as its tunneling directly into a mountain. They also spy to manta rays, Misty and Sneezer, who are the pets of...Black Manta! Misty and Sneezer are in charge of digging tubes through the mountain rock, causing water to rush in, feeding the vortex above. The plan is to create such a huge whirlpool that its eats Atlantis whole! ""That's not going to happen"", Topo replies. In Chapter 3, ""Sounds of Victory"", Storm tries to occupy Misty and Sneezer and get them away from the diggler. Meanwhike, Topo plays his violin, in an attempt to soothe the diggler, calming him down long enough to stop the burrowing. Misty and Sneezer attempt to escape, disappearing behind a rock--but Topo sees that's not a rock, its the ship of Black Manta!: Arriving just in time, along with the blue whale, is Aquaman! The blue whale scares Manta so badly he jumps back into ship and takes off, with the mama blue whale giving chase. With her calf now safe thanks to Aquaman, Topo, Storm, and Ark explained what happened. Topo begins to play again, this time in celebration. ...the end! Do I even need to bother to mention how delightfully awesome this book is? The story is cute, fast-moving and light as air. And with Art Baltazar doing the illustrations, its a pure pleasure to look at. If I had had this book when I was five or six, I would have worn it to pieces due to constant reading and re-reading. The book also comes with some bonus pages, like a ""Know Your Super-Pets"" checklist, a joke page, creator bios, and a helpful glossary of terms: As I mentioned, there are five other books in this series. I haven't had a chance to read them all yet, but they all look as utterly charming as Heroes on the High Seas. I cannot imagine a more fun way to teach young comics fans to read than these DC Super Pets books, and of course its fantastic that Aquaman got his own book in this series, a fairly rare thing when it comes to the Sea King and mass market projects like this. With his unique setting and cast of colorful side characters, Aquaman more than hold his own. I was thrilled to hear that some of the people at Capstone putting these books together are Aqua-Fans, and there are plans for more Aqua-centric DC Super Pets books. If you have a little Aqua-Fan in this house, run, do not walk, over to Amazon (or your local bookstore) and get yourself a copy. One last thing: those of you with aforementioned young Aqua-Fans in the house, be sure to check back with the-- ""The Aquaman Shrine"" Capstone Kids has released a new series of fun books geared towards early readers. The books were created in conjunction with comic book giant, DC, to bring about a new series: DC Super-Pets! They stories include characters like Super-Pet Beppo who is Superman's pet Monkey, along with many other clever characters. They have a comic book feel detailing the character and showing action words and sound effects in big and colorful ways that grab your attention. Right now your 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Grade aged children can enter a ""My Pet is Super Contest"" where the child is asked to write an imaginary newspaper article about their Super-Pet and how he/she did something extraordinary! Entries will be judged on creativity, content, and originality! The top 50 entrants will each receive 2 free DC Super-Pets Books, one for the student and one for their school library. There will also be a first place winner who will win the prize of being drawn into a DC Super-Pets book and will receive the original illustration! The first place winner and their school will also win 5 copies each of the book! The contest ends on 2/28/11. I was able to review the first six books in this series. I think these books are fabulous! Both of my boys were instantly extremely interested in them and they held their attention while I read the story. I pointed to the words for my 4 year old to follow along and had him read me the few words he is beginning to learn as we came across them. I believe he will be able to begin reading most the words sometime next year. At 4 he is still a little bit young to read them independently. However, I think these books are great for getting young children interested in reading and eager to try it on their own. Every page has full color illustrations that really seem to pop off the page they are so bold! I absolutely love the comic book feel of the fun text popping out at you on each page. These books retail for $4.95/each and you can find them in bookstores locally as well as on Amazon . http: //www.amomstake.com/2011/02/dc-super-pets-books-contest-review.html-- ""A Mom's Take Blog"" Devoted link-followers may recall a post I did for Robot 6 a few weeks ago about Picture Window Books' DC Super-Pets series of easy-reader prose books by illustrator Art Baltazar and different writers. At the time, I'd only managed to track down three of the first wave of six books (yet more are forthcoming). Well, this past week I managed to find two more of those initial six books through my library's inter-library loan program: John Sazaklis' Royal Rodent Rescue, in which Streaky the Super-Cat tries to foil Catwoman's cat Rozz's Metropolis crime spree, and J.E. Bright's Heroes of the High Seas, in which Aquaman's pals Topo, Storm and Ark stop Black Manta's pet mantas from destroying Atlantis. As a regular reader of Baltazar's Tiny Titans, in which a kitten version of Streaky regularly appears, it was neat to see a grown-up Streaky in Royal Rodent Rescue--along with a grown-up Supergirl, who is mentioned teaming up with Batgirl at one point, but is only drawn by Baltazar at the beginning. Here's what Baltazar's non-Tiny Supergirl looks like: [image] Sazaklis writes Streaky the Super-Cat a lot like a regular cat, with Streaky regularly stopping to curl up and take naps between super-acts. For example, while napping at the Fortress of Solitude, he hears an alarm signaling a break-in at an appliance store in Metropolis. He flies there to see police already on the scene, so goes into the store and takes a nap atop a TV. The villain of this piece is Rozz, a female cat who is apparently original to the book (I don't remember Catwoman having a cat by that name, anyway). Oddly/adorably, she dresses up just like her master Catwoman, making her a cat wearing a cat-suit: [image] The book suggests that Batgirl is Catwoman's archenemy, not Batman, and when she sees Batgirl and Supergirl teaming-up in Metropolis on TV, Catwoman decides that means the coast is clear for a Gotham crime spree. Rozz, on the other hand, decides to journey to Metropolis and try her paw at crime there. Her main crime, the one referred to in the title, is kidnapping the pet hamster of visiting royalty and holding it for ransom. The highlight of the book, for me anyway, was the scene where Rozz breaks into a TV station and communicates her demands to the viewing audience at home. But, because she's a cat, it's just a bunch of meowing (to everyone who isn't also a cat, like Streaky). Heroes of The High Seas was the one I was most looking forward too, as it featured my favorite of the pet-having superheroes, Aquaman. There's Topo, a Silver Age Aquaman character (who apparently functioned as a one-cephalopod band in the comics, just as he does here!), Storm, the name of Aquaman's giant sea horse from those crappy old Aquaman cartoons, and the new character Ark, a little seal, whose presence here instead of Tusky (Aquaman's walrus sidekick in the same cartoons Storm used to appear in), sort of confused me. Here's a nice image in which you can see all three super-pets, as well as Aquaman's whole court, as drawn by Baltazar: [image] Baltazar makes some very, very strange choices in his character design for some of these animals. Ark, for example, seems to have legs in almost every drawing of him, with knees and everything, giving him the appearance of a humanoid seal instead of a normal seal. And I had no idea what species the two villains, Misty and Sneezers, were supposed to be until the text revealed that they were rays. Take a look: [image] Personally, I would have guessed ""ghost cats."" I worry that some day some kid is going to grow up thinking manta rays look like gray ghost cats because of this book. I'm still on the lookout for the final of the first six books, Midway Monkey Madness, which features Beppo The Super-Monkey, Gleek and the Wonder Twins from Super Friends and Gorilla Grodd. And the next round looks even more awesome, with books featuring Hoppy The Marvel Bunny, The Green Lantern Bug Corps and even Kryp-- ""Every Day Is Like Wednesday blog"" I'm a big proponent of getting kids to read comics but their choices are slim when compared to what adults are offered in the medium. So when I heard Capstone Publishers was teaming with DC to put out DC Super-Pets I was ecstatic! Then I got to read them and was filled with joy usually reserved for 8-year-olds. Here's why... The first six books in the series were released last month and are all drawn by Eisner Award-winning artist Art Baltazar. You're probably already familiar with his work on Tiny Titans. The guy is just plain awesome and he doesn't disappoint here. In fact, he ups the cuteness quotient by a lot. There's a whole menagerie of animals for Baltazar to choose from and one is cuter than the next. I'll start off with the obvious book for me, Super Hero Splash Down starring B'dg the Green Lantern and Dex-Starr the angry Red Lantern. Written by Jane Mason, this was the first one I read because Dex is my favorite. The story follows the antics of the two at a water park, which is surprising considering cats don't like water. Well, of course that comes into play. There's a lot of horsing around but eventually a superhero team-up is called for when some Sinestro Dog Corps invade the park. You'd think The Fastest Pet on Earth would star The Flash's companion but no, actually this book is all about Wonder Woman's trusty Kanga named Jumpa. Written by J.E. Bright, the story revolves around Jumpa having to protect a special Golden tortoise from Chauncey, Cheetah's cheetah on Paradise Island. Jumpa has just as much bravery and fight in her as Wonder Woman and uses not only her power but her wits to outsmart the villain. Midway Monkey Madness is filled with familiar DC characters. Written by Sarah Hines Stephens, it stars Beppo the super-monkey, the Wonder Twins Jayna and Zan, Gleek and Gorilla Grodd. Grodd decides to cause some havoc at a local carnival and Beppo makes sure everyone gets to safety while he and the rest of the heroes figure out how to stop him. Writer Bright also took on Aquaman's giant seahorse storm in Heroes of the High Seas. He stars along with Topo the octopus, Ark the sealion plus Black Manta and his pets Misty and Sneazers. I couldn't figure out what Misty and Sneezers were at first but turns out they're manta rays! This was one of my favorites out of the bunch because a lot of players got together and each had a very specific job to overcome their problem. Pooches of Power features the two most famous super pets, Ace the Bat-Hound and Krypto the Super-Dog. Hines Stephens also writes this tale in which the dogs go up against the Penguins animal companions, the Bad News Birds. Ace and Krypto must put a stop to thievery taking place at the local sardine factory before the Penguin can escape his own justice. And Bruce Wayne/Batman makes a guest appearance to congratulate his pooch. And last but not least, because it's actually my favorite, Royal Rodent Rescue by John Sazaklis stars not one but TWO felines. Streaky the super-cat and Rozz, the evil Siamese of Catwoman. This story almost puts the villain in the starring role as Rozz decides to head off to Metropolis on her own in search of thievery while Catwoman is stealing in Gotham. Streaky must intervene with the slinky cat kidnaps and royal hamster. Yup, you heard me, a royal hamster. And the fight is not an easy one as Rozz got her paws on some Kryptonite! Each book (all around 50 pages long) includes a rundown of the characters appearing in the book, a stats page of the star, knock-knock jokes and a page with definitions of some of the tougher or more unfamiliar words that appear. The front and rear of each book also holds a mural of all the super pets we'll see in the series. And let me tell you, we've only hit the tip of the iceberg. I can't wait to see some of these other pets in action. Although the book is called DC Super-Pets, it's important to note that most, if not all of the ""pets"" view themselves as friends or companions of the-- ""The Nerdy Bird Blog"" MIDWAY MONKEY MADNESS by Sarah Stephens Summary: When the carnival comes to METROPOLIS, BEPPO THE SUPER-MONKEY isn't far behind. This CHIMP OF STEEL can't wait to chow down on chocolate-covered bananas and other fair foods. Unfortunately, the world's evilest ape, GORILLA GRODD, has other plans. He wants to turn this festival of fun into a day of destruction. With a little help from the WONDER TWINS and their space chimp, GLEEK, BEPPO must somehow stop GRODD'S midway monkey madness. -- Picture Window Books HEROES OF THE HIGH SEAS by J.E. Bright Summary: Deep in the ocean, TOPO THE OCTOPUS plays some relaxing music for AQUAMAN. Suddenly, a huge whirlpool appears in the distance, threatening the city of ATLANTIS. Without a moment to lose, AQUAMAN leaps aboard his SUPER-SEAHORSE, STORM, and jets toward the liquid tornado. While the SEA KING rescues a whale caught in the deadly current, his SUPER-PETS discover the source of the problem . . . MISTY and SNEEZERS, the BLACK MANTA'S minions! TOPO, STORM, and ARK THE SEAL, must stop these evil rays, or their underwater city could be lost again. -- Picture Window Books POOCHES OF POWER! by Sarah Stephens Summary: When sardines go missing from the GOTHAM CITY Marina, ACE THE BAT-HOUND investigates. This clever canine quickly discovers a couple of clues, but something still smells fishy. To help solve the case, ACE calls on the most powerful pooch around . . . KRYPTO THE SUPER-DOG! They track down three fowl felons, the PENGUIN'S BAD NEWS BIRDS, ARTIE, GRIFF, and WADDLES. Working together, the doggy duo must recover the stolen sardines and throw those dirty birds in the can. -- Picture Window Books ROYAL RODENT RESCUE by John Sazaklis Summary: While napping in the FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, STREAKY THE SUPER-CAT is suddenly awakened by a television news alert. The evil Siamese cat ROZZ has kidnapped Prince Zouli, a noble hamster from the village of Kardamyla. UP, UP, AND AWAY! The CAT OF STEEL is on the case and quickly tracks down the royal rodent. Unfortunately, the fearsome feline has a few tricks up his fur. When ROZZ reveals a chunk of KRYPTONITE in his collar, STREAKY must help the hamster, and save himself as well. -- Picture Window Books SUPER HERO SPLASH DOWN by Jane B. Mason Summary: After traveling through the universe, the GREEN LANTERN B'DG chills out at a water park on Earth. However, when the RED LANTERN DEX-STARR shows up, his day in the sun is anything but fun. This fearsome feline chases B'DG through the pool, down the waterslide, and into outer space. While there, the two opponents discover a common enemy . . . the SINESTRO DOG CORPS! These parched pooches are looking for a place to soak their snouts. If B'DG and DEX-STARR don't team up and stop them, their favorite water park will become mutt puddle. -- Picture Window Books FASTEST PET ON EARTH by J.E. Bright Summary: The speedy super-villain CHAUNCEY THE CHEETAH is loose on PARADISE ISLAND! However, WONDER WOMAN'S SUPER-PET, JUMPA THE KANGAROO, isn't worried. This blazing-fast bouncer is the quickest critter on Earth. Or is she? When CHAUNCEY challenges JUMPA to a race, the kangaroo must prove her swiftness and her cleverness. But this criminal cat is chasing more than bragging rights. She's seeking JUMPA'S tiara as top prize. If the SUPER-KANGAROO doesn't have a few tricks in her pouch, she might lose in more ways than one. -- Picture Window Books When I first heard the idea behind the new series, DC Super-Pets, I had a feeling that Booking Son might be just a tad bit interested. And I was certainly right! You should have seen him when he first saw these little books -- his eyes got really big and he started to smile. Then, he asked me if they were for him because ""I really want them."" After I told him yes and that they were for early readers, he immediately grabbed a book and started flipping through it. I don't think he got my subtle dig about ""early readers"" but he is only 6 years old -- he is constantly be-- ""Booking Mama"" On the other hand, you have the Super Pets, which are not only adorable beyond belief, but they're actual prose novels for kids. The books are light hearted, fun, and wonderfully illustrated by Tiny Titans artist Art Baltazar, perfect for young kids to pick up and read - or even be read at bed time. These books are set to be released soon, and having been given the opportunity to read a few of them, I must say that I wish I had a kid to share these with. If parents are looking for something to give their children in order to acclimate them into the DCU, this is that book. Do you love Green Lantern and the character Dex-Starr? Well, there's a whole book starring him and B'dg, a squirrel Green Lantern, who fight against the Sinestro Dog Corps at a water park. The book even includes a cameo from Glomulus, Larfleeze's favorite Orange Lantern. This title is absolutely perfect for any child who has even remotely showed interest in super heroes, let alone has a love for their pets! See, as much as we want to get kids into comics, we also need to give them good options for reading. While there are tons of great youth oriented books and novels (I fondly remember reading the Fudge books, personally), it's nice that in today's market, there are legitimate options for kids to bridge the gap between super heroics and reading traditional prose pieces. This is why a book series like Super Pets or the comic Tiny Titans is so great. There is no linear timeline, no overbearing plot. These are stories that can simply be picked up, read, and enjoyed, and that's what kids with All Ages need before we can really worry about trying to explain to them Blackest Night and Brightest Day. I'm happy to give my nephew a copy of a book like Bone, which is a wonderful comic, because as he grows older this is the kind of comic he'll enjoy. But in an attempt to ""get them while they're young,"" I'd rather give a kid DC's Royal Rodent Rescue, starring Streaky (not currently around in the DCU) than I would try and give them most any other comic on the shelf at the moment - including Thor: The Mighty Avenger. http: //www.multiversitycomics.com/2011/01/friday-recommendation-tiny-titans-and.html-- ""Multiversity Comics"" Picture Window Books (a division of Capstone) proudly released the first six books in the ""DC Super-Pets!"" series in January. I was lucky enough to receive all six books: The Fastest Pet on Earth, Heroes of the High Seas, Midway Monkey Madness, Pooches of Power!, Royal Rodent Rescue, and Super Hero Splash Down . The books are a lot of fun. The each begin with a profile page of the main Super Pet featured in the book, outlining the character's particular super powers or gadgets. The page also gives a brief background origin story and who their superhero owner is. A three chapter story is the main content of the book. While the stories are simplistic and obviously aimed at young children under the age of 10, the illustrations are colorful and full of energy. While the story focuses on one particular super-pet, they're usually joined by other super-pets or super-friends. For example, Beppo the Super Monkey is joined by Zan, Jayne and Gleek to battle Gorilla Grodd. Ace the Bat-Hound is joined by Krypto the Super Dog to take on Penguin's Bad News Birds. The Super-Pet's owners do sometimes make cameo appearances, but the books aren't about them, the focus is definitely on the Super-Pets themselves. Each book finishes with the same two-page spread showcasing all the Super-Pets and Super-Villain-Pets featured in the series. Forty four in total... Twenty two of each. The books also contain a jokes page, and a ""Word Power"" page which gives the definition of some of the harder words found in the story. Finally the books close out with a bio on both the writer and artist of that particular book. All six books in the original release are illustrated by Eisner Award-winner Art Baltazar. The writing duties are shared between Sarah Hines Stephens, John Sazaklis, Jane Mason, and J.E. Bright. Anyone looking to introduce their young child to the world of superheroes could do a lot worse than pick up the initial six-book run of the new ""DC Super-Pets!"" series. http: //www.supermanhomepage.com/news.php-- ""Superman Homepage"" To celebrate the launch of ""DC Super-Pets"", Picture Window Books is sponsoring a writing contest for students in grades 1-3. Children enter the ""My Pet is Super"" contest by writing an article for an imaginary newspaper, The Daily Planet, about why their own pet is super. Art Baltazar will create an illustration of the winning Super-Pet that will appear in a future book in the DC Super-Pets series. The winning student will receive the original illustration as well as copies of the book. Authors of the top 50 entries in the contest will also win free books. For complete rules and to enter, visit www.CapstoneKids.com. The contest runs from January 15, 2011-February 28, 2011. The DC Super-Pets series features the crime-fighting adventures of the pets of favorite super heroes from beloved DC Comics: Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Green Lantern. These intrepid Super-Pets-Krypto the Super-Dog, Ace the Bat-Hound, Streaky the Super-Cat, Beppo the Super-Monkey, Jumpa the Super-Kangaroo, and their friends save the day and foil the evil plans of the universe's most dastardly super villains. The books have been specially designed for children just learning to read independently. Included in the endpapers are illustrations of all the Super-Pets in the series (both heroes and villains), jokes, and a guide to the meaning and pronunciation for each book's most challenging words. The first six books in the series are illustrated by Eisner Award-winning DC Comics artist Art Baltazar. They debuted on January, 2nd and are available for order on Amazon.com: ? The Fastest Pet on Earth ? Heroes of the High Seas ? Midway Monkey Madness ? Pooches of Power ? Royal Rodent Rescue ? Super Hero Splash Down DC Super-Pets is the second project Capstone and DC Comics have collaborated on in recent history. The publishers launched a successful partnership in 2008 under Capstone's Stone Arch Books imprint to publish DC Super Heroes, an original book series based around DC Comics' iconic characters Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, and, coming in Spring 2011, Green Lantern and the Flash. http: //www.supermansupersite.com/0106618.html-- ""The Superman Super Site"""
Author Information
"J.E. Bright is the author of many novels, novelizations, and novelty books for children and young adults. He lives in a sunny apartment in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, with his difficult but soft cat, Mabel, and his sweet kitten, Bernard. Art Baltazar is a super-cartoonist machine from the heart of Chicago and the winner of two Eisner awards! He's all about the peace, love and joy. He defines cartoons and comics not only was an art style, but as a way of life. Art started his funky secret art studio in 1994 with his self published comic book ""The Cray-Baby Adventures."" Since then, he created other comics such as ""Captain Camel & the Space Chicken,"" Lunar Lizard,"" Meteor Mite"" and the famous, ""Patrick the Wolf Boy"" and ""Tiny Titans."""
