Sunday, October 13, 2013

365 Comics...285: Aw Yeah, Comics #1 (2013)

Of all the news to come out of NYCC this weekend, and there was quite a bit of interesting stuff, for me the most exciting tidbit was the return of Tiny Titans.

I don't know why I am so attached to that iteration of Art Balthazar and Franco's oeuvre, because they've done just as well with their similarly styled Superman Family Adventures, Itty Bitty Hellboy and their Kickstarted Aw Yeah Comics... I think a large part of it is how Tiny Titans satisfied both my comics nostalgia as well as my fondness for costume-dense comic books (and pulling virtually every Titan out of the bag in their 50 issues was a spandex feast, even if meant as a younger reader book).

I'm really looking forward to its return but though I should also have a look at their self-published venture (which I would like to get physical copies of, but they are not easy to find), Aw Yeah Comics.  I gather that AYC is a honest to real comic book store in Skokie, Illinois (unless Franco and Balthazar are pulling my chain on the first page) which is also used as the setting for the alter egoes of the heroes of the book, Action Cat and Adventure Bug.

The structure for anyone at all familiar with Balthazar and Franco's work is so very familiar, which makes for easy transition between the duo's various series for younger fans.  My daughter really digs Balthazar's art so she's pretty much on board with anything he does,  and I most certainly concur.

My favourite part of this first issue was seeing Action Cat and Adventure Bug's female counterparts,  who share the same name.  I thought it was a great,  if harmless commentary on female analogs as perpetrated bu the big two. There's no reason why characters of different genders can't have the same name Marvel's doing better with Hawkeye, Captain Marvel and...briefly, the Punisher).

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