Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: September 26, 2018
Price: $9.99
Creator(s): Shea Fontana (writer), Yancey Labat (artist)
Format: 128 pgs., Full-Color, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8353-7
Age Rating: N/A
ICv2 Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
Once you understand that the DC SuperHero Girls stories are basically an alternate universe version of the teen years of the heroes and villains of the DC comics, they’re a lot of fun. Weirdly, that can even include serious, world-threatening stories like this one, in which a major DC villain is doing horrific things. Think of it as Babysitter’s Club with superhero girls, and it makes perfect sense.
So, teenaged versions of the women of the DC universe, along with some of the male characters who joined some of them in the Teen Titans, are off to save the world, one city at a time. This, combined with teen angst, friendship troubles, and admitting to odd combinations of emotions, makes this an odd cross between traditional superhero story and teen pre-romance friendship school story.
Storywise, the only serious weakness was the ending, which seemed horribly rushed, as if the book was supposed to be slightly longer and had to be truncated at the last minute. Thus, pages 118 to 124 read as if they were an abridged version of something longer and more coherent.
Otherwise, both the writing and the art are well-paced for a fun action-adventure story, and even the teen angsty side stories work well, because Shea Fontana made them believable. Yancy Labat’s artwork was especially good in the fight scenes, including two that involved a squid of unusual size.
There is cartoony violence and threats of danger in this story, but no gore. The story itself is aimed at tweens and young teens, who will be the primary audience.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.
