Comic Book Review: DC Super Hero Girls Giant #1 by various creators
Over the decades, DC Comics has accumulated quite a few good female characters, even if they haven’t always used them well. So it’s not surprising that when Warner Brothers’ animation division wanted to aim a cartoon at girls, they could find enough to make a whole team of. Some were de-aged to high school age, while others were (at their introduction) already there. A second animated adaptation was created, with more cartoony designs and exaggerated personalities, and this collection features both continuities.
“Panicked at the Disco” written by Amanda Deibert with art by Erich Owen has Zatanna as head of the decorating committee for a school dance. She’s getting a bit overbearing with this, but Wonder Woman is excited to participate in this “typical teen” activity, setting herself and Bumblebee with dates for the evening. Batgirl pressures Zee into letting her be DJ for the event, even though another girl really wanted to do it.
The other girl turns out to be the electrical villainess Livewire, who takes over with a beat you can’t stop dancing to. Ever. Will the dance be ruined?
“Fall Festival” written by Amy Wolfram with art by Agnes Garbowska has the girls (and some rivals) participating in various harvest festival activities, like pumpkin growing contests and pie-eating…oh, and protesting non-sustainable agriculture practices. But the real thorn in their side this time is Harley Quinn, who’s decided to prank the festival with her ballistic pumpkin launcher. Bumblebee’s the MVP in this story, supporting her friends and using her brain when her powers won’t do the trick.
Then there’s three first chapters from the older graphic novels, written by Shea Fontana with art by Yancey Labat.
“The Journey” starts with Wonder Woman and her friends taking down obscure Hawkman villain Lionmane. Diana’s been overcommitting lately, so she dozes off during a classroom discussion of the Odyssey. Wonder Woman’s hosting a slumber party on her home island of Themyscria, and the gang is planning to go there in Batgirl’s Batjet. Except that the plane is missing, so they must split into teams to track it down.
“Gimme a Summer Break” opens with Wonder Woman and Bumblebee tackling the Double Dare twins, thieves trying to make off with Silver St. Cloud’s (one of Bruce Wayne’s love interests) purse collection. This turns out to be part of an effort to clear Metropolis of villains so that the kids can go on summer break. But Diana’s summer plans change when Hermes shows up to deliver an invitation to visit her biological father Zeus on Olympus. The only friend available to join her is Bumblebee.
To be honest, I’m not keen on the “Zeus is Diana’s father” thing, being much more fond of “Hippolyta formed a daughter from clay that the gods then blessed with life” as an origin. It requires whitewashing the Thunderer’s serial infidelity to Hera since this is a kids’ book, and in this case that’s especially annoying as we learn that Diana has yet another half-sister, Siracca (the chapter ends just before she appears.)
“Intro to Prehistory” is more of a Batgirl and Harley Quinn story. They and a few other students (including Beast Boy) are taking a time travel field trip to the age of dinosaurs with teacher Liberty Belle. Barbara and Harley compete on their sauroid knowledge, but when the time machine is wrecked and the students scatter, they must join forces to rescue the teacher.
Liberty Belle gets a few old-timey slang expressions as a nod to her Golden Age origins. And I like that Harley’s permission slip for the field trip is signed “Harley’s Mom.” And hey, dinosaurs are always cool.
This volume is suitable for fourth-graders on up, though the Zeus thing may lead to some uncomfortable conversations, much like Greek mythology in general.
The writing and art are both acceptable, and boys should be able to enjoy this though the target audience is girls.
Recommended for fans of the cartoon.
And let’s have a video!
