Comic Book Reviews: Batman '66 #12 and Cartoon Network Super Secret Crisis War #1

How did two books miss their hype SO badly?



Batman '66 I can understand. They hadn't pushed issue #12 as much and they were due for a weak issue. But the Cartoon Network crossover seemed content to rest on its laurels and not push itself.

None of the characters really felt in character besides Aku (I can't speak to Ben 10's characters as I never watched it) and they spent no time setting up the villains. They got one page after the plan was already in place.

Isn't it Crossover 101 that you give the moments the characters meet each other before you get into the plot?

Well apparently Cartoon Network is trying something new. And by new, I mean worse. The art was passable, but nothing special and a lot of characters looked slanted or thinned out.

To the positives, though, they knew to have the villains trash-talk each other (though they only used two villains' henchmen despite all of them having them at times) and the sheer spectacle of what was happening is a great accomplishment. Heck, they even made it so that Ed, Edd and Eddy didn't feel forced into the story.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the heroes bounce off each other, but only if the writer starts to hone in on the characters' speech patterns. I give this issue a 7.4/10.

As for Batman '66, the two stories had very similar plots and neither was done that well.

The art was only solid for one story, though the other had a great old costume callback dating to the movie serials.

(Does that make the movie serials canon with the show?)

In the video, I gave the book 7.3, but I'm thinking I overrated it.

My true score for it is going to be 6.9/10.

Here's hoping for better next month from both.