Tag: DC Zoom

BONUS REVIEW: Black Canary: Ignite by Meg Cabot

BONUS REVIEW: Black Canary: Ignite by Meg Cabot

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and DC Zoom in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Thirteen-year-old Dinah Lance has big plans for her life. They start with winning the Battle of the Bands with her best friends Kat and Vee. Then she’s going to join the Gotham City Junior Police Academy and make a difference in her city by stopping bad guys, just like her dad.

But Detective Lance is the first roadblock to her plans. He doesn’t want Dinah anywhere near criminals or danger.

Then there are all these weird accidents at school. Dinah always seems to be around when they happen like when the trophy case broke or the backboard shattered. Her principal is itching to hang the blame on Dinah and kick her out of school. And there’s also a creepy caped figure stalking around and causing trouble for Dinah and her family.

Could Vee be right? Could Dinah have special powers that are causing these accidents? Would powers make her dad trust her to help fight crime? Or would they make him more likely pack her off to her grandmother’s to keep her “safe?”

Review

This was so fun! It’s a pretty simple middle school story. There are background characters like Batgirl and the Joker who anchor this in the Gotham/DC Universe. But the focus here is on Dinah, her family, and a villain named Bonfire who has it out for Dinah’s mom. Most of the story takes place at Dinah’s home and school, which also helps keep the story simple.

The origin story for Dinah is pretty simple, too. Weird things happen, and Dinah learns she’s responsible. She’s eventually told that her powers come from her mother. She gets some training to control them, and then her parents try to send her away for safety. When Bonfire makes a move, Dinah has to decide if she is ready to be the Black Canary and stay and fight for her friends and her family.

Graphic novel fans will love the art in this and will be able to jump into Dinah’s story without any trouble. As superhero stories go, this is pretty light fare as it is setting up whatever DC might choose to do with the character in the future.

This is a great new graphic novel from the folks at DC, and I can’t wait to see what they do next. DC Zoom graciously provided some photos from the interior of the book, and I chose three of my favorite moments – check these out!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: Books from DC Comics

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD: Books from DC Comics

Posted on by Jaymie

Superhero stories – and villain stories – are all the rage these days. Marvel has had a HUGE year at the box office while I feel like DC has done a better job with their print offerings. My emphasis for this post is on prose books and graphic novels that are original in that form, rather than graphic novels that are collections of comic books. You can read some of my reviews of DC books here. But there are other DC books I have enjoyed that I haven’t given a full review. Read about some of those books below as well as some things DC will be publishing in the coming months.

DC Backstories

I loved this line of books that gave the backstories for these DC superheroes (as well as Superman and Supergirl).
Rating: ♥♥♥♥

Super Hero High

I did a full review of the Batgirl story from this series, but I have read all of these. I am missing two books in the series to read – Harley Quinn and Bumblebee. Rating: ♥♥♥♥

Middle Grade Books

Flash: Hocus Pocus – I loved the first book in this Flash series! I haven’t kept up with the books (and now there is a new crossover series starting), but I liked how this one tied into the TV show, but was from a different timeline where Barry hadn’t gone back in time to change things (creating a slew of problems). The villain in this was legitimate and made for a very suspenseful story. Fans of the TV show should definitely check this series out. Rating: ♥♥♥♥ There’s also a Supergirl series like this, but I haven’t read any of those. Book one is called Age of Atlantis.

Study Hall of Justice – The first  Secret Hero Society book was fun. They are set up like the Jedi Academy books with comic panels, journal entries, etc. I did not like the art style for the first book, so I didn’t keep with it, but it looks like they changed artists with book 4, so I might have to try them again. Rating: ♥♥♥♥

DC Icons

I loved the idea of these DC Icons books – prose novels about the “heroes” as teens – so I read all four of them even though I have only posted a full review for Batman: Nightwalker. I thoroughly enjoyed the Wonder Woman story (Rating: ♥♥♥♥) and the Catwoman story (Rating: ♥♥♥♥), but the Superman book was a disappointment (Rating: ♥♥♥). The WW and Batman stories are being turned into graphic novels.

Early Readers/Chapter Books – Coming Soon

DC Super Hero Adventures – Four books release February 1, 2020 from DC including these two titles. It looks like these will be chapter books rather than graphic novels. I’m excited to see that!
DC Super Hero Girls at Metropolis High  – A new Super Hero Girls iteration launches on October 15, 2019. A second graphic novel in the series will release in spring 2020.
Winner Takes All – A chapter book starring Wonder Woman in Metropolis. Releases November 19, 2019. There may be a second book in the series releasing the same day.

Middle Grade – Coming Soon

Batman: Overdrive – Middle grade graphic novel releasing in March 2020.
Black Canary: Ignite (Dinah Lance) – Graphic novel, releasing October 29, 2019
Diana Princess of the Amazons – New graphic novel from the fantastic Shannon Hale releases in January 2020.
Field Trip Disaster – Book 5 in the Secret Hero Society series. Releases October 1, 2019.
Green Lantern: Legacy – New graphic novel releases in January 2020.
Super Sons: The Foxglove Mission – Book 2 in the Super Sons series releases on October 29, 2019
Zatanna and the House of Secrets – Middle grade graphic novel releasing in February 2020.

Teens – Coming Soon

Batman: Nightwalker Graphic Novel – Releases October 1, 2019
Gotham High (Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Jack Napier) – Graphic novel, releasing April 2020
The Oracle Code (Barbara Gordon) – Graphic novel, releasing March 2020
Shadow of the Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) – Graphic novel, releasing February 2020
Wonder Woman: Warbringer Graphic Novel – Releases in January 2020

REVIEW: Dear Justice League by Michael Northrop

REVIEW: Dear Justice League by Michael Northrop

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and DC Zoom in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Your favorite DC superheroes – Superman, Hawkgirl, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and others – fight crime and answer emails from fans like you!

  • Does Superman ever make mistakes?
  • Does Wonder Woman have any birthday advice for an almost-11-year-old girl who’s also growing up on an island (Long Island)?
  • Has Batman ever been the new kid in town?

This graphic novel shows all the heroics and all the answers to these questions and more

Review

This is a fun book with a clever set up. The Justice League has an alien invasion to deal with. But while they work, they also handle their messages from fans. Both the messages and the battles are shown in comic-style art panels.

I got a kick out of this! It’s funny and sarcastic. The heroes are a nice mix of the expected – Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman – and the less expected like Hawkgirl and Green Lantern.

The questions range from silly to serious, tackling typical kid concerns like new schools, birthdays and making big mistakes. I think graphic novel fans will enjoy the format of this, and DC fans will get a kick out of seeing their favorite heroes answer mail from fans.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Super Sons: Polar Shield Project by Ridley Pearson

REVIEW: Super Sons: Polar Shield Project by Ridley Pearson

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and DC Zoom in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

In a world plagued by climate disasters, Superman and Batman move their families inland to escape coastal flooding. Batman is working with the Polar Shield Project to hold global temperatures steady and eventually cool them and reverse some of the ecological damage. Superman is on a trip to Mars for a “dust” to help. Lois Lane (Kent) is working on the story.

Jonathan Kent, Superman’s son, and Ian Wayne, Batman’s son, find themselves in Wyndemere. They’re expected to keep their family secrets and blend in while their parents save the world.

Jon makes a friend at school, Tilly, who helps him get into the Daily Planet and secure internships so they can track Project Polar Shield – and find out why Lois hasn’t checked in.

Ian meets a mysterious girl named Candace and together the four kids start digging into a mysterious illness that’s moving through their region.

Review

I’ve been so excited about the new DC stories releasing for kids in 2019. But I was a little disappointed in this one.

Overall, I like the characters and the art. But the story is thin with some gaps. I realize that can happen with the graphic novel format. It’s hard to get the same level of depth and character development with a GN that you can with prose. But I have seen it done well in other instances. The creators came up with a way of displaying some internal monologues so you get the inner thoughts of the characters. But mostly they are short and full of teen attitude. While they fit the characters/voices well, they don’t do a lot to advance the story. This is first in a series, so there are plenty of things left open to develop in later books.

I think kids will enjoy the format and the characters. But I wanted more – more depth, more details, more character development. There’s plenty of backstory to establish some relationship details for the boys with their famous dads, but there are still some gaps I felt could have been addressed more fully. I hope book two will have some more of that depth I was looking for. Or maybe DC will add a prose novel or two to the line with these characters.

Rating: ♥♥♥