I’m going to review a trade that came out a while back because I enjoy the characters, the story and the concept.
I used to be such a fan of Cartoon Network, a cable channel I rarely turn on any longer. There were so many fun shows I enjoyed … now, it’s likely aimed at a much younger demographic with Uncle Grandpa and Clarence and the like. All I can say is, “Yuck.”
Here’s the description of the trade, which should already be available in local comics shops: “The devious demon Aku has called together a League of Extraordinary Villains—composed of malevolent miscreants from different cartoon universes. When their evil robots show up in the worlds of The Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10, Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory and (even) Ed, Edd and Eddy, it’s up to all these fearless heroes to band together and put an end to the League’s nefarious plot of inter-dimensional conquest!”
Written by Louise Simonson, a name many of us who read comics are familiar with, the book contains excellent art by Derek Charm, who effortlessly integrates all the different show styles into one story. This originally was released in a monthly format, but it’s now collected so we can all keep it handy when we miss these guys and gals.
Even the title is fun, alluding to Marvel’s Secret Wars event and DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. The explanation about why the characters look so different from each other is that they come from different versions of the Earth. It helps the story along since Aku wants to destroy an Earth to get the heroes to go along with his nefarious plan.
I’ve seen all the shows involved in this crossover, so there was no mystery to me. However, if you haven’t seen these programs, there’s enough explanation for you to understand just what’s happening.
Of course, evil doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process, so not all of the villains ultimately stand by Aku’s side.
We also see the good guys and gals take on robotic versions of themselves (very Justice League of Ms. Simonson), so we see the heroes have to wade through a LOT of opposition. That’s good because it keeps our interest level high.
Of course, the tough part is bringing Ed, Edd and Eddy, who have no powers, into the fray. Simsonson comes up with a pretty interesting way to make that happen. Oh, and there’s also a squirrel on their side, and it comes from a special featuring Johnny Bravo, of all people. Too bad Johnny didn’t make it instead!
I love team-ups a lot, and seeing these very different characters take on their often very different foes was a great deal of fun. Simonson also brought in a lot of the familiar elements of the shows, so that was enjoyable as well. Ben 10 is even shown in the latest version of the person, which I thought was wonderful. His robot duplicates switched aliens as he did, something I’ve never seen before.
If you enjoyed (and miss) these programs like I do, you’ll find this to be a terrific read, scratching the itch that we’ve felt ever since many of them left the air. Don’t miss it!
Check out two cool crossover covers from the series below:
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