Review: Tiny Titans #10

Tiny Titans #10 was released on Wednesday but really it read more like a Tiny World's Finest, starring occasional Titans Supergirl and Batgirl. Here was the promo lines.

It's girl's day out as Supergirl and Batgirl try to find the perfect location for a tea party. Let's just hope they don't forget about Steaky and Ace!

It was a fun read for a number of reasons. It also was further testament that 2008 is The Year of Streaky.

The issue starts out with this opening panel joke about the flight capabilities of the Super-Pets! Check it out! A Comet appearance! And, as always, Kara is serenely floating above ground.

But on to the main story.

Supergirl gets permission from cousin Kal to play with the Titans. He reminds her that she needs to feed Streaky before she can go. But she is so excited, she just flies off.

A hungry Streaky discovers his empty bowl. After watching Krypto gobble up lunch, he decides to fly off after Supergirl so he can get fed.

In the meantime, Batgirl asks Commissioner Gordon for permission to play with the Titans as well. He says she can after she feeds Ace the Bat-Hound. Ace the Bat-Hound!

Overcome with excitement as well, she also leaves before feeding her pet. In perhaps my favorite bit of the book, she leaves the house on her tricycle in a clear homage to how the Yvonne Craig Batgirl left hers on the old Adam West Batman TV show. I am showing my age here ... but I wonder how many readers got the reference.

Ace discovers his empty bowl and runs after Batgirl.

The two girls arrive and find the Titans deserted. They decide to have a play date together. And what better fin than a tea party. They decide to play in Gotham City and leave the tower.

Streaky and Ace arrive to late, and realizing they are on a similar mission team up to chase down their owners and get fed.

It turns out that Gotham isn't the best place to have a quiet tea party. Killed Kroc shows up and begins to eat garbage. Horrified by this, the girls decide they need to set up somewhere else. They decide to try Metropolis and so leave.

Streaky and Ace show up shortly thereafter and let Kroc know who they are looking for. He points the way they should go.

Unfortunately, it turns out that Metropolis isn't a good place for a tea party either. Bizarro shows up and showers them with crumbs from his messy potato chip eating. Disturbed by his crumbs and confused by his backwards speech, they leave to find a neutral site for their tea party.

Alas, the hungry pets show up too late again but are shown the way to go by a surprisingly helpful Bizarro.

Finally, at a quiet neutral site, the tea party commences. Shortly after starting, the girls hear crying and whimpering. Realizing that heroes would investigate these noises, the girls follow the noises only to discover it is their hungry pets whimpering.

Oh the humanity!

The girls set up the tea party again, this time with some yummy food for their pets. And then to thank the folks who pointed the pets in the right direction, Kroc and Bizarro get an invite as well.

I have talked in the past about how oddly enjoyable this title has been. It is hard to say it is solely for kids when things like Yvonne Craig references are made. And while not present in this issue, it has shown some continuity hooks or at least the need for a superficial knowledge of Titans history to understand it fully.

The truth is it is a perfect bridge book for parents like me trying to get their children into comics. It is silly and innocuous enough for the Johnny DC group while throwing enough bones at folks like me to not have me cringe when I read it.

I mean I got to talk about Comet with the supergirls at home. One of them even tried to opposite-talk like Bizarro for a bit after reading the issue together.

As a result, I really cherish this book, especially when Supergirl stars.

Overall grade: a silly but satisfying A