Luke Owen reviews Super Secret Crisis War #1…
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 world’s 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 interdimensional conquest!
Since Marvel’s The Avengers, the idea of crossing franchises over seems to be the new golden ticket to success. Warner Bros. and DC are looking to expand their universe in the next few years kicking off with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and there will always be talk of an X-Men/Fantastic Four crossover. Of course, in comics this is nothing new, but that doesn’t stop a crossover feel like a big event, particularly when it doesn’t happen very often. Last year’s Worlds Collide was a brilliant read and one of the best comics of the year and Archie are looking to repeat the success with Dawn of X.
And so, here we are with possibly the wackiest of all crossovers – Super Secret Crisis War, a comic that brings together the stars of Cartoon Network.
You’ll be pleased to know it’s just as wacky – and brilliant – as it sounds.
Super Secret Crisis War doesn’t waste any time in having our bad guys get down to their plan as the newly formed League of Extraordinary Villains use robots to trap all of the Cartoon Network’s Universe’s greatest heroes including Samurai Jack, Ben 10, Dexter and the Powerpuff Girls and… Ed, Edd and Eddy. The last one was by accident.
There isn’t really much that needs to be said about Super Secret Crisis War other than it is a lot of fun. And I mean, a lot of fun. Louise Simonson has nailed a great script that is light in tone and genuinely funny, but also doesn’t exclude those who are coming in with little knowledge of the Cartoon Network world. The characters (both good and bad) are all given defined characters and are introduced without it being heavy handed in dialogue exposition. It’s a tremendous success.
The art by Derek Charm captures the Cartoon Network look and feel and manages to get all the different styles into one cohesive unit so Ben 10 doesn’t look out of place next to Samurai Jack.
As a first issue, Super Secret Crisis War is a knock out success and it has set a high bar for future issues – as well as the spin offs. Those who grew up with 90s Cartoon Network will be pleased to see that everyone’s favourite cool guy Johnny Bravo will be making an appearance in the first one-shot, which will run alongside the main Super Secret Crisis War story – and it all looks like so much fun.
If you’re looking for a quick read that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, this will be right up your alley.
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published June 25, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
