BATMAN: LI'L GOTHAM #1
by Dustin Nyugen and Derek Friedolfs
I almost didn't write this review. But Li'l Gotham is such a good deal! You get a 23 page story on the day it comes out for only a buck! And it's actually pretty funny too!
I guess that this was DC's last minute answer to Marvel's A-Babies vs X-Babies (My comic shop ran out of this. I had no idea that it appealed to others that much!). The premise of Li'l Gotham, is that these chibi-like versions of members of the Bat Family go on various funny adventures on different holidays of the year. This issue is filled with funny and cute slapstick humor. Despite this being out of canon, and meant for comedy, Nyugen and Fredolfs actually get Damian's dialogue down pretty well. It's the same kind of Damian humor we should be getting in Tomasi's Batman and Robin. Damian randomly and hilariously beats down various costumed kids on Halloween, mistaking them for the actual villains of Gotham (But what kind of person in their right mind would let their kid go trick or treating in Gotham? Haven't they ever read Batman: Haunted Knight?), which leads to some great jokes.
Nyugen's art is just gorgeous to look at. He makes everyone fit into this happy little Gotham, and the watercolors fit this too. I think that if Nyugen used traditional inks and colors, the book would look too dark, more along the lines of his Streets of Gotham run (despite the chibis).
Li'l Gotham is a comedic run through Gotham, which is nice for a quick one dollar laugh.
STORY: 4/5
ART: 4/5
VERDICT: 4/5
Just to clarify...it's not an answer to Marvel's baby comics. Just convenient timing that might mistake it as such, since both were released around the same time. But we did two original Lil Gotham short comics back in 2009 annuals, and have been pitching to get it as a longer project both before and after that.
ReplyDeleteI discuss a little bit more about it and other projects on my blog:
http://dfridolfs.blogspot.com
All that said...thanks for liking the comic. We're having a blast putting it together!