Even Superheroes Sleep

My wife and I are parents. Both of us believe in the importance of reading so we have compiled a pretty nice library for our little bundle of joy. I believe in the importance of reading comics so I have been compiling the baby's first comic library.

Despite being a Marvel zombie, I have to admit, DC is winning when it comes to baby books. Marvel puts out is Superhero Squad version of MCU characters. These are stylized versions of the regular charters. These big headed heroes may be more kid friendly, but they feel like a gimmicky money grab. They are an added step before the normal heroes are introduced. Versions that will be grown out of and need to be replaced. DC, on the other hand, offers their full size versions right from the start.

This isn't to say that DC's board books don't have issues. They are great, but they make a few missteps. Take, Even Superheroes Sleep, a great nighttime read for your little tyke. Except the first pages of sleepytime super-folk is this,

Now you will go to sleep, or I will put you to sleep.

Now there is no original art in these books that I can tell. DC is just pulling from their catalog of art for these books. This is the best they could come up with for a children's book? You can't even see Bat's face! I mean really! They got a nice Denny O'Neil or Jim Aparo Batman for the cover. Then boom page one is Mike Mignola nightmare fuel!

It gets better as it goes on. DC includes a the trinity, Bats, Supes & Wonder Woman. The scan is pretty poor of WW, but I really like this page. Good robot fighting action.

Also included with their own page are Hawkman & Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Flash, Supergirl, and Plastic Man. Plas, makes appearances in other books too. Kids no doubt like him, but he is not very prominent in the DCU. Maybe they'll bring back the Plastic-Man Comedy Adventure Show.

Maybe not

One other miscue is the lack of minorities in the book. I know folks love Hal, but John Stewart, no relation, will be the GL in the DCU movies, so why not drop him in there or Steel or Vibe or Black Lightning, or Katana or anyone. Ok Cyborg gets dropped in there on the big montage plash in the back.

What do you mean small?

This is just another missed opportunity though. "Super Heroes big and small.." should definitely featured the Atom and Apache Chief.

Ok I know I pointed out the failings a bit heavily, but I really like this book and the series of DC board books. We have 4 now and I want to get the Villians, Wonder Woman, & Busy Bodies books too.