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Mild Mannered Reviews - Super Friends

Super Friends #25

Super Friends #25

Scheduled to arrive in stores: March 10, 2010

Cover date: May 2010

"The Super Olympics of Space"

Writer: Sholly Fisch
Penciller: Dario Brizuela
Inker: Dario Brizuela
Cover: J. Bone

Reviewed by: Adam Dechanel

Click to enlarge



Aquaman skims through the ocean, The Flash zooms across the land and Green Lantern through the air, each passing the ceremonial Olympic Torch closer to its destination. Finally the torch arrives with Wonder Woman and the flame is lit, but London 2012 is in for a shock as the Super Friends disappear!

The heroes find themselves in an intergalactic Olympic games. It seems Rokk & Sorban, the rulers of Ventura, the Gambler's planet, have decided to hold a wager. The penalty to forfeit the games is to lose your home planet - Earth! Four teams fight for their planets, Daxamites (almost identical to Kryptonians), Dryads (living rockmen) and Durlans (shapeshifters) and of course the Super Friends - however all teams are reluctant to participate or lose. Superman suggests if they all tie in their events and nobody wins then no planet has to die, a good plan but the Durlans don't trust humans and decide to play to win.

The first event is a test of strength and Superman refuses to lose, with his might they come first! The next test proves difficult, it's a test of skill and Batman is pitted against some equally clever opponents. Sadly Batman is bested by a stretchy Durlan and comes second. Stamina is the next test and the opponents are shot at by all manner of weaponry but when lead bullets are being introduced Diana forfeits her event to save the Daxamite from their "kryptonite" in doing so she comes last! The final event is a relay across land, sea and air, The Flash easily bests the land, Aquaman narrowly beats a Daxamite and Green Lantern is next! Batman studies the league table and notices something - he whispers to John and as Aquaman arrives a plan is set in motion! Green Lantern begins the fastest but suddenly loses his will and falls behind to third place! The Venturans are gleeful at the thrilling event but when they calculate which planet must die they realize a terrible conundrum... all the opponents scores are equal! No losers!

Rokk and Sorban decide on a rematch but though Batman agrees he has another challenge - Venturans must compete too! Over a barrel the two ringmasters turn chicken and reveal their machinations. They only threatened competitors to make them try harder, they never would have destroyed any planets. Flash points out that for the chance to be Olympic Champion of the Universe people would be begging to take part - no threats needed. The other opponents apologize along with the Venturans. They were willing to do anything to win - even cheat but the Super Friends taught them about sportsmanship!

Wonder Woman smiles and yells "Let the Games Begin!"

SECRET CODE: XOLI SPPEO, INO PEVOY CYSOXRP CKMO K DKQSMKZ DSL-EV GSIN NBMEP KXR VBMEP!

Activities:

Spot the Durlan Puzzle, Go For Gold Medal Kit, Up Up and Away Exercise chart

4Story - 4: With this story all the stops are pulled out for this 25th issue. Superheroes rarely compete in games or competitions and this was a welcome change of pace. It really did give the book an event feel that the mainstream books could learn from! We knew the Super Friends would win but the thrill was seeing them succeed even when failure was almost certain. Triumph over adversity is a beautiful thing! The schmaltzy final four panels were the only thing that soured it for me but not too much! Great issue for the family - the exercise chart was a nice addition - I might even use it myself!

4Art - 4: The art lends itself superbly to the story this issue, you really felt like you were watching it live and were cheering for your heroes and frowning at the cheats. When an artist nails escapism it's a fantastic all round experience!

4Cover Art - 4: Olympians! A lot of fun is being had on this cover - you can tell when a hero winks at the audience that it's been fun and not a labor, it suits the story brilliantly. My gripe? This is issue 25 and I was hoping for a more iconic cover for it.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2010

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

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