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Mild Mannered Reviews - Super Friends

Super Friends #28

Super Friends #28

Scheduled to arrive in stores: June 9, 2010

Cover date: August 2010

"Riddle Me This"

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

Reviewed by: Adam Dechanel

Click to enlarge


For a team of puzzlers Riddler, Cluemaster, Signalman, Angle Man, The Calculator and The Puzzler are very indecisive. They are struggling to forge a new brain teasing plot for their enemies the Super Friends. They are about to disband when a television report inspires them. An elderly professor has a stone tablet with a strange riddle on it leading to an unimaginable treasure.

"I WAIT BENEATH HIS COLOSSAL STRIDES ACROSS ROADS. THIRTY-SIX AND TWENTY-SEVEN ABOVE. TWENTY-EIGHT AND THIRTEEN TO THE SUN. WITHIN ME LIES WONDER BEYOND IMAGINATION"

However the puzzle is so difficult he has turned to the Super Friends! After all, Superman is super smart, Batman is a great detective, and Wonder Woman has the wisdom of Athena, who better? The puzzlers are livid and decide they will outfox the Super Friends and solve the puzzle even if they have to play dirty!

The plot begins immediately a black plume of smoke appears in the Metropolis sky forming the sign for danger while the faces of the Puzzler, Cluemaster and a golden eagle appear with a warning:

"AU, COME AND GET US, SUPER FRIENDS! WE'RE WAITING IN THE HEART OF THE MAIZE"

Batman recognizes elements of the puzzle and that it is about to lead to a great Challenge of the Super Friends! Superman spots that Maize is spelt the same way as the crop, Batman that AU is the chemical symbol of gold and Wonder Woman sees the eagle is the military symbol of a Colonel... Puzzler and Cluemaster await them in The Golden Kernel Corn Company factory!

The team splits with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman chasing the tablet puzzle while Green Lantern, Flash and Aquaman try to catch the villains. The puzzle is a giant maze with the criminals in the center only the villains had thought the puzzle would take the heroes hours to solve, not seconds! Flash vibrates through the walls and Green Lantern uses his ring to make himself a phantom so he can float through! Aquaman meanwhile uses markers so he can find his way but even though they beat the maze in record time the villains give them the slip!

Meanwhile the remainders of both teams solve the puzzle but the villains arrive first to claim the prize! Batman is suspicious and turns to the elderly professor, realizing the puzzle is a fake! The professor smiles and transforms right before their eyes into: The Duke of Deception! The original puzzle written in latin had a British pun for the word 'roads' and longitude was not even invented at the time the puzzle was supposedly written. Batman could have kicked himself. The trap however had been set and when the puzzlers open the treasure chest, an indestructible golem begins to grow from inside it rising up from the ocean floor.

The Duke lived for evil tricks and he had not only succeeded in tricking the world's smartest heroes but the villains as well! This treasure was a mechanical automaton with a super mechanical brain capable of counteracting any attack it can calculate. Sure enough despite their best efforts the heroes cannot defeat their foe. The Riddler much to the surprise of his friends suggests they help, after all if the Duke succeeds in destroying the planet - what will THEY rule?

Using their superior intellect they begin bombarding the golem with puzzles, the most difficult puzzles in the world - ones with no answer! Overloaded with calculating the Golem begins to shudder and stutter leaving him open to the Super Friends attack. They quickly recapture and seal the golem in his chest again before capturing the Duke. To their surprise Superman and his friends turn to the puzzling team and thank them. Flash points out that they haven't actually done anything wrong today, but Batman is less friendly, pointing out he'll be watching them if they step out of line.

Until tomorrow then...

4Story - 4: A nice brain teasing story that if you like puzzles and villains like Riddler, Puzzler, Calculator and the others you'll definitely get a kick out of it! The stories are issue by issue steadily growing more reminiscent of their namesakes in animated form many years ago. I'd recommend if you like this book and if you or your children are hungry for more, pick up one of the Super Friends DVDs. This issue proves they aren't as outdated as some believe them to be.

I love that Superman is recognized as super smart, not just super muscle.

4Art - 4: The art is evolving as well, the giganto limbs seem to be phasing out which is a welcome change and work towards making the characters far more accessible, but I'm not so sure about the Riddler being so... musclebound!

3Cover Art - 3: A fitting cover - pardon the pun. The series covers are really growing as weeks go by, but I wish the covers were being released as a poster book or computer wallpapers. It's a shame the covers aren't utilized more.

Mild Mannered Reviews

2010

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

January 2010

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