A Light Review, “Lil Gotham”

Here’s a fun little number. My youngest wasn’t sure about this, but she’s learning how to read and we’ve been enjoying a little Lego Batman on the Xbox 360 lately (so retro!), so it seemed right up her alley.

Also, it was free.

Li’l Gotham is a promotional comic on the shelf at the local comic book shop that we found when hunting for the ever elusive Alterna Comics in the wild.

As a brief aside:  You can nab the Alterna game online, but it’s always more fun to find those diamonds you can grab for yourself amid the mounds and piles of rubbish.  My local shop deals with Diamond, so they mostly have the socially acceptable fare on order, but Diamond seems to throw a few rare copies of Alterna Comics their way.  You just have to be quick about it.  I did grab Zero Jumper #1 in the store, but had to order #2 and #3 online.  When #4 hits the shelves, I’ll cross my fingers and try to grab it there.

Support your local hobby shop…before it’s too late!

Something about the clean lines and understated hues of the water color style artwork appealed to me.  So I sat her down and rubbed her face in it, and am glad I did.  So is she.  The stories are light holiday fare.  The first shows Batman explaining Halloween to Robin – a Robin whose childhood was not as an acrobat, but whose parents where some sort of mad scientists.  Not sure which Robin that makes this, as I don’t follow mainline DC all that closely.  On page two Robin leaps at Batman’s rogues gallery and starts laying down a serious beating before Batman explains they are just kids in costumes.  Robin is unimpressed and thinks the beatings should continue just to be on the safe side.

My kind of kid.

The second story offers up a Thanksgiving story about…is Oswald Cobblepot the real name of The Penguin?  He wants to save the birds on Thanksgiving, and enlists the help of the penguins to set their people free.  Yeah, that’s exactly the kind of story that makes my daughter giggle, and exactly the kind of story I want in my kids’ comics.

Well written for the younger set, the drama rises almost to the level of a classic Archie comic, which is perfect.  The art features near Calvin and Hobbes level cuteness with just enough grit to grab hold of.  It’s also the proud owner of a mercifully low woke-quotient.  If you wanted to introduce Gotham to your littlest kids, you could do a lot worse than this fun little bit of swag.  I may just have to keep an eye out for

Giving money to DC?  I hate to give money to people that hate me, but there’s also some value in putting your money where your mouth is.  My bills on the counter are a strong indicator of, “More of this please,” and so long as they keep it light and kid-friendly, I won’t regret it.