Battling BoyPaul Pope stop hitting me in the face! Stop hitting me in the face with a brand new kid hero to enjoy. Hey DC Comics, remember your plan to get people interested in your comics and how it failed and makes no sense, you should have just put Paul Pop and the people from First Second in charge. A compelling read Mr. Pope now get you fists outta my face so I can properly surmise and grade your book.
Battling Boy start off nothing to do with our main heroic kid, but featured a 1920's pulp comic world and a hero taking down child-stealing mummy wrapped monsters. Battling Boy doesn't show up until we meet his hero of heroes Dad. Battling Boy is told he must head off on a quest of hos own to become a real hero. His Dad sets him up with what seems to be Earth, an Earth devastated by monsters in the massive city called Acropolis. Now BB must take on the role of the new hero using his magical t-shirts. Wait, what?
This new gimmick is kind of fun, though you've kind of seen a sort of version of it with Ben 10? Battling Boy was given 12 shirts, each with it's own power. The shirts can even talk to BB in his mind. Each give him the power or skills of the animal on the shirts he wears, Hot Topic, major shirt companies you may want to get a line of these ready for when the book hits. Ooh, hope there's a special edition down the line where you can pre-order a book and get a shirt.
Skipping ahead, this isn't a one time tale. Pope leaves room for future stories and much more to explore. A big reveal that shows Battling Boy is just at the start of his adventures in Acropolis and needs help.
As much as it's Battling Boy's start it is also the start of Aurora West, daughter of Hagard West's the former hero of Acropolis. We see her learning her paces and maybe teaming up with BB in a later volume. We also see how Acropolis is run, by both the Mayor and by the underworld, it's a vibrant world to look into. There's a seedy monster/villain bar to check out of Looney Tunes cartoon, most people don't drink paint thinner with a drop of Plutonium in it.
Our new hero messes up along the way to becoming the city's new champion. He's fight with a car eating monster proves too much for him, but he still remains on top through lying, which does cost him later on. It's a coming of age story and it's hard on a kid meant to be a hero.
These fights, including the one with the monster are long and drawn out, instead of the the subtle fight you see in most DC and Marvel tales. It's a real comic that's free to develop story and a fight scene to it's fullest, so it makes an impact on you the reader and a monster's face.
Paul Pope pulls more punches with his wonderful art style that brings to life his new hero and world that's fine to pick up for a young reader just coming into comics or someone who misses the classics and simple one world story.
Paul Pope makes a new hero worth reading that it should be a weekly or monthly affair, waiting for possibly months to a year is just too much time. I want to know what happens next, damn they'll have some omnibus down the line years from now.
