Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Cartoon Network Action Pack #28

By Leroy Douresseaux
September 12, 2008 - 15:19

Min S. Ku's cover illustration for Cartoon Network Action Pack #28

Cartoon Network Action Pack is an anthology series for young readers from Johnny DC, an imprint of DC Comics that focuses on kids’ comics.  Cartoon Network Action Pack takes action-based animated series from cable’s, Cartoon Network, and adapts them into comic book short stories, with stories running from two to eight pages.

Cartoon Network Action Pack #28 offers 19 pages of cool story fun (and 13 pages of adds?!).  First up, is an 8-page Ben 10 Alien Force (“Bad Boy”) which has Ben Tennyson and Gwen Tennyson joining forces with Kevin Levin against the Highbreed and their DNAlien servants.  But is Kevin, a former Ben nemesis, really reformed and on the right side?  Then, in Samurai Jack, Aku tries to convince two kids what an awful guy Jack is with a phony fairytale in “Aku’s Fairy Tales: Sleeping Beauty.”  Finally, Codename: Kids Next Door face something worse that tyrannical adults – a dictatorial public relations agent in “Operation: I.M.P.R.O.V.E.”

In previous issues, the Ben 10/Ben 10 Alien Force tales tend to dominate, but this time around, the “supporting players” are the stars.  Jim Alexander’s Samurai Jack mini-story is a really novel comic fantasy that captures a sly, funny side of the menacing Aku.  I’ve never really bothered with K.N.D., but I like this story enough to want to try some episodes of the long-running Cartoon Network kiddie sci-fi, action/adventure.  Once again, Cartoon Network Action Pack is a winning comic book for young readers.

B+

 

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12