Guess the Omnitrix was at half-power
Cartoon Network Action Pack #20
DC Comics (February, 2008)
WRITER: Robbie Busch COLORS: Heroic Age LETTERER: John J. Hill ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Rachel Gluckstern EDITOR: Joan Hilty Ben 10: “Intergalactic Spazz Club” ARTIST: Min S. Ku Ben 10: “Aqua Nut” PENCILER: Scott Cohn INKER: Scott Mcrae “BEN 10” CREATORS: Man Of Action “Samurai Jack: “Cool Hand Jack” ARTIST: Dan Davis
Two Ben 10 stories this issue. The first has Ben and kin going to a comic book convention and learning the writers of his favorite not-Sumo Slammers comic are actually aliens, and other aliens want to end the book but then this third set shows up and just out of nowhere say they’re promoting piece and the bad alien is all “oh, sorry”. Yeah, it’s like that. Also, I know when this comic was written Grandpa Max wasn’t revealed as a Plumber space cop, but was he faking not recognizing any of the alien races? Sure, they appear in the comic, but they’re based on real alien races. This story should have gone longer to flesh it out more.
The second story could have used a bit more time as well to flesh out the villain. Our heroes now end up at an aquarium and Ben gets on the wrong side of a guy who lost federal funding for his dolphin communicating research and decides to use the aquarium dolphins to go on a rampage…from in their pool. Even Ben’s “Ripjaws” form can be affected by the helmet, but not controlled. It’s not a bad story, like the first one, but it needed a bit more time.
The Samurai Jack story works better in the given length and…hey, it’s another Scotsman team-up, like the Samurai Jack comic I reviewed earlier this week. Funny how that worked out. This time Jack is sent a carrier pigeon from the Scotsman when he’s being held in a prison. Unfortunately the warder is waiting and the duo have to use their…well, Jack’s…wits to escape. While the Scotsman talks too much and Jack too little, that’s in keeping with their dynamic. Aku as a judge seems a bit unnecessary and the guard and his pal reuse the character models of a bounty hunter team from the TV show, but otherwise not a bad story.
This is the last of the Cartoon Network Action Pack comics I haven’t reviewed since the site started, at least as far as I recall. This was a pretty good but the Ben 10 stories are too short. Still might be worth a look. Tomorrow the focus shifts to Cartoon Network Featuring. Man, how many different anthology titles did Cartoon Network comics need? And some were started just after the old one ended, like changing the title was the problem. {shrugs}
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