Written by: Louise Simonson
Art by: Derek Charm
Publisher: IDW
Do you want to throw any and all semblance of logic out the window for fifteen minutes? Then you should definitely pick up Super Secret Crisis War #1. But this is not a book that should in any way be taken seriously, largely because it doesn’t take itself seriously, and that’s something that actually benefits the book. This is a crossover between all the old Cartoon Network characters, so you have Dexter, the Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, and others all sharing this one book, which is pretty cool.
Essentially, each of their major villains (Aku, Mandark, Vigax, and Mojo Jojo) have somehow come together to form the League of Extraordinary Villains. Their plan is simple – capture the heroes, and conquer the multiverse of Cartoon Network shows. Why not, right? Anyways, this issue is a lot of set up for the rest of the series, introducing the heroes and villains, though this is a very villain-centric issue. The heroes are only present for short periods of time, and so we get some really great interplay between the villains. Louise Simonson has a great handle on the characters, and their interactions actually manage to pretty funny.
That being said, there isn’t any interplay between the heroes, who get only a few lines of dialogue throughout the entire issue, and have very little to actually do. They mostly just sit around while the villains take control of the plot. Aside from confrontations with numerous robots, the heroes don’t seem all that integral to this issue. The battles with the robots, of course, are pretty great to watch unfold. Each of the heroes deals with them in a very different way, and it makes for some very enjoyable entertainment, even though it is all kind of mindless.
Sure, this issue is pretty well written, but it is very, very mindless. It lacks substance. That may largely stem from it being a first issue, but that doesn’t exactly excuse it. Of course, that shouldn’t be a huge surprise, since many of these cartoons are/were quite mindless. Super Secret Crisis War is fun and entertaining enough, to keep its head above water for this issue, but that doesn’t quite make up for the fact that its goal seems to be to kill as many brain cells as possible.
