Review – Itty Bitty Comics: The Mask #1 (Dark Horse Comics)

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer(s): Art Baltazar, Franco
Artist(s): Art Baltazar, Franco
Release Date: 12th November 2014

I honestly don’t know what to say about this book. The Itty Bitty series as a whole has been fairly enjoyable for me, Itty Bitty Hellboy was actually a really fun book to read and appealed to all literally all ages, from the youngest reader to the oldest.

This however is a different story. To say that I hated it would be harsh, but not all that far off the mark. Story-wise it just felt cheapened with the same gag that, while quite funny the first time, was just grating by the end. It’s not that it’s written badly, I just found it quite lazy and trope-tastic. Although at the same time, I actually have to give it marks for not having an animal wear the mask at some point.

I think the reason the book falls down is in the inception. Mask as an original story was very dark, and the film, while not as black, was still not the sort of film you would sit down and watch with your Sunday dinner! There was a certain depth to the story that just seems to have been thrown out of the window here in favour of cheap jokes and sight gags.

Now I’ll fully admit that maybe I’m just not the target audience, in so much as this comic would definitely appeal to a much younger generation than myself. The art is definitely more skewed towards a younger set of eyes, in a way that Skottie Young tends to be a hit with “the kids”.

So hey, maybe the book just isn’t meant for me, and for that I can totally understand the direction that it has taken. It does however, mean that i am unable to give it a sore, as I honestly don’t think that my own score would fairly reflect how the book would be received if it was given to it’s intended audience. What I will say is that if you have young kids and want to give them something that they’ll probably enjoy and will draw their attention for a while, then this is most definitely the book for you/them.

Chris_Avatar The writer of this piece was: Chris Bennett
Article: And Now For Something Completely Different
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