JL8: THE BEST NEW THING

All in all, it has been a very good week. I got a lot of things I really wanted, including my triumphant return from podunk-but-picturesque Kentucky to my beautiful urban hellscape, the first new episode of Dr. Who and a national convention speech that actually referred to facts and math (love you, Bubba!). But amidst all this awesome, JL8, the actual best new thing about this week, caught me completely by surprise.

JL8 is a webcomic by independent creator Yale Stewart. Stewart re-imagines popular DC comics superheroes and villians as elementary school students. A little Superman crushing on wee-Wonder Woman and speechifying on doing the right thing on the playground, bite-sized Batman sent to timeout and LOVING IT... sure, it's sweet enough in concept.

But where Stewart really breaks through is execution. Things like costume changes (Batman always has to be edgier) cleverly draw extra attention to Stewart's economic, effective and occasionally gorgeous artwork. And from a writing perspective, the dialogue, storylines, mood and characterization are pitch perfect. Let me repeat. Pitch. Perfect.

This is coming from a guy who has read every issue of the past year's Justice League reboot: the grown-ups could learn a lot from their cuddly counterparts.

Witty, adorable and sincere, JL8 is simply one of the best comics of the year, the best take on this classic team in a decade, as and it's you get it for FREE.

Best new thing. Don't sleep on it.