Tiny Titans Vol. 1: Welcome to the Treehouse - Softcover

Born in Chicago, Art Baltazar found his way early to comic book art and has been cartooning ever since he can recall, self-publishing in 1994 with such titles as The Cray-Baby Adventures, Gyro-Man, Captain Camel & the Space Chicken, Jimmy Dydo, Lunar Lizard, Meteor Mite and the famous Patrick the Wolf Boy. Art also created an autobiographical graphic novel called The Big Amoeba for Platinum Studios. He lives outside of Chicago with his wife, Rose, and their children Sonny, Gordon, and Audrey.

Bronx-born writer and artist Franco Aureliani has been drawing comics since he could hold a crayon. Currently residing in upstate New York with his wife, Ivette, and son, Nicolas, he spends most of his days in his Batcave-like studio where he produces DC's Tiny Titans comics. In 1995, Franco founded Blindwolf Studios, an independent art studio where he and fellow creators can create children's comics. Franco is the creator, artist and writer of Weirdsville, L'il  Creeps, and Eagle All Star, as well as the co-creator and writer of Patrick the Wolf  Boy. When he's not writing or drawing, Franco also teaches high school art.

Mainstays of comic books since the 1960s, and stars of two generations of cartoons, the Teen Titans are morphed into Tot Titans for a series aimed at younger audiences. Adventures that include “welcoming” a new principal, getting a new dog, babysitting younger siblings, and fighting for one’s spot in the playground are told in gag vignettes, most lasting 2-3 pages. The art is pleasantly funky, filled with motion and lively color, but the book as a whole proves a difficult example of audience selection. An in-depth knowledge of current Teen Titans continuity is necessary to distinguish between the massive cast of characters and to understand the relationships between them that many of the punch lines rely on; and references to such obscure touchstones as the movie Fight Club would make this a somewhat bizarre choice for most young readers. For large collections, this would be a good offering for young fans of the Teen Titans cartoon or those readers who are super-hero crazy, but too young for DC’s Adventures titles. Includes games and posters. Preschool-Grade 2. --Jesse Karp