Sugar & Spike: Metahuman Investigations Trade PB

Sometimes, something you read truly surprises you, and in a really good way.  That is exactly what happened with Sugar & Spike.

Comic fans of an older age may recall that Sugar & Spike was a comedic comic book about two toddlers who always seemed to get themselves into a variety of scrapes.  The series ran from 1956 to 1971, and was created, written, and drawn by Sheldon Mayer, who did quite a bit of work for DC Comics back in the day.  It seems he was the only person to ever work on the title, and when his eyesight started to fail, rather than replace him, DC cancelled the series.

Flash-forward more than 40 years later, and in 2016, DC Comics published a 6-issue mini-series anthology title called Legends of Tomorrow (likely to cash-in on the new television show that also featured a hodge-podge of DC lesser-known characters).  The anthology featured stories starring Firestorm, Metal Men, Metamorpho, and...yup, you guessed it - Sugar & Spike.  Only, the Sugar & Spike in these tales were not toddlers, and they did not talk in baby-gibberesh.  In these six, single-issue adventures, Sugar & Spike are adult investigators, doing work for the superhuman community that the heroes want kept...well, let's just say, under the radar.

Such as finding and recovering those multi-colored Batman costumes from that age-old issue of Detective Comics.  Or finding out what is happening on that Superman-shaped island from the silver-age issue of Superman.  Or how about those green, monster-type people that are hiding in plain sight, one of whom Wonder Woman nearly married way back in that early issue of Wonder Woman?  Then, there's that problem with Colonel Computron (does anyone really remember him from The Flash?).  Of course, we can't forget Green Lantern's friend Itty (the silver age of comics really did come up with some oddities). And finally what happens when three eras of Legionnaires show up to try and prevent something that they already prevented?

The fact that these stories are written by Keith Giffen should have been my first clue that they were going to be good.  Let's face it, his run on Legion of Super-Heroes...his work on Justice League International and Justice League 3000/3001...his recent work on Blue Beetle - they are all shining examples of what a stellar writer he is.  The man knows how to take serious, interject just the right amount of humor into it, and make it thoroughly enjoyable!  The art by Bilquis Evely and Ivan Plascencia fits perfectly with the characters and stories.  Plus - c'mon, taking two toddlers from the early silver age, making them grown-ups and private detectives to boot - and giving them just the right amount of tension (plus dropping hints here and there about parts of their lives that we have yet to see) - it truly has the makings for some great tales.

And the final element that made these stories to wonderful - 20 page stories all done-in-one!  That's right, no 6-part epic to make it fit into a trade.  No "to be continued" at the end of each story.  Just 20 pages of story and art that has a great, fun story with characters you get to know pretty quickly, and action that is fast-paced, but no so fast that it blurs by you (no offense, Flash).  How many writers and artists in today's comic realm can you say have the ability to do that any more?  Not many!

Of the four tales put forth in Legends of Tomorrow, I honestly had no intention of reading Sugar & Spike.  I was aware of the comic from the '60s, and so figured this would just be some "dark knight" version.  Man, was I ever wrong!  This turned out to be my absolute favorite from the series, which is why I bought the trade and re-read the stories.  Now, if DC would only take a hint and give us a regular, ongoing series written by Keith Giffen - then I would be a truly happy camper!

RATING:  10 Tiffany Trueheart dolls out of 10 for some of the best comic stories of the decade!  Don't stop now, Giffen - give us more Sugar & Spike!!!!