DC Comics Secret Hero Society, Book 3 - Detention of Doom

Clark, Bruce, and Diana return to school in Scholastic's third book of the DC Comics Super Hero Society series, Detention of Doom.  Written by Derek Fridolfs and drawn by Dustin Nguyen (of Li'l Gotham fame), this series has been a real delight, and this book is no exception.

(And just in case you are wondering, yes, Clark is Superman, Bruce is Batman, and Diana is Wonder Woman - DC Comic's big three, so to speak - although in this series, they are far from big - they are elementary school students in Gotham City, and, as can be expected, they must face off against villainous crimes in each story)

Detention of Doom begins with a simple award ceremony - the award for bravery, the peace prize, and even a participation award.  While Bruce is somewhat bored with the ceremony, finding the whole thing to be frivolous, it soon turns out to be anything but when Clark's award suddenly causes him to disappear!  With the help of Barry (Allen a/k/a the Flash) and Victor (Stone a/k/a Cyborg), Bruce and Diana begin to investigate what has happened to their friend.  All roads lead to Lex Luthor, but they cannot find any evidence to prove he did something to Clark.

Needless to say, the frustration gets to them, and when Diana accidentally drops Clark's award, the group of super-friends suddenly find themselves ... well, somewhere else.

I love the fact that Fridolfs and Nguyen increase the cast of these books with each volume.  What started out as just Clark, Bruce, and Diana has now expanded to include Barry, Victor, Oliver, Joker, and Harley, as well as appearances in this volume of Doomsday and Bizarro (and even a brief appearance by Bat-zarro).  The story is not dumbed down at all, despite starring the heroes as children and with a target audience of young readers; instead, Fridolfs and Nguyen tell a fun story of adventure and team-work as the super-friends desperately try to find the missing Clark and then escape from the detention of doom in this other-worldly place.

The inter-mixing of comic panels with screen-texts between the kids, as well as photos from Bruce's robotic drone and messages in Bruce's online diary, to tell the story keeps it fresh and makes the reader feel as if they are a part of the search and rescue.  And the heroes' adventure in this "phantom zone" is full of lessons on trust, team work, and patience, and it's fun to see the characters learn as they go to depend on each other's strengths, as well as compensate for one another's weaknesses.

There's obviously no doubt the heroes escape their time in detention, but the turning of tables at the end of the story will bring a smile to any reader's face.

Thankfully, I see on www.amazon.com that a fourth book is scheduled to be released in March of next year, so that pretty much tells me this series is still successful (which I'm happy to see, since so many series that I really enjoy end up getting cancelled pretty quickly).

RATING:  8 time-out rooms out of 10 for proving that detention can be just as much a learning experience as the regular classroom!