DC Zoom Sampler
by Ridley Pearson, Shea Fontana, Meg Cabot

The comics from this imprint are aimed at readers younger than me, but the art was pretty cute and several of the stories seem promising.

These types of stories are great for the younger set, and I look forward to seeing more titles being published. Our young readers find immediate connections to the stories due to the fact that they are about easily recognizable popular super-hero characters.

The first story was about for Super Sons: The Polarshield Project... it was okay, but since i'm not a huge fan of Super-man, I don't think it's something I'd want to continue reading. The art was nice though!

The second sample was from DC Superhero Girls, I love the show so I assumed I'd like this, and i did! Krypto is an angel and a good doggo. Star Sapphire sucks. Will definitely continue when it comes out. The art was lovely.

Next up, we have Batman: Overdrive which didn't really do anything from except show Bruce Wayne as a little punk. I won't continue.

Lastly, was Black Canary: Ignite. Going in, I knew nothing about this character. Sadly, the sample was really short, but I definitely was able to gather that Dinah seems like a strong female character and I'm willing to read more.

This is an excellent sampler of four titles coming out from DC Zoom next year:

SuperSons: The Polar Shield Project is about the sons of Batman and Superman. It was fun seeing their kids, and Clark has named his son Jon Kent. I loved the diversity in this as well, but at times it was a little hard to follow. I'm sure that problem will resolve itself in the full volume since this was just a sampler.

DC Superhero Girls: Spaced Out stars a female Green Lantern, Star Sapphire (Violet Lantern), and Supergirl, who are all students at Super Hero High. While Supergirl is doing amazing, Jessica (Green Lantern) is having a hard time adjusting, and she is sent to OA, the Green Lantern Headquarters. Before she leaves, we even get a glimpse of Wonder Woman, and she is tasked with taking care of Krypto while Kara is gone. Catgirl gets a cameo as well.

Batman Overdrive revolves around a teenage Bruce trying to look for clues regarding his parent's murder.

But it's Meg Cabot's Black Canary: Ignite that I am probably most excited for! Dinah Lance has big dreams for her life in Gotham City: she wants to become a police officer to help protect the city with the highest homicide rate, but her Dad has other ideas: he just wants to keep her safe. I can't wait to read the full colored in version of this one.

Overall, DC has some great graphic novels come out for both boys and girls 8-12 next year, and there is something every one will love!

I love these. All of them look like so much fun. I can not wait to get to read them all, I'm really looking forward to not just these but the others I've hear about.

The DC Zoom Sampler provides a great overview of children's titles. I'm not a children's literature librarian, but I do know a few who would be very interested in taking a look at this!

This a pretty solid sampler from DC's new Zoom imprint. I'm intrigued by the new Super Sons, will definitely purchase the new DC SuperHero Girls, and will definitely get the new Meg Cabot about Black Canary. The only one I'm not totally sold on is Batman: Overdrive. It's just missing something... DC doesn't have to age down their characters for kids to enjoy them; they love Batman in all his Batman glory, we don't need a thousand origin stories.

Great sample of things to come from the new young reader lines from D.C. - enough pages provided to get a firm idea of what to expect from the books. Looking forward to reading quite a few of them.

I loved checking out these early DC titles! All show real promise and I cannot wait until I can get my hands on the full versions. I would highly recommend checking these out!

Looks like there will be some fun stuff as part of this initiative. Looking forward to it. Hopefully, we'll get access to some advance copies.

New works are on the horizon from DC Comics, a publisher capable of taking the classic characters we have come to know and pushing them in bold new directions.

I was pleased to hear that DC was working on creating a few new series specifically geared towards young readers. I was extra pleased when I seen the lineup of authors that have collaborated to make this happen! Meg Cabot! Ridley Pearson! Yes please! These are authors that I read when I was a young girl, and I am so excited to see them join DC to get more young children out there excited about reading.

As for the four intro stories in this collection, I loved them! The art work was beautiful, especially in Super Sons. And the stories were easy to follow, and fun to read. I hope to see these in supermarket checkout aisles beside Archie and Jughead.


A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I truly appreciate it!

I'm always looking for books that are engaging or educating or hopefully both for YA students. Call this one "engaging."

DC has been working on making a bunch of new series specifically focused on a younger reading group. I for one think this is fantastic. Not only will it potentially get younger kids into read comics, but it might get them into reading in general. People underestimate how important any form of reading is for kids, so I wholly support anything that encourages them to read. Making a fun set of series like this is absolutely perfect.
I love that there are author bios before any of the samples. It’s really great being able to see who is involved in what project, and what they’ve worked on previously.

Super Sons: The PolarSheild Project
This series has a cute art style, and you can tell just by looking at it that it’s meant for readers younger than the typical comic book audience. This should help tell parents that it’s safe to buy, so I think it’s a smart move. Plus it’s just plain cute and I really can’t complain about that!
In this series it looks like Superman will be going away for a while, a couple months at the least, leaving his son and wife behind. That can only mean one thing; his son is absolutely going to step up and try to cover for his father while he’s away, and likely the other superhero kids will team up with him. It looks like this could be a lot of fun.

DC Super Hero Girls: Spaced Out
Again we have a cute art style for the series. It kind of reminds me of the Teen Titan days, but not quite. The shapes are a little rounder and there’s less shading. I like it though, and I think kids will as well.
I absolutely love all the characters they pulled for this series, especially Jessica Cruz. She’s one of my favorite super heroes, and to be honest I think she’d make for a great role model. She’s overcome so much, and is constantly dealing with her anxiety. Having a superhero that isn’t perfect as a role model is a brilliant idea; it tells children that it’s okay if they have flaws, and that there’s no need to be ashamed of themselves. I love it.

Batman: Overdrive
This series boasts a black and white look, and I like it. It’s sort of more retro looking, like the classic comics where they couldn’t always print in color. It looks good, and makes it stand out from the other series. The art style makes me think it’s targeted at a slightly older age range, but that’s not a bad thing.
This Batman series is actually everything I would expect from a younger Batman series. It’s perfect for kids, or at least I think it is. I would have loved to have something like this around when I was younger.

Black Canary: Ignite
First, can I just say that I love that Meg Cabot is involved in this project? I’ve read all of her books so it’s really cool to see a crossover like this for her. I’m sure she’ll do a great job. And frankly, I’m a little jealous of all the kids out there that are going to get to read this series.
Being a fan of Black Canary, I couldn’t be happier to see her getting her own series like this. I think she could potentially be another great role model, so I think DC made the right choice in using her for this project.

I’m very excited for these titles, not just for my own enjoyment but also for kids like my nephew whose reading skills far outstrip his emotional ability to handle them sometimes. He loves comics and especially superheroes but my brother and I struggle to find stuff for him to read sometimes because of the maturity of some comic storylines.
The art in all of these samples were great and seemed to work well with their respective stories so far, and the stories all seem like they’re going to be quite fun. I recognized quite a few of the authors attached to the upcoming comics and am very excited to see how these stories will go, particularly the Super Sons story because I’m a huge fan of Damian and Jon teaming up, and Black Canary, whom I don’t know much about beyond basics but looks like a fantastic story by a fantastic author. I also liked the Q&A at the end with info about other stories that will be coming down the line under this imprint. I’m looking forward to what DC Zoom will bring out. This sampler definitely has me intrigued and excited to share these stories with both DC fans and middle grade readers alike.

4 stars

DC Zoom Sampler is exactly that – just a sample of upcoming work geared towards the age 8-12 reader. I read through each sample. Quite an eclectic mix of artistic styles – both written and visual. I would say there is something for everyone.
My personal favorite was the super sons. The story by Meg Cabot was a close runner up. This sampler is worth a look at.
Thank you NetGalley and publisher, DC Entertainment, for the opportunity to read this ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

DC Zoom Sampler by Ridley Pearson, Shea Fontana and Meg Cabot gives a fine look ahead at upcoming graphic novels for readers ages 8-12. Focuses on external issues that help youngsters make sense of the world around them. A great way to sample preteen options in this fun genre. 5/5

Pub Date 06 Jul 2018

Thanks to DC Entertainment and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

DcZoomSampler #NetGalley

Having quickly perused this sampler I can honestly say there isn't a title in there that I wouldn't be happy to promote on my sites. These graphic novels for young readers have a great look to them and the stories will engage them (I was sorry that I kept hitting the to-be-continued wall, but such is the nature of samplers). I will be adding all the titles to me TBR list.

This is only a sampler showcasing what DC is trying to do with its DC Zoom young reader line. I wasn't taken by the characters, or stories, or drawings, but that might be the fault of the sampler format. I'm also not sure that turning to established authors outside of the field is the way to go; the stories seemed rather uninspired. All of that, this sampler is worth looking at and it would seem wise to keep an eye on how DC Zoom develops.

Whoa-- Super Sons is definitely different in this iteration. There's a young lady called Candace, and I'm not sure if it's taking place in the US, or in the future, or where. I'm definitely intrigued.

I've read all of the DC Super Hero Girls TPBs before, and I have mostly liked them, and this one, Space Battles I think is going to be no different. Jessica Cruz!!!

More by Shea Fontana in the DC Universe is never bad. Batman Overdrive didn't have a ton in the preview, but, what I saw, especially the Alfred/Bruce interactions, could definitely be interesting.

Ah, Black Canary Ignite (I'm hoping not the house on fire heh). I'm not sure if I've read other TPBs where Dinah wanted to be a cop as a kid or not, but, I liked it so far.

The little blurb/Q&As were cool too, and it looks like all of the DC Zoom titles are taking new and different looks at the DC characters. Green Lantern Legacy especially looks very very very intriguing.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to DC Entertainment.