The Powerpuff Girls #38 (July 2003)

Either the Powerpuff Girls are irresistibly, adorably delicious, or I'm adorably gay.

Regardless, one would hope that their witty, brightly-colored, well-written TV series would translate well into a comic book. And it does.

In "To Be or Not TV," the girls face their greatest adversary yet – their own expectations! In a mobius-strip scenario, they are avid fans of the TV superheroine Tess Turbine, even trying to imitate her cool moves.

When Tess turns up at an autograph-signing event, the girls show up hoping to learn something from her. Then a monster appears and captures Tess. The Powerpuff trio waits to see her take action. But Tess is just an actress and can't really do anything.

The girls swoop in and save the day, but they're hugely disappointed that their idol is false.

So then a meteorite appears and they go to save Townsville with heavy hearts. Ah, but then the twist! They use a trick they saw on the Tess Turbine show and save the day.

The moral being the slightly ironic but well-intentioned, "Even if your TV heroes aren't real, you can still believe in what they stand for."

Though this is clearly just an advertisement for girls and pre-homosexual boys to watch the show, there's plenty worse shows children could watch. It's good-natured, humorous, and benign, yet not bland or cookie-cutter. And it teaches kids the value of subtle, self-reflexive humor.

Now if only I could get my hands on a copy of Hello Kitty Adventures. That would be something.

Review by Crimedog