Sometimes you start expect a certain kind of work from artists when you've been reading them for a while, and they'll do something that falls outside of what you expect, and you don't know exactly what to think. It's OK. I'm sure it has something to do with evolutionary biology. We can't help it. So long as we acknowledge it, we're on our way to growth. Or something like that, but less fruity-sounding.

What I'm getting at is that Biff Bam Pow! by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer is a kids' comic, and as Playback:stl's reviewer Byron Kerman, kids' comics are a lot different from Dork and Milk and Cheese (as they should be). Still, stuff for kids has its merits: "Evan Dorkin's expressive art, with its thick black lines just right for child readers, is cute, cute, cute. Cute people, adorable monkeys, cute rockets and hovercars, silly talking wrenches, and all manner of cute monsters fill out these tales."

Kerman points out that there are "all-ages" comics that are equally good for kids and adults, like those old Looney Tunes cartoons that I used to watch with my dad, a big bowl of Cheez-Its between us to snack on. But, you know, there are things kids like that grown-ups just aren't going to find all that interesting, and that's fine. Kids need places where grown-up brains that don't get it can't intrude. I remember having an existence that was at time quite separate and distinct from my parents, and while the trip to Disneyland and the Sunday brunches at Nation's were great, the times when I was off doing/reading/watching kids' stuff with other kids are some of my best memories.

Kerman, to be fair, wishes he could get a child's-eye view of a work created for kids: "I think we need an eight-year-old reviewer here at Playback. We could pay him or her with Blow-Pops and those terrifying-looking Nerf guns."

Hmmm. Can kids use InDesign, do you think?

It seems that while I was busy staring listlessly out the window (God, I'm tired. Soup and bread are not enough to eat for lunch, and the couch in the corner is looking very comfy--why are there no siesta breaks in this country?), other people were reading and writing reviews of Biff Bam Pow! by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer, as well as of Dork #11 and the Milk and Cheese Toys.

I will share what I have learned from these reviews with you. These lessons should not be taken for actual wisdom or insight. Instead, someone should bring me a smoothie or something because I'm crashing.

First, Ain't It Cool News has a logo for its independent comics review section (Indie Jones) that has stabbed-out cigarettes and coffee mug rings on it. Because indie comics are all about being nicotene-and-caffeine addled. (Speaking of, a cup of Earl Grey sounds really good right now.)

AICN still does that charming '90s-era Internet thing in which everyone uses a "handle," and the reviewer "superhero" gives Biff Bam Pow! a read: "BIFF-BAM-POW! is a fun romp and actually has a very old school comics feel to it. It’s humorous without being crass and Dorkin’s illustrations are full of a vitality and crispness that really isn’t seen in many comics these days. It’s a style of comic that just isn’t around as much as it used to be, and if anything BIFF-BAM-POW! had me feeling a bit nostalgic for the way some comics used to be--or at least the way some kids entertainment used to be: funny but with a bit of an edge."

That's some nice reviewin'. If it had been me writing it, I'd want my name on it. "Superhero" is a humbler and better person than I.

In Silver Bullet Comic Books' review of Biff Bam Pow!, I learned that no one reads Nickelodeon Magazine. And it sounds true to me! Because, after all, I don't read Nickelodeon Magazine! But maybe I should. Michael Deeley declares that Biff Bam Pow, "is packed with humor and style from cover to cover. Literally." This is something those of you unfamiliar with comics from House of Fun should know: If there is the slightest bit of room for more gags and art, there will be more gags and art. In this way Evan and Sarah reward you even while punishing themselves. But rewarding you is its own reward, from what I understand.

Reward yourself by picking up a copy of Biff Bam Pow! at the SLG webstore or at your local comics store, if they have it.

All right, so Biff Bam Pow! is a comic that's good for the kiddie set. But Dork #11 is NOT. No, that's not something I learned. That's just something I know within the very core of my being. What I learned from the review at Pop Matters is that apparently Hot Topic should be carrying Dork instead of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. No, actually we should be shipping copies of it to them and other stores -- whether those stores have ordered them or not, presumably. Seeing as Hot Topic does not carry our comics anymore, not would be the answer there.

ANYWAY. The review of Dork #11 by Monte Williams is actually quite interesting and insightful in a way that does not make for pull quotes. Wait, here we go: "...it’s among the most inviting and rewarding comics I read all year..."

So, remember the Milk and Cheese Toys? They have been cruelly ignored by most of the fancy-pants designer toy industry, but the Plastic and Plush blog names them in the "Best Packaging" category of their Toy Awards: "The oversize box is colorful and has a great, full-length comic on the back." The toys themselves are pretty cool, too. Milk and Cheese, see, are allowed to be violent and obnoxious in a way that we are not. Thus, they speak to our inner frustrations and shadow selves, the Mr. Hydes within our Dr. Jekyll exteriors. So obviously when they're put in vinyl form and come with weapons, they are what we most need in the whole world.

The Onion's A.V. Club reviews Biff Bam Pow! #1 by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer, calling it " a dizzy, goofy romp through science-fiction and superhero clichés." and noting, "Dorkin's intuitive grasp of pacing, weight, and even grace shine through, and his signature panels stuffed with clutter and anarchy are more eye-gouging than ever."

Biff Bam Pow! is available now in comic book stores and at www.slgcomic.com.