The Super Hero Squad Show Hero Up!   Starring (voice): Charlie Adler, Steven Blum, Dave Boat and Grey DeLisle Clear Vision RRP: £12.99 MAR1050 Certificate: PG Available 06 September 2010

From the vast vault of Marvel - via Clear Vision - comes the animated series The Super Hero Squad Show. This is Hero Up! (effectively volume one) which incorporates six episodes over one disc, with a total running time of 2 hours, 13 minutes. From their base on Nick Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D. sky ship, Iron Man heads a team of super-powered heroes dedicated to finding and recovering the pieces (or fractals) of the Infinity Sword - the most powerful object in the universe - which has been splintered in a mighty battle between Iron Man and Doctor Doom. Making up the regular squad are Thor, the Hulk, Wolverine, the Silver Surfer, Falcon and Wasp - with appearances by the Fantastic Four, Captain America and Dr. Strange.

In And Lo, A Pilot Shall Come, a city-wide battle ensues over possession of a shard of the Infinity Sword; in This Silver, This Surfer, the Silver Surfer inadvertently causes problems with his cosmic power and is sent away, but only he can prevent Doom assembling an Infinity Dagger; in Hulk Talk Smack, contact with an Infinity fractal leaves the Hulk grey-skinned, intelligent and cultured; in To Err is Superhuman, a new member who can turn parts of his body into any dinosaur is introduced to the team and saves the day; in Enter Dormammu, the powerful other-dimensional being is combated with help from Dr. Strange and the Fantastic Four; in A Brat Walks Among Us!, a little girl wearing a fractal in a tiara is given phenomenal tantrum powers. Heroes and villains alike race to recover the shard without upsetting her.

This is like a toy town version of the Marvel universe, where everyone appears to be tiny, and the 'good' people live in Hero Ville and the 'villains' live in an industrialised complex dominated by a huge eye. Don't these people know that life isn't as black and white as that?

However, childlike naivety apart, this series has a lot to offer. The central theme of the Infinity Sword does not sustain itself very well, but does lead to interesting situations.

Where this concept really succeeds though is with characterisation. There is constant exploration of the main player's psyches. Like all good friends they continually make fun of each other, and it's this that predominantly makes for an enjoyable viewing experience.

Furthermore, the ever-present humour is significantly less childish than that in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. I look forward to the next volumes.

7

Ty Power