DC SUPER HEROES AND PETS PAPERCRAFT
Written by Brandon T. Snider
Art by Art Baltazar
Published by DC Comics and Little, Brown, and Company
Available now from Amazon.com and retailers near you
List Price: $12.99
Looking for that little extra Christmas gift that’s going to make your kid smile? Or maybe you’re the cool aunt or uncle and want to find that thing for the kid that’s going to show up the rest of the family.
Or you could just be a big dork like me.
No matter who you are, the DC Super Heroes and Pets Papercraft book is a smart holiday buy for kids and adults alike that are enamored with the world of things like Tiny Titans comics, the Batman: Brave and the Bold animated series, or the DC Super-Pets book series for kids.
A fun activity book for days when the snow is too much for mom or Uncle Jimmy to want to go outside, this Papercraft book offers 28 hero/villain profiles and 28 sturdy punch-outs that can be assembled into the best JLA or Legion of Doom you can imagine.
Assembly is pretty straight-forward, although definitely needs precise hands, although not necessarily delicate ones. While this book is an excellent gift for kids as young as 6, it’s definitely a partner project between them and a patient adult. The sturdiness of the papercraft pages helps avoid disaster from over-eager hands, but by my sixth assembly, even I started to get sloppy and produced a tear here or there.
The good news is, the 3D paper dolls are designed to hide a lot of imperfections the assembler can introduce, so you’d be pretty hard-pressed to not build your Batman or Wonder Woman figure looking pretty spot on to the simple set of directions. PRO TIP: have a nail file or an eyeglass-size flathead screw driver on hand to help punch out some of the smaller slots.
And if your kid needs something to do while you’re punching out a few arms and legs (and lassos), there’s a full set of easy-to-read profiles for a really well-chosen set of characters — both recognizable and perhaps new to the glossier reader. Sure, you have your Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Joker, Lex Luthor — and Batgirl! — but Snider and Baltazar are also careful to include a few more characters of color, opting for John Stewart over Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, and adding in Vixen, Katana, Cyborg, Black Manta, Black Adam, and Bane.
The narratives are brief, but fun and witty, leaving a lot of jumping off points for the kids’ imaginations once the hard work of construction is done. The pets are all included as cut-outs too, less three-dimensional, but with stands that make it easy for them to hang out with their super-friends.
So, take a break, pull a chair up to the kitchen table, and start punching and folding. Enjoy the break from the holiday craziness, the road rage, the Joker fish infecting the city water… you know, the usual. And grab a copy of DC Super Heroes and Pets Papercraft for kids of all-ages this year. And just have fun.
