Oh that Family Circus

Peanuts and Andy Capp and the joys of sequential art made me a reader. Among my earliest memories are moments lying on the living room floor on a Sunday morning in Fairborn, Ohio, in my little kid pajamas, reading the Sunday comics while a cat would walk across or plop itself down right in the middle of B.C. or Wizard of Id. It was those brightly colored stories, each panel leading to the next to some punchline, that lead me to comic books - the same thing as Sunday funnies but thicker and more variety and a lot more to read and to books.
So when DC in 2009 launched its 12-issue weekly Wednesday Comics series, printed on folded up 14-by-20 inch sheets like Sunday comics, no glossy covers, with each of the 15 storylines getting one full page a week so that you had 15 different stories going simultaneously, each one done by a different artist/writer combination, I was hooked instantly on the concept.
The hardcover collection (200 pages, $49.99) lets you plow through each storyline one after the other - the dark noir murder mystery Batman story by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso followed by the delightfully pulpy Kamandi story by Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook and so on.
For a concept that harkens back Sunday comics, the test is fun. And some of the stories hit that in spades - the Deadman story by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck, where he tries to stop a serial killer and ends up battling demons in some extra dimension where is alive again; the wonderfully pun- and gag-filled Metamorpho written by Neil Gaiman and arted wonderfully by Mike Allred (what will it take to get those two to work together again?); the gritty Sgt. Rock story by Adam and Joe Kubert; and maybe the highlight being the goofy, bright Supergirl story featuring Krypto, Squeaky and Aquaman, courtesy of Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner.
Really, the mediocre turns are few and far between - the Demon and Catwoman team up that never clicked; the Superman story that had great art and a nice concept but a weak payoff; and the confusing Wonder Woman tale.
What shines through is that the people doing this had fun. The time twisting Flash story, the fun Metal Men piece, all of them show writers and artists having a blast with the tropes of superhero comic-ing and the Sunday funnies format without being condescending about the whole thing. It's also a love letter to the comic fan - among such bigger names as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, you have a Kamandi piece, an Adam Strange story - characters that are far from household names.
This isn't a book to get someone started on comics - there are plenty of options for that. But Wednesday Comics is a great way to get someone back in if they've been gone. Grade A.