I’m a little embarrassed. There are only four comics on the review slate today, and none of them are Indie titles like I promised last week. But that’s only because I couldn’t settle on one I liked, and most of them were already mid-story. Fortunately, Image just announced a ton of new books coming this year, so maybe I can get in on the ground floor of some of those. But still, only four books this week! What’s wrong with me? Well, for starters, I’ve been a bit under the weather. Blame it on the Polar Vortex!

At any rate, at least we’ve got some good books this week! All-New Marvel NOW! has launched, and we’ve got the first issues of Avengers World and Black Widow, both solid starts. And DC Comics gives us a healthy dose of green, with both Green Arrow and Green Lantern! They should market that somehow. Too bad they already cancelled Green Team.

Comic Book of the Week goes to Green Arrow #27, which continues its so-far amazing The Others storyline – but don’t let the name fool you, it’s far more interesting than that.

That is some very pretty arrow shooting. How is it that both Green Arrow and Hawkeye are such great comic books these days?

Comic Reviews: Avengers World #1, Black Widow #1, Green Arrow #27 and Green Lantern #27.

Avengers World #1

Avengers World #1
Writers: Jonathan Hickman and Nick Spencer
Artist: Stefano Caselli

I have been a vocal critic of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers since the beginning, though I have enjoyed a few issues here and there. The main problem I have is that Hickman is far more interested in his own wild and weird ideas than he is in writing about the Avengers themselves – which is odd, since New Avengers does a fantastic job of blending big, weird ideas with strong characterization. But apparently Hickman’s Avengers has been popular enough to warrant a whole new series following the adventures of his Avengers roster, with Nick Spencer jumping in to lend a hand.

In a new partnership with SHIELD (sort of), the Avengers split up to tackle a bunch of different emergencies around the world – most of them possibly orchestrated by some super AIM guy. Hyperion, Thor and Captain Marvel rescue people along the Eastern Seaboard after some type of disturbance in Canada, which Bruce Banner is tracking. Wolverine, Falcon, Shang-Chi and Black Widow try to quell riots in Madripoor, which are the result of the Gorgon using Hand magic to awaken the giant dragon that sleeps underneath the city. And I do mean ‘giant’. Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Starbrand and Nightmask investigate Velletri, Italy, where all of the people have vanished. They’re teleported underground, where they find the city re-purposed as a city of the dead! And Smasher, Cannonball and Sunspot confront the changes taking place on AIM Island.

Comic Rating: 5/10 – Alright.

Nick Spencer’s influence is strongly felt in this issue, in that there is a much larger focus on the individual characters than we normally get from one of Hickman’s Avengers comics. Bruce Banner, especially, gets the lion’s share of personality – and I can definitely see this as a reflection of the changes Mark Waid has brought to the character in his solo series. Beyond Bruce, almost all of the characters get at least a little time to banter, some of it successful, some of it not. Basically, this issue is just the various Avengers going off on various missions simultaneously, while Captain America and Maria Hill try to monitor everything back at SHIELD. The writing and especially the art are very strong, but there’s nothing to make this book stand out. It’s just the latest roster of Avengers dealing with some big problems around the world. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you love Hickman’s Avengers, this series looks like it’s going to be the continuity-free place to get general stories of Avengers heroics, with few, if any, ties to Hickman’s bigger, weirder ideas.

Black Widow #1

Black Widow #1
Writer: Nathan Edmundson
Artist: Phil Noto

I will readily admit that I’ve never been a big Black Widow fan. She’s simply never been on my radar until Marvel decided to start slipping her into their movies. But I’m always willing to give new comics a try, and a Black Widow solo series is long overdue after she starred as the only female superhero in The Avengers movie in 2012. Still, the character isn’t one of my favorites…but I said the same thing about Hawkeye.

Natasha Romanov wants to make up for all the bad things she’s done in her life, so she has her accountant/manager find her international spy work, raising money to put into several trusts. She stops a bomber in Berlin, and takes out an assassin in Dubai. At home, she plays with a stray cat that has been visiting her apartment.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

Don’t let my short description fool you, this is a very rich, very detailed book. Edmundson really puts the focus on Natasha as a person dealing with her unique place in life, and it’s a good read. She comes off as a strong person with clear motivations, and yet also has a softer, human side. Natasha’s chat with that cat is just adorable – but then I’m a sucker for cats in comics. Emundson also nicely balances Natasha’s personal life with the international action one expects in a Black Widow comic. The action is great, and the missions have enough clever twists that you can tell Edmundson is going to be great when it comes to bigger, badder spy adventures in the future.

The art by Noto is equally effective, with a uniquely painted/drawn style that manages to blend realistic pencils with a faded, outside-the-lines coloring. It looks great, and it works perfectly for the Black Widow.

Green Arrow #27

Green Arrow #27
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Andrea Sorrentino

I am down with Jeff Lemire’s Green Arrow, and that’s saying something, considering how little I’ve ever cared about Green Arrow before. But the man clearly has some great ideas that use Oliver Queen’s continuity to flesh out both him and his world. I’m loving this idea that there are a bunch of different weapon clans in the world, and that they have something to do with Oliver’s skill with a bow. It’s just such a neat idea.

Ollie and Shado battle with the Shield Clan on the Island, and they are much too quick to pierce with normal arrows. So Oliver whips out his trick arrows and wastes the lot of them – until their leader shows up and sends our two heroes running. As they flee through the woods, Ollie thinks back to when he was stranded on the island, and was tortured for weeks by some thugs who wanted to know who sent him to the island. As far as Oliver knew, no one sent him, he’d just washed ashore after an accident. But after weeks of torture, Oliver finally snapped, broke free and killed his torturer. Now, in the present day, Shado reveals that Oliver didn’t just ‘wash up’ on that island. It was all a set-up from the very beginning. Oliver was meant to end up on that island, and he was meant to survive the torture, to harden enough to fight back and kill a man.

And it was all orchestrated by Oliver’s father, to prepare his son for war – and then his dad steps out of the jungle, revealing himself to Oliver, alive in the present day!

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Oliver’s father is alive!? That’s a twist that you could never pull with Batman (though I think Grant Morrison tried…). Wowzers though, that’s quite the twist! Lemire is really shaking things up with Oliver Queen, and he’s doing it so well. So Oliver’s time on the Island was orchestrated by his father to turn his son into a warrior, to prepare him for war between the weapon clans! It’s a truly fascinating twist, and I’m legitimately excited to see where it’s going. Now I wish I’d kept reading Lemire’s Green Arrow before all this started.

This issue was another showcase for Sorrentino’s dramatically realistic art. It’s perfectly gritty for the story at hand, and nicely stylistic when it comes to archery. Sorrentino finds some really creative ways to showcase Green Arrow shooting his bow and arrow.

Also, DC should use Green Arrow as an example that they don’t need to outright cancel poorly selling comics. Any comic can succeed with the right creative team and direction.

Green Lantern #27

Green Lantern #27
Writer: Robert Venditti
Artist: Dale Eaglesham

I think my time with Green Lantern might be coming to an end. I so wanted to enjoy Venditti’s work. I didn’t want to give up on the comic after Geoff Johns left. But the quality has just dropped off, both in terms of characterization, plot and overall skill. I can’t quite put my finger on what I don’t like, but there’s a general inelegance about this book now. I can see what Venditti is trying to do, but he just doesn’t seem to have this Green Lantern Corps figured out well enough to make it happen. And I just don’t like how he seems to be rushing into yet another big crossover event. I realize that’s what Geoff Johns’ run eventually became, but Venditti is no Johns, and he can’t pull it off. I couldn’t be less interested in this Durlan War thing.

So everybody’s still working on turning Mojo into the new Oa, including Soranik Natu, who is in charge of the infirmary. One of her patients is Saint Walker, who finally wakes up from his coma. Hal is there to immediately fill him in on the depleting reservoir and Hal’s new plan to police the other Corps. But Walker has lost all hope, and he immediately takes off his ring so that he doesn’t risk depleting the reservoir. Hal leaves Walker to Soranik while he heads to the new command center, where he’s got the computer searching for Sinestro and the Sinestro Corps, the next targets on Hal’s list of ring-slingers to wipe out. Kilowog points out that they should focus on the criminals that escaped the Sciencells when Oa was destroyed, but Hal says they need to prioritize on his new law.

Meanwhile, the ship full of Braidmen arrives after they surrendered last issue. They immediately stage a riot, knocking into the warden and the other Lanterns watching them, but most are wrangled up quickly. A few Braidmen escape, and they meet up with the Durlan already on Oa, who has been working as a cook this whole time (because apparently the GLC outsource their kitchen staff?). The Durlan has snatched a bunch of anti-GL weaponry from the evidence vault, because apparently the GLC holds on to that kind of thing. Then they sneak across Mojo and break into the citadel through the back door…only to stumble upon Soranik’s infirmary. Everyone opens fire until Soranik tells them to stop shooting. The bad guys agree and run off, unhindered. They sneak right up on Hal Jordan in the command center and knock him out. Then the Durlan assumes Hal’s form and broadcasts a message to the entire galaxy, explaining about the reservoir and how the GLC is going to keep operating despite the danger to the entire universe.

The bad guys get away before Hal wakes up to find out that the universe hasn’t taken very kindly to ‘his’ declaration. War has been declared on the Corps by the entire universe, and multiple sector houses are under attack!

Comic Rating: 3/10 – Bad.

No, I did not care for this issue, or the direction this comic is heading in. Hal Jordan has become a bigger douchebag than ever before, so single-mindedly focused on this new crusade of his that he immediately jumps down the unwell Saint Walker’s throat the first chance he gets. “Hey buddy, I’m glad you awake and all, because I need you at full strength to help me enforce this new law I just made up.” It’s uncouth. Even when Kilowog tells him to focus on something else, Hal Jordan is unflinching in his mission. It’s unbecoming the new leader of the Green Lantern Corps, and it’s just not what I want to see. I’ve been saying it since the moment Venditti blew up Oa: I want to see them actually rebuild the Corps! There’s so much that could be done in that regard, but instead, Venditti is just too focused on his next plot, one that I don’t care about at all.

Braidmen? Secret Durlans? The galaxy against the Green Lantern Corps? Parts of it sound kind of interesting, but like I said, there’s an inelegance about the whole thing. Like Venditti just isn’t skilled enough of a writer to make all of this flow smoothly together. Everything is kind of just bumping into and overlapping everything else instead of coming together into a good story. It’s rubbing me the wrong way, that’s all there is to it.

The comics I review in my Hench-Sized reviews are just the usual comics I pick up from my local shop any given week, along with a few impulse buys I might try on a whim. So if there are any comics or series you’d like me to review each week, let me know in the comments!