Slow week for comics this week…or at the very least, slow week for comic book reviews from your pal and mine, Henchman-4-Hire…which is me! Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I mostly sorta kinda dropped the ball and simply didn’t read that many comics this week.

Though I have been busy running my Kickstarter campaign for Gamer Girl & Vixen! We’re at more than 75% funded and going strong! Not too late for you Henchies to check it out and get on your favorite blogger’s good side! Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Other than that, I took this week to check out some less mainstream titles. There’s the first issue of Surface Tension from Titan Comics, the last issue of Divinity from Valiant Comics, and I decided to double back and check out a comic I missed from last week, the new Lumberjanes! I figured they earned it, what with a possible movie coming out!

Though since I need to stick to this week’s comics, I’d have to say Comic Book of the Week goes to Divinity #4! Writer Matt Kindt concludes a solid introduction to a new Valiant hero.

Cosmonauts are tougher than you think!

Over at Word of the Nerd, I’m still doing my best to keep abreast of Secret Wars with a review of Old Man Logan #1. Now that was a great comic. And next week I promise to get back to reviewing more books. I think Convergence is over at DC Comics, so I’m going to dive into as many of their new, offbeat titles as I can!

Comic Reviews: Divinity #4, Lumberjanes #14 and Surface Tension #1.

Divinity #4

 Divinity #4
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Trevor Hairsine

I have no clue why Divinity was only a 4-issue mini-series. I read each one, excited to delve into a new Valiant Comics series, and I got nothin’. They’re fine comics, and Divinity himself seems like a cool character. But I have no idea why they’d stop now — especially since the issue ends with an ad for Divinity II coming this winter. Why wait? Why the delay? Why risk losing any momentum?

It’s not like Divinity has been some kind of ground-breaking comic.

Divinity has used his powers to bring his wife and daughter back to life, but his wife immediately realizes that something is wrong and tells him that they lived full lives and don’t belong here anymore. While he’s crying about losing them again, the Unity snap out of their funk and launch their attack to trap Divinity in an energy bubble. They have to fight off all of Divinity’s disciples, but they do eventually manage to trap him while he’s distracted.

Afterwards, the government agencies that are in charge of Unity congratulate them on a job well done, even as some of the heroes are a little concerned that they captured a perfectly harmless, helpful being. Meanwhile, Divinity’s followers start a religion based after him. And Divinity himself is buried deep underground in his bubble, where he once again resurrects his young daughter so she can tell him about her life.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

There were times during Divinity where I felt the book was going over my head. I’m not that great when it comes to really heady comics or writing, and Kindt really pushed the envelope sometimes. But Divinity #4 is a pretty straight forward issue, I think. Divinity struggles to come to grips with the fact that his family is dead, and the superheroes trap him in a big bubble. I’m not entirely sure what the point of all this has been. If it’s to introduce another player into the Valiant Universe, then it succeeds with gusto! Divinity is a cool cat, with a fascinating origin, god-like powers and a great place in the world. And now he’s come into conflict with the other Valiant heroes, so he definitely has his role.

But if that’s the case, why wait so long before the next volume? Why not make Divinity an ongoing series? Granted, he’s super-powerful, but Kindt could have found ways to work with that.

If Kindt was trying to relay some kind of message, to make some kind of point about superheroes or divine power or religion, then it definitely went over my head. This comic is written like any other superhero comic, not like the next Sandman or anything of that nature. But hey, I had a good time, and maybe I’ll come back for Divinity II…if I can remember.

Oh, and Hairsine’s art was phenomenal throughout. Good choice of artist for this book. He was grounded, but still a little wonky, and that added to Divinity’s mysteriousness.

Lumberjanes #14

Lumberjanes #14
Writers: Noelle Stevenson and Shannon Watters
Artist: Brooke Allen

I don’t know why I don’t read more Lumberjanes! It’s a beautiful, hilarious, adorable comic book that’s perfect for anybody and everybody! But I lost track of it last week and didn’t get a chance to add it to my big pile. Fortunately, this was a small week, and I gobbled it up right quick.

A Lumberjanes movie would be amazing.

The girls go camping out in the woods with their counselor, Jen, but after all of the supernatural adventures they’ve had, they realize that they simply haven’t learned basic camping skills yet. It gets even worse when a massive blizzard hits – in the middle of summer! And then it gets even more worse when a bunch of massive antler-wolves start attacking the girls! Jen gets separated and lost in the snow, while the Lumberjanes are rescued by Rosie and taken back to camp. Jen is also eventually rescued by the mysterious Abigail, a woman who lives in a secluded cabin in the woods and hunts mythical creatures for sport. As Rosie and the Lumberjanes set back out to save Jen (separately), we begin to learn that Abigail has a mysterious history with the camp!

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

Welp, this was another amazing issue of Lumberjanes! The adventure is wacky, the characters are amazing and the humor is just spot on. You’re not going to find this kind of whimsy anywhere else in comics.

I settled on this adorable panel out of the millions I could have chosen

Stevenson and Watters make great use of their entire cast and have fun ways to mix in new characters. The boys camp gets another guest appearance, and seems like it might add a little tension within the Lumberjanes. And the mysterious new Abigail is both really cool and really mysterious! Who wouldn’t love to hear more of the secret history of the Lumberjanes camp? I could praise this comic for hours, though I seem short of words to use to make that happen! If I had kids, I would read them Lumberjanes before bed.

Surface Tension #1

Surface Tension #1
Writer/Artist: Jay Gunn

Creator Jay Gunn takes a stab at creating a new aquatic-horror series with Surface Tension from Titan Comics. This first issue reads almost like a pitch for one of those epic TV shows that came out in the wake of Lost‘s success. In fact, I wonder if Gunn wanted to just use the title ‘Surface’ for this comic, but was thwarted by a show of that exact same name. I should know, because I watched Surface, and kinda, mostly liked it.

Surface Tension takes place in an aquatic post-apocalypse. Several years ago, the Earth’s population came down with a ‘sea-sickness’ that turned their flesh to water, and everyone was absorbed into the rising oceans. Small islands of humanity still live on, and we focus on one such community near the former Great Britain. Life seems to be going on as normal as possible, with a small group of leaders trying to get keep civilization together.

Then, two people thought lost suddenly return to the island one day, with no memory of what happened to them, and their skin has turned blue. One of the town’s residents is familiar with one of the two blue people, and she sits down with them to find out a bit more of what happened. The blue woman recalls that before the sea-sickness, she and her boyfriend were oceanographers who discovered a massive, alien coral creature that rose out of the sea, took mental control of her boyfriend, and then disappeared.

Wonder if that has anything to do with the world-wide aquatic apocalypse…

Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.

Gunn has a pretty good idea in place, but his focus is too split in his attempts to tell as much story as possible in this over-sized first issue. The issue opens with the two blue people arriving on the beach, but then almost immediately ignores them. Instead, Gunn throws in a quick but unnecessary action scene involving a sea monster, and then spends a lot of time exploring the island and having residents talk about the fact that two blue people washed ashore.

When he finally gets back to the blue people, he immediately cuts to an extended flashback that perfectly explains away all of the mystery of his premise. Instead of keeping the audience in the dark as to what happened to the world or where these blue people came from, Gunn goes ahead and tells us that it’s giant, alien coral overlords.

Surface Tension is compared to The Walking Dead in its advertising, but it forgot one of the biggest lessons from that comic/show: we don’t know where the zombies came from.

But Gunn has a solid idea on his hands. His aquatic-post-apocalypse seems interesting, and perhaps if he focused more on the survivors on the island and the mystery of the two blue people, he could get some real tension out of this comic. We barely get to know anybody because he’s too busy explaining the backstory or talking about things that happened off-panel. If Gunn can fix his focus, he could have a solid, mysterious comic on his hands.

And then maybe he can spearhead a revival of Surface! Though if we’re talking post-Lost shows, I liked Invasion better.

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!

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