Another week of not many comics, and that’s totally on me. Maybe I just need to read more comics? Hopefully I’ll get the chance, because I am on vacation! It’s also a good week for the new Ms. Marvel revival series.

Comic Book of the Week goes to the awkwardly named Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Battle Lines #1 for an interesting kick off to yet another crossover and yet another war in Gotham City.

Meanwhile, Baldur’s Gate 3 continues to go well, though I still remain hesitant to sink any more playthroughs into my life on the off chance they improve the game down the line. I won’t be playing Starfield anytime soon because I don’t have an X-Box and I don’t think my PC can handle it. So that stinks. And in a few days it’s my 40th birthday, so that’s a thing!

Comic Reviews: Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Battle Lines #1 and Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #1.

Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War: Battle Lines #1
Writers: Tini Howard and Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Mike Hawthorne
Inker: Adriano Di Benedetto
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.

I don’t read too many big events or crossovers these days, but I’ve been enjoying Zdarsky’s Batman and this seems like the next big step in it, and I heard good things, so why the heck not?

After the events of that nightmare crossover that I didn’t read, Batman has been in a sleep coma for about two months. In that time, Catwoman has taken over crime in Gotham City by gathering up all of the henchmen and goons and turning them into actual skilled thieves with a rigid code of conduct to only steal from the rich. Because of this, street crime is way down in Gotham, and the usual costumed bad guys can’t find anybody to be their henchmen, so they’re also not getting up to much trouble.

When Batman wakes up, she invites all the Bat-Family to her club to hear her out. Some of them are at least curious about the idea (especially Jason), but Bruce is very much against it at face value and he storms out. Then when one of Selina’s trainees falls to his death during a dangerous break-in later that night, and with Zur-En-Arrh pushing at his mind, Bruce is ready to go to war.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

I liked this issue largely because of the momentum of Zdarsky’s Batman run, and how this issue keeps it building even more. Basically, Zdarsky is telling a story where Batman has been run ragged due to one emergency after another. He’s as dedicated as ever, but he’s still human. He doesn’t have Alfred around to help him balance his work/life or attend to his human needs. The dude is freakin’ tired, his body is sore, he’s burnout; and I am really enjoying this story. It’s a new angle to Batman that I haven’t seen, at least not very often, and it’s interesting to me. Batman is human, and humans can’t go a mile a minute forever, like he’s been facing. And now we’ve got this new Catwoman thing that’s just thrown him for a loop. He’s so damn tired, and now the love of his life is throwing this nonsense in his face, and some of his Family aren’t as angry about it as he is; the dude is dealing with a lot right now.

I also like the idea in general. I’m a fan of henchmen, and Catwoman’s idea is a fun one in the world of comics. And I like how it divides the Bat-Family. Makes for a nice philosophical conflict, and not just a punching one. The writing lays it all out cleanly, while giving us plenty of conflict within the idea itself. And all of the characters get their due. I don’t particularly like the idea of putting Gotham City through another “war,” because apparently that’s the only storyline anybody can come up with for Batman anymore. But if this crossover keeps it personal between Batman and Catwoman, and within the Family, then should will hopefully be pretty good overall.

TL;DR: Gotham City doesn’t need yet another war, but this first issue lays out the stakes nicely, while leaning into Zdarsky’s interesting take on Batman.

Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #1
Writers: Iman Vellani and Sabir Pirzada
Artists: Carlos Gomez and Adam Gorham
Colorist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

I like Iman Vellani in the MCU as much as the next person, but I’m not big on celebrity guest writers. Remember when J.J. Abrams convinced Marvel to let his son write some Spider-Man fan fic? But I am fully on board to Ms. Marvel getting a dedicated ongoing series again.

Several weeks after being resurrected and finding out she’s a mutant, Kamala is heading off to Empire State University for a summer program run by Orchis. She’s going to attend the program, and also spy on Orchis for the X-Men. She’s also been having weird dreams. Anyway, she gets to campus, checks in with the X-Men, meets her roommate and dons her costume to stop an escaped Chitauri from attacking a bus full of students. The alien escaped from a secret Orchis lab below the college. When she tries to save some students from the alien’s failsafe bomb, they accused her of trying to hurt them and suddenly she’s thrust into a world of anti-mutant hate.

Comic Reviews: 8/10 – Very Good.

This is a solid, if largely safe, first issue to the new series. I’m still not completely sold on this idea of Ms. Marvel becoming a mutant and joining the X-Men. I love the character, but Marvel has been stretching her thin since she debuted, pun intended. Can they not just publish regular ongoing adventures for the character? She’s joined pretty much every team in existence at this point, something that’s actually referenced in this comic. Kamala Khan doesn’t need a gimmick to sell her comics…I hope. I suppose I don’t know anything about Marvel sales.

But I digress. The issue covers all of the major story points that this series will be touching upon, and does a great job establishing the voice of Kamala Khan. I just think it’s a little safe and a little broad. But that’s probably the point. They want this to be a really accessible comic. And it works, just maybe a little too well.

The writing seems a little confused about what exactly they want to do with Kamala’s new setting. It’s like they want to send her to college, but don’t want to commit to her being that age. So we’ve got this summer program hosted by Orchis, even while everybody treats it like she’s going off to college. The girl died while working a full-time job at Oscorp. How old is she supposed to be? Does she even really still attend her high school in Jersey City? She also gets a roommate who has clearly been there for some time. Is the roommate taking the same summer program? Or is she an actual ESU student who is just hanging around and doing something else for the summer? Also, Orchis hosts random college campus summer programs?

Again, I’m nitpicking at the little things. Like how on the nose it is that Kamala specifically brought her new X-Men costume with her to school instead of one of her classic costumes, and how just wearing that costume and being associated with the X-Men is enough to get her classmates to turn on her after she saves them. It’s somewhat ham-fisted in getting its point across. Which, again, is probably the point because it’s got to appeal to a wide audience.

It’s still an enjoyable read. Kamala is written very well, and it’s nice to have her back starring in her own book. She’s got a lot on her plate, while still being the young superhero we know and love. So I’ve got my hopes up on this series.

And hey, maybe Vellani will turn out to be a great writer!

TL;DR: New Ms. Marvel ongoing series has a great voice and solid art, even if this first issue is a little all over the place and a little ham-fisted in getting its point across.

The comics I review in my Hench-Sized reviews are just the usual comics I grab from Comixology 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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