What an interesting week for comics! We’ve got a couple of new #1 relaunches, and DC Comics comes back after an event that stymied their titles for two months. Lot of great reads this week, including Nightwing, Captain America and Superman!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Wonder Woman #1 for a very strong, very powerful first issue that absolutely nails the tone its going for right off the bat.

Meanwhile, my time with Baldur’s Gate is winding down. I beat the game with a co-op friend finally, and now I’m just going to go through the motions to finish off some solo games, or put them on hold to wait for some game fixes. We’re a month away from the new Spider-Man 2 game, so I’ve got to get ready for that.

Comic Reviews: Captain America #1, Nightwing #106, Superman #6, Titans #3 and Wonder Woman #1.

Captain America #1
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Jesus Saiz
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

I really enjoyed the last Captain America series, and I really enjoyed Straczynski comics in the past, so let’s see what he can do with Cap here.

The owner of Steve Rogers’s building is selling the dump, so Steve guys it and decides to repair it, letting everybody stay in the building. The Fantastic Four come get him for a quick jaunt to Sub-Atomica to stop the Psycho-Man, and afterwards, Steve has a run-in with a contractor down on his luck, so Steve hires him to work on the building.

Meanwhile, we also get a bunch of flashbacks to Steve as a teenager. After his mother died, he was all on his own trying to make ends meet. And he also finds himself contending with the Nazi movement in America.

Double meanwhile, a rich businessman tries to make a deal with a devil for youth, but the devil takes over his body and comes up with a plan for world domination.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

This is an all-around good issue of set-up, with no real zing factor to really wow readers. It treads some traditional Captain America ground, really digging into the character, his personality and his past to create a large tapestry on which to paint. That’s good stuff, and makes for a strong first issue to a series like this. Straczynski is a good writer and knows how to delve into his characters, and he’s off to a good start with Steve Rogers. The idea of Steve buying a building in New York City and being super generous to the tenants is also what Hawkeye did in the classic Matt Fraction series…but that’s fine. No worries there. Seems like something Steve would do. And then we’ve got a villain set up, and an interesting look into Steve’s past, in a time period that probably hasn’t been explored all that often. How did teenage Steve Rogers react to the pro-Nazi movement in America pre-war? Could be interesting to explore!

TL;DR: A strong first issue lays a strong foundation for the Captain America stories to come. Good exploration of the character beyond the usual superhero fisticuffs.

Nightwing #106
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Stephen Byrne
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Wes Abbott

Nightwing is back after a two month hiatus and it hasn’t missed a step!

Back when Dick Grayson had been shot in the head and was going by “Ric,” he received a mysterious package from an old circus acquaintance. That’s what is stashed in the Hold, but before he can retrieve it, Heartless kills the Quartermaster. But the ship itself is gone! While Nightwing is investigating, he discovered that the EMTs who picked up the bodies are not legit. He chases them down and winds up on a freighter in the harbor, where Ric’s old friend Bea is the captain!

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

I’ll try not to spend this entire review page decrying the worthlessness of the past two months of DC comics. Some crossover came through and disrupted a lot of ongoing comics, some of which were just starting. It’s no coincidence that I skipped reviewing the new issues of Green Lantern and Shazam in the past few weeks. But thankfully, the very excellent Nightwing series has not missed a beat in the past two months. We’ve got a new story, but the same charm, wit and energy as before. So I’m very much on board with this new bit of fun. Taylor uses that whole “Ric” period in a way that isn’t completely useless, and we’ve got a couple of new mysteries to explore that I’m very interested in.

My only real complaint is that Heartless continues to be too powerful. He’s a nigh unstoppable killing machine who is ruining other parts of Taylor’s story…which is Taylor’s choice, but c’mon! The Hold is really neat! And one gets the sense that the Quartermaster has been around for a good, long while. Yet after however long the Hold has been a thing, villain-of-the-month Heartless can just stroll up and kill everybody and get close to stealing everything? Yawn. Let the Hold be cool! Don’t jobber your own cool things to make your other cool things more impressive!

TL;DR: Nightwing returns after hiatus without skipping a beat. New story seems fun and adventurous, and this issue kicks it off with the usual style and energy.

Superman #6
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Gleb Melnikov
Colorist: Alejandro Sanchez
Letterer: Ariana Maher

This might be the most consecutive Superman comics I have ever read…

Lex Luthor is barely hanging on after being attacked in prison. Superman looks into something Dr. Pharm teased him with: Project: Chained. Turns out Lex Luthor once built a super, sensory-depriving prison cell and put someone inside deep below Stryker’s Island. So Superman goes down to free this person, because he’s Superman. But just a casual mention of Lex’s name sets the guy off and he’s got great powers. He escapes, while Superman is put into the cell.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

This issue launches a new story, and serves almost entirely as set-up for that new story. And it works in that regard. We’ve got a Lex Luthor problem that totally works for the character — a super secret prison cell with a super secret prisoner; and we’ve got a very Superman response to that problem. Of course Superman who go and free the person, come what may. That it obviously goes bad is just a comic book norm. Personally, I feel like that prison cell could have contained anything, and Williamson could have gone wild with it. Instead, it’s just a dude with powers. I love the design of the dude, so at least there’s that.

The rest of the issue has a lot of fun with the rest of Superman’s current status quo. We get a Livewire podcast check-in. We get Superman using Supercorp. We get Lois Lane as editor-in-chief…though if I’m being honest, I hope Williamson does more with that. Lois is having problems juggling that position at the moment, and that she considers herself just a fill-in. But Lois Lane could kill it as editor-in-chief. I’d love to see her evolve into that position and really take it by the horns and be great. So we’ll see what happens there. I fully trust Wiliamson with whatever stories he wants to tell here.

TL;DR: This very excellent Superman comic kicks off a new story with style and panache.

Titans #3
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Nicola Scott
Colorist: Annette Kwok
Letterer: Wes Abbott

Titans is back after its own hiatus, but the series is already losing some steam for me.

The Titans spy on the Church of Eternity and discover a human sacrifice, so they jump in to stop it. But it turns out it was not conducted by Brother Eternity, but by some rebels who were trying to make things like they used to be. The Titans chat with Eternity and Aqualad and decide to leave, after their friend reveals he’s given up on humanity. But later on, after Flash steals a meteor from the church, the reader learns that Brother Eternity is indeed putting on an act and is controlling Aqualad with some freaky mouth tentacles.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

This issue leans heavily into it’s Church of Eternity storyline while simultaneously revealing that it’s not really a new take on the Church of Blood, it’s all still evil. So that sorta ruins the momentum for me. The Brother Blood becoming Brother Eternity and recruiting Aqualad to his cause was new and interesting. An issue where the Titans fight Church of Blood rebels, and then we find out Brother Eternity is mind-controlling Aqualad after all, is not all that interesting, storywise. With all that evil stuff revealed as business as usual, we’re left with an issue that’s just overall fun and well-made. The art remains top notch, the writing is strong, the characters bounce off each other well, but it’s not greater than the sum of its parts. Just these surface level characters fighting the Church of Blood again, with all the new twists practically thrown out the window already — unless that’s a swerve, and issue #4 reveals something different. I’ll find out when I read it!

TL;DR: A strong issue, very well made, that makes some disappointing choices with its overall story.

Wonder Woman #1
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Tom King has been hit and miss with me, but I’m on board with him tackling a major character like Wonder Woman. I eventually warmed up to his Batman and loved it to the end, so here’s hoping I enjoy Wonder Woman from the get-go!

An Amazon attacks and kills 13 men at a pool hall in rural America, leaving two women as the only survivors. This snowballs into the U.S. government signing a law to ban all Amazons from the country while the crime is under investigation. Sgt. Steel is brought in to lead a task force — the Amazon Extradition Entity (A.X.E.) — to hunt down and, frankly, kill any Amazons who try to stay in the country. He deports and kills roughly 300 before finally ambushing Wonder Woman at a cemetery in Montana, because she’s been investigating the killings.

Wonder Woman makes short work of Steel’s soldiers and him as well. When she’s got him in the Lasso of Truth, he reveals that he’s taking orders from someone called The Sovereign. And that’s who has been narrating the issue: the Sovereign of America, the secret king that has ruled the country behind the scenes, and who wields the Lasso of Lies.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

Man, this issue nails the tone it’s going for to such a high degree. Tom King knew exactly how he wanted to write this issue and how he wanted to introduce Wonder Woman and set up the conflict, and he nails it. This is a master of his craft at work, with an artist that never falls behind. This is a strong first issue in every single regard. I loved how powerfully he set up the conflict, of America out of control, and then we find out why: the secret sovereign ruler of America?! Jeez louise, that’s a swing! And I’d say that King very nearly pulls it off. We’ll see how it goes, but that old man in a crown, clutching his own lasso, will take a lot more fleshing out to really matter. Still, gotta applaud the guy for swinging for the fences on this one.

Wonder Woman is pretty great in this issue. King specifically avoids mentioning her and using her for most of the issue, just letting her existence dangle over everything that’s happening. She’s a presence, but the story and the setup just keep building and building, until she’s finally brought into the light in a really powerful and awesome scene. She kicks butt, puts Sgt. Steel in his place (and he is a really, really big asshole), and now we’re off to the races. Where is he going with this? What’s going to happen? I’m eager to find out. King has many detractors, but I don’t dislike him outright, and have probably enjoyed more of his comics than not. So let’s see what happens next!

TL;DR: A master of his craft delivers the exact issue he wants, nailing the tone, the narration, the storytelling, the use of characters and more. As strong a first issue as you’re ever likely to read.

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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