This was a crazy week for comics! New, highly anticipated comics, like Transformers and G.O.D.S.! Big comics like the new Batman! So many comics that I had to skip some of those I enjoy just to fit them all in during my week!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Birds of Prey #2 for a really stylish issue that does a lot of really cool things with art and color.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed the final episode of Ahsoka, though the series overall was rather disappointing. Thankfully, the first episode of Loki season 2 was a hoot! So the shows just keep coming. And Cyberpunk 2077 is as fun as I remember, though it’s not all that different from the first time I played at launch. Still generally fun.

Comic Reviews: Batman #138, Birds of Prey #2, G.O.D.S. #1, Transformers #1 and X-Men #27.

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Batman #138
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Jorge Jimenez
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

My bad, everybody! The Gotham War crossover is happening in both Batman and Catwoman comics, and I missed the Catwoman chapter. I’ll get us all caught up.

Batman has kidnapped Red Hood and injected him with a chemical that ups his fear response whenever he starts to get excited or ready for action. Meanwhile, Dick Grayson heads to a secret Bat-Computer in order to lock Bruce out of the systems. But Bruce and Damian know he’s going to do that and arrive to stop him, so Tim shows up to keep them at bay while Dick and get to work. Dick quickly learns what Bruce has done to Jason and he’s royally pissed off. But Bruce has given fully to Zur-En-Arrh at this point, and he abandons Dick, Tim and Damian to the police (they get away).

Meanwhile, we learn that Catwoman’s right-hand-woman, Marquise, is actually Scandal Savage working with her father on whatever plan he’s concocting. She goes to recruit Red Hood, but abandons him when she learns about his new condition.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

I’m a sucker for a happy family/partnership moment between Batman and his Robins, but I’m also a sucker for some exciting storytelling. So even though Batman is opposed to his Robins at the moment, Zdarsky is still building on all he’s written, and their great history, to tell this pretty awesome story. Now, a lot of hay is being made online about the idea that everybody is acting out of character, and obviously comic book fans hate that. But me? I don’t care. It all makes sense within the story being told, it all makes some degree of sense for the characters, and I’m fully on board with this story. The characters are still themselves as we know them, even if one of them is at rock bottom and being mentally manipulated by Zur-En-Arrh.

As for this individual issue itself, every single page kicks a lot of butt. I think it’s a little too casual in revealing that the main computer core of Batman’s systems if off in some apartment somewhere in the city, but it works for what it needs to be. And of course I love that Dick Grayson has full access to it. I love Tim coming to Dick’s rescue and fighting off Damian and Bruce, and how it cuts to the core of why these boys all became Robin for various reasons. Zdarsky touches on it in the dialogue and it totally works for me. Then Dick’s anger at what happened to Jason, and the ending, where the Robins promise to save their dad from himself, is all really great and dramatic character stuff. Love it!

TL;DR: The characters are raw, the emotions are high, the action is awesome and this story is really moving at a high gear.

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Birds of Prey #2
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Artist: Leonardo Romero
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Back for more Birds of Prey! Why couldn’t the TV show have been this comic?

Following a cute flashback of Dinah and Sin, Dinah sits the new team down to go over the plan of sneaking onto Themyscira. It takes some arm twisting to get everybody on board, then they split up to gather last minute supplies. These errands bring everybody together at the same black magic market and they fight some golems. Then they hop on a boat to head out to Paradise Island, relying on Harley Quinn’s guy to sneak them on. She has called on King Shark, who is king of all sharks, and surely that includes the Megalodons that guard Themyscira, right?

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

This issue does a lot of cool things with artwork and coloring. The opening flashback of Dinah and Sin is bathed in green, as they have a cookout in the woods. And then there are just some really awesome visuals as our heroes all pass through the white space around the panels in order to enter the black magic market. It’s a little weird that all of their individual errands had them going to the same mystical market, but I can overlook that bit…even though the comic calls itself out on the strangeness of everybody ending up in the same place. Still, no biggie. It looks cool and leads to a fun action scene as the team works together for the first time to fight some visually striking golems. Like I said, the visuals are really damn cool in this issue.

The rest of the issue is super fun, with Thompson bouncing the characters off one another. Harley Quinn gets the bulk of the dialogue, because she’s just the most talkative one. Personally, I can’t wait to see Thompson flesh out the other characters, because Harley is pretty oversaturated at the moment. But I guess she’s the one that sells comics, not Barda or Batgirl. Still, everybody does get some good moments, and that King Shark scene at the end is pretty darn funny. So it all works out for the overall issue. This is a fun crew, with some great art behind them.

TL;DR: The art really wows in this second issue, as the story and characters keep the pace moving nicely.

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G.O.D.S. #1
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Valerio Schiti
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham

I enjoy me some Jonathan Hickman comics, and Marvel has really been hyping this one up, so of course I was going to check it out.

Ten years ago, we meet Wyn, the avatar of The-Powers-That-Be, and his “chained apprentice”, Dimitri, who is proxy in service to The-Natural-Order-of-Things. After fighting a demon at a party to get to know them better, Wyn goes to meet his wife, Aiko, at the bar where they met several years ago. She informs him that she finally knows his true, mystical identity, and there’s a problem: she has been promoted to the 97th Centivar to The-Natural-Order-of-Things, which is at war with The-Powers-That-Be. So they can’t be a couple anymore, even though they do love one another, and she shoots Wyn in the head.

In the present, Wyn and Dimitri head to a gathering of the world’s greatest mages and heroes because of a Babylon Event. A villain named Cubisk Core is just doing a whole big evil thing, and it’s going to take all the forces of might and magic on Earth to stop her (Aiko and the Centivars are part of this). So they go do that, while Wyn and Dimitri go on one of those fun jaunts where they keep trading items through a bunch of mystical beings, eventually arriving at the right moment in time, with the right object that Wyn is being oh-so-clever about, that they defeat the bad guy and the day is saved.

Afterwards, Wyn goes on a big speech to Doctor Strange about how he hates all of this and the world sucks…but then Aiko gives him a big kiss and he’s feeling much better about it all.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Alright, so, I can sum up my thoughts on this issue pretty plainly: It’s an awesome story, with fun characters, that really hums along. But it’s also nothing you haven’t seen before, coasting along on several familiar storytelling tropes. So let’s start with the positive and go from there. It’s a really fun comic, written well, with amazing artwork. It successfully incorporates existing Marvel characters, while easily introducing the new concepts at play. We don’t get a big exposition dump on this new stuff, but we don’t need it. We just need to understand and enjoy reading about these new characters, and the issue succeeds spectacularly. And the story is well-contained in that fun way, where the hero cleverly ties it all up with a bow in the end, in a way that fits the whole style we’ve been meeting this issue. And the smooch ending ties the whole thing off even better. It’s a fun, contained story that introduces our new characters, sets up the new series and everybody is working at the peak of their talent. 

On the other hand, it’s all been done before and it will all be done again. 

This is the story of a charming, mystical rapscallion who strolls in, claims he and his lore has always existed, casually dismisses the existing Marvel characters and their attempts to save the day, so that he can go off and calmly, cleverly solve the problem. The-Natural-Order-of-Things and The-Powers-That-Be are never explained, we’re just told that they’ve always existed in the Marvel Universe, and Wyn has always been around. He effortlessly fights demons, falls in love, scoffs at Dr. Strange. And then his victory is achieved by one of those stories where he’s off setting up a domino effect of events that all lead to him having the perfect solution at the perfect time. It’s a fun read, but on a bigger picture, it’s nothing uniquely special. This could have been a Doctor Strange comic, among another number of other charming, mystical heroes. 

TL;DR: This first issue is a charming, clever and enjoyable read, but it doesn’t live up to the earth-shattering, industry-changing hype Marvel put in place ahead of this launch. 

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Transformers #1
Writer and Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: Rus Wooton

I’m enjoying Void Rivals and am looking forward to this whole Energon Universe thing. I’m especially excited to see Daniel Warren Johnson at work after his masterpiece of a Beta Ray Bill comic a few years ago. I also have the Do a Powerbomb tpb on my reading pile.

Spike finds his dad drunk at the bar and they have a rough go of it, because the dad heads off to work. Spike and his friend Carly head out into the mountains to look at stars, and instead find the Autobots all wrecked in their spaceship. Jetfire arrives from Void Rivals #1 and turns the ship back on, putting it in repair mode. The first Transformer to be repaired is Starscream, who is a Decepticon now, and he starts shooting all the good guys, much to Jetfire’s horror. But then Optimus Prime gets repaired and he starts cleaning house…until more Decepticons get woken up before Autobots, and then it’s a fight! With Spike and Carly trapped.

Eventually, Optimus destroys the computer and loads the not-yet-repaired Autobots in his trailer. He escapes with Ratchet, and a wounded Jetfire helps them flee from Starscream, Soundwave and Skywarp. Spike takes them to an abandoned quarry, where Optimus holds Jetfire as he dies.

Later, the Decepticons send Starscream out to gather resources from the electrical plant where Spike’s dad works, and the dad watches in horror as Starscream starts squishing humans.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Transformers #1 is very good, but it is also exactly what I would expect a Transformers comic to be. Don’t get me wrong, perhaps that’s exactly what this comic wanted to be…but I guess I would find something more..unique? More enticing? I’ve never read a Transformers comic before, and I thought this relaunch was going to be something new and different. But it’s what I would assume is a pretty standard Transformers comic. We meet Spike, he meets the familiar Transformers, and some fightin’ and fleein’ happens. There are no unique twists or hooks or anything that would have me believe this is a thorough reboot.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still an enjoyable comic. The writing is strong, and Johnson brings his usual A-game for the artwork. It’s a fine comic that handles all the set-up nicely for a first issue. I enjoyed the issue all the way through, and some of the panels are truly special. Johnson is a great comic storyteller, on every level. I just worry that the overall story/premise/concept isn’t anything special. It’s just the Transformers again, as you know them. At least when the Ninja Turtles get rebooted, they get new designs and some changes to the story to make the new reboot somewhat unique. But this is definitely not Transformers: Mutant Mayhem.

TL;DR: It’s a really enjoyable Transformers comic that delivers what I assume to be the usual Transformers comic book action. I just expected something more unique or special with this big reboot.

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X-Men #27
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Phil Noto
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles

X-Men stories just keep barreling along and I’m having a little trouble keeping up.

In an effort to get some new information to help them, Synch, Talon, Ms. Marvel and Rasputin IV go and visit the Fantastic Four on their farmstead. Rasputin is a real no-nonsense knucklehead about the whole thing and threats or attacks everybody. It’s more dumb than cute. Anyway, she has psychic powers, so they use a Cerebro helmet on her to try and recover the memories that Professor X erased in Mr. Fantastic’s mind, but it doesn’t work. Then Ms. Marvel gets to chatting about her combined Inhuman/mutant deal, and Mr. Fantastic realizes that he’d figured out a way to use a low dose of Terrigen Mist to mask the X-gene. So he’s gonna get to work on something that can do that for the X-Men.

Meanwhile, Shadowkat finds both Juggernaut and Cyclops being held prisoner in an Orchis facility and she plans a jailbreak — though Mr. Sinister is ready to cut Juggernaut open and steal the Gem of Cytorrak.

Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.

Hey, guess what, I really dislike Rasputin now. Before this issue, she was just an annoyance, an unnecessary character (and she’s not even the original Rasputin). Now she’s an unlikeable character. She just shows up and starts attacking the members of the Fantastic four. Ben is fishing, enjoying his time off, and she just attacks. And is really rude. And then does that really cliche thing where she says she likes the one person who is badass. This is an issue seemingly dedicated to making Rasputin unlikeable…or actually, it’s dedicated to trying to make Rasputin seem cool? But it totally backfired on me.

And, honestly, it just highlights the major problem with this series: it’s not really about the X-Men. Or, at least, it’s not about any X-Men that matter. The X-squad in this issue is Synch, Talon, Ms. Marvel and Rasputin, with Shadowkat off doing her own thing. Rasputin and Ms. Marvel don’t really count as X-Men, and Synch and Talon just aren’t main characters. Synch has had a lot of growth in the past year or so, but it’s just turned him into a generic, steadfast leader-type. And Marvel has completely ignored any attempt to explore the existential crisis that is Talon. So the team isn’t all that interesting.

Basically, this is one big issue of Rasputin being a total dick to the Fantastic Four for now reason, and they come off way way better than her or her teammates, who can’t seem to stop her.

TL;DR: An attempt to lift Rasputin’s character fails miserably when she spends the issue being a major asshole to some beloved guest stars.

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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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