Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I had a relatively fine visit home with the family, and a big, fun pile of comics to read and enjoy! This is one of those weeks where a lot of my favorites have come out, like Nightwing, Superman and Power Rangers.

Comic Book of the Week goes to Wonder Woman #3 for another stellar, super enjoyable issue of Wonder Woman being awesome!

Meanwhile, I splurged on Star Wars Jedi: Survivor this past week because it was on sale and I’m enjoying it well enough. I haven’t really given myself time to dive in deep, but I’m sure I will this weekend. I’m also, hopefully, going to read Do a Powerbomb by Daniel Warren Johnson! I’m excited for that. I should mention more graphic novels I’m reading on the side. Like, I read Eight Billion Genies and it was really good. So go me!

Comic Reviews: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #114, Nightwing #108, Sensational She-Hulk #2, Superman #8, Void Rivals #6 and Wonder Woman #3.

---

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #114
Writer: Melissa Flores
Artist: Simona Di Gianfelice
Colorists: Raul Angulo, with assistance from Jose Enrique Fernandez
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

Darkest Hour is still doing its thing, for good or ill.

Alright, so there’s a bunch of different storylines through this issue, and it jumps between them all rather rapidly. Rocky and Adam are imprisoned with a bunch of other Rangers from throughout time. Billy and Coinless Trini have summoned the Phantom Ranger, who says he’s trying to find the Morphin Masters and/or the Emissaries to hopefully save the Grid, but they can’t really do that unless they have a Master Arch and can travel to the heart of the Morphin Grid. So after our heroes defeat some Thralls and a new Finster monster, and bicker with Drakkon a bit, it’s decided that the time has come to liberate Safehaven to get to that Master Arch.

Meanwhile, Dark Specter attempts to corrupt Tommy and his White Ranger powers, but Tommy is able to resist — unlike Adam, Rocky and the other imprisoned, now corrupted, rangers.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

Somewhere in this hodge podge of a comic book issue is a good, strong narrative, and it asserts itself enough to make for a good read. But much like my complaints about last issue, there is too much podge. No scene, no characters, are really given enough time to be felt. We jump between scenes quite rapidly, and then we’ve got a dozen or so characters to keep track of. Little glimpses of character development peek out here and there, but it’s not enough, in my opinion. Matt and Kimberly get one brief, half-page scene and a hug, and that’s it for that ongoing story for now.

But complaints aside, this story hasn’t gone completely off the rails just yet. The general thrust of things remains strong, and I’m pretty sure I know what’s happening. The Rangers are up against daunting odds, Dark Specter is corrupting rangers, and our medium-sized band of heroes will figure out a way to save the day. I mean, c’mon, they’ve got the Coinless/Drakkon Rangers and the Hyperforce Rangers at full strength. Throw in a couple of Omega Rangers and a couple of Mighty Morphin Rangers, and that’s a pretty good team. It’s just that…there are so many rangers and so little time to care about them all.

TL;DR: An overabundance of characters and storylines is bogging down this crossover, but the general forward momentum keeps things going well enough.

---

Nightwing #108
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Stephen Byrne
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Artist: Wes Abbott

The adventures of Pirate Nightwing continue.

Nightwing is a pirate now, and he sails with Bea and her crew to the secret pirate city. They root out a traitor on the ship, and Bea reveals that she’s been greasing the wheels for all of Dick’s social improvements to Bludhaven, so they have it out. When they arrive at the island, Bea is betrayed by her brother and his loyalists. He even kills her and throws her off the top of a building.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

I find it very fun and very silly that this Bea character has been turned into a pirate queen. I wasn’t reading Nightwing comics back when she and Ric Grayson were around, but, like…I doubt the writer at the time had such a thing planned for Bea. Did they? What’s it like for them reading the comic now and seeing Bea turned into a pirate queen, complete with hidden pirate city? It’s a hoot for me! Tom Taylor is a creative dude, and sending Nightwing on a pirate adventure was definitely not something I expected to happen. He makes good use of this idea, having Nightwing interact with the crew, discover this pirate city, and then deal with some truly dastardly pirate behavior!

I definitely did not see that ending comic, and that’s pretty darn cool. Is Bea dead? Probably not. But her first mate surely is, and this all definitely sets Nightwing up for some truly awesome retribution. Nighting goes from being a pirate on a ship, to kicking the butts of an entire pirate city?! Heck yeah, I’m fully on board! This issue builds nicely as it establishes all this new pirate low, then hits the read with a nice, hard smack as the bad guys make their play and take out people we like. Nighting does his best to be a hero, and then we’ve got a nice set up for more heroics to come. Good storytelling all around.

TL;DR: Nightwing’s pirate adventure gets bigger in a fun way, and then gets badder in a really exciting way.

---

Sensational She-Hulk #2
Writer: Rainbow Rowell
Artist: Andres Genolet
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Finally, an issue of She-Hulk without Jack of Hearts.

Hulk confronts She-Hulk and accuses of her of following him, but she has no idea what he’s talking about and tries to talk him down, but this is version is more Hulk than Banner. Then April and Mark Booth return, and she’s a total Hulk and attacks. She-Hulk tries to clear the pedestrians while Hulk tangles with April, until she throws him into a building and it begins to collapse on him.

Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.

No Jack of Hearts to bring me down, but also nothing to really bring me up. Despite the Hulk showing up, and him being a rather anger, feral Hulk, this is actually a pretty low key issue. Like, I know this isn’t necessarily a fisticuffs sort of comic, but the way the Hulk is in this issue, I would have liked more…damage? Maybe? We get some when the villains show up, but until then, it’s just Hulk and She-Hulk sort of bickering at each other. I really, really like the artwork, especially on She-Hulk this issue. It’s very strong, very good looking art. And Hulk does look imposing. But he doesn’t really do anything all that imposing. There’s a sense that he’s dangerous and people are in danger…but then nothing actually happens to put them in danger until the bad guys show up. So there’s a bit of a disconnect about this Hulk appearance. And the villains…are fine. There was a lot of build up for them in the previous series, and I suppose it’s time to pay that off. So here we go. Then the issue kinda just ends.

TL;DR: Not enough smashing for my tastes, but an otherwise pretty solid Hulk guest appearance.

---

Superman #8
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artists: Gleb Melnikov, Norm Rapmund, David Baldeon and Jamal Campbell
Colorists: Alejandro Sanchez and Campbell
Letterer: Dave Sharpe

We’re in the thick of it now and having a great time.

The Chained is going after Lex Luthor, with Superman and Superboy standing in his way. We learn the origins of The Chained, and how Connor Kent’s tactile telekinesis comes from him (or Lex’s experiments with Sammy). Ultimately, the one thing that can get through Sammy’s defenses is Kryptonite, so Suprman grabs some from Supercorp and uses it to distract The Chained while Superboy, Mercy and Lex hit him with a new restraining device. But the damage is done: Superman has been poisoned by the Kryptonite!

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

This is a fun issue where Superman and Superboy take on The Chained, with assistance from Lex Luthor and SuperCorps. That’s cool stuff, and makes for a great issue. I’m not a super fan of the name, but The Chained is sufficiently interesting, with cool powers. We get a little retconned history to Connor’s tactile telekinesis, which is fine by me. That’s definitely something worth exploring, and I wouldn’t mind Connor becoming more of a supporting character in this series. I know he had his own solo comic recently, but this Superman comic is the bee’s knees, so I’m all for more uses of the Super Family.

Everything just works in this issue. The Chained is a darn cool design, and I like the look at his backstory. He’s a challenge for Superman and Superboy, but they’re both still smart and capable enough to match him and fight back. Then we get the added fun of Lex Luthor’s involvement, and Supercorp. And that is a really good cliffhanger ending, with Superman sacrificing himself to the Kryptonite in order to stop the villain. That’s good stuff and an exciting cliffhanger.

TL;DR: This issue is smack dab in the middle of a big, fun superhero brawl, and both action and character scenes are a lot of fun to read.

---

Void Rivals #6
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Lorenzo De Felici
Colorist: Matheus Lopes
Letterer: Rus Wooton

Void Rivals continues forward at its usual pace.

Darak and Solila are on the run from the authorities and escape to the Wasteland, which is the zone that separates the two halves the ring planet. So the bad guys are gonna send one of their really big bads after them.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

This is still a very enjoyable series, and this is a rather enjoyable chapter of that series, but not a whole lot happens in this singular issue in particular. There’s some good banter, some good fleshing out of the world, and it’s nice to have Darak and Solila on the same team again, but yeah, just not a whole lot happens in this particular issue. They’re on the run through her city/world, but we don’t see any sites, really. It’s all one, big futuristic city-style, and we don’t really get a travelogue of sights or anything like that. And the few supporting characters who show up don’t do much. And the Skuxxoid gets only a small cutaway scene. So yeah, this is just a chapter of the ongoing story that moves our characters along. They escape to the Wasteland, which is actually a pretty common trope for stories like this. So not even that is all that exciting or stupendous.

TL;DR: Just a solid, middle chapter of Void Rivals that moves the story along to its next section.

---

Wonder Woman #3
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

I just found out that this whole story has a prologue in a prior issue of Wonder Woman, which I didn’t read…until now! So I’m all caught up, and some good stuff has been fleshed out.

Sgt. Steel told Steve Trevor that he had a new lead on Emelie, knowing that Trevor would slip that info to Diana. So she simply strolls into the A.X.E. HQ and goes to Steel’s office, fighting any and all guards that come her way. Once she’s got him, she gets him to reveal that Emelie is pregnant! So perhaps Emelie is the mother of this new Trinity character, daughter of Wonder Woman.

Meanwhile, the King brings one of the soldiers from last issue into his office and mind-controls him with the Lasso of Hate. He convinces the soldier to write a manifesto about how Wonder Woman’s victory robbed him of his masculinity and his right to exist as a man, then kill himself.

Also, there’s a cute backup story featuring Jon and Damian babysitting a 5-year-old Trinity.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

So the prologue took place in Wonder Woman #800, and it features all of the set up for the narration in this series. All three issues so far have been the King of America narrating the story to Trinity, and the prologue showed me how she got into that situation in the first place. That’s very helpful. I suppose the twist that Trinity is the daughter of Emelie and not Diana would be more impactful if I knew Trinity better…but I don’t think I can? I think this is all she’s ever done so far…What a shame that she’s not really Diana’s daughter. Both Superman and Batman get to have biological children, but not Wonder Woman? Oh well.

This was another great issue. I am loving this comic. The tone is still very impactful, all of this being told through the lens of this King of America character, as he rots in a prison cell. It’s great narration. And then the action is just a hoot! Wonder Woman, in all her amazing glory, just strolls into the bad guy’s HQ, talks to the receptionist, takes the elevator up to his floor; it’s fun stuff. This issue just tickled my pinks. The art is phenomenal, very clear lines, very straight forward; the sort of comic book art that I love. And then the writing is all comedically wonderful as Wonder Woman struts her stuff and kicks butt. I’ve been having a great time with this series so far.

The backup feature is also very cute.

TL;DR: Another confident, entertaining issue of this new Wonder Woman series. I’m loving the tone of this comic, the way it’s being told, and the artwork. The whole package.

---

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.

————————–