Merry Christmas, everyone! By the time you’re reading this, I’ll be on the road to join my family for a nice holiday weekend! Should be a blast. And as a Christmas present to me this year, all of my favorite DC comics came out, like Nightwing and Superman!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Wonder Woman #4 because this series continues to fire on all god damned cylinders!

Meanwhile, there won’t be any posts on the blog until probably Wednesday, because I’ll be out of town. But Wednesday will be my annual list of the things I enjoyed most this year, like my favorite comic, TV show, movie and video game. Speaking of video games, I’m currently enjoying Project Zomboid in early access on Steam. It’s neat!

Comic Reviews: Nightwing #109, Superman #9 and Wonder Woman #4.

Nightwing #109
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Stephen Byrne
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Wes Abbott

Let’s bring this pirate adventure to a close with some solid pizzaz!

Bea has been stabbed with a sword and thrown off a castle into the water down below, so Nightwing dives after her and saves her. He uses first aid techniques learned from Alfred to patch her up and then they head to the Hold to prepare an ambush for when Dirk arrives. Nightwing is the tip of the spear and beats up most of Dirk’s crew, while Bea rescues her own crew from the brig. They capture Dirk and the day is saved.

Nightwing is given his box from the Hold, and it’s the security camera footage from Haley’s Circus that proves Tony Zucco sabotaged the trapeze. So it’s time to return to Bludhaven to finally charge him with the murder of Dick’s parents!

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Did we know that Tony Zucco was never brought to justice for murdering the Graysons? Is that a thing in Batman lore? Because I always thought a big part of Robin’s origin was that he helped Batman catch Zucco, whereas Batman never caught the man who murdered his parents. I dunno. Whatever. Considering how bad my memory can be, I wouldn’t be surprised if Taylor has brought it up before in this series, setting up that reveal. It’s a good, solid reveal for what was in Dick Grayson’s box and I’m all for it. And the rest of the issue is a great ending for this little jaunt, so everybody wins! I love a fun story where our hero is in a new setting and then gets to strut their superhero stuff, to the amazement of all involved.

The issue begins with a heroic rescue by Nightwing, continues into a fun Robin/Alfred flashback and then has a lot of great scenes where Dick and Bea hash out their beef. Taylor is a fun character writer and we get a lot of nice character scenes in this issue. It all leads to a truly heroic action scene, as Nightwing kicks the butts of a bunch of traitorous pirates and the day is saved. It’s all entertaining and it’s all fun, and then the issue perfectly sets up the next chapter. This pirate adventure has been a lark from the very beginning, and it arrives at a fitting and enjoyable conclusion.

TL;DR: This little pirate story comes to an entertaining finish, which is all any of us could hope for.

Superman #9
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Bruno Redondo
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Ariana Maher

Talk about a surprise ending…

Superman took a bunch of Kryptonite last issue, and he’s in Supercorp resting up with a dose of sunlight. Lois is there reading him Get Well cards from the citizens. Lex is back in prison. The Chained is locked up. And Lena Luthor got a job at Supercorp. Superman eventually comes to and has figured out Graft’s next target: Marilyn Moonlight. He dons a power suit that Lex made for him and interrupts a meeting between Marilyn and Graft, who was trying to recruit her (though she’s not a fan). Graft turns their wheelchair into a battle engine and there’s a brief fight before Graft shoots Marilyn with one of his kryptonite beams and both she and Superman disappear in a flash of light.

Where did they go? The Wild Wild West! And Superman is a train-robbing outlaw! Also, Nightwing and Batgirl are crimefighters known as Nighthawk and Cinnamon. It’s wild, y’all.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

A cowboy adventure? Sure, why not? Williamson has given us nothing but fun stories so far, so consider me fully on board with wherever he wants to take us next. He’s delivered another exciting issue of his ongoing story here, so let’s see what else this madman has in store. Superman makes a speedy recovery from the Kryptonite poisoning last issue, and we get a rather fun development in him suiting up in some (repainted) Lex Luthor armor. That would have been a storyline in its own right, but Williamson doesn’t dwell on it for too long before the cowboy stuff. It’s finally time to delve into Marilyn Moonlight. Personally, I think her introduction has been a little wonky in this series, but she looks cool as hell and I’m all for finding out more about her.

There is a lot going on in this issue and it all works. From Lois reading Get Well Soon cards to Clark, to that fight with Graft, to everything with Lex. I’m loving the addition of his daughter to the series and I look forward to where her story is going. I also really enjoyed the interaction between Lois Lane and Mercy Graves. It’s fun seeing all these familiar characters interact through the new status quos Williamson has set up. And it’s especially fun seeing Superman navigate them. He remains the strong protagonist through all of this, and he’s no slouch when it comes to carrying his own comic. So we’ll see where this cowboy diversion takes us. I enjoyed the pirate diversion in Nightwing, after all.

Speaking of the Nightwing comic, artist extraordinaire Bruno Redondo popped in to draw this issue and his work is as gorgeous as ever. If anyone can fill in for Jamal Campbell, it’s Redondo, no problem!

TL;DR: Bruno Redondo stops by to draw the heck out of this excellent transitional issue.

Wonder Woman #4
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

I am loving this comic and this story.

While America prepares to go to war against the Amazons, and the President makes a big speech to the American people (which is hyped up, but we don’t see it), Wonder Woman answers a Make-A-Wish from her biggest fan and takes the boy to Paradise Island for a day of fun and life lessons.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

The United States of America, under the tyrannical control of a secret king, has declared war on Themyscira. That is a badass story, and this comic gives it the full gravity of all that it implies. This comic is swinging for the fences and knocking it out of the park with every issue. That is damn cool comics. But then King takes it a step further with the two-story contrast in this issue. While he uses news reports and Oval Office meetings to sew the discord, he uses the main story to show just how awesome Wonder Woman is in spite of it all. And he uses the narration from the King to really emphasis and provide some purple prose to make its impact even greater. In the face of war, Wonder Woman spends a whole day treated a sick child to paradise.

It’s just such a powerful juxtaposition and it works so damn well for how this series has been going. The stakes couldn’t be bigger, and the comic succeeds with making those stakes feel real and feel important. And then it succeeds with making Wonder Woman this larger-than-life figure at the center of it. I cannot stress enough how almost other-wordly she comes off in this series and this issue in particular. She’s truly a larger-than-life figure, casually brushing off the unjustified anger being hurled at her, and unflinchingly standing up for the boy and what’s right. It’s powerful stuff, and really makes this comic something special. The artwork, likewise, doesn’t miss a beat in making this character as magnificent as she has ever been on the page.

TL;DR: The stakes couldn’t be higher, the writing and ton couldn’t be stronger, and the main character couldn’t be more amazing, and we’re only four issues into this new series!

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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