Happy New Year, everyone! In a few short nights, it’ll be 2024, and we can all keep moving on with our lives. Thankfully, we’ve got some solid, enjoyable enough comics to end the current year with, like Power Rangers and She-Hulk.

Comic Book of the Week goes to Duke #1 for an exciting and fun start to the new G.I. Joe comics in the Energon Universe. No Snake Eyes yet, though. Hopefully they’re saving him for some thing good.

Meanwhile, I had a great Christmas with the family! Met the new baby. Got some great presents, some great comics to read. My brother’s housemate got me an air fryer! That should be fun. And it was a pleasure, as always, to see family. Good time was had by all. No plans for New Year’s Eve, though. Probably just video games and movies. Currently enjoying the second season of Marvel’s What If…?

Comic Reviews: Duke #1, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #115 and Sensational She-Hulk #3

Duke #1
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Tom Reilly
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Rus Wooton

The next chapter of the Energon Universe begins here, and it begins well.

Conrad “Duke” Hauser is the best of the best in the U.S. military, but he’s been a loose cannon ever since he barely survived an encounter with Starscream. The government is covering it up and Duke is cut loose. Six months later, he attends a meeting of people who claim they’ve encountered aliens and he meets Dr. Adele Burkhart, who has been working on a new energy source based on space dust. She enlists Duke’s help to spy on the M.A.R.S. corporation and Duke finds them building weapons of super war…but he’s caught, beaten up and thrown out. M.A.R.S. is run by Destro and he sends a kill squad to take out Burkhart and her family. Duke finds them and she passes along some info before she dies and he flees the hit squad.

The military wants to bring him in, so they’ll need to bring in some other best-of-the-best soldiers: Stalker and Rock ‘N Roll.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Much like with the Transformers comic, I’ve never read any previous G.I. Joe comics. I’m a huge fan of the Joes from when I was a kid in the ’80s watching the cartoon. So I’m excited to see all of that come to life in this comic. And unlike the Transformers comic, I’m glad to say that this issue definitely deviates from what I’d expect a standard G.I. Joe comic to be. The characters are there, the hints of things to come are there, but it’s starting in its own unique and fun way. I can definitely get behind this issue. It’s got very strong writing and even stronger art. So this is a damn good start to this corner of the Energon Universe.

This issue is damn fun. We get a great introduction to Duke and a real sense of his character. He gets to go off-track a little bit, so he’s not automatically the straight-laced G.I. Joe leader we’d expect him to be. That character is there, but he’s been pushed over the edge, and it’s fun to watch. He gets to do some sneaking, he gets to scrape with some bad guys, and he’s really showing off his action chops. All delivered gorgeously with some action-heavy artwork. This issue is the whole package, to be sure, and a great start to this new G.I. Joe stuff.

My only complaint is that we jump forward in time 6 months. The Transformers comic, which featured that encounter between Duke and Starscream, is still dealing with those original days. If these comics are supposed to be part of a shared storytelling universe, why the heck is one of them jumping forward 6 freakin’ months ahead of the other?

TL;DR: Great started to this series, great introduction to the G.I. Joe corner of this new Energon Universe.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #115
Writer: Melissa Flores
Artist: Simona Di Gianfelice
Colorist: Raul Angulo, with assistance by Jose Enrique Fernandez
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

I cannot wait for this storyline to be over, but I have no idea where it’s going!

The bad guys have conquered Safehaven and have a whole army of evil, possessed Rangers at their side. Our heroes group up whoever they can and plan an assault. This includes Matt sitting it out because he’s still got Rita in his head (but he otherwise seems OK), and Kimberly taking a moment to check in on civilian Jason. Zordon also recruits Lord Zedd to help. Our heroes launch a two-pronged attack and are immediately overwhelmed on both prongs.

Drakkon uses this time to slip away and use the Master Arch for himself, while being silently pursued by the evil, possessed Ranger Slayer.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

I’ve probably said this with every chapter in this ongoing story so far, but there is just way too much going on per issue, and it’s taking way too long to get where it’s going. There’s several dozen Rangers we have to keep track of, and while effort is made to give some of them smaller, more intimate scenes, those are too short and too far and few between. And sometimes they don’t make sense. We jump from everybody gearing up and planning a sneak attack at Safehaven to Kimberly finding the time to unmorph and go to Jason’s house to patch him up and talk. It’s a nice talk, and it works for both characters and Kimberly’s ongoing development, but it also comes out of nowhere. If the issue had more time to explore things, it could probably set up that the team is taking a moment to go civilian before they launch the attack on Safehaven. It’s a classic scene in stories and I would have liked to see it for everybody.

Then we get another small scene between Matt and Aisha, where Matt is doing better, so that was wonderful. I want more of this on every level.

Still, this remains a readable and largely enjoyable comic. The action is big, the characters remain interesting, and the threat remains very dangerous. It was fun seeing the Rangers launch their two-pronged assault and quickly realize that both prongs are outmatched and outgunned. It simply doesn’t always work out for the good guys. And then we’ve got some new mystery afoot with Drakkon and Ranger Slayer, who I forgot what had become of her. And I still get to see glimpses of the Cerberus Ranger from Hyperforce, so that’s neat.

But the overall story has become too big and too all over the place, with no end in sight. Sometimes stories can overstay their welcome.

TL;DR: Despite still being largely enjoyable, this Darkest Hour storyline is getting to be unwieldy in size, scope, characters and pretty much everything else.

The Sensational She-Hulk #3
Writer: Rainbow Rowell
Artist: Andres Genolet
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

I don’t know what it is, but I just feel that the Hulk is kinda off in this issue…but not necessarily in a bad way.

Mark Booth steals some of the Hulk’s blood so that he can use it to transform his wife back to normal, but she’s having none of that and doesn’t want to change back. She’s Anathema now and she runs off after beating up She-Hulk. When the cops show up, Hulk invites She-Hulk to come with him and they leave the city and have a nice sit down and chat — or at least as much of a chat as the Hulk is ever capable of having. Then he leaves in a huff.

Meanwhile, both Jennifer’s boss and the Avengers see on the news that she got into that scuffle in downtown.

Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.

I don’t know what’s going on with the Incredible Hulk these days, but he feels a little weird in this story. Still, I really enjoyed the moments where Jen and Hulk just sit and talk. I like how he abides her presence. Like, even the wild Hulk recognizes actual family and is kinda cool with it, even if he’s still also wild and angry like the Hulk. It’s a tricky balance, and Rowell gets it mostly right for my tastes. That’s what a lot of this issue is. It’s a tricky balance between doing some superhero stuff and keeping that going, while also including strong character moments. It’s not the best issue of the series so far, but it’s still solid and on the good side of things.

Everything in this issue is generally fine. The villains continue to grow and change, which is good. I’m not a big fan of the name “Anathema,” but that’s more to do with me and modern superhero naming conventions. It’s whatever. But they’re a threat against Jen that totally works. And then she has a nice scene with her cousin, touching base with him. I also really enjoy the Avengers cameo at the end. I love behind-the-scenes superhero stuff, and the idea of the Avengers approaching longtime member She-Hulk is a fun idea, and works perfectly in this ground, day-in-the-life series.

TL;DR: Solid, largely enjoyable issue with a nice Hulk cameo, but there’s just something I can’t put my finger on in which it’s not totally connecting with me.

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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