What a great week in comics! If you didn’t see already, I’m ramping up my own self-published comic output this year with some Gamer Girl & Vixen web comics. Check them out! And more announcements coming soon! Meanwhile, we’ve got some solid regular comics too, like Superman and the first issue of Cobra Commander!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Wonder Woman #5, because even the place-setting issues of this series are great! It’s nice to see that Yara Flor is still around.

Meanwhile, I’ve settled into some nice, comfortable monotony with Project Zomboid, even though I’ve been reading to hang it up for a while now. It keeps me entertained, and that’s what matters. I just like pedantry in my games. I spent a whole afternoon in this zombie game just mowing the overgrown lawn of my safehouse.

Comic Reviews: Avengers: Twilight: Book One, Cobra Commander #1, Superman #10 and Wonder Woman #5.

Avengers: Twilight: Book One
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Daniel Acuna
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

I think I heard something briefly about this comic some time ago, and decided to try it out on a whim.

It’s a dark future, and following the horrific events of H-Day, when Ultron powered up a bunch of villains and killed a bunch of heroes, superheroes just don’t exist anymore. They took the Super Soldier Serum from Steve Rogers, and now he’s just a tired old man, same with the likes of Luke Cage and Matt Murdock. James Stark, the son of Tony and Janet van Dyne, is the young genius who builds all of the tools for the fascist overlords, and he likes to get under Steve’s skin. Then things get worse, Matt gets killed and Luke recruits Steve to his secret Defenders. They give him back the Super Soldier Serum and Steve is determined to rebuild the Avengers and save America.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

So I’m of two minds about this first issue of Avengers: Twilight. On the one hand, it’s a solid, enjoyable comic. Well written, with awesome, atmospheric art, that establishes the world and the characters very well. Zdarsky and Acuna waste no time in setting up Cap’s current status quo and pitting him against a world that’s gone topsy turvy. On the other hand, I don’t feel like this issue does anything new with the concept. It’s a dark, evil future, where a militaristic Big Brother is in control, complete with jack-booted thugs who beat up innocents. And then our hero gets recruited into the underground resistance movement. It’s all very cliche. It’s a well-written and well-drawn cliche, and I’ll be sure to check out future issues. I just worry it’s going to follow the expected playbook for this kind of story. Granted, I wouldn’t expect Chip Zdarsky to follow any playbook but his own.

TL;DR: Excellent first issue sets up the world, the characters and the mood, but it also follows the dystopian future playbook to a T.

Cobra Commander #1
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Andrea Milana
Colorist: Annalisa Leoni
Letterer: Rus Wooten

I’m all-in on the Energon Universe, so of course I’m checking out this Cobra Commander comic too.

So Cobra Commander hails from Cobra-La, a secret world cut off from the rest of the planet Earth. But resources are dwindling and civil war is brewing, and he survives an attack at the science lab where he works. Golobulus, the leader, wants to kill him, but Cobra Commander proves his worth and convinces Golobulus to send him on a mission to the rest of the world. We find out that CC has Megatron strapped up in his lab, and that’s how he made so many scientific advancements. Now he plans to go out and find more Transformers to further his research.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

This issue is a good, solid start to the Cobra Commander story, though it can be a bit confusing at times, and a little too sci-fi wild for its own good. We’re starting right out in Cobra-La, this underground, secret snake-people empire. It’s rather wild, and the reader is thrown right into the deep end, with rioters, civil wars and Cobra Commander already established as some soldier scientist guy. Honestly, it’s a little jarring and a little confusing. The way the dialogue is written, I couldn’t be sure if Cobra Commander himself was some anomaly in Cobra-La, or if they were ultimately referring to Megatron (who we saw frozen in the ice in the latest Transformers issue, so again the continuity isn’t lining up very well).

All that being said, it’s still a solid issue. We got a good understanding of our main character, and how vicious and clever he can be. He’s clearly got some ideas of his own beyond Cobra-La, and he sets out to work to make that happen. The artwork is phenomenal, keeping up with all the craziness and weirdness this issue throws at us. So the issue looks good, and we get a fairly strong introduction to this main character. But part of me felt the issue just goes too weird, and we’re thrown too far into the deep end of this Cobra-La stuff to find solid footing going forward.

TL;DR: Strong introduction, but a little too off-the-wall and wild with the lore for a first issue.

Superman #10
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Bruno Redondo
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Ariana Maher

I enjoyed Tom Taylor’s Nightwing as a pirate story, and I’ve enjoyed Joshua Williamson’s Superman as a cowboy story. Simple as that.

Superman is trapped in the Wild West with Marilyn Moonlight, and they find out that Terra-Man is in town with a time machine. Superman tricks him into a showdown to distract him while Marilyn grabs his stuff. They lock him up and zip back to the present day (also, Marilyn reveals her origin story, so yay). Superman goes looking for Lois but can’t find her. He goes to Supercorp, where he’s ambushed by Graft and the Lex Luthor Revenge Squad, and they want him to join!

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

Welp, this story was only this one issue, and that’s perfectly fine. Superman and his new ally are in the Wild West, he gets into a classic showdown with a classic foe, and wins in sheer Superman style. Then he goes back to his own time and encounters the tease for the next part of the story. No fuss, no muss; just a fun, somewhat silly done-in-one story that I really enjoyed. The writing is as strong as always, and Redondo is a great fill-in artist. The Wild West world looks just as fun as one might expect, and huzzahs all around for using Terra-Man to have some fun. Because why not? Williamson has been great at putting classic Superman villains to good use in this series.

The only nitpick I might have is that Marilyn Moonlight remains less than interesting. We get her origin in this issue, and it’s nothing much. She was from this time period, and seeing her future self be a hero convinces her to be a hero of the Wild West. Neat. She dies of old age, but then some villain in the present day revived her as a science ghost. I’m not sure what else could be done with her. Stronger interactions with Superman, maybe? I dunno. She’s a neat design, and I’m all for Superman having super allies, but I feel like she could be a stronger character somehow.

TL;DR: Superman as a cowboy lives up to any expectations in this quick, fun, done-in-one story.

Wonder Woman #5
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

This series continues to surprise and excite me!

While Sgt. Steel puts together a villain squad of Wonder Woman rogues, Diana holds contests with each of the Wonder Girls in order to convince them to stand down and not join her in the fight ahead. She defeats Yara Flor with arrows, defeats Cassie Sandsmark at arm wrestling and defeats Donna Troy in a Justice League-themed fighting video game. Buuuuut, even after they give their oaths not to interfere, they all later show up at Diana’s apartment to tell her they’re helping anyway.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

In the grand scheme of things, this issue is more about place setting. Sgt. Steel gathers some classic Wonder Woman villains to make his hit squad, with the King narrating his thoughts on each of them. It’s fun! They recruit Giganta, Dr. Psycho, Grail, Circe, Angle Man and Silver Swan, so it’s a fun crew. I like that they included Grail. As much as I dislike her name, I like that they included a modern Wonder Woman villain and not just the classics. They all look pretty damn awesome in Sampere’s artwork, and King seems to have a good handle on each of them, so I’m excited to see this crew be put to work. And then at the same time, Wonder Woman gathers her allies in a bunch of fun ways that help flesh out and explore each character.

For most of the issue, I thought this was just King explaining why he wasn’t going to include the Wonder Girls in this story. But then he surprised me in the final page by revealing that they were indeed going to be part of the story, and were crucial to the whole thing, even. I liked that. So this issue is basically King picking teams for his upcoming war, and taking time to flesh out each of the participants to a degree. It works well, it reads well, and it’s drawn stunningly, as has been every page by Sampere so far this series. Has Sampere been around long? They are doing amazing and gorgeous work on this comic.

Also, I would like to note, King appears to be building to something really wildcard with Cheetah, I think. That should be fun when she comes into play.

TL;DR: This already awesome series takes and issue to expand its cast of heroes and villains, setting the stage for even bigger adventures to come.

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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