What a week, what a glorious week! If you haven’t heard the news, my Gamer Girl & Vixen Kickstarter hit its funding goal this week, so I’m on cloud nine! And then the world went ahead and gave me so many of my favorite current comics, like Nightwing, Superman and Transformers!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Wonder Woman #6 because every issue of this series is just mind-blowingly cool!

Meanwhile, I’ve been making my way through various TV shows lately, like Lessons in Chemistry and, finally, Twisted Metal. I’m still playing Super Mario Bros. Wonder and taking my sweet time at on that. No other new games have really caught my attention. So just sort of chilling my way through some OK games and shows these days.

Comic Reviews: Cobra Commander #2, Nightwing #111, Superman #11, Transformers #5, Ultimate Spider-Man #2 and Wonder Woman #6.

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Cobra Commander #2
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Andrea Milana
Colorist: Annalisa Leoni
Letterer: Rus Wooton

Cobra Commander runs afoul of the Dreadnoks in the Everglades on his search for Energon. Then he falls through some swamp into a deep water pit of gators!

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

Solid continuation of the first issue. Despite being dressed in a long, bright blue trench coat, complete with hat and shiny mask, Cobra Commander traipses around the Everglades in a sort of general search for Energon. I don’t remember that being his mission from the first issue, but it’s a pretty boring mission. Still, solid character development for him and the growing cast. We get a good taste of the Dreadnoks, who are, of course, class Cobra villains. So it’ll be fun to see everybody come together. And I do hope his being at the mercy of some ‘gators in the Everglades means we’re going to meet Croc Master next! He seems like he’d be a hoot. I rather like the idea of the core Cobra team coming together like this, and I look forward to more.

TL;DR: Solid second issue builds on the characters from the first, while introducing more Cobra classics to the roster.

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Nightwing #111
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Sami Basri
Inker: Vicente Cifuentes
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Wes Abbott

Back to our regularly scheduled Nightwing comics! Though the end of Tom Taylor’s run has been announced, so I am disappoint.

Heartless has killed a man in Gotham City, leaving behind his young son. Batman calls in Nightwing to help investigate, especially since Nightwing is good with kids. We get some flashbacks from when Dick first joined Bruce and Alfred, while the heroes investigate…only to determine that the killing wasn’t likely the real Heartless, and may be a copy cat. We then see that the boy’s uncle (who took him in) isn’t as nice as when we first met him, and he may be hiding something sinister!

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

I am always going to love any story that really delves into the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, and this issue does it flawlessly. We’ve got a new mystery for the pair to work on together, that is connected to the ongoing Heartless storyline. mix that in with hefty, meaningful flashbacks to some of their earliest days together, and I’m sold without much effort, if I’m being honest. The two heroes work together well, the artwork serves the story perfectly, and then the story is kicked up an extra notch by being so interesting in its own right. A Heartless copycat that somehow involves Dick bonding with a kid who also just lost his parents? Nice.

And then the potentially sad ending that there might not be any chance for Batman and Nightwing to even know that the uncle was behind it all? He’s now been tipped off that Nightwing is investigating, so he tries to slip his nephew out of town quickly. I’m sure the heroes will win in the end, but the narration suggests otherwise. You can’t always save everyone. But we’ll see. This was an excellent first part of the story, with some truly awesome Batman/Nightwing scenes together. And that’s like cat nip for this comic book nerd, let me tell you.

TL;DR: I am a sucker for good Batman/Nightwing interactions, and this issue has a bunch of them! Couple that with an intriguing new mystery for the pair to solve and you’ve got a great issue.

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Superman #11
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: David Baldeon
Colorist: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Ariana Maher

I live in a world where I’m reading and greatly enjoying the ongoing Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman comics. Good times.

Superman is face-to-face with the Lex Luthor Revenge Squad, comprised of Pharm, Graft, The Chained and a surprise member: Leticia Luthor, Lex’s mother! They’ve synthesized and enhanced all the different Kryptonites, and Graft uses Red Kryptonite to make Superman angry enough to join them, and break Lex out of prison. But Graft didn’t anticipate that an angry Superman is angry at a lot more people than just Lex, and he attacks everybody. Lex stabs Superman with some Green Kryptonite to negate the effects of the Red, and that weakens Superman just in time for Graft to unleash their most diabolical plan: cover the city in Kryptonite gas that has been enhanced to kill all humans! And it’s a plan that Lex cooked up years ago, when he worked with Pharm and Graft!

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

This issue was a really fun escalation of the current ongoing story. It was a joy to read. The Superman Revenge Squad is a classic comic book team, so updating it to the Lex Luthor Revenge Squad is another fine example of Williamson taking old villains and concepts and twisting them into something new, which I’ve every much enjoyed. And the idea of Graft forcing Superman onto the Squad is great. I especially loved the reveal that Superman under the effects of Red Kryptonite isn’t going to play nice with anybody! That was a standout moment in this issue that adds some good character development to Graft. I don’t like villains who are absolutely perfect and constantly thinking 10 steps ahead. Graft can still be a genius and have a great plan, and still get called out on an obvious mistake.

I’ve always liked Baldeon’s art, and he’s a good fit for this title. The art has always been a real standout for Williamson’s Superman, and while I definitely miss Jamal Campbell, Baldeon easily keeps up with all the action and characters in play. So we’ve got another entertaining chapter in this already entertaining story, with all manner of villains and action and characters running around, with at least one truly awesome standout moment. That makes for a great comic book issue to me!

TL;DR: The ongoing storyline gets kicked up an entertaining notch, with some great character and action moments.

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Transformers #5
Writer and Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: Rus Wooton

More awesome Transformers action is always fun.

Optimus and Sparky commiserate over their various wars, and then later the Autobots set up a generator next to the dam and use that energy to revive Arcee and Jazz. The Decepticons attack with their own reinforcements and it’s a brawl and a half! The Decepticons manage to destroy the generator before retreating, but the Autobots have the numbers now, so Optimus leads the charge back to the Ark. When they arrive, they’re ambushed by the Constructicons, who transform into Devastator!

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

This is a big, ol’ action issue as the Transformers fight the Decepticons, with lots of smashing, lots of blasting, and a couple of familiar faces popping up to keep it interesting. We’re five issues deep and we’re still on the opening encounter between the two factions, with us just going back and forth in battle after battle. Everybody gets smashed around, little steps are taken to move the conflict forward, and then we come back for even more smashing. It would be a little repetitive if it wasn’t so fun to read. Johnson makes the action sing, like an awesome scene where Arcee races up the side of the dam in order to catch Carly, who is falling from the top. It’s a damn cool scene and a damn cool comic, though I am ready for things to move on and start building to something bigger (Constructicon pun intended).

TL;DR: The action really sings in another awesomely constructed Transformers issue, where the good guys smash into the bad guys and then it just keeps building.

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Ultimate Spider-Man #2
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Marco Checchetto
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

I’m not as in love with this new Spider-Man as other people on the web, but I’ll gladly read a self-contained Spider-Man relaunch written by Jonathan Hickman.

Peter is now a costumed vigilante, swinging around the city and practicing with his new powers. He meets the Shocker, who is trying to break into a bank, and twice the villain outsmarts the fledgling superhero and gets the better of him. Peter thinks about quitting, but accidentally reveals his secret to his daughter. And she later draws him a cute red and blue magic spider picture.

Meanwhile, the Green Goblin continues to attack Wilson Fisk, and he uses his influence to keep that story out of the Daily Bugle. Instead, he’s got the Bugle (and photographer Peter Parker) focused on the mysterious black costumed guy.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Basically, you’ve got a 30+ year-old Peter Parker who has just now gotten spider powers essentially out of a can, so he’s not bothered by guilt or any great need to do anything but swing around and get used to his powers. And that’s a fun Peter Parker to read. He comes up against a bad guy and assumes he’s got to stop him from committing crimes, and Hickman writes some pretty funny scenes between Peter and the Shocker. Hickman obviously knows how to write comic book characters, and he does a great job throughout the issue. Those two scenes just really stand out as quite excellent.

There are some nice scenes with the family as well. I looooove the idea that Peter designs his classic red and blue costume based off a drawing his daughter did of the “magic spider” that gave him his powers. Inspired choice there. The other storylines with Ben and Jonah being top notch journalists, or the Kingpin being a bad guy, are also great! All the makings of a solid, well-thought-out, well-expanded comic book series are here, and it’s got its own interesting spins on Peter Parker and his supporting cast, and that keeps things really interesting.

TL;DR: So far, this remains an entertaining and very engaging alternate reality Spider-Man story. Plenty of fun scenes and character moments in this second issue.

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Wonder Woman #6
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Honestly, Wonder Woman is probably the best comic book that I’m reading these days. It’s just so damn entertaining and well-constructed.

The Wonder Woman Revenge Squad (not their real name) ambush Diana at the Washington Monument and holy heck, you guys, this is amazing! I am so jazzed up! To recap even a second of it and spoil what happens would be a damn shame. This is some of the best superhero fisticuffs I’ve possibly ever read.

Comic Rating: 10/10 – Fantastic!

Everything I’ve been praising this series for all along is back in full force this issue, and then some. Again, the best thing about this Wonder Woman comic is the confidence of tone. King knew exactly what he wanted to say about Wonder Woman and how he wanted to say it, and then he found the perfect way to make that happen. The narration from the Sovereign is so damn fun to read! He starts with this old timey, flowery prose, and then that’s bolstered by the framing device of having the Sovereign, far in the future, recount how his plan failed. That works perfectly! It’s not a spoiler to suggest that, in a superhero comic, the hero is going to triumph over the villain. So King takes that at face value and twists it in this really fun to read narration device.

And then connect that strong tone with an all-out action issue, where Wonder Woman takes on some of her greatest rogues in a brawl to end all brawls. I didn’t spoil this in the recap, but I will here: Giganta smashes Wonder Woman with the Washington Monument!

And then and then, in order to be a hero and protect the life of an innocent, Wonder Woman catches the Monument and throws it back at Giganta! That’s just one part of this jam-packed issue, as Wonder Woman personally takes on Giganta, Silver Swan and Grail, with the likes of Circe, Triangle Man and Doctor Psycho in the wings. They’re all epic fights, written with that same epic narration, and artwork that should be praised from the highest heights. Sampere is too perfect for the story being told. This comic is the whole package and then some.

TL;DR: This already excellent, gorgeous comic blows itself out of the water for a truly awesome superhero/villain battle issue!

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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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