It’s April already. Life moves forward unceasingly. We are merely caught up in its wake. But at least we can always count on new comics, like Batman and She-Hulk!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Birds of Prey #8 for another delightful team book issue.

Meanwhile, I’ve started playing Evil Genius 2 on the PC, a charming base-builder. It’s got a fun aesthetic, and I do love a good real time strategy-style game like this. Easy to get addicted to as I play along and balance all the things to balance. I’m having fun. And on Monday, I will be in the totality zone of this solar eclipse! So that should be fun!

Comic Reviews: Batman #146, Birds of Prey #8, Sensational She-Hulk #7 and Void Rivals #8.

Batman #146
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Jorge Jimenez
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Is Zdarsky’s run coming to an end soon? Because it seems everything is coming together!

The Warden reveals that all of this has been in the works for a very long time, that he and Joker orchestrated everything to bring Failsafe and Zur out to play. Now they’re out there catching bad guys like Killer Croc, Punchline and Harley Quinn, with Robin by their side. Bruce is able to use his smarts and skills to break out of prison and he hightails it out of Gotham City, while Superman, Nightwing, the Batgirls and the Justice League are left wondering what the heck is even going on.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

So I’m a little torn on this issue. On the one hand, it’s another exciting chapter of this very intense saga, with Batman being his awesome self and the world falling down around him. On the other hand, I don’t really like the idea that everything Zdarsky has written so far was some grand scheme by the Joker, who has been orchestrating everything from the very beginning. But that’s on me. I’m not a fan of the Joker, and I’m especially not a fan of the modern Joker, who is an omniscient mega mastermind who knows Batman’s every single secret. I’m just not a fan, so those reveals/twists in this issue are just nails on a chalkboard. So Zdarsky doesn’t get to create a new villain in Failsafe? It’s all just the latest Joker mega scheme? Meh.

But all of that bitching aside, this is still a really fun issue of Batman being the absolute best. The Bat-Family and Justice League are being a little dopey on the sidelines, but Batman remains a force of nature as he escapes prison and prepares his comeback, under the nose of all the bad guys trying to stop him. And Jimenez continues to draw like a beast! This guy needs to be getting Jim Lee levels of famous here. So it looks good, it’s still a strong overall story and the page-to-page writing is excellent. So I’m still enjoying myself, even as I roll my eyes as the Uber Joker stuff.

Here’s hoping Zdarsky still uses Tim Drake well as Batman’s partner!

TL;DR: I might not like some of the reveals/twists in this issue, but that doesn’t take away from the intense storytelling and the phenomenal artwork.

Birds of Prey #8
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Artists: Javier Pina and David Lopez
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

This is good, fun, team book shenanigans.

The Birds are in a fashion show, except for Barbara, who is next door trying to get a reading on some bad guys. But her readings are all whack. Then a bunch of male model beefcakes turn into monsters and it’s a big fight! The biggest! When it’s all over and the team is ready to debrief, Barbara gets sucked into a portal and everybody follows.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Birds of Prey is a really fun, really engaging team book that makes great use of all its characters. Everybody is just fun. And Thompson clearly knows how to have fun with her characters. A cheesecake and beefcake fight scene? with Big Barda stripping naked, her bits carefully covered by action and Hawkeye callbacks? What’s not to enjoy? It’s good, clean comic book fun, with a solid art team keeping the momentum going. The characters are all a hoot. Sin and her new ‘sidekick’ get a lot of focus this issue, as they work undercover as a waitress at the shin dig. That’s a blast, seeing the two of them interact. The jokes are good, the characters are fun; it’s a good comic.

Obviously the ending means we’re going somewhere crazy, and that’s good too. I hope this series can find more time to stop and smell the roses. I want a good team building issue, where characters get to know one another and really bond as a team. The X-Men played baseball for a reason! And there’s a reason why that’s such a classic thing. Hopefully the Birds, including Meridian, can have time to be a team and grow as one. Thompson would write one hell of an issue like that. The team chemistry is already brimming in issues like this one, and that’s really going to propel this series forward in the long run. I’d like to see it get a long run.

TL;DR: Cheeky, charming, action-packed issue that continues to build a nice team dynamic.

Sensational She-Hulk #7
Writer: Rainbow Rowell
Artist: Ig Guara
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Oh these kids!

When She-Hulk sees that Ganymede and Jack of Hearts clearly have a history, she runs away crying. Jack checks in with her and Jen tells him to go spend time with Ganymede while she heads home — but she can’t, because her car has been impounded. So she’s stuck just wallowing in misery in the hotel. Jack and Ganymede have a little heart-to-heart, and he does absolutely nothing to point out to her that he’s with Jen now. Ganymede is actually at the resort for a job interview to lead the horde of Drapurg, who wants vengeance against the Earth woman who stopped his horde. Ganymede takes the job, then later learns that Earth woman is She-Hulk!

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

This issue provides all of the silly and charming romantic drama that I love in my comics. If only it wasn’t about the Jack of Hearts/She-Hulk relationship, which I just don’t like. But it’s fun, it’s silly, it’s personal, and it’s well written and drawn. So hopefully people who enjoy that relationship enjoy this comic! Rowell did her homework and found the one random character at Marvel who actually had a relationship with Jack of Hearts, and that makes for a silly issue. I think some of the misunderstandings and miscommunications are a little stretched.

Like, She-Hulk immediately freaks out and runs away just because Jack of Hearts knows another woman. And then nobody talks to one another to explain what’s going on. Jack’s an asshole for not telling Ganymede straight up that he’s with someone else now, even as she professes her love. And Jen should better appreciate that Jack of Hearts was dead for a long time and is only now back, and it’s not the end of the world that he catches up with an ex-girlfriend. Or maybe that’s just me? Anyway, I do love me some silly romantic drama in my superhero comics, so the issue is good in my book.

TL;DR: Silly and charming romantic drama takes delightful center stage. If only I was invested in this relationship, but that’s on me.

Void Rivals #8
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Lorenzo De Felici
Colorist: Patricio Delpeche
Letterer: Rus Wooton

I think we’ve reached a point where this story is better read in trades.

After a brief flashback revealing that Solila had a brother who was also conscripted (and appears to be new hunter/villain Promixus), our two heroes continue their trek through the wasteland. They are, of course, ambushed by Proximus, who is tougher than them both. Some crazy fighting antics lead to a potentially tragic ending!

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

Much like last issue, not a whole lot happens with this issue. Our two main characters wander for a bit and then get into a fight with the new villain introduced last issue. We do learn his surprising backstory this issue, so now we know that immediately. And while it’s a gnarly fight, with great art by De Felici, there just isn’t much meat on this issue of the comic. Darak and Solila are always on the run, so they don’t get too much time for some bonding character development. There’s enough to keep me interested in both of them, but I would like some more. They have very distinct, very entertaining personalities, so at least there’s that. But other than that, we just spend and issue with them in a big brawl, followed by a shocking cliffhanger. It’s all well and good, I just hope we reach a point soon where there’s more oomph. And again, I think I’d highly recommend reading this one via trade paperback instead of issue-by-issue.

TL;DR: A fun and entertaining issue that is nonetheless a little too quickly paced. Perhaps better read as part of a trade.

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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