Hello everyone! If you didn’t see my post earlier this week, I’m thinking of backing off a bit on writing so much for this blog. While I still love reading and writing about comics, I want to lighten up on the rigid schedule I’ve set for myself to get everything read and reviewed. There were a bunch of good comics this week, like more Nightwing and Superman, so I wanted to review them. But things may change going forward.

Comic Book of the Week is Wonder Woman #8 for just another phenomenal chapter to this gripping ongoing story! New storyline kicks off with style.

Meanwhile, I loved the Fallout TV show, I’m loving the X-Men cartoon and I’m very much enjoying Shogun. So all is well with me in TV land. I’m hoping to spend this weekend finally starting God of War: Ragnarok, which I got for free when I bought my Playstation 5. I expect that game to be a hoot!

Comic Reviews: Nightwing #300, Superman #13 and Wonder Woman #8.

Nightwing #300
Writers: Tom Taylor and Marv Wolfman
Artists: Daniele Di Nicuolo and Bruno Redondo
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Wes Abbott

It will be sad to see Tom Taylor go.

It’s Dick’s birthday and he and the other Robins are tracking down an arms shipment into Gotham City, which was meant for Bludhaven. Seems that Heartless is gearing up for a war. But that will have to wait, as Dick and Babs are being presented with a key to the city, and then he takes everybody out for pizza at Marv & George’s.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

This is a gentle victory lap of an issue, celebrating 300 Nightwing comics and kicking off Tom Taylor’s new storyline. Considering how much I love Dick Grayson and enjoy me some Taylor Nightwing, I’m perfectly happy to get a gentle victory lap of an issue. The comic highlights the goodness and awesomeness of the characters, while also letting Bruce Wayne take a backseat, considering all of the awesome Bruce & Dick stuff Taylor has written so far. This time, the focus is on Dick, with added focus on Barbara. So good for that all around.

The issue ends with a touching tribute to Marv Wolfman, and also George Perez. And that’s always fun. Definitely part of the victory lap nature of the issue. Bruno Redondo does a great job capturing the man and his speech is very nice. Pretty sure, based on the credits, he wrote it himself. How sweet. And really, that’s the whole issue. Just a sweet story that celebrates Nightwing and everything going on around him at the moment. Tom Taylor has earned it, and hopefully we’ll get even more before the very end. Bring on the final story!

TL;DR: To celebrate the 300th issue, Taylor and his team just make a nice, heart-warming, fun Nightwing comic.

Superman #13
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Rafa Sandoval
Colorist: Alejandro Sanchez
Letterer: Ariana Maher

Awesome story gets another awesome chapter!

Superman tracks down Lobo to get him to join the fight against Brainiac and the Czarnian army, while our trapped heroes and villains get a peek at what Brainiac is cooking and what troubles seem to be plaquing him.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Lobo is a great foil for Superman because he’s such a wildly different personality. So a whole issue of the two of them trying to work together is a hoot. I’ve never been a very big Lobo fan, same as I’ve never really been into Superman all that much. But Lobo is that fun sort of villain who is level-headed enough — in his own way — that he can work with the good guys. It was simply a fun seen to see Lobo learn about this new threat and agree to team up with Superman to put an end to it. I love when wildly different characters can put things aside and work together. It makes for good reading.

Beyond that, Williamson has been phenomenal so far in how he’s writing and reinvigorating classic Superman villains, and he’s working that same magic with not just Lobo, but also Brainiac. I’m very interested in seeing where Brainiac is going with all of this, and having the various Super-Family members dealing with him in his base is also solid. They’re fun characters, and they’re just as heroic as Superman, so they’ve got good to do as well. All in all, this is a solid second chapter that moves the story along, while giving us plenty of strong character moments and interactions.

Though I have started wondering if artist Jamal Campbell is ever coming back to this series. He is damn good.

TL;DR: Solid, enjoyable second chapter tot his story that moves everything along nicely.

Wonder Woman #8
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

I skipped last issue because it was just a one-off filler story that, while delightful, wasn’t part of this main ongoing story. But now we’re back and Wonder Woman is in some dire straits!

Wonder Woman is a prisoner of the Sovereign, and he’s got her tied up with his Lasso of Lies as he quotes scripture to her about a woman knowing her place, while narrating about his own relationship with religion. Nothing goes as he planned.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

Wonder Woman is finally in the grasp of her new enemy, and his tortures are as bad as they get! Sovereign’s badness is on full display, from trapping Wonder Woman in an abusive 1950s-style housewife scenario in her mind, to pelting her with Bible verses in real life. He’s cruel, it’s truly wicked and a really unique sort of torture. The issue is missing the big, bombastic battles of the first several issues, but we’ve clearly moved on to a new chapter and new badness. This is some really creative torture that gets to the heart of Wonder Woman as a character, and that’s key when doing a story like this. Even in such a wild situation, we’re still focused on these characters and who they are.

We also get a short visit with the Wonder Girls that is really fun, and I’m glad they’re still making the subplot slot. And the ending is heroically awesome. I love how King doesn’t shy away from the fact that Wonder Woman is the hero, Sovereign is the villain, and the good guy is going to defeat the bad guy. The fun is in how the story is told, and I find this to be a very well told story. I very much look forward to see where all of this is going and how it’s all going to come cannonballing into the end.

TL;DR: Disturbing and fascinating new chapter kicks off in this excellent ongoing series, and I can’t wait to see where it’s all heading.

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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