What am I supposed to do when all of my favorite comics come out in the same week?! I’m trying to give myself less work to do, but now we’ve got Power Rangers, Nightwing and Wonder Woman coming out in the same darn week!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Void Rivals #9 for an excellent crossover with Transformers.

Meanwhile, I’m still working my way through God of War: Ragnarok. I love these games and make sure to 100% as much as I can, just because the game is fun to play and the rewards are fun to collect. I’m just ahead of the endgame now, so it won’t be much longer. Beyond that, I started to read The Nice House on the Lake by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez, and it’s great! I got Vol. 1 for Christmas, finally read it and immediately ordered Vol. 2. Really good comic!

Comic Reviews: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #20, Nightwing #114, Void Rivals #9 and Wonder Woman #9.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #120
Writer: Melissa Flores
Artist: Valeria Favoccia
Colorist: Valentina Pinto
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

Once upon a time, the truly excellent Power Rangers comic had a real downturn when they told a story about some random Rangers stuck out in space. It was the only time in the past near-decade that I stopped reading BOOM!’s Power Rangers comics because I just didn’t like the story. Thankfully, it was only five or six issues long and the normal good comics resumed.

Welp, we’re returning to that stuff for the next phase of Darkest Hour.

We spend the whole issue in the Void, where the Solar Rangers are fighting off Dark Specter’s invaders, even though they don’t really know what’s going on. We get to know them all a little more and how bleak the situation is. So bleak, in fact, that they plan to cut the Void off from the Morphin Grid completely!

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

I didn’t like the previous Solar Rangers stories, but I liked this issue. It doesn’t really tie into the rest of Darkest Hour, and instead we focus almost entirely on updates to the Solar Rangers and their battle. We meet the team, some more briefly than others, and Flores does a fine job establishing these minor characters as real enough people that I was on board with the storytelling. I would have liked a bit more clarity on art, like maybe a big team reveal or morphin page, but I’m fine without. I’ll get over it. As a contained issue, this works nicely.

Personally, I don’t fully understand or remember how all of this works. The Void is…I have no idea. Some special section of space? I dunno. But the storytelling works. The Solar Rangers were created after some great villain cut off the Void from the Morphin Grid, and they helped bring it back. Now, in the face of Dark Specter, the leader of the Solar Rangers must consider cutting the Void off again. She losers her lover/fellow Ranger in this battle, and is now faced with the other Rangers who have come for her help. She’s in a bad situation with some big decisions to make, and the issue expresses that nicely.

TL;DR: A return to the worst BOOM! Power Rangers story does not go as poorly this time around. Entertaining largely self-contained issue.

Nightwing #114
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Bruno Redondo
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Wes Abbott

Sadly, this is the last Taylor/Redondo Nightwing story. This comic has been great and I will be sad to see it go.

Bruce Wayne hosts a fundraising gala for the Alfred Pennyworth Foundation, and Dick is the guest of honor. But Dick’s big speech is interrupted by some reporters trying to link him to blood money from Blockbuster, and then the fire alarms and sprinklers go off. Heartless is making his move.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

This was a largely OK start to the story. I’ve knocked it down a point or two because a lot of this issue retreads a lot of familiar ground from Taylor’s Nightwing comic so far. Dick and Babs are cute together. And it’s another big gala in which Dick and Bruce get to be awesome together. I love this stuff, don’t get me wrong. But at this stage in the game, it’s not adding anything new to the story. And for the first issue of the final story, I guess I would expect more. We get plenty of scenes of Heartless being horrible, and that’s fine. But I also feel like he could and should be more at this point. Forcibly inserting him into Dick Grayson’s origin story does nothing for me. And, quite honestly, the idea of tearing down all of the good that Taylor/Dick have built up in this story just fills me with annoyed dread. Like comics aren’t allowed to have permanent changes anymore, even something as innocuous as Dick Grayson using Alfred’s inheritance to build up some infrastructure in Bludhaven. But I’m probably getting ahead of myself on that idea, so let’s just see how it plays out.

TL;DR: First issue of the final story doesn’t bring a lot new to the table, but does at least kick off the next big superhero scuffle.

Void Rivals #9
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Lorenza De Felici
Colorist: Patricio Delpeche
Letterer: Rus Wooton

The action and character work is always a highlight in Void Rivals.

Darak and Solila continue their trek through the wasteland, though now Solila has a very mortal wound through her abdomen. They reach the spot where Darak crashed in his flashback from a few issues ago, and the nearby garage — where they meet Springer the Autobot! Thankfully they mention his name in the letters page because I don’t know all Transformers just from sight. Anyway, Proximus shows up and gets into a fight with Springer.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Finally, once again, the actual Energon Universe impacts Void Rivals with another Transformers appearance. And this issue is super fun because of it. I don’t know Springer at all, but he seems like a fun dude. His reactions to Darak and Solila, as well as Proximus, are a hoot, making for a very entertaining issue. I love how Springer doesn’t take any of them seriously because of how small they are. It’s a silly bit and Kirkman works it so well.

Beyond that bit of fun, this is another solid chapter in everything Void Rivals has going for it. The main characters and their plight remains fun to read. I don’t yet understand the logistics of how and why Springer has been sitting on this planet for so long, but I suppose we’ll find out when we need to. We also get a couple of small check-ins with other world-building subplots, which is fun. I’m loving everything to do with the Skuxxoid.

TL;DR: Fun little chapter with a bit of humor and a lot of action; which makes for good Void Rivals all around.

Wonder Woman #9
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Great comic remains pretty great.

Wonder Woman is still imprisoned by the Sovereign, and this time he’s turned to solitary confinement for months at a time to break her. Wonder Woman instead conjures Steve Trevor in her mind and they go on all sorts of imaginary adventures, all while talking through her predicament.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

I understand where this comic is at and why it’s at the place that it’s at. I understand wanting to slow down a bit after the first story arc. I just want to say up front that this story, where Wonder Woman is a prisoner of the Sovereign and is going through some type of mental torture, is less exciting than the opening arc. No surprise there. And it doesn’t really detract from the story being told. It’s just…less fun. And I guess that’s the point. But enough about that nitpick, this is still a strong issue. Rather than be stuck in the bad guy’s mental manipulation like last issue, Diana is now stuck in her own mental manipulations, coming up with mental strategies to help with withstand the solitary confinement torture. This leads to a lot of gorgeous artwork from Sampere, from the kangaroo pens to Wonder Woman as a cowboy to even more. And it leads to a lot of dialogue from King. He loves books like this where he can just have his characters talk and talk. And the issue gets stronger by the end, when what’s happening has fully sunk in for the reader and for Diana. So it’s a strong overall story.

TL;DR: The overall story feels a little stuck in place — which is probably the point — but it’s still a strongly written and gorgeously drawn issue.

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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