Another week, another stack of interesting comics. Nothing too mind blowing came out this week, but I felt like reviewing some on my pile for funsies, like Nightwing and Ultimate Spider-Man.

Comic Book of the Week goes to the stand alone Power Rangers Infinity #1 because it’s just a fun, silly comic that I enjoyed.

Meanwhile, only a week until I’m on vacation and playing Star Wars: Outlaws! Can’t wait! I hope it’s good! Shame to hear we won’t be getting a second season of The Acolyte, but at least now I can watch the second season of The Rings of Power!

Comic Reviews: Nightwing #117, Power Rangers Infinity #1 and Ultimate Spider-Man #8.

Nightwing #117
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Bruno Redondo
Inkers: Redondo and Caio Filipe
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Wes Abbott

I’ve skipped a couple of Nightwing because they were pretty uniform great. But we’re nearing the end of Taylor’s run, now, so I’m back on board for reviews!

Dick Grayson has been recovering at Nanda Parbat with the help of Deadman, while Bruce Wayne has been dressing up as Nightwing and patrolling Bludhaven in his place. Dick puts it together that Shelton Lyle is Heartless, and figures out when he was poisoned. So he heads home and arrives just in time to save his sister from Tony Zucco. But he’s figured out something else as well: on the night his parents died, Dick was the actual target!

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

This is a very fun issue with some strong character moments and, as always, gorgeous artwork from Bruno Redondo. In the previous issue (which was spoiled for me in advance), Bruce Wayne took up the Nightwing mantle while Dick was at Nanda Parbat getting help. That was an amazing moment and I wish it hadn’t been spoiled! We pick up on that here as Dick does some deep dives into his subconscious, and Bruce does some deep dives into detective work. It all comes together nicely to have them simultaneously figure out that Shelton Lyle is Heartless, even if he was barely hiding that fact, honestly. The writing is sharp and fun, the cameo from Deadman remains awesome, and it all builds nicely as we move into the end.

There are a few missteps here and there, in my opinion. Dick is gone for weeks, but the exact moment he’s back in Gotham is when Tony Zucco decides to go after his “daughter” and her mother? He couldn’t have done that at any other time? And Heartless just isn’t that interesting of a villain. I’m not a big fan of forcibly inserting him into Dick’s origin story…but then I haven’t really enjoyed any of the recent year retcons into Dick’s origin story. Like Haley’s Circus being a recruiting ground for the Court of Owls. Or Dick’s secret half-sister.

I don’t yet know how to feel about the retcon that ends the issue, with Dick claiming to Zucco that Dick was the target of the attack that killed his parents. Honestly…I didn’t think anybody was particularly a target. Zucco just sabotaged the trapeze to kill any of the Flying Graysons. So we’ll see how it plays out.

TL;DR: Some really strong character moments and some great artwork as we head into the finale of Tom Taylor’s excellent run on Nightwing.

Power Rangers Infinity #1
Writer: Sam Humphries
Artist: Brandt & Stein
Colorist: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

We’ve been getting bits and pieces about what Power Rangers Prime will be when it launches, but until then, here’s a cute little Power Rangers story.

Lola Navarro is a Power Rangers fan fiction writer and artist who brings her art samples to a portfolio review at Comic-Con, but she’s too scared and bumbling to fully share her ideas with the editor. But then the villain Poisandra shows up to kidnap her, eager for her pathetic fan fiction skills. But Poisandra is stopped by a rag tag team of seeming random Rangers, like a pirate ranger and a cheerleader ranger and a Blue Ranger that’s just an old lady named Peggy.

Turns out, Poisandra has a device that forces the next Ranger Cycle to begin, and she’s been rebooting through various teams until she can find a Ranger Squad that she can defeat with ease. She wants Lola to dream up a pathetic team for her rather than leave it to chance, and these rando Rangers are the ones who slipped through the cracks. It’s actually rather tragic. And, of course, Lola gets the courage to become the Sixth Ranger of the crew and save the day!

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

So yeah, this is just a cute and fun little one-shot about a Power Rangers fan finding her courage and joining a super-random rag-tag team that nonetheless bears the heart of the Rangers. It’s funny enough, it’s mostly cute, and it’s wonderfully poignant. There are moments of real heart in this silly issue, and they totally work. It also helps that the main character is the Sixth/Green Ranger stand-in, which is Power Rangers crack to me. Sorry for being predictable, but I am who I am.

Honestly, there’s not much more to say about this one-shot. It serves a nice purpose of coming out in between eras of BOOM!’s Power Rangers comics. Humphries handles every party of it well, from establishing our main character, creating a fun team of Rangers, and having our main character grow into her heroism. The villain is a bunch of fun. And the victory has just enough cleverness to be more than standard. And then, like I said, the emotional beats are quite excellent, giving the story and issue even more depth.

TL;DR: Don’t let the randomness of the artwork and the premise turn you away, this is a fun little comic that gets to the heart of being a Power Ranger. Great little one-shot.

Ultimate Spider-Man #8
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Marco Checchetto
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

I remain a bit surprised at how big picture this comic is as opposed to individual issues. I think we’ve only ever seen Spider-Man be a street level superhero once, and that was when he failed against the Shocker. The rest of the time he’s just hanging out with Harry Osborne not doing superhero stuff. It’s a choice that doesn’t bother me, but I do think about it.

So Iron Lad has shown up to recruit Peter into the Ultimates, but he only sticks around long enough to vaguely answers some questions about Peter’s suit before flying off unceremoniously. Weird. Flash forward a few weeks, the suit is developing a mind of its own, and the Parker family holds a birthday for their kids, with some solid J. Jonah Jameson character development. Meanwhile, Wilson Fisk has gathered his five lieutenants, and they are some fun, gnarly character choices!

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

The very strong writing and art carry this series with ease, especially in issues like this one. Two out of the three major events in this issue are great. But I didn’t care for Iron Lad’s appearance. So the whole plot of The Ultimates is that Iron Lad sent superhero origins into the past in order to build a team of superheroes, so it made perfect sense that he would actually check in on the one hero where it worked…but then he leaves without even asking Spider-Man to join him? They just sort of talk about the suit for a bit, plant further seeds for Harry’s heel turn, and then Iron Lad takes off. What was even the point? Besides a few other planted seeds for the suit to become Venom?

Fortunately, the rest of the issue is fun. We get a great birthday party scene that builds Jonah’s character, and he and Ben have been a great pair to follow in this series so far. Jonah even bonded a bit with Peter’s son, who hasn’t gotten a whole lot of attention.

Then we get an excellent villain reveal bit, where Kingpin reveals the heads of his criminal network, and they’re all classic villains. A super fun part of the original Ultimate Universe was seeing how the classic characters were redesigned, and this segment easily taps into that fun. There were a few surprises in this reveal, and I approve of them all! So it should make for a really fun Ultimate Sinister Six. I very much look forward to Spider-Man taking on this gaggle of goons.

But ultimately, this series is torn between two masters. On the one hand, it has a big picture story it wants to tell, and it’s going to tell that story (and it’s a good story so far), while on the other hand, we’re missing out on a ton of small detail character stuff. We don’t actually get to see Spider-Man being a crimefighter in this comic. We see him spend time with his family, but if often feels like snippets. I bet it reads better in tpb.

TL;DR: One disappointing scene and two really fun scenes make for another excellent issue of Ultimate Spider-Man, though sometimes I worry that the comic focuses too much on the big picture.

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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