Last time I only reviewed X-Men comics, so this time i’m only reviewing DC Comics. It’s a big month for DC, as they kick off their new All In initiative. And I’m getting on the ground floor with the new one-shot special!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Batman #153 for a truly excellent start to the new storyline, starting with a pretty nice clean slate.

Meanwhile, I’m loving The Penguin, enjoying Agatha All Along and have stalled a bit playing Star Wars Outlaws. I’m at just about the end game, but got distracted with some other games on the side that do stealth much better. Heh. Perhaps I’ll finish the game off for good this weekend, but then I won’t have another game to play until next year! I’ll need to find something on sale somewhere…

Comic Reviews: Batman #153, DC All In Special #1 and Plastic Man No More: Book Two.

Batman #153
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Jorge Jimenez
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Chip Zdarsky and our regular Batman stories are back! Fresh beginning!

This is a real day-in-the-life issue as we get back to normal business. Bruce is rich again and is taking an interest in running Wayne Enterprises, while expanding his non-profit work. The Riddler has gone legit and created his own cryptocurrency, which he has used to start up NygmaTech. Things seem to be going well in Gotham City for pretty much everybody except the mayor, who is on his way out. Then a whole bunch of sinister stuff turns up in the final pages!

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

As I’ve likely mentioned before, I just haven’t been reviewing Absolute Power. I just have little interest in the Big Crossover Event Comics at Marvel or DC. I’ve been reading Absolute Power, but I don’t consider it anything special. But that is why Zdarsky’s Batman was gone for so long. I’m glad for the break because this new issue is a great jumping on point! The slate is clean, new stories are afoot and I like everything that I see in this comic. I love a good day-in-the-life story, and this issue excels with that idea. I love seeing Bruce Wayne at work. I like the new avenue for the Riddler. Seems like something he’d do. And I like what we see from everybody else in this issue, for the post part.

The cliffhanger ending — which I won’t spoil here — is both a great shock and a little disappointing, if only because it hints towards Zdarsky picking up another writer’s dangling plot thread. I want to see some original Zdarsky Batman ideas, not just picking up stuff like Zur-En-Arrh and running with that. But I also trust Zdarsky to do something awesome with whatever storyline he writes, so I’m still on board. This issue was full of charm, some great character moments, a nice hook of an ending and then the continually amazing art of Jimenez. So yeah, Batman is in a darn good place.

Meanwhile, Tom Taylor is moving to Detective Comics soon after his awesome run on Nightwing. So I might be reading both Batman comics soon!

TL;DR: Great start to a new storyline, with a lot of really fun day-in-the-life moments for the major characters. Great hook ending, too.

DC All In Special #1
Writers: Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson
Artists: Dan Mora, Daniel Sampere, Wes Craig and Dan More
Colorists: Alejandro Sanchez, Mike Spicer and Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Steve Wands

Here we go! Kicking off a new era of Justice League comics, and the new Absolute Universe, is a rather enjoyable special.

In the wake of Absolute Power, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are reforming the Justice League and making it bigger and fancier than ever. At the heart of this new endeavor are fancy, custom-made membership cards, which Booster Gold remembers from his time working at that future museum. But the big first meeting is interrupted by Darkseid merged with the Spectre, and something seems really off about the guy. There’s a big fight and Darkseid is banished, but he cuts a hole into space and time to the new Absolute Universe. And it’s up to Booster Gold, as the resident time traveler, to visit the new world and see what’s up.

Also, the second half of the comic tells the story of how Darkseid came to merge with the Spectre on this new evil quest of his.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

I am very much in favor of the new Justice League Unlimited comic and the Absolute Universe, so I enjoyed this issue. I love a good ‘getting the team together’ story, and this one is clean and crisp about it, thanks to some stellar writing from some of my favorite comic writers, and picture perfect art by Daniel Sampere. The dude is killing it on Wonder Woman, and he knocks it out of the park with this giant, hero-filled issue. Every character looks glorious. The colors pop! If this was the style of the new Justice League Unlimited comic, it would be perfect! But I don’t know who’s drawing that book…

Anyway, this issue does a fine job setting up the new Justice League status quo, as well as whatever machinations Darkseid is up to. I’m a little unclear as to what exactly Darkseid is looking for and what he’s done, or why he needed the Spectre, but the story does a fine enough job showing his rage and unending march to get what he wants. And the final page teaser seems pretty wild. So I’m on board to see where all of this goes. And I very much like the idea of the Justice League Unlimited in comic form. It worked for the cartoon show, and it works here. A big, hero-filled clubhouse with great writing and great art, against a monstrous villain and everything he has to offer.

TL;DR: This issue does a fine job of setting up the new status quos, the new universe, the new bad guys and everything else it needed to for All In and Absolute.

Plastic Man No More: Book Two
Writer: Christopher Cantwell
Artists: Alex Lins and Jacob Edgar
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Becca Carey

Cantwell and his art team are killing it on this weird, funny comic.

Plastic Man is melting and the chemist he consulted with suggested a radical, hypothetical solution to create a big atom bomb. And where do you get enough uranium to build your own atom bomb? From Uranium of the Metal Men! Who was recently kidnapped by the villain No-Face, who also wants to build a bomb. So Plas recruits the other Metal Men to stage a daring rescue and boy, oh boy, does this plan fall apart completely!

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

This is a really fun comic telling its own, contained little story in its own, contained little corner of the DC Universe. Add onto that the witty writing and the absolutely perfect dueling art styles and you’ve got the makings of something really special. Plastic Man remains funny and charming, even as he literally melts. And I love the expanded use of the DC Universe. He needs to build a bomb so he tries to kidnap Uranium of the Metal Men? Neat idea! And then we get a fun Metal Men cameo. All of these characters bounce wonderfully off each other, even the smaller characters, like Uranium and No-Face.

I also absolutely love what this comic is doing with the artwork. Amazing choice, really adding to the emotional impact of everything. I’m a little bothered by the idea that the Justice League is so casually ignoring Plastic Man’s clear problems (other than Detective Chimp, of course), but it might all really be down to Plastic Man’s self pity preventing him from actually confiding in his teammates. The art styles really emphasis what Plas is dealing with and really elevate the story. Brilliant choice by the creative team.

TL;DR: Despite the gruesome premise and artwork, this comic is a ton of fun and is doing a lot with the DC Universe as a whole, while easily keeping the focus where it needs to be. The dueling art styles are a real selling point.

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.

———————-