Summer is upon us and the heat is turning up. I’ve got my air conditioner fully installed and it’s still going strong after nearly 20 years keeping me cool. This thing is a beast! And it keeps me cool to read more comics, like Imperial and Power Rangers Prime!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Absolute Superman #8 because greatness is as greatness does, people. It’s not my fault this comic is so damn good with every single issue!

Meanwhile, I’m still in the pre-endgame of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I tend to only play video games on the weekends these days, which is a good way to stretch out games. Death Stranding 2 doesn’t come out until the end of the month, after all. Beyond that, I watched and didn’t care for The Better Sister, and I’ll hopefully spend this weekend watching that new Predator anime and the new Wes Anderson film in theaters!

Comic Reviews: Absolute Green Lantern #3, Absolute Superman #8, Imperial #1 and Power Rangers Prime #7.

Absolute Green Lantern #3
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Jahnoy Lindsay
Letterer: Lucas Gattoni

Green Lantern is probably going to be the first Absolute comic I drop. None of this is working for me.

We spend the whole issue with Jon Stewart realizing and then testing to learn that gold and things that look like gold can pass through the barrier around town. Then the alien shows up and “judges” Jon, zapping him away. In the ‘present day’, Hal and Jo just sort of blast each other with their new, respective powers.

Comic Rating: 4/10 – Pretty Bad.

This comic is going nowhere fast, in both of its storylines. We’re three issues in and we’ve learned next to nothing about Abin Surr or the Green Lantern energy. We know nothing about why there’s a barrier around this city. And as I mentioned in the recap, we spend the whole issue with Jon Stewart talking about his theory about gold passing through the barrier, with a couple of drawn out experiments. Last issue ended with Jon revealing what appeared to be a yellow ring, which is a big deal in the mythos. But this issue we find out that ring was just a gold-plated earring that fell off the biker who died against the barrier. Was I supposed to remember that his earring fell off in the first issue? Because I absolutely don’t. And I haven’t bothered to go back and check the first issue to see if that was made out to be a big deal.

The issue ends with Hal Jordan starting a plan to put this gold weakness into violent action, but I didn’t need an entire issue of bland talking and experimenting to get to that point.

And the present day stuff isn’t compelling either. So Hal’s got the Black Hand and Jo’s got the Absolute Green Lantern energy, and that’s it. Neither one understands anything about either power, and they just sort of blast each other a bit. I almost wish we didn’t have that section of the story and more time could be spent moving the origin story along. The Absolute Universe seems to have completely rewritten the GL mythos here, but three issues in and it feels like we’re still at square one.

Also, the artwork just isn’t for me. It’s very manga and anime-inspired, and that’s just not my cup of tea.

TL;DR: The new issue meanders in directions I don’t particularly care about and hasn’t done nearly enough to fully redefine or capitalize on what Absolute Green Lantern even means.

Absolute Superman #8
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Rafa Sandoval
Colorist: Ulises Arreola
Letterer: Becca Carey

The next chapter is kicking off and it does so with aplomb!

Superman has returned to Smallville because it is a comfort zone for him, and we learn that he’s been doing little saves around town for years — though Martha has dementia in the nursing home and doesn’t remember him. Both Jimmy of the Omega Men and Lois of Lazarus find him and try to convince him to come with them, separately, while arguing with each other. Then Superman is shot with a Kryptonite bullet and Captain Smith and the Peacemakers show up to kick the crap out of Supes. They do a fair good job of it, even shooting Superman a few more times, before Jimmy calls in Boom Tube help and evacuates Superman to the Omega Men. Lois is left behind, arrested by the Peacemakers.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

There’s a lot going on in this issue and all of it is pretty much gold. We get our first full look at the Absolute Ra’s al Ghul, and he seems like he’s been combined with Vandal Savage to make him more physically intimidating. It’s a great sequence to open the issue. And then I very much enjoy the new take on the core crew of Superman, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. Absolute Jimmy is pretty fun, even while being a helmeted Omega Man freedom fighter, or whatever they are. And Lois’ journey from dedicated soldier to Superman ally has been very fun to read. I love how our cast is coming together in real time as part of the story.

Then we get to the action, which is pretty damn awesome. I’m surprised DC is going so extreme with Absolute Peacemaker, considering he’s currently the star of a very popular TV show…I think the only DC TV show currently airing at the moment? But Captain Smith is a beast and he brings the fight, readily and happily introducing Kryptonite to the universe. And we get a chance to see Superman’s suit in battle mode, otherwise known as Tornado Mode. So it’s an awesome fight with some real stakes, as Superman is put through the paces and the fledgling friendship between our three leads is put to a real test. This is good stuff. The action impacts the character work, and the character work impacts the action. And then the artwork doesn’t miss a beat bringing it all to life!

TL;DR: Action and character work balance nicely and inform one another, making for a big, exciting issue with a lot going on.

Imperial #1
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artists: Iban Coello an dFederico Vicentini
Colorist: Federico Blee
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

Here comes the next big Hickman event comic! Fair warning, I don’t know anything about the current cosmic landscape of the Marvel Universe.

The heads of state of several galactic empires/plants are being poisoned ahead of a big meeting of the Galactic Council. This includes Star-Lord’s sister, a princess, and the second son of Hulk, who rules over the new Sakaar. While forensic teams trace the poison, all the various groups meet to discuss what happened, and before we can find out, an assassin starts killing people in the meeting. The assassin is from the intergalactic Wakanda. This means war.

Comic Rating: 5/10 – Alright.

This first issue didn’t do a lot for me, though I can obviously recognize that it is well made, with solid artwork. But man, not a whole lot actually happens that carries too much weight, at least in my opinion. This is hardly the first time the various cosmic empires have gone to war. And none of these particular cosmic empires are all that interesting, at least to me. I didn’t even know that Hulk had a second son, that Skaar had a brother, and now he’s dead. Good. Wipe the slate clean of useless, unknown characters. Star-Lord’s regal lineage from some rando planet was never his most interesting quality, so I don’t care that his family, whom I’m pretty sure he’s always hated, are now mostly dead. All other heads of galactic state who are killed or harmed are nobodies that don’t matter.

Back in the day, Marvel was able to start galactic wars between the Skrull and the Kree or the Shi’ar and the Inhumans. Now they’re left with a bunch of empires that just don’t matter and I don’t care about. I also never read any of the stories where Wakanda was revealed as an intergalactic empire, so as far as I’m concerned, those Space Wakandas are fully capable of assassinations. I don’t know any better. And it’s nice to try to ground the story by tying it into the Hulk…but this isn’t even the original Sakaar planet. It’s a remake/resettled planet. And, again, Hulk’s second, largely unknown son was the one assassinated. So who honestly cares?

I’m probably being overly negative and nitpicky. But this issue, hailed as some big new event, is just a bunch of people standing around talking about a bunch of largely unknown, relatively unimportant cosmic characters/empires and how they’re either dying or now going to war. Seems very run-of-the-mill in this first issue.

TL;DR: This big, new cosmic event just doesn’t seem to have a lot to work with to build tension and excitement, and therefore falls a little flat.

Power Rangers Prime #7
Writer: Melissa Flores
Artist: Michael Yg
Colorist: Fabi Marques
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

I skipped the previous issue of Prime because it was a Mark origin story that didn’t really do anything for me. Didn’t exactly reveal anything worth an entire issue at this point in the story. But said story moves on.

So the Rangers are split. Orion is with Rita and Bulk and they head underground, where apparently the Mutants live, hiding from the Eltarians. They fight until Orion is able to reveal he’s not an enemy, then the mutants take them to their underground city, The Belly. Lauren is there learning a bit more about her family. Meanwhile, Jun and Valentina have rushed to a fancy gala, where their parents are doing important stuff. Ryan shows up and comforts Valentina, trying to help, but Jun isn’t a fan of him butting in. And Ryan reveals they have Mark held captive.

Also, at some point in the past, Mark and Orion built or activated a tiny T-Rex Zord droid? And Lauren has found it in The Belly, so I guess it’s part of the team now. It’s on the cover. I hate it.

Double Also, the Mutants are the TMNT variety where they’re animal hybrids. Because we literally see a rhino and a gator guy, like Rocksteady and Leatherhead.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

These mutants really came out of nowhere and threw me for a loop. Did we see them or hear about them in a previous issue? If we did, they didn’t stick. And their very sudden appearance here is very weird and threw me for a loop. Especially since they look just like the TMNT characters. It’s such a weird choice. Why are they even called “mutants” when they’re supposed to be alien refugees who were forced underground? Anyway, I like the overall concept of some underground refugees taking in the Rangers, so it all works out in the end. There’s a little confusion on where the Red and Pink rangers end up, but they come together in The Belly in the end, so again, it all works out in an understandable fashion.

The real strength of the issue is the same strength these Power Rangers comics have always had: character development. I love the fact that the Rangers are split up right now. I love that Valentina has rushed back to the arms of her boyfriend, and hasn’t instantly turned against everything she knows and loves in the name of Ranger Cohesion. I really like that conflict. Though I hope Ryan is fleshed out a bit more and the VR Troopers aren’t just mustache-twirling villains. They have their own comic coming up. Does anybody know if it’s the same VR Troopers from this series?

Anyway, the dust has settled a little bit since the first big Ranger reveal and confrontation, and this issue moves things along nicely as everybody tries to figure out what the heck is going on and what the heck to do about it. I’m still fully on board!

Also, before I forget, the little red T-Rex mini-Zord Robot. Why do I hate it? Because it’s too twee and comes out of nowhere. It’s like somebody at BOOM! saw how much success Marvel was having with Jeff the Landshark and demanded something similar be included in this comic. There’s no other reason for it to really exist and it doesn’t fit naturally with the story. But look, there it is on the cover!

TL;DR: Some weird story choices aside, this issue moves the story along nicely into its next chapter with some strong character choices that I really like.

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.

———————–