Well well well, what have we here? Another batch of comics to review and another bunch of random people from the internet to read them? How delightful. Especially when we’ve got stuff like Wonder Woman and X-Men!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Batwoman #1 for a solid start to a new era at DC Comics. I’m looking forward to a lot of these creator-driven comics.

Meanwhile, not much going on in my life. I’m taking a break from video games for a while, though I’m keeping my eye on Crimson Desert. I just watched and enjoyed the second season of Ted and I’m gonna go see Project: Hail Mary at the movie theater this weekend. So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.

Comic Reviews: Batwoman #1, Wonder Woman #31, X-Men #27, Captain America #8 and Cyclops #2.

Batwoman #1
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Dani
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

The next big DC initiative kicked off this week with Batwoman, Deathstroke and Lobo. I was only really interested in Batwoman, though.

Batwoman is in a mental hospital in Greek after the last encounter with her sister, Alice, when they got into a big fight that didn’t end well. She’s struggling to recover mentally and physically. Meanwhile, some bad guys from the Church of Cain/Darkseid find out that Batwoman is on the island and they want to go get her, but then Batwoman shows up outside their window to deliver a threat.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Greg Rucka writing Batwoman again is a no-brainer. Fresh off his excellent work on that Cheetah & Cheshire mini-series, I’m fully on board to see what he does, and Rucka and his creative team do not disappoint. This first issue isn’t a whiz-bang action adventure, nor does it knock any socks off. It’s just a moody and solidly entertaining kick off to whatever this series is going to be about. Part of me is a little concerned that we’re still dealing with Alice and the Cult of Crime, because this is well-trodden ground. But I’m going to trust in Rucka. He’s definitely kicked it off in a fun way, with Kate in an asylum and — I think — an imposter Batwoman causing trouble.

I’m also going to have to let the artwork grow on me. I usually like a more detailed, classic comic book style, whereas Dani and Hollingsworth are going for line-less artwork. It largely works. Batwoman has a very striking visual, and finding ways to play around with the artwork with her is always fun. So much like the story, I’m willing to see where this artwork goes and how it grows. This is a period of DC letting the creators off the leash, and I’m very eager to see what sorts of comics that gets us.

TL;DR: A subtle start to a series that has a lot of potential and a lot of big artistic moments.

Wonder Woman #31
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

The Wonder War begins here! The big story we’ve all been waiting for! I am here for it.

The issue cuts between flashbacks to Lizzie and Lyssa hanging out and competing on Paradise Island, which they apparently did every summer when they came to visit, and a future in which the Matriarch has already taken over the world and killed the Justice League. Batman (Damian), Superman (John) and Lizzie are hired by Lex Luthor to ambush and kill the Matriarch at a ceremony, and the plan is pretty good, until Luthor betrays them and gets Damian and John killed. But they were all of them deceived, for that was the plan, and now Wonder Woman has something called “The God Killer Sword,” which I think was in K.O.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Excellent opening chapter. Things start simply and a bit slowly, but still picking up from what we’ve already seen of the Matriarch. After the Mouse Island story, we had these two babies together, and so we see how they grew up mostly together and developed a sisterly rivalry (perhaps with more violence from Lyssa’s side). And we’ve seen plenty of the Matriarch herself in the future timeline, so it was no problem jumping right into that world as well. I very much enjoyed the twist of Lex Luthor betraying our heroes…though I do wonder if letting Superman and Batman die being part of the plan is a little too much. Are the Wonder Ladies planning to use time travel to revert everything? Or is the Matriarch so bad that death is an acceptable sacrifice?

Whatever the case may be, this first issue does a fine job in setting up the story, with a solid surprise at the end…though I can’t remember if we were supposed to think Diana was dead or not. Also, the sudden arrival of The God Killer Sword is a bit of a pill to swallow. I didn’t read K.O., so the sword means nothing to me, and just sorta shows up in an story that has been ongoing for a good, long while now. Is it the only weapon that can kill the Matriarch? I guess we’ll find out.

Also, I regret not reading more of the Lizzie standalone stories.

TL;DR: The issue does everything it needs to do to set up the new story and smack us around with a few good surprises.

X-Men #27
Writer: Jed MacKay
Artist: Netho Diaz
Inker: Sean Parsons
Colorist: Fer Sifuentes-Sujo
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Is Glob Herman dead?! We’re going to maybe find out soon enough!

We watch as Maxine Danger of the Beyond Corporation recruits a bunch of psychopaths to form her Danger Room to attack the X-Men. Then we watch as they execute their plans to separate the various members of the team and strike while they’re at their weakest. But Cyclops has already surmised that this is a trap and they intentionally sprang it.

Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.

On its lonesome, this is a good issue. The artwork is fantastic, the writing is strong and the X-Men action is a hoot. The X-Men are in dire straits and they’ve got to hunker down, kick ass and get themselves out. The problem is that the new bad guys, the Danger Team, are part of a long line of evil organizations that MacKay has concocted to go up against his X-Men squad. First we had 3K, who are definitely still around, then O*N*E* returned only a few issues ago, and now the Beyond Corporation. They’re all, like, business organizations who are just evil and just want to hurt the X-Men because they’re evil. And like I said, none of them have been fully dealt with yet, so we’re just piling on evil business organizations.

This issue feels a bit exhausting because, damn, the Alaskan X-Men and the town they live in could use a break from all these organized businesses.

The issue itself, like I said, was mostly fun and entertaining. But the members of the Danger Room just aren’t very exciting. They’re not exactly generic bad guys. MacKay goes to great lengths to explain and underline their various levels of psychopathy. But they don’t get individual costumes or the like. And none of them have powers. So it’s four just evil bastards dressed in casual fatigues shrugging their shoulders and willingly helping out the Beyond Corporation for whatever reason that Maxine Danger wants to hurt this particularly squad of X-Men. Danger sounded familiar, and I did confirm that she was created a few years ago as a Spider-Man villain. I read those comics, and I fully support bringing back random villains to use again…but maybe settle some of the existing bad guy storylines before piling on a bunch more.

Not every new villain in a comic needs to last the entire run.

TL;DR: While the issue itself is entertaining with some truly phenomenal art, the story and new characters are a bit exhausting considering everything that has happened in this series so far.

Shorter Reviews

Captain America #8 by Chip Zdarsky, Jan Bazaldua, Romulo Fajardo Jr. and VC’s Joe Caramagna

Comic Rating: 4/10 – Pretty Bad.

Man, this comic just is not clicking for me. This new issue is a step back from the previous issue, largely because of the artwork, and I’ll get to that in a moment. The story doesn’t do much for me either. It’s still just Captain America getting led around by interchangeably boring solider-esque characters. There’s no real culture on display for Latveria, so it being the focus of the story means nothing. And all the new Latverian characters and the SHIELD characters are so bland. Whether it’s Red Widow being exactly what you’d expect to this Alina person being just…gah, I can only write “bland” so many times!

The real problem is the artwork. It looks like Bazaldua was rushed, especially considering there doesn’t seem to be a consistent artist on this storyline in the first place. It’s sloppy work, and that just doesn’t cut it for what is supposed to be a flagship title leading to the next Big Event. I’ve been wondering lately, if DC is somehow scooping up all the best artists in the industry. I haven’t really been all that impressed by any artwork at Marvel recently, whereas DC seems very consistent with putting good artists on important titles.

I just expect this comic to be better, given the creators involved and the importance to what Marvel is currently building.

Cyclops #2 by Alex Pakndael, Roge Antonio, Fer Sifuentes-Sujo and VC’s Joe Caramagna

Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.

Look, this series is, so far, exactly what it says on the tin. Cyclops is lost in the woods, has lost his visor, is teamed up with a new young mutant and has to fight the Reavers, a classic set of villains. No surprises. No twists so far. Just solid Cyclops superheroics. I’ve never cared about Donald Pierce or the Reavers, so that part of the comic isn’t doing anything for me. And the new sidekick just seems to have super strength, so she’s not all that interesting yet. So this series is, so far, just some standard Cyclops fare that he’ll have wrapped up in an afternoon.

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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