We’re here, we’re reading comics, it’s been an OK week of life. So OK that we’ve got a pretty OK pile of comics to have been read and now reviewed, like the brand new Absolute Catwoman and the brand new Avengers: Armageddon.

Comic Book of the Week goes to The Fury of Firestorm #3 for an exciting retelling of the character’s new origin story.

Meanwhile, still enjoying Crimson Desert and will be for a while. Don’t you worry about that. I went to the theater and finally saw The Mandalorian and Grogu and I enjoyed it. Just a fun Mando and Grogu adventure. And I finally stayed home and saw Mortal Kombat II. Wasn’t thrilled at first but it won me over in the end.

Comic Reviews: Absolute Catwoman #1, Avengers: Armageddon #1, Daredevil #3 and The Fury of Firestorm #3.

Absolute Catwoman #1
Writers: Scott Snyder & Che Grayson
Artist: Bengal
Colorist: Giovanna Niro
Letterer: Lucas Gattoni

The next next big Absolute comic is here and it’s off to a good start. Catwoman was a fun character when she showed up in Absolute Batman, and she’s as good a choice as anyone else for a solo Absolute book.

Selina Kyle is an international Catwoman of mystery, and she plans to spend her 25th birthday retiring from her life of crime to a private island she already has picked out. But she gets a visit from her old friend and partner Holly, but the bad blood between then has Selina kick her out. Then her apartment is invaded by several women dressed in old Catwoman costumes, like her old crew, the Calicos. They fight and the bad guys plant a bomb, destroying the penthouse and Selina’s retirement plans.

Catwoman gives chase and sees that the Copycats have not only kidnapped Holly but have also taken the bauble that Holly gave Selina as a birthday present. What is the bauble exactly? We don’t know. Catwoman gives chase on her super motorcycle and it’s a tense showdown, but Selina gets away with the bauble. The bad guys, including their mysterious leader, still have Holly.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

This was a strong and straight forward opening issue — though the timeline does jump around a bit, so it’s not strictly ‘straight forward’. We get a good sense of Selina Kyle and her motivations going forward, with lots of hints about what her life has been like. It’s part thief stuff and part super spy thriller. I’m honestly not sure what she was after reading this first issue. The most important thing is that she is who she is, which is pretty badass, and now has a quest. So, like I said, we’re off to a good start.

In all honesty, I don’t have a lot to say about this issue in depth. The art is phenomenal. Perfectly captures the sexiness and awesomeness of the character, while not slouching on the character work and the action. Great artwork. All the characters are written well. We get a good introduction to Selina. And then things kick off. I’m not too sold on the mysterious leader. Seems like stunt casting. But it fits with the character and the book and should be a nice antagonist to this version of Selina. So I’m definitely on board.

TL;DR: This first issue is the whole package, with strong character work, great artwork, a compelling story, plenty of seeds for the upcoming story and then a big character reveal cliffhanger ending. Off to a very good start.

Avengers: Armageddon #1
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artists: Delio Diaz & Frank Alpizar
Colorist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

I usually try out at least the first issue of a new Big Event comic. I just don’t care about them anymore. They rarely mean anything. But I’ve been reading Zdarsky’s build-up, so here I am.

General Thaddeus Ross, the Red Hulk, has a squad of Hulk Soldiers and together they have conquered Latveria and rechristened it as ‘New America’. Their plan is to just keep conquering all other countries and installing free democracies, but the U.N. is against them and send their own soldiers to fight — while demanding the superheroes stay out of it. The superheroes aren’t going to stay out of it, and a crew gear up to head out, after also recruiting David Colton. I don’t like his new costume.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

It’s fine. It’s not all that bombastic or exciting or all that wild, like one might expect from a Big Event. But then I don’t know what goes into designing and executing Big Events anymore. We’ve got our villain, he’s got his plan, draped in the American flag, and we’ve got our heroes banding together to go fight the bad guy. Seems pretty run-of-the-mill in this first issue. It’s the usual heroes grouping up, with the extra step of recruiting David Colton, which I’m all in favor of. I’m a big fan of this character and I’m glad to see him getting use…but I hate his new costume.

So if you didn’t read Wolverine’s mini-series building up to Armageddon, Colton was connected to one of these mysterious MacGuffin boxes that, I think, have come from the New Ultimate Universe. It’s not very well explained, to be honest. And now instead of just being another Super Soldier, Colton’s got Superman-esque powers. And as such, they’ve given him a Superman-esque costume. I don’t like it. I really, really liked his Captain America costume, so I wish he’d either kept that or perhaps better integrated that soldier look. Now he just looks like a generic Superman with a star symbol.

TL;DR: There’s a bad guy doing a big, bad thing, and then there’s the usual assortment of superheroes teaming up to stop him. Pretty basic in this first issue. And I don’t like David Colton’s new costume, but that might just be me.

Daredevil #3
Writer: Stephanie Williams
Artist: Lee Garbett
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: VC’s Ariana Maher

Who doesn’t love a Spider-Man cameo? Especially since we just got a Daredevil cameo in Amazing Spider-Man.

Spider-Man rescues Matt Murdock from going crazy and helps him to focus his senses with a little training. He also names the new bad guy: Omen, who we see kill another dude and steal his eyes. The cops investigate Matt Murdock, but all that does is tip off Matt to the info about him from the cargo ship. So Matt uses the Daily Bugle to stage an ambush on Omen.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Another good, strong issue for this relaunch. I’m not yet sold on Omen as a villain yet — and I really didn’t like the little bit about his name this issue (more on that later) — but Daredevil remains a very strong presence in the series and the writing and artwork as spectacular. So there’s a lot to love in this new storyline. I’m loving Matt’s new status quo as a professor, and we get a great scene this issue where the cops go to question him and Matt (and his new love interest(?)) give the cops the proper legal response. That was fun. And then Daredevil and Spider-Man working together is always a hoot, especially when it’s friendly and they try out some new things, like this idea of focusing on just one of Daredevil’s senses when he’s feeling a bit overwhelmed. And the artwork does not disappoint with the two heroes swinging across New York City.

So I’m not yet sold on Omen. He’s definitely spooky enough. And he looks gnarly. And he’s got a solid MO of cutting out eyeballs for visions of the future — which I think is his deal. But he’s not really stuck in with me just yet. Creating new villains from scratch is probably harder than I give it credit for. And there’s definitely potential here. And while I normally love seeing the nuts and bolts of the superhero world in action, I didn’t like how flippant Spidey was about naming the villain something basic like ‘Omen.” Does he really think nobody has used that name before? Have they? I don’t know every single villain that ever existed. Also, what does Omen think of that? If Daredevil calls him ‘Omen’, is he going to pause the fight to give DD the villain name he chose for himself? That’ll be awkward.

TL;DR: Another excellent issue with great writing, art and character work, bolstered by a Spider-Man guest visit.

The Fury of Firestorm #3
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Rafael De Latorre
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Lucas Gattoni

We’re only three issues in and this might be my favorite comic of the year so far…aside from all the Absolute stuff, of course. Who knew a Firestorm comic would be so hot?

The Firestorm easily dispatches the Justice League members sent to fight him, including Supergirl and Batman. Meanwhile, we learn via flashback that Prof. Martin Stein was once the head of the Department of Metahuman Affairs, and he created Firestorm as a check against metahumans. Not only that, he orchestrated everything, down to choosing Ronnie Raymond and causing the explosion that bound them together as Firestorm. Lorraine locates a disheveled Stein — with Jason’s help — and Stein reveals that Ronnie found out the truth and cast Stein out of the Firestorm Matrix. But one person alone cannot contain the Firestorm, which is probably why it has gained sentience. And it’s headed for Pittsburgh!

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

Alright, so the internet has told me that this origin story for Professor Stein and Firestorm has actually been around for a few years, and was written into those new History of the DC Universe books that came out last year. I didn’t read any of these past issues, so all of this origin stuff was new to me and I found it very cool and very exciting! Does it completely reshape what I’m sure was a perfectly pleasant Silver Age superhero comic partnership? Yeah, probably. Does that matter for a character like Firestorm in 2026? Absolutely not. I apologize to any old school Firestorm fans who don’t like this character assassination, but as someone with no connection to the character diving into this new series by Lemire with fresh eyes, I am having a blast! It feels like a very strong reinvention of an otherwise dud character, almost as exciting as Marvel’s retcons to Iron Fist all those years ago.

The issue itself was a fun and exciting read, mixing the current battle against the Justice League with narration from Stein in the past to explain why he created the Firestorm Matrix in the first place. That worked excellently to keep the backstory exciting, while showing us just how much business Firestorm means. The dude has the power to alter atoms on a whim. That’s always been an insane power, and this comic is not afraid to lean completely into it to create its conflict. Beyond that action, we got some great scenes of Lorraine trying to investigate the whole mess, making her a solid and entertaining protagonist. We even checked in on Jason Rusch, which was fun — though, again, I’m not all that connected to Firestorm history. But I know who Rusch is, and I’m glad he made an appearance to check up on him.

TL;DR: The new Firestorm origin is an exciting one, at least to me, and its detailed with a lot of energy and excitement in this third 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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