Here we go again! More comics! More of our lives wasting away! Another Saturday has arrived and no, I’m not going to see Toy Story 5 in theaters. I just can’t bring myself to worry about that right now, not when I’ve got Amazing Spider-Man and Absolute Green Arrow!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Absolute Batman #21 because we finally get to see the Absolute Robins in action, and then the whole rest of the issue is neat as well.

Meanwhile, been a busy week for me, so I haven’t had much else going on. Still enjoying the heck out of Crimson Desert. Finally started the second season of The Pitt. And I’ve started reading the Dunk and Egg novellas from George R.R. Martin. Hopefully all these things remain fun and entertaining as they play out.

Comic Reviews: Absolute Batman #21, Absolute Green Arrow #2 and Amazing Spider-Man #31.

Absolute Batman #21
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Tom Napolitano

This is an issue of big moments, and they all land pretty strongly.

Batman battles the Robins in the streets of Gotham, and after learning what he just did from the Scarecrow, Bruce wants to just hit something really hard. So it’s a bit of a slobberknocker, with Bruce ignoring Alfred’s requests to flee, and the Robins (especially Jason) causing a lot of collateral damage. Batman gets away when Harley sends a flock of Bat-Drones.

At Jim Gordon’s funeral, Barbara gives a stirring eulogy, then rejects the civilian Robins when they try to assure her that they’ll catch the man who killed her father. Barbara tells them that her dad would have sided with Batman over them. Bruce’s friends attend the funeral as well and then angrily commiserate about their lots in life afterwards, with Oswald openly giving them all their villain names. Waylon tries to keep them together, but it doesn’t seem likely.

Later, at work, Jack Grimm visits Bruce and taunts him, including revealing his monster nature to our hero.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

I could have used a whole issue of Batman fighting the Robins. This has been built up for several issues now, and also several decades, if you factor in the entire relationship of Batman and Robin. Absolute Batman is at the height of its power, telling it’s biggest, most impactful story yet. It’s at the height of its popularity. And this is the issue where the comic fully embraces and fully employs Absolute Robin. So I personally think this should have been one of those stunt issues where the entire thing is a fight. Snyder could have slipped some other bits and bobs here and there, but he and Dragotta should have gone hog wild with an issue-long battle that really pushes Batman to his limits and explores the capabilities and personalities of the Robins. There are five of them, and Snyder has said he’s worked out their individual characters. Because honestly? The fight is over a bit too quickly for my tastes. It was a fun fight, but it did not live up to the hype.

But I’m not here to tell anybody how to do their job. I’m here to tell you all what I thought of the issue. And overall, it’s a very fun issue that touches base on a lot of important characters. The fight with the Robins works as an opening battle, and their little moment with Barbara at the funeral helps to shore up their characters — at least Dick and Jason. We get some good Dick Grayson moments, which are always fun for me. So that worked.

The scene with Bruce’s friends helps to establish where they’re all at — even if I felt it was a little on-the-nose to suddenly have Oswald give them all their villain names. Like…why does he settle for “The Penguin” for himself? Doesn’t matter, I suppose. We get nice little glimpses of what they’re up to, with a cool visual bit of Harvey switching his hair from side-to-side when he does bad things. That’s a nifty bit. It’s good to check in with those characters, and Barbara too, considering what Snyder and Dragotta have revealed for her coming up.

The biggest scene in this issue was Jack Grimm vs. Bruce. It’s a very well done scene with exceptionally exciting artwork. Dragotta really outdoes himself with Jack transforming from his human mode to his monster mode just enough to freak out Bruce. And to really impress in terms of making an awesome comic. Of course, part of me also feels like this confrontation also could have been an entire issue! But I’m a schlub and Scott Snyder is Scott Snyder, so I know next to nothing honestly…though I am taking his comics writing class, so hopefully I’ll know something someday.

Perhaps I should see if he’ll do a class on stunt issues…

TL;DR: A lot happens in this issue and all of it is pretty great, though I think some of the moments could have used more room to breathe and be fleshed out.

Absolute Green Arrow #2
Writer: Pornsak Pichetshote
Artist: Rafael Albuquerque
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Jeff Powell

Series is pretty good so far. The horror of the first issue turns into a murder mystery for this issue.

Dinah Lance is investigating the Long Bow Killer alongside Merlyn, and a boxing match/interrogation of Mia Dearden reveals that Oliver Queen had a son — which Dinah already knew. Dinah confronts Connor Hawke at a mysterious mansion and there’s something fishy about Oliver’s will. Then the Long Bow Killer shows up and shoots Connor with one of his poisoned arrows!

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

There’s still a bit of visual horror in this issue, but the murder mystery aspect takes over full speed ahead. And it’s a good read with great, moody art. Dinah remains a solid protagonist and we get good looks at Mia and Connor this issue. We’re diving right into important Green Arrow supporting characters. Part of me feels like some of these characters — or at least Connor — could have been saved until later, but I’m not the one telling the story. It works in terms of our detective tracking down suspects. The fight with Mia is fun. I’ve always liked her, even if I’d never actually read much about Mia in the mainline comics. She gets a lot of personality in this issue and I hope that means she’ll be a strong player going forward.

I don’t have any suspects for the Long Bow Killer. We see only a tiny bit of Roy Harper in this issue, with him being a primary suspect. I’ve also always liked Roy. But the issue and the story aren’t really about the characters. It’s about the mood and the danger and the energy, and the comic has all of that in spades. The artwork remains the strongest part of the series and it easily sells the menace of the killer and his victims. So I’m very excited to see where this story goes and how long they keep the mystery simmering.

I have no guesses as of right now. Maybe Merlyn.

TL;DR: Horror turns to murder mystery in an engaging, still sometimes gruesome second issue.

Amazing Spider-Man #31
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Patrick Gleason
Colorist: Marcio Menyz
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Not sure how I feel about the big retcon in this issue. But it’s also possible I just don’t care how they change Spider-Man history anymore.

The issue is split between two stories. In one, Spider-Man invades a super villain auction where you gotta fight to bid. It seems Spidey wants to collect the Shocker’s gauntlets (I think) and he fights his way through some bad guys. Tombstone is overlording the place, and Vulture runs the auction.

The second story is Aunt May explaining how she had a few miscarriages before giving birth, only for her and Ben to be told the baby didn’t survive. But it seems the hospital messed up and the baby did survive, and now he’s right there in her living room.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

I don’t think the Aunt May story really hit any sort of emotional level. It’s really just Aunt May calmly explaining what happened. Perhaps I was untouched because I don’t know the struggle of a couple trying for children. That’s likely. But it’s still a big ole retcon no matter how you present it. And we’ve yet to see what the retcon will accomplish. So it’s just…an explanation for how this retcon came to be that dots the Is and crosses the Ts to make it fit with continuity. And it’s fine in that regard. We don’t know this character at all really, so there’s no sense of what this story or character is bringing to the table. But I’m not against it. I’m willing to see where this goes. I just, personally, don’t think this story has any teeth or heft. It’s entirely possible I’m an emotionless monster.

The super-villain storyline is a bit stronger. The set up is fine, if a bit of a stretch. But villains gotta hang out somewhere. Why not have the Vulture spend his free time setting up an elaborate auction house with elaborate fight rules in order to give away old villain gear. That’s fine. The writing and art are really great in this segment. I like Spider-Man and Tombstone’s current relationship. I like that Spidey sort of plays by the rules of getting into a fight in order to bid on the gear. I didn’t read the Torment storyline, where Shocker was killed, so I wasn’t entirely sure why Spider-Man seemed to want what I think are Shocker’s gauntlets. I’m sure that’ll come out sooner rather than later, hopefully. I’m sure it’ll be a fine explanation.

TL;DR: Parallel stories are both fairly enjoyable and mostly fine. We’ll have to see where they go from here to really know.

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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