I was pretty busy this week covering a pretty cool attempted murder trial for my day job as a mild mannered newspaper reporter, so I didn’t read too many comics. Really just grabbed the ones I was most interested in from DC this week, because they continue to be amazing — comics like Absolute Wonder Woman and Bizarro: Year None.

Comic Book of the Week goes to Absolute Superman #20 for not only a fun Hawkman spotlight but also just a damn cool superhero fight comic!

Meanwhile, no change in my love of Crimson Desert, so not much to report on the video game front. If you’re curious where I fall on the GTA6 controversies, know that I will definitely be pre-ordering the $100 Ultimate Edition as soon as I pay off some bills and have $100 scrounged up. I fully expect this game to be monumental and definitely don’t mind paying extra to get some bonus cosmetics. Beyond that, I enjoyed the second season of The Pitt and hope to watch Widow’s Bay soon. Oh! And I’ll be seeing Supergirl this weekend.

Comic Rating: Absolute Superman #20, Absolute Wonder Woman #21 and Bizarro: Year None #2.

Absolute Superman #20
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artists: Rafa Sandoval and Vicente Cifuentes
Colorist: Ulises Arreola
Letterer: Becca Carey

I think it’s pretty safe to say my favorite character in the Absolute Universe is Absolute Hawkman. How wild is that?1

Superman, Hawkman and Steel face off against King Shazam, and it’s quite epic, but it’s not even a close fight. He kicks their butts! Hawkman sheds some light on what happened to King Shazam and who locked him up, but it does nothing to help their fight. Also, Hawkman is now a believer in Superman! So that’s neat. In the end, Hawkman and Steel give their weapons to Superman to help win the battle.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

This issue combines an epic fight between four mighty characters and then some background, personality from Hawkman narration, and I very much enjoyed that. I love Absolute Hawkman. I love this idea of a Company Man superhero, this gruff, old fogey asshole who took the money and toed the line, but is still out here saving the world and protecting people. It’s a great dichotomy, and Aaron nails his rough-around-the-edges narration as he mostly describes the fight. We do get some great action splash pages, but mostly the fight is described — and described well! The narration readily and easily carries the issue along, coupled with the insane artwork, to really sell this battle of the ages.

The issue itself is quite epic. King Shazam doesn’t get to talk too much, but the banter between Superman, Hawkman and Steel is so much fun! Again, bolstered by Hawkman’s narration. But I’m just loving this vibe, of these three dudes forced together to try to stop this maniac from destroying the world, and each of them giving their all, despite barely being on the same page. It’s a really fun dynamic, which leads to a truly awesome final page cliffhanger. This is an epic fight and the issue easily makes it epic!

TL;DR: A pretty damn awesome fight issue is greatly bolstered by an Absolute Hawkman character spotlight.

Absolute Wonder Woman #21
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Artist: Dillon Snook
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Becca Carey

Starting a new intermediate fill-in story that remains as strong as anything else this comic is putting out.

Wonder Woman is trapped in Hell and her mother has been kidnapped, so she sets off into the wilderness to figure out who is responsible. This leads to a fight with the Manticore, which is fun. Meanwhile, Barbara begins communing with the Cheetah god, which is troubling.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

This is a strong issue that features a good amount of action and some solid character work — which is what anyone could ask for in a new comic book in this day and age. Wonder Woman is in Hell and sets out on a quest that involves fighting a mouthy manticore. I love Greek mythology and I love me a manticore, so that’s a hoot. I don’t remember what Circe’s status quo was before this little story. I don’t remember if we read about how Wonder Woman left Hell and whether she left Circe behind in their house…I think she did? So Circe now being abducted is indeed a recent/new development. I suppose it doesn’t matter. We’re getting an adventure out of it with some solid guest artwork.

I also really enjoyed Barbara’s part of the story, where the Cheetah god with the hard to spell name starts cooing in her ear. Will Barbara Minerva turn into Absolute Cheetah? It’s entirely possible…or maybe this comic will go in a different direction. I’d be fine with either. But if she is going to become Cheetah, Thompson has done a phenomenal job building to moments like what happens in this issue. Barbara has had a nice amount of development, and this expanded origin story is going nicely. She’s smart, the god is clever, and destiny is hard to deny.

TL;DR: Even the shorter, in-between stories with guest artists are great in Absolute Wonder Woman.

Bizarro: Year None #2
Writers: Eric Carrasco and Kevin Smith
Artist: Nick Pitarra
Colorist: Michael Garland
Letterer: Dave Sharpe

The first issue was a phenomenal introduction to this madness, and this second issues settles us in with mysteries abound.

Perry White and Jimmy Olsen settle into BizarroWorld and their attempts to figure out what’s going on and how to get home. This involves finding some underground messaging and mysterious disappearances. It’s also possible that Bizarro kidnapped Lois Lane before them…or maybe he made a perfect Lois simulacra? I’m not entirely sure.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

This issue wasn’t as strong as the first one, which introduced us to this world, but it still has its strengths. Perry and Jimmy make for a fun team, especially as Perry digs into his roots as an investigative reporter. And all with the looming threat of the unhinged Bizarro hanging over them. So the story is building nicely. The stuff with Lois Lane is a bit confusing. I think the comic is saying that Bizarro kidnapped the real Lois as well, but the ending puts that in doubt…unless that’s exactly what happened. Again, it’s unclear. So I’m a little unclear on certain aspects of this issue. But that doesn’t detract from the gorgeous artwork, the great world-building and the really excellent Bizarro origin story being laid out for us so far.

TL;DR: The insanity expounds excellently in this second issue, though some things are a bit unclear, at least for me, who is a dummy.

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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