I hope these reviews are doing some good for somebody somewhere. I often realize that I only really read the comics I like, which are a fraction of the total comics that come out in a single week. But hey, I like what I like! For example, Fury of Firestorm! And maybe the new Miles Morales: Spider-Man relaunch!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Absolute Batman #23 for another banger issue that is jam-packed with good stuff!

Meanwhile, Dying Light 2 was free on Playstation this month, so I’m gonna play that until Star Wars: Zero Company comes out at the end of the month. Should keep me busy. I watched and loved the finale of season two of X-Men ’97, and will post my full thoughts on the whole season next week. Stay tuned for that. I also watched and enjoyed the second season of Batman: Caped Crusader. May or may not post my thoughts. And I can’t wait for Lanterns tomorrow! Should be fun!

Comic Reviews: Absolute Batman #23, Fury of Firestorm #5 and Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1.

Absolute Batman #23
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Tom Napolitano

This has definitely been the biggest, most stuffed Absolute Batman storyline yet! Can’t wait to see it in animated series form!

Batman is through the looking glass with this crazy conspiracy stuff (possibly infected by the Scarecrow’s toxin). His friends try to stage an intervention, including the return of his mother, who is now aware of the Batman stuff. But Bruce’s rage goes too far and he turns on all of them, then flees and turns himself in to one of the Robins to talk. Due to some Robins drama back at HQ, only Jason and Tim are out in the field tracking Batman — and they are ambushed by Clayface! Who kills Tim! And Batman gets blamed!

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

If I’m being totally honest, the fact that this storyline has been all over the place can sometimes feel a little overwhelming. What started as an introduction to Absolute Scarecrow now stretches to include more Jack Grimm, the Robins, Deathstroke, we had the original of Harley Quinn, the death of Jim Gordon; just so much has been going on. And now we’ve got Absolute Clayface in the mix (who has an unbelievably great design!) and the death of a Robin! It’s a little crazy! But at the same time…all this craziness is working. It’s all holding up very well and comes together nicely in this issue. It’s part 5…is this a 6-part story? Is next month the climax of all this madness? If so, the tension and energy and danger really ramped up for this penultimate chapter. It absolutely works.

Every single piece of this large mosaic of a story works. Batman, of course, is at the center. He’s a monster in this issue and it’s legitimate scary. Then each of his supporting cast is interesting, and I’m surprised they’re still trying to help him. It’s also still super weird that the Penguin, Riddler and Two-Face, in full costume, stroll up to Batman as his old pals trying to help him. But it works. The Robins remain neat, and we get some time with them as people this issue. I love that stuff. And Clayface is such an insanely cool design! He’s all hands and movement and ugh, just perfect. His fight with Batman is an issue highlight.

Nick Dragotta is still cooking on these Absolute character designs.

Also, in case it needs to be said: Yes, Tim is my favorite Robin, but no, I’m not at all bothered by the death of his Absolute version. We barely knew the character, he wasn’t mainline Tim, and he’s a perfectly good choice for this twist in the story. Bring on the ramifications!

TL;DR: A jam-packed issue easily and excitingly juggles all manner of plots, characters, twists, turns and amazing character designs.

The Fury of Firestorm #5
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Rafael De Latorre
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Lucas Gattoni

This comic remains lit, fam. It’s fire. And I think I read that it’s been extended to 12 issues. Sounds good to me!

Lorraine and Professor Stein arrive in Philly, where the Matrix has cocooned itself in a giant red crystal. I say ‘cocooned,’ but the guy has built himself a throne inside, so he’s really just sitting there. Lorraine powers up and goes inside and tries to connect with Ronnie, who is living out a Justice League memory, while the Matrix attacks her. She manages to get through to him, but the Matrix is powerful, and Stein still has some tricks up his sleeve.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

Another banger of an issue! Hard to believe it’s only been five total comics so far, I love this series so much. The reinvention of Firestorm has been a brilliant masterclass and very entertaining to read. And now we get a bit more Ronnie Raymond. Once he’s out of his memory haze, I can’t wait to see how Lemire treats him and writes him. Who is he as a person in all of this? I very much enjoyed the scene that played out as a memory of Firestorm arriving at the Justice League for the first time. Now I want to see Ronnie in the present day. Lemire has done a great job establishing Lorraine and now Professor Stein, and they make for a good team going into this, especially with that last page reveal! What can it mean? Where does the story go from here? I can’t wait!

The artwork is also still incredible. De Latorre and Maiolo don’t miss a beat when switching between the modern artwork and the classic, old timey comic artwork and coloring. Both look great. This is a perfect example of why it’s so important to have good artwork on your comic. Fury of Firestorm is the perfect example of why this Next Level imprint has been working so well. Firestorm was a nobody. I’ve been a lifelong comic book fan and I knew the basics about him, but I’d never cared about him. Does anybody care about him? Yeah, probably somebody. But still, he’s a nothing character. And now he’s got the hottest comic on the stands! Relaunched with real creative juice. That’s what can be so great about comics!

TL;DR: The excitement and creativity build as we head to, what I assume, is the upcoming conclusion of the first story arc. Super fun issue!

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1
Writer: Bryan Edward Hill
Artist: Nico Leon (with Valentine De Landro)
Colorist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

I always like to try out first issues of comics that interest me, and I heard many good things about the last Miles Morales comic, so I thought I’d check out this new one.

After the crazy adventures of his last run, Miles wants to settle down and just be a ground-level Brooklyn superhero for a while. There’s also a cute new foreign exchange student at school who is already interested in him after, apparently, he broke up with his last girlfriend off-panel. Ouch. Anyway, a new villain shows up named Revenant who is a big viking guy with a giant, psychic axe of some kind. He is specifically targeting Miles’ dad, whom Miles swings in to save. Jefferson then tells Miles that this was a guy who got screwed over when Jefferson worked with Nick Fury to take down the Kingpin some years back — unknown how he went from some normal mob dude to a giant, powered viking.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

This is a good, new reader-friendly launch to a Miles Morales comic book, especially if those readers are coming from the Spider-Verse movies. The problem is, in being new reader-friendly, the comic doesn’t take any risks or do anything outside its comfort zone in this first issue. That might only be a problem for a jaded comic book fan like myself. More on that later. For now, it’s a fine, entertaining comic. Leon is a highly skilled artist and brings their A-game to this series. Everybody looks great. The Spidey action looks great. The villain looks menacing. And the character writing is solid. We get a good sense of Miles and his current outlook on life. We touch base with the important figures in his supporting cast. And we’ve off on a new adventure with a new villain by the end. Like I said, a very good first issue for a reader-friendly jumping on point, and for fans of the characters.

With the praise out of the way, I am gonna throw in a few nitpicks. Like I said, this issue doesn’t do anything very interesting with the character or the concept or the status quo. It’s just business as usual. There’s nothing to excite new or old readers. Not even the final page offers anything to get excited about. And that’s fine…but with a new #1 issue, I like to see a reason to get excited. The new villain could be fun, but I hate the name, “Revenant.” Why not name him “Vengeance” or Fighter”? A big, hulking viking guy with a psychic axe does not scream “Revenant” to me…but I suppose we’ll see. And I am going to nitpick the idea that the new writer just dumped Miles’ girlfriend before getting started, then introduces a new love interest on Page 1. Not cool. Gwen Stacey and Mary Jane Watson didn’t come household names by being written out of the classic Spider-Man comics when new writers came along. Consistency in a supporting cast can be very important.

Also, I am an old man now, so the young slang definitely threw me for a loop. That’s not a nitpick, that’s just me being old.

TL;DR: A new Miles Morales relaunch plays it safe and comfortable with a solidly enjoyable, if unexciting, first 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.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –