I was off from work this week and I spent the whole time on a nice staycation at home. Got some cleaning done. Read some comics. Played a lot of video games. And mostly just didn’t work. So it’s a good week for Wonder Woman and Absolute Green Arrow.

Comic Book of the Week goes to Daredevil #7 for a really fun, really energetic issue.

Meanwhile, I took this week off from work to play the new Wolverine video game and I’m very much enjoying it! Haters gonna hate and chase those hate algorithms, but this is a very enjoyable, straight forward Wolverine brawler game. So I’m quite pleased. I’m also working on a second playthrough of Star Wars: Zero Company, which remains fun. And I’m currently working my way through the fourth season of Reacher, which is also enjoyable. So good times for me!

Also, it’s time once again for me to put my money where my mouth is. I review comics week in and week out, and I’m once again making one of my own. Check out my profile on Cover Bard, my new first issue, which will be coming to Kickstarter on Monday! If you enjoy my reviews and want to see me put up or shut up on writing comics, this is a good opportunity and I would appreciate your support!

Comic Reviews: Absolute Green Arrow #5, Avengers Armageddon #4, Daredevil #7, Wonder Woman #37 and Uncanny X-Men #35.

Absolute Green Arrow #5
Writer: Pornsak Pichetshote
Artist: Rafael Albuquerque
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Jeff Powell

The Absolute Green Arrow revealed! Or is he?! Maybe.

The Absolute Green Arrow is revealed to be Merlyn, Hector Hammond’s body guard from the first couple of issues. He and Dinah fight their way out of being captured, with help from Roy Harper. They gotta contend with Hammond and Solomon Grundy still, and Tom Hallaway, who Iker and Hammond turned into a Man-Spider. And we get some more flashbacks. And I think Merlyn dies. Maybe Roy too. Then another Green Arrow shows up and the cliffhanger is that Dinah has figured out who is beneath the mask.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

I have no idea who is beneath the mask because my #1 problem with Absolute Green Arrow is that far too many people have been introduced over the course of five issues and it’s been hard to keep track. I know major names, like Oliver Queen and Merlyn and Hammond, but Hallaway? And then someone named Guillermo Garcia is introduced in Merlyn’s flashback for why he’s doing this. And then there was Connor Hawke, who wasn’t Connor? I dunno. Too much got shoved into this comic too rapidly, and it’s taken away from the central mysteries and the horror. I almost don’t want Green Arrow to be identified just yet.

The issue itself is very good. The artwork remains appropriately gruesome with some solid body horror and dedicated action. And when you can understand what’s going on, it works nicely, as our heroes try to fight their way out of this mess. The artwork keeps it all exciting and fun, with an emphasis on the monsters. And I do like Absolute Dinah. She remains a solid, entertaining protagonist. Maybe she becomes the new secondary Green Arrow? That’d be neat. But let’s not speculate. I have no idea who the actual Green Arrow could be, unless it’s revealed that Oliver Queen isn’t dead after all. Too many characters/names have been crammed into only five issues, and I guess any one of them could be revealed to be Green Arrow in the next issue.

TL;DR: The big reveals are good enough, and the action and artwork keep the title on the up and up.

Avengers: Armageddon #4
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artists: Delio Diaz and Frank Alpizar
Colorist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

The big secret is revealed! Everything has been building toward this moment!

The Russians have launched a wave of nukes at America, and the superheroes rally to stop them all in the sky, while David Colton and Bucky take on the Winter Guard at a Russian black site. The Russians have also juiced up Red Hulk, who joins the fight, and then is revealed to be a nuke himself. Red Hulk explodes, taking several superheroes with him (presumably). Colton survives and activates the true nature of his new powers: He’s not the Sentry, he’s Miracleman.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

So, uh, I don’t care about Miracleman. I’ve never read any of those comics. I’m only vaguely aware that he was a thing once upon a time, with some critically acclaimed comics by some famous authors. Was one of them Neil Gaiman? That hasn’t aged well. But then Alan Moore went first and everybody still loves him. Anyway, I was very much a child in the 1980s and was living in America, so I never read this British deconstruction of superhero comics. So I don’t care. The idea that the entire David Colton character, and this Armageddon event in general, was building up to bringing a new Miracleman into the Marvel Comic Universe…meh. Don’t care. The last thing we need is yet another over-powered god dude. That’s what the Sentry was for.

As for the issue itself, it’s fine. Lot of superhero action. Colton gets to do some introspection. The Winter Guard are always neat. Red Hulk is a beast, an the artwork really pushes the envelope on him. And I’m cool with an actual nuke Red Hulk going off and causing some kind of world-altering opinion on superheroes, leading into a new age of Avengers. Does the new Colton get to be a member of the leftover Avengers? I don’t know yet, but hopefully that’s the plan for him. It’d be a waste if he just became the next villain.

TL;DR: The big reveal of David Colton’s existence doesn’t mean much if you weren’t reading British comics in the 1980s. But at least this issue has a lot of explosive superhero action.

Daredevil #7
Writer: Stephanie Williams
Artist: Flaviano
Colorist: Rico Renzi
Letterer: VC’s Arian Maher

This new storyline has gone in a direction I didn’t expect, and I enjoyed it all the more.

The gang war is in full effect, and Daredevil is moving as quickly as he can to get his hands on the Kingpin’s mysterious ledger. He’s got to contend with the likes of Tombstone, Silvermane and the Tracksuit Mafia, while the Owl continues to play a suspiciously helpful role. And in the end, it’s Elektra who shows up with her hands on the ledger.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

I really liked that this issue just dove us right into the gang war. It’s a classic storytelling trope, and Williams didn’t waste any time in setting anything up. We know these villains, we know the danger, we know the MacGuffin; and we just get right into it! I liked that a lot, and the artwork knocks it out of the park. Flaviano goes to town, opening with a pair of double-page spreads that show off the wild and kinetic energy of Daredevil at work. There’s also a slightly cartoonish quality to his style in this book, and that adds to the madcap explosiveness of it all. The artwork is always clear and the storytelling always excellent, so it adds a lot of well-received flavor.

The ending is a little confusing. Or maybe I just didn’t get it. Daredevil and Elektra seem to be at an impasse about the ledger. That should be fun, if that’s the case. And I still love Elektra’s Daredevil redesign. She looks so damn good! She should be a fun wrinkle to throw into this storyline for the next issue or so.

TL;DR: This issue dives right into the new story with flare and energy and a lot of fun comic bookery.

Wonder Woman #37
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Clayton Cowles

It was announced yesterday that King and Sampere will be ending their run with issue #40 and that’s a damn shame. I have very much loved this comic, even if the second half hasn’t been as strong as the first. It’s still been great! And we’ve only got three issues left!

Trinity and Steve Trevor sail back in time with Charon the Ferryman and arrive on the shores of Themyscira, where Trinity has to fight off the Amazons because they don’t believe her story. They find Wonder Woman, who has spent the day fighting a monster with the baby versions of Trinity and Matriarch on her back. She’s teaching them important fighting lessons. The reunion scene is very sweet, but is then interrupted by an equally time-traveling Matriarch, who grabs herself as a baby.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

I like it when writers actually give us the emotional scenes rather than just gloss over them. So I really enjoyed the moment when Trinity and Steve step out of the shadows to meet Diana, and she gets to both be reunited with her love and meet her adult daughter. It’s fun. I have completely forgotten why or how they’ve gone back in time, but if it works, it works. Let’s defeat the Matriarch in the normal timeline and call it a day. Will future Steve stay in the present? Will Trinity disappear? We’ll find out! This issue was otherwise super fun. The babies on Diana’s back are super cute. The fight with the monster is probably full of all sorts of foreshadowing or subtext that is flying over my head. I’m a bad reader like that. And the artwork, of course, is top notch. All around fun issue.

TL;DR: The grand finale is all set up with a really enjoyable issue.

Shorter Reviews

Uncanny X-Men #35 by Gail Simone, Luciano Vecchio, Matthew Wilson and VC’s Clayton Cowles

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Another solid issue of Uncanny X-Men, equally exploring the Gambit is a demon storyline with the Louisiana team tracking down the dirtbags who have been mean to new character Howler. Both are fun stories and both are filled with great character moments and awesome artwork. Ugh, I had this whole week off from work and I still didn’t read all those Uncanny X-Men back issues. I’ve still got time, so maybe. I’m confident that the whole series is this level of quality comic book storytelling.

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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