So this week sort of got away from me and I didn’t review as many comics as I had planned. I read a couple, but some of the ones I was thinking of reviewing were just so…I dunno…sorta bland that I decided not to even bother. Sometimes I just don’t have anything to say about a comic that is just minding its own business, doing its job. But I do have a lot to say about Avengers #1!

Comic Book of the Week goes to Absolute Superman #25 for a very character-focused milestone issue that sets the stage for some big adventure to come.

Meanwhile, I went and saw Godzilla Minus Zero the other night and…it’s good. It’s not as good as Godzilla Minus One, but it was still a fun watch in the theater. I guess I was hoping for more. Ah well. I’m also watching Furious on Hulu, which is also good, but not what I was expecting. And I’m reading Extremity by Daniel Warren Johnson, which is great so far. Also, I almost had a work thing interrupt my upcoming GTA6 vacation, but that won’t be happening now and vacation is back on!

Comic Reviews: Absolute Superman #25, Avengers #1 and Iron Man #11.

Absolute Superman #25
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artists: Juan Ferreyra and Carmine Di Giandomenico
Colorists: Ferreyra and Rafa Sandoval
Letterer: Becca Carey

And now Absolute Superman gets his milestone issue! And it’s a real banger!

Superman has finally found Brainiac, but the villain has his hands on a really crazy dead man’s switch, so Superman agrees to parlay. Brainiac hooks him back up to the brain meld machine and forces Superman to live Brainiac’s life, when he was a drone charged with shoveling dead Brainiac clones into the furnace. Superman mentally spends several years doing this before he is confronted by Brainiac 1, where Supes reveals that he didn’t go crazy like Brainiac did. Superman wins!

Then Lex Luthor teleports onto the ship, blows Brainiac away in revenge and steals his spaceship, intent on wiping out the entire Brainiac Collective.

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

This was a pretty darn awesome issue that successfully paid off all this build-up to a confrontation with Brainiac, while delivering some solid Superman action and — at long last — the Lex Luthor payoff. And we’ve got both series artists on this issue, one handling some flashbacks to Krypton, and the other the present day action. That’s pretty stellar too. Let’s dive right in. This issue is solidly Superman. Our hero is put up against a seemingly impossible task — the Brainiac origin — and while it sure looks like our pal Superman is in trouble, he stands strong and overcomes Brainiac 1 with the sheer power of his being Superman, having friends and just being stronger willed than the villain. That was fun and solidly Superman, which is nice to have in a milestone issue. Makes Brainiac’s final defeat all the sweeter.

And then this issue was filled with all sorts of entertaining side content. We get an extended flashback of Superman’s parents on Krypton; how they met, fell in love and a bit of raising Kal-El. That was nice. They were strong characters at the beginning, and remain strong in this issue. We also get the stuff with Lex Luthor. That’s been a ticking timebomb for a while now and Aaron plays it off wonderfully. The first meeting between Superman and Luthor is great and then it ends in ways I didn’t expect for Lex. He’ll be a fun character going forward. And on the Superman side of things, we end with Clark and his friends being good people. I like that too.

TL;DR: This milestone issue underlines everything that makes Superman great, while paying off a lot of big villain bits that Aaron has been nurturing for a while.

Avengers #1
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Marco Checchetto
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

I’ve been pretty lukewarm on Zdarsky’s stuff at Marvel lately, but I’m up for checking out his relaunched Avengers.

Armageddon ended with the Red Hulk blowing up and killing thousands, and the United Nations declaring super-powers illegal — though American didn’t sign on for that. A handful of superheroes find themselves in New York City when something strange starts to go down. A cadre of angelic beings show up and start seemingly attacking people, and a mysterious girl with a mysterious book reveals that all of Mephisto’s deals over the years have been undone, and this cadre is here to take everything back. And she says Spider-Man is the only one who can stop this.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

I liked this issue because it has a lot of energy to it. There’s a growing dread in the air, and Zdarsky handles that well as he checks in with all the important characters. Apparently the past few issues of the regular Captain America comic have dealt with defeating Mephisto and undoing his deals, but I didn’t read those. It doesn’t feel necessary here, as Zdarsky sets up everything up within this comic. Part of it feels par for the course, simply because this is how it works in the Marvel Universe. Some strange new threat invades New York City and various heroes fight back. So that feels run-of-the-mill, but Zdarky’s good use of character and personality holds strong to make it fun to read, at least.

Though I have to wonder: did Mephisto only make deals with people in New York City? Surely this would be a worldwide problem, and this handful of superheroes on this single city block isn’t really making a dent in this angel cadre.

But whatever, I’m not going to let logistics stand in the way of what is, like I said, a fun read. The energy is good, the characters are fun, and I really like the angels. Not enough stories give us a good, antagonistic take on Heaven. If Mephisto is the devil, let’s see some of the other side as actual characters. I also like the moral dilemmas here. Like…are we so sure the heroes should be fighting to stop all these deals coming undone? The one with Spider-Man is very personal, obviously, and I like that Marvel might finally be letting somebody undone One More Day. But surely most of these deals are really bad, since they were made with the literal devil. Why not just let them expire?

Whatever, I’m twisting myself up in knots trying to poke holes in the logic. And this issue is good enough that the logic can be set aside for the time being. It’s an engaging, enjoyable read and I look forward to Zdarsky building his Avengers.

TL;DR: There’s an entertaining energy propelling this issue, along with good character writing and amazing artwork, so I’m on board for this new Avengers relaunch.

Shorter Reviews

Iron Man #11 by Joshua Williamson, Luca Maresca, Matt Milla and VC’s Joe Caramagna

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

The current Iron Man run is one of those comics I mentioned earlier that just seems to be minding its own business and doing its job. It’s solidly written, features a strong main character, has both new and old villains doing interesting things, and has plenty of comic connections and cameos. It’s not nearly as strong as Williamson’s other work out there, like his Superman. This issue is primarily built around a confrontation between Tony and Reed Richards, during which they have a mental battle about how a physical fight would go down. Like that scene in Sandman where Morpheus battles Lucifer in a verbal sparring match. But this scenes doesn’t feature the same energy or excitement as that classic Sandman duel. Beyond that, we build up some exciting superhero action going forward, so I’m still on board.

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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