This Week in Comics

An ABSOLUTELY Amazing week for comics

This week it seems like most of comics I picked up dealt with DC’s K.O. and the Absolute Universe. Seven of my pulls this week were connected to this event/universe. While I’ve always been deep into the DC Universe I’ve been avoiding most major events from almost all publishers. DC K.O. just happens to be crossing into most of the titles I’ve been reading. Reading all Absolute Universe titles just makes it even more interesting?

I guess avoiding the Absolute Power event doesn’t help when it comes to understanding or caring about how this all came about.

I’m back to quick, spoiler free comments about each issue. Sorry, if you are looking for more. I would prefer you get all the details by reading the comic instead of just listening to me. I’ve talked to enough comic fans to know that everyone likes different things. You might like what I read, then again, you might hate it. Enjoy and remember reading comics is reading. It’s a medium, not a genre.

This Week’s Comics

• Absolute Wonder Woman #16 DC Comics W: Thompson A: Sherman Wonder Woman meets Zatanna and magic against magic things don’t go as well for Diana as we would hope.

• DC K.O. The Kids Are All Fight #1 DC Comics W: Adams A: Mercer Babysitting isn’t all that its cracked up to be when Jon Kent is assigned the job of watching some of the junior heroes as the world falls apart. I found it amusing watching “Superman” try to explain why he shouldn’t be given such a menial task while the more senior heroes are off saving the world. As always the kids get into a mess and end up saving the day, and some of their lost colleagues with the help of… Jon.

• Detective Comics #1105 DC Comics W: Taylor A: Janín We get a bit more backstory about our big bad and the actual situation in Gotham as this arc starts to come to a conclusion. Batman is running around in a bat-biohazard suit hoping that he doesn’t inflect anyone… it looks like most people are acting like they’re already infected?

• The Flash #29 DC Comics W: Waid & Cantwell A: Georgiev D.C. KO tie in. The Legion of Darkseid are trying to stop Barry Allen from becoming the Flash in the hopes that it will stop all the speedsters in their tracks. Can Wally and Bart save the day?

• Green Lantern #31 DC Comics W: Adams A: Montes I normally don’t pick up Green Lantern. It’s not that I don’t like the character, it’s just he’snever been my favorite in any incarnation (except maybe Golden Age as a supporting character in the JSA. This issue Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) is helping out the Flash (Barry Allen) who doesn’t have his powers. He is needed to testify against a crime boss in his role as a CSI. The Crime boss figures if he doesn’t show, he won’t be found guilty.

• Skinbreaker #5 Image Comics W: Kirkman A: Finch New ideas are bad, nostalgia is good. I recall seeing recently a post asking those who are nostalgic for a past more glorious America to pick what year they want to revert back to and then consider who was being oppressed at that time. Our new Chieftain has decided that the old ways work and they should stop setting traps and hunt like they did before. Unfortunately, the poor, and elderly aren’t getting fed, because only the hunters get to eat what little is brought back. Also the creature they hunt are now attacking the village. Fortunately our disgraced older chief has been laying traps and providing food for the majority of the village in secret. What could happen next? something bad… I know, I read the comic.

• Sonja Reborn #5 Dynamite Comics W: Priest A: Miracolo Red Sonja is no more… or at least still is acting like Red Sonja. She acting more like a displaced administrative assistant with a grudge. Can she come back in time to save everyone and possible sent the soul inhabiting her back home? I’ve been binging School Spirits on Paramount + and upon reaching the second season (no spoilers) are finding some of this similar.

• Superman #34 DC Comics W: Williamson A: Barrows & Ferreira D.C. KO tie in. I’m seeing the writing on the wall as Superboy Prime starts to take the lead as the forces of Darkseid continue to take over the world turning it into Apokolips.

• Flash Gordon Quarterly #6 Mad Cave Comics Multiple stories the main one focusing on Flash and the King of the Sharkmen surviving on a planet after a battle… do they end up friends? I think of the story about the scorpion crossing the river…

• Absolute Batman #16 DC Comics W: Snyder A: Dragotta Batman calls for Wonder Woman to help him figure out a way to help a friend.

• Absolute Flash #11 DC Comics W: Lemire A: Robles Wally is lost in another dimension trying to figure out how he can stop Thawne from destroying everything (and everyone).

• Absolute Martian Manhunter #8 DC Comics W: Camp A: Rodríguez The white martian is still out there. John Jones is still trying to live a normal life partnered with a martian. Things take a strange turn when they decided to take a break from each other.

• No Place #3 Ignition Press W: Seeley A: Simeone Always witches, always monkeys. Can the team help save the world as forces from other lands try to destroy it?

• Bug Wars Spyder Watch Special #1 Image Comics W: Aaron, Asrar A: Rivas, Asrar, Messina The Spyder Witch from the first series of Bug Wars (read it, it is really good) is the focus of this one-shot. We find out a bit more of her story and the hierarchy of the spiders which really isn’t very nice, or democratic.

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As with most weeks there are a few stand outs, but I’d have to say while everything was good, nothing was standing out as the best thing I’ve ever read. Maybe it has to do with a massive Universe shaping event taking the lead in many of the comics I’m reading. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I do this after a single quick read so I’m just writing down first impressions. The Bug Wars one-shot was good and is setting the stage for the next series… like the D.C. KO and Absolute comics are good, but are either setting the stage for something more, or (like the Ultimate Universe in Marvel) you start wondering when DC will stop it’s experiment or how D.C. KO will reshape or destroy this universe making it just another “Elseworlds.” I’m waiting for Detective Comics to finish this arc before deciding if I’m going to cull it and a few others from my pull list. Not that they aren’t good, but more about the time I have and what I want to do with it. I’m still invested in the Ignition Press titles because of solid story telling but also because they are finite. Most titles are telling a single story and once it’s done, that’s it.