It’s time for another round of comic book reviews. There were a lot of major releases this week to talk about. With that in mind this week we’ll be covering Absolute Batman #23, Barbara Gordon: Breakout #4, Blood & Thunder #16, Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1, Power Rangers Unlimited #2, Transformers #35, and Yumi: 00EX #1. Find out how these comic books turned out with the latest comic book reviews round-up below.
ABSOLUTE BATMAN #23
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
The revelation that Jack Grimm/Joker has manipulated Absolute Bruce Wayne’s origin and Gotham City as a whole through Project Batman has been game-changing. Case in point: while reading Absolute Batman #23, you can feel how everything happening is being orchestrated by an outside force. Even though the characters don’t realize it, they are being pushed into making decisions or taking actions they believe come from their own free will. That makes Bruce’s breakdown in this issue hit even harder, as he is not in control no matter how much he wants being the Absolute Batman to give him that. All of this makes the Death in the Family storyline getting its own Absolute Universe twist land even harder. We have yet another game-changing moment that will make things even more chaotic in this series.
Overall Rating: 9.5 Night Girls out of 10
BARBARA GORDON: BREAKOUT #4
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Amancay Nahuelpan
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Barbara Gordon: Breakout #4 gets deeper into how the conspiracy around Vandal Savage and Poison Ivy controlling Gotham City runs deeper than we know. The more time Barbara spends in the super max prison the more she is finding out about what happens to the powers that be enemies. It makes life much harder as we see that this is not a prison break situation. This issue in particular puts an emphasis that Barbara needs to prioritize survival if she is even going to have a chance to accomplish her mission.
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
BLOOD & THUNDER #16
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Benito Cereno
Artist: E.J. Su
Colorist: Msassyk
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Blood & Thunder #16 is a non-stop action issue that we’ve come to expect to be more the norm for this series. We see Akeldama Bledsoe, aka Blood, doing what she does best with how she makes her way through a special manufacturing facility. But as we’ve been seeing the mission has gotten much more complicated the deeper Blood goes into what her mission is about. Having Thunder along with her is a reminder why both Blood and Thunder as so important to the story pacing for this series. By the end we have Blood in a spot where we are left concerned for her safety.
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #1
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Bryan Edward Hill
Artists: Nico Leon and Valentine De Landro
Colorist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: Cory Petit
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 is yet another fresh start for Miles and his cast. While there are certain elements that get carried over from previous runs, Bryan Edward Hill goes with a new reader friendly approach for this debut issue. It’s shown that events Miles has led him to focus more on school and being a solo hero. It is certainly helpful to achieve the goal of being a fresh start. Now it will be about making sure that the momentum created is carried over into the rest of this series long-term future.
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
POWER RANGERS UNLIMITED #2
CREATIVE TEAM
Writers: Kenny Porter and Joey Esposito
Artist: Federico Sorrenssa
Colorist: Raul Angulo
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
Power Rangers Unlimited #2 highlights the power of the franchise does not just hinge on one specific portion of the Power Rangers. Kenny Porter and Joey Esposito showcase how there are interesting Power Rangers across their history. That history makes it even more special when we can see various Rangers across the franchise teaming up to stop a major crisis. The combination we see in this issue as different Rangers unite to take down a new, and possibly the most dangerous, Psycho Ranger so great to see. There is clear history to what the story tackles with the characters utilized that makes everything better.
Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
TRANSFORMERS #35
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Jason Howard
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: Rus Wooton
While the action is still here Transformers #35 is more of a set-up chapter for the series. That is something that was certainly needed as we set up the next big conflict for the Autobots to deal with. In the process we get a lot of character focus moments that help progress the various character arcs Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard are juggling. The ending of Transformers #35 does a good job at setting up what should be an action packed next issue that’ll have a lot of consequences to it.
Overall Rating: Night Girls out of 10
YUMI: 00EX #1
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Doug Wagner
Artist: Hoyt Silva
Colorist: Kevin Lennertz
Letterer: Frank Cvetkovic
Yumi: 00EX #1 knocks it out of the park creating a fascinating spy world that you want to continue reading about. Yumi is as charming as she is deadly, something immediately established by the incredible opening scene of this issue. The high-octane momentum created by the opening creates a great pace to the story that is thrilling from the beginning to the end. Click here to read the full review.
Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
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