Mia!

A consistently good title month to month that rewards fans of The Flash and the JSA with wholesome content with an enthralling story.

The spark for the series is still there, this issue proves it. Ruby is a dynamic character that brings necessary conflicts to the JSA and Huntress. Helena has been the primary character of this team book, I see why Johns chose her over many others too and that’s because of her compassion and empathy. This issue has a good mix of deep diving into the character’s thoughts and feelings, while also being very action oriented.

Certainly the strongest tie-in for the Beast World event. All stories hit the right beats, and brought fun character interactions. The stand out story for me was Venditti’s “Jungle Society of America”.

My pick of the week; it’s an engaging yet tragic father daughter story that’s very thought provoking. Judy’s addition to the DC Universe is an interesting one that this issue sets up to explore more. Jeremy Adams has a very intriguing story to tell in this miniseries.

Tim Sheridan offers a nice hook with the mystery of the Crimson Flame, this feels like a classic golden age story with some modern elements such as Alan’s new love interest. I’m actually in awe from Tim Sheridan’s script, it’s actually good.. I haven’t read much I liked from him besides Flashpoint Beyond. The book tries the flashbacks thing like most retro books do, but it makes it confusing. It is great to read something with a JSA character that makes me not want to close the book immediately like Power Girl or Hawkgirl, therefore I say this was good!

Sweet start to a series!

Feels like forever since something for this title came out. There's a whole lot going on here with the JSA (and other teams...), which is probably my only complaint about this issue. Much like issue #6, it's an issue meant to stall and tease future storylines. The JSA are all doing different things in this issue to set these future plots into motion. Huntress' team is in Slaughter Swamp, Power Girl's team goes to Belle Reve, Doctor Fate and the Witch Girl try to 'bond', and the most out of place plot with Doctor Mid-Nite and Wildcat is further set up. There's just too much happening here, and with the inconstant release schedule, it's hard to really care about the many things happening. The issue is still great and more interesting than the previous., Santucci has many beautiful pages and the colors added are just as beautiful.

A munch needed improvement for a mediocre title. This issue improves the Ric Grayson era of Nightwing while adding rich lore to Blüdhaven.

Action oriented with a promising beginning. This just needed more of Deadpool’s personality, kinda reads like a generic mercenary character rather than Deadpool.

Nice continuous flow from a quality standpoint. A JSA member makes a surprise appearance, and the father-daughter bonding of Jay / Judy continues. The plot doesn’t move much, but this was a solid read.

Nothing was extraordinary about it, was pretty decent. This reads more like a filler issue for something bigger.

Gorgeous artwork and two amazing fight sequences, but this issue does nothing to progress the plot.

For a debut issue this was lackluster and mildly contrived. The roster is full of characters so boring; the only interesting bits are Black Canary’s inner monologues and a Flashback fight. Thompson hasn’t let me down yet, so I do have heavy faith in this title. I did expect quite a bang though.

Beautiful artwork, plot builds up steady. Characterization shines through for Wonder Woman and the other Wonder Girls this issue, but the dialogue was not good.

I liked some parts of this issue, but it’s essentially just Gay / Transgender trauma porn that felt irrelevant to what was introduced in the first issue. Alan’s stint in Arkham added nothing to the character that wasn’t there before. The time frames in this comic continue to be disorderly and there’s a lack of action. Positives are that Sheridan and the artists capture the vintage 40s vibes perfectly. The train surrounded by flames was ravishing to look at, just an awesome splash page. Alan opening up to his friend was cool too, and some landmark Gotham locations were drawn well.

It would be nice if Alan could do something other than standing around moping. Spectre and the Flash’s appearances added way more excitement for the story to me than Alan Scott.. the titular character.

Should’ve just been a Red Lantern mini.

We get it Tom Taylor; Nightwing is a pure person who will do anything to protect a child. Get on with the real story (Heartless) already.

Decent plot executed in a way that’s similar to the same storylines Supergirl has already had before, just with the Superfamily tied in. Please give Kara and the other Supers a plot other than “I don’t fit in.”

Way better than last issue, I actually felt like I was reading a Hawkgirl book! There’s way more superhero fights between multiple groups which were awesome to read. Kendra’s story is still a bit undercooked here and she’s inconsistent with her portrayal in the first issue. Everyone one who appeared was great, besides Galaxy.

Only praise I can give this issue is that the Red Lantern was interesting, and it builds off of what Geoff Johns introduced in the 2022 New Golden Age book. Everything else is boring, mainly Alan Scott. You can have gay characters with personality DC Comics, it’s not that hard.

Leah Williams’ Power Girl still doesn’t feel like an authentic version of Power Girl. I’ve followed the back ups in Action Comics and the Power Girl: Special, so I knew what I was getting into, and was hoping for improvement, but nope it’s still ingenuine and relatively unappealing. Eduardo Pansica’s art is fantastic, and elevated by Farjado Jr’s coloring. The issue is very bombastic and the action sequences were the only parts I had fun reading. The antagonist set up for this arc Amalak is the only thing keeping me intrigued in the story. My main problem with this issue, is that it’s just not a Power Girl suited story. Another problem is that Power Girl really can’t do anything for herself when written by Williams’, she’s way too codependent on other characters like Omen and Superman. This would’ve probably fit a brand new character instead.

Picking back up from issue #4 after skipping the pointless Frembia arc. For part 1 of the House of Brainiac tie-in we get the following from Leah Williams: Slice of life skate-boarding with cheesy boob jokes, Omen invading privacy being used as a comedic effect, and two pages of the guest star of the issue (Crush) with a tease of what’s to come in the future issues. If you’re pulling just for House of Brainiac, honestly skip. It’s clear that this tie-in is irrelevant.

Trinity punching Diana reminded me of that one issue in Batman / Catwoman where Helena fought Selina. Didn’t like this new story, and I stand by my theory that the Super Sons were the real stars of the backup not Trinity. $6 for essentially an extra backup is not worth it. Don’t know how you make the daughter of Wonder Woman uninteresting and unlikable, but King found a way.

DC should rename this series Galaxy featuring Hawkgirl, because so far this series so far reads like Jadzia Axelrod is far more interested in writing her own original character than the titular character. This issue revolved around Galaxy’s place in the world far more than it did Kendra’s until the main antagonist showed up, but even then it focused far more on Galaxy and her girlfriend. The only compliments I’ll give this is the art, which is stunning. Another thing that was handled well was how Hawkgirl’s past lives were explained, it is clear that Axelrod knows her Hawkgirl history, but wants to write a Galaxy book instead. What a waste of a Hawkgirl title.

This series had far too much potential, but got wasted on a Galaxy-centric cast, with random cameos every issues. The fight in Nth World with Vulpecula that was built up throughout all issues? It goes by fast and quickly disposes of one of the few good elements this series had. The dialogue is unnatural, but the lettering is impeccable. The art by Nahuelphan is great. Hopefully in the near future DC gives Hawkgirl a try with a writer interested in writing her mythos, instead of continuing Galaxy: The Prettiest Star.

Rosenberg’s Red Hood is usually spectacular, however here it’s not.

Questioning if this series is even a Power Girl series with the amount of plot relevance Omen has. The depression and overall miserableness from Power Girl is toned down, but she’s still incompetent and relies on Omen to save the day. Holzherr has failed this title, the amount of inconsistencies from the first issue to this one is jarring, something an editor is supposed to prevent. Kaminski allowing Williams to overhaul Power Girl into a worse imbecile of a character is ridiculous. What an overall bad title for Power Girl.

Yet another issue of Leah Williams’ Power Girl with no Power in it. Seriously, the titular character is so dispirited and woeful it’s a shame to read as a longtime fan of the character. The issue is a wordy mess with way too much pages devoted to Omen in the beginning. Power Girl fans do not care about Omen, their friendship is rooted in trauma bonding and none of the characters act right for their friendship to seem genuine. The main plot this issue is Power Girl self-loathing and relating to a lion, it’s incredibly sluggish. Tie it in with the off characterization, it’s just not fun to read. This is a misery comic, Williams tries to use Omen as a comedic character, but the jokes don’t land. Superman is snide towards Power Girl, which just adds another character that’s mischaracterized. Williams was not the right choice for a Power Girl series. Leah Williams time on Power Girl has been a waste of utterly pointless changes to the character. No character here is recognizable, the main story is nondescript. Money is better spent elsewhere for this issue, this comic is a waste.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. I truly believed that this series would improve based off of last issue, which wasn’t that great, but it was decent. This issue is an embarrassment to the Hawk name and solidified my opinion on this series being a self insert wankfest using the Hawkgirl title to deceive fans of the Hawks. The dragon fight with the heroes is random to the plot, and it poorly utilizes the books guest stars Supergirl and Steel. Nothing cool or interesting happens with Hawkgirl until GALAXY boosts her up. Galaxy is the cause for 99% of everything in this series, the series needs to be retitled Galaxy: Hawkgirl or Galaxy featuring Hawkgirl. One star for the art, and half a star for mentioning some of Hawkgirl’s history. I’d rather the story show us instead of tell it, but this story is clearly for Galaxy instead.

Just when you thought Leah Williams writing for Power Girl couldn’t get worse, it most certainly does. Williams has damaged the character of Power Girl severely, making her a clueless mediocre shell of a character she once was. Power Girl use to be a successful confident business owner with strong ties to the super hero community, Williams destroys all of that by making Power Girl an antisocial awkward insecure employee of the Daily Planet, that relies too much on Omen and Lois Lane. Omen the Titans resident precog / telepath is extremely annoying here. Williams is trying to force the character of Omen into Power Girl’s life and it’s just not working at all, and neglects Omen’s character in the process. An example of this from this issue is Power Girl being ignorant to Earth, fearing that she isn’t a real woman since she was raised in bioship. Omen calls Power Girl her “alien bestie” and teaches her how to hug.. it’s Disney Channel level comedy and character development which is a pain to read. Fans of Power Girl don’t care about Omen, she’s not her best friend or a member of her supporting cast no matter how hard Williams’ tries. Amalak does nothing out of the ordinary here, it’s a basic rehash of their fight from the first issue. Power Girl #2 has the goal of trying to explore PG’s new civilian life. The action is severely lacking despite the amazing cover by Gary Frank, his covers should be used on a better series. Pansica’s art is okay here, nothing to write home about. Guess that’s what happen when you have such a terrible script to work with. This is the main problem with this series, it’s not who Power Girl actually is as a character. It’s Leah Williams skimming a wikipedia page and cherry picking things from Power Girl’s old pre-crisis history and trying to reinvent it so she can make Power Girl an insecure weirdo. This as much as Hawkgirl, is a waste of the characters title, they deserve better.

Not even about Power Girl anymore.

Not ranking this issue, because I haven’t read it. I’m genuinely curious on who is interested in this plot and new version of Power Girl?

What a pointless, soulless, and boring tie-in to House of Brainiac.