Wonder Woman 37 by James Robinson,Carlo Pagulayan, and Stephen Segovia: Thankfully this arc winds up. The art is ok, especially in some of the fight sequences. The double page splash that opens the issue is really well done. However, the story.......unfortunately I don’t have anything good to report. The dialogue is awful and the story is very predictable. I don’t think Robinson quite understands Wonder Woman. This is particularly evident in a scene towards the end where Wonder Wonan is about to battle Darkseid and some folks making a cameo appearance derail the scene. I have 0 interest in the direction DC has taken Wonder Woman with all this being a demi-god and having a brother. This all seems more suited for someone like Donna Troy ( a character that is already a mess and DC just keeps making worse). For me, Wonder Woman has lost some of what made her special and unique—and still remains a character that DC has no idea what to do with.
Art 8/10
story 0/10

Flash #37. Written by Joshua Williamson. Art by Scott McDaniel and Mick Gray. Cover by Barry Kitson.

Another issue that showcases Capt Cold as he establishes himself as the kingpin of crime in Central City. But with a twist he is running his operations from below the Iron Heights prison. And now Barry is working at Iron Heights & is trapped as the Flash by the Rogues...

Great Kitson cover. Williamson does a great job writing the Rogues especially Capt Cold. It was nice to see McDaniel's kinetic style again. I loved his work on Daredevil, Batman & Nightwing.

8/10.

Action 994 by Dan Jurgens and a slew of folks finishing the art: Superman’s adventure with Booster Gold continues as they visit a Krypton that isn’t quite right as well as giving Superman a glimpse into what might have been. The team up with Superman and Booster Gold is fun. They play well off each other as Superman seeks answers and Booster wants to protect time. Interesting to see Jore-El and Zod working together in this tenuous timeline. Lois has an interesting couple of pages as she too seeks answers about her father (and seems to be poised to get in a mess). A fun issue that really doesn’t provide any answers, however I believe something really major must be in the works with all the time based stories happening in Action, Superman, Super Sons, Teen Titans, Titans, And recently in Detective.
7.5/10

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew your Vows #14. Written by Jody Houser. Art by Nick Roche. Cover by Ryan Stegman.

Yes I skewered this title last month but decided to stick it out for the first arc. While I don't like the art I understand Stockman will be back with #16. Houser's first issue (#13) was jarring in tone but this issue was a little better although the goofiness of Peter & Annie is a bit annoying IMO.

A slight improvement from previous issue.

6/10.

Riverdale #9 by Greg Murray and Thomas Pitilli:
Mantle Motors and Pop Tate are sponsoring a contest where whoever can keep their hand on a brand truck the longest wins. Ethel, Moose, Cheryl, Archie, and Jughead all participate. As the story is told, we learn why each of them wants to win. We see Reggie taking bets (and attempting my to rig the competition). As I read this story, I could “see” it like an episode from the show. It was nice to see Moose, Midge, Dilton, and Ethel all make appearances and I loved the scenes with Cheryl and Ethel. Very character driven story with lots of emphasis on each of the gang. I guess it helps that the writing team for the show provides stories for the comic, but this one really appealed to me, especially Ethel’s story.
10/10

On the other hand, I loved Kamandi Challenge #12.

There have been times when I found this title to be kind of disappointing. Lots of great art and several issues that were really good to great, but some of the writing didn't do much for me at all.

But I liked this concluding issue quite a bit. The art is fantastic, as we've come to expect. and Gail Simone ties it up and gives us a satisfying conclusion. (One more reason to love Gail Simone.) And then Paul Levitz provides a very nice epilogue.

Daredevil #596 didn't come out this week, but as I only just got it yesterday, I thought I'd talk about it here.

Daredevil was not the first super-hero comic I ever bought, but it was the first one that I bought for three issues in a row, then five, then ten, then 50, then ... I think it was around 120 before I stopped. I don't think I missed an issue between #126 and somewhere in the 240s. And I eventually had every issue from #1 to around #240. Partly because Daredevil is AWESOME but also because old issues of Daredevil were so cheap in the 1970s and early 1980s.

I've read Daredevil on and off since then, but never for more than ten or twelve issues.

Somewhere I saw a promo for the Daredevil issues under the Marvel Legacy imprint, and I was very intrigued by the idea of a political storyline where the premise is that Wilson Fisk is the mayor of New York. The Kingpin is the mayor of New York! The storyline is called "Mayor Fisk" and I decided to give it a try and I bought the first two issues yesterday.

Of course, the first thing that pops into my head is "How lucky the people of Marvel New York are to have such a sane and statesman-like leader at the helm when compared to the U.S. President Shrieking Man-Baby our world now must endure. I never thought I would be so jealous of the people of Marvel New York, but they have leadership that is merely corrupt instead of corrupt, ignorant AND insane."

Getting to the story itself, it's been pretty good in the first two issues. Maybe it's trying a bit too hard to make the Fisk voters look like mature thoughtful people. And Daredevil keeps getting caught flat-footed by Mayor Fisk's petty vindictiveness when he really should know better.

But overall I like where it's going and so far it looks like a reasonably skillful mixture of politics and super-heroics.

I sort of recognize the name of the writer - Charles Soule - and it seems to me that I've seen the name in connection to some REALLY DUMB MODERN COMIC BOOK STUFF but I don't think it's something I read myself and I must be remembering something I saw on the Internet. I'm not going to look it up. Maybe I'm getting him mixed up with somebody else. In any case, I'm going to give "Mayor Fisk" a chance. After all, I gave James Robinson a chance on Squadron Supreme and then Wonder Woman, didn't I? (Don't remind me how that turned out!)