Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 11/11

Airboy #4
Story: James Robinson
Art: Greg Hinkle

Airboy has been a comic that I've been unsure how to classify and write about. After a well received first issue and a problematic second, the third issue was almost ignored critically, and this conclusion arrives a couple months late. It's part war hero comic, part introspective look at a writer's life, part deconstruction. It's not unique in its conceit of "creator meets the character he's working on" but is told from the point of view of the creator more than the character. After three issues of acting like a selfish ass, James Robinson, writer and one of the principal protagonists, and his artist Greg Hinkle, dragged along on this insane, possibly drug induced ride, are now in the comics of the character Airboy, and have been sent (well, forced) on a mission behind Nazi lines to blow up a bridge. It's good to see that Robinson, even in this life or death situation, still paints himself as a near-complete jerk. He and Hinkle start off commenting on how cool the SS uniforms they're wearing look (they were designed by Hugo Boss, after all), and we flashback to him doing coke with one of Airboy's colleagues before setting out. There, Robinson comments on how much he feels like his career is lost, and calls out the projects he did in Hollywood that were disasters (in all fairness, I really like Comic Book Villains, the movie he wrote and directed. I own a copy, and it introduced me to the excellent actor Donal Logue). Hinkle does a great job drawing the wreck of the city and the Nazi war-robots as well as Airboy's plane, showing off skills beyond much of what he's had to do throughout the series. The end of the surreal aspect of the comic has Robinson make a good choice, a hero's choice, but when he arrives home, he's still stuck in the same cycle of drugs, self-pity, and self-loathing that he was in on page one of issue one. It's Hinkle in the end who calls Robinson out on his b.s. in a way that gets him to listen. What's great is he doesn't come down on him about all the stuff that happened in what seems more likely a drug induced haze, but all the things that Robinson can change, and gives him a glimmer of hope that people still respect his work (I know I do). The end is a hopeful one, one where the protagonist makes the choice to break the cycle. If you know anything about addiction and self-loathing, you know that might not be a permanent change, as it's a daily battle, but the final images, of Airboy comics in color in a haze of discarded cocaine symbolizes to me Robinson coming out of the haze he was in. I've stuck with James Robinson's work through what he clearly considers a doldrums of his creative output, and I'll continue to stick with him, and I hope that the strength of Airboy is a sign of great things to come.

Batman #46
Story: Scott Snyder
Art: Greg Capullo, Danny Miki, & FCO Plascenia

Things feel like they're coming to a head in Scott Snyder's current arc of Batman. We're getting Batman meeting the villain, Mr. Bloom, Duke Thomas out and learning secrets, and Bruce Wayne engaged to Julie Madison. That's a lot of big changes, and I'm going to touch on each plot separately. The opening fight scene does a lot to make it clear that Jim Gordon is growing into his role as Batman. His plan to take down Mr. Bloom, while not successful, is clever and well in line with what you'd expect from Batman. And the rapport he's building with Julia Pennyworth is not only great character development for both of them, but it's smart; the original Batman never worked alone, and Gordon is really learning to work with his team. And again, I come to more and more like Geri Powers as she stands up to Bloom; I still don't trust any Powers very far, so I'm not sure of Snyder is setting the reader up to like her before a face/heel turn or if he's just slowly building her to be a good character against expectations of everyone who knows the Batman Beyond continuity. Whichever he's doing, it's working. Following the battle, there's a scene with a hall of Batman armors like something out of Tony Stark's dreams. Even after everything that went on in the previous issue between them, Jim is able to present Geri with a plan and goes after Bloom alone; so Jim hasn't completely lost his lone wolf mentality, but he has a plan and Julia in his ear. But it's not going to be that easy.

While Jim is dealing with Bloom's frontal assault, Duke Thomas continues to search for answers about Bloom, now sneaking into the Iceberg Lounge to find information that Penguin might have. Snyder continues to do great things to build Duke up as a competent, clever crimefighter. His entry into Penguin's office, and his knowledge of Penguin's methods, show he's clearly done his homework. And his surprise about the identity of Bloom makes me think he's a character we know already, and not just some new villain, but Duke doesn't make it out easy, as Penguin and a group of Gotham's more unusual mob bosses catch him, and he has to use some quick thinking and tech to escape. But the escape doesn't look clean, and we'll see what becomes of him next issue.

And Bruce. Oh, Bruce. He's so damn happy. It's absolutely killing me. The scenes with him and Julie, and the scene with him and Liv, a little girl at the Fox Center where he works, are painfully sweet. The coloring on those pages is even warmer than the rest of the issue, keeping things in a happier place. And the happier he gets, the harder the fall is going to be,

Thematically, Snyder is calling more clearly on the idea of symbols and how much the symbol of the Bat means to Gotham, and whether the idea of what Jim, Geri, and Powers Inc have done destroys that symbol, as Bloom believes, or has reclaimed it for the people. as Geri does. And as readers, knowing Bruce will be back, we're left to wonder what it will mean when he returns.

Descender #7
Story: Jeff Lemire
Art: Dustin Nguyen

Descender returns for its second arc with a first issue that takes everything from arc one and adds all sorts of twists and turns. Android TIM-21 has just encountered his twin TIM-22 and a group of robots who have come to save him on the planet Gnish. The robots are interested in TIM, and only TIM, but the robot insists on bringing his organic companions, UGC agent Telsa and his maker DR. Quon, along so they can help him find his human "brother" Andy. I'm curious to see if these robots are remnants of the robots destroyed after the Harvester onslaught, the attack of giant robots on the inhabited worlds, or if they have a deeper connection to the Harvesters. One way or the other, they have no love for organic beings, as they kill the ruler of Gnish with no compunction and for the reason of sewing chaos; it's benign looking TIM-22 who does the deed at the order of his "father," the robot Psius. The introduction of a robot world, or at least a resistance, is an interesting deepening of the mythology established before, adding another aspect and faction to the universe. The robots agree to take Telsa and Quon to get TIM to come with them, which is interesting; if they have a TIM of their own, why so desperately search for this one, unless their reasons aren't the same as everyone else's, the connection of TIM to the harvesters, or unless their TIM is not the same as TIM-21. But taking those three does, to use D&D parlance, split the party, leaving Bandit, the robot dog, Driller, the drilling droid, and Telsa's associate Tullis behind. And all of that only takes up half the issue. The other half follows a robot bounty hunter coldly going about his business. He destroys nonthreatening robots that were helping a colony survive without any compunction, and is clearly set up as a major threat. And when he goes back to the guy who provides his bounties and finds out about TIM, he tears off after him. And when he arrives at the mining colony where TIM was and finds a survivor of the crew who tried to destroy TIM, he reveals his identity. It's a major twist, one I don't want to give away, but it sets the trajectory for TIM's journey down a much darker path. And all of this plot with Dustin Nguyen's art, which continues to be the best of his already string career, lush, gorgeously colored, and beautifully designed. Descender is a story about what it means to be alive and "human," and the new path TIM is on will test his robot spirit and see how much "humanity" he has.

Star Wars: Chewbacca #3
Story: Gerry Duggan
Art: Phil Noto

Sometimes a fun comic comes along, and you just miss out on reviewing it. That has happened, and I intend to remedy that right now. Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto's Chewbacca mini-series has been excellent all the way through, and it's been getting better with each issue. Having crashed on the planet Andelm IV, Chewie has spent the past couple issues working to liberate slaves from a gangster with the help of Zarro, a young escaped slave herself. Now trapped in the mines with Zarro and her father, Chewie has to avoid killer beetles and other hazards to get out with the slaves. Duggan does a great job of letting other characters speak with Chewie without giving him speech bubbles; everything out of Chewie is a Wookiee roar. With that being the case, Noto's work on Chewie is even more important, letting the Wookiee's body language and facial expressions do most of the communicating. The sequence where Chewie has to climb through a narrow passage, digging at it to make it wider, so he can drop a rope down to the trapped miners, is one of the most visually striking scenes I've come across in a comic lately. Outside the mine, the designs of the various aliens  and character are equally engaging, from the gangster Jaum, who exists in a suit with a clear helmet to allow him to breathe to his right hand Shistavenan (the werewolf people), to Sevox, and old man whose body rejects cybernetic implants so he's designed a way to see through the eyes of his droid. Great concepts from Duggan and excellent execution from Noto. I like that the stakes of the mini-series are so comparatively little, not the fate of the Rebellion but just a small group of people, but it still feels so big because Zarro, her father, and the others are interesting characters and the reader cares, and that, as a former slave, Chewie is invested; he could have left any number of times, but he stays because it's the right thing to do. Chewbacca is one of the most noble characters in Star Wars and this mini-series spotlights all of his best qualities.


Dan Grote goes back to WW2 to spend some time with Cap, Bucky, and the Howling Commandos in Captain America:White...

Captain America: White #4

Story by Jeph Loeb

Art by Tim Sale

“You know better than anybody that underneath this uniform, I’m just a man who can make mistakes.”

World War II Captain America stories are a dime a dozen, it’s true, but there’s something about a young, fallible Cap, less the symbol of freedom and liberty all other heroes measure up to and more a hero in the mighty Marvel manner, that makes this one seem fresh.

The Steve Rogers of Captain America: White makes mistakes, is filled with doubt, a master combatant but not a seasoned veteran, still a skinny kid from Brooklyn in his own mind. Put simply, he’s not Marvel’s answer to Superman. He’s also preoccupied with Bucky, the young ward he trained and brought to war with him, and wracked with guilt every time his sidekick ends up in harm’s way.

This particular mission finds Cap, Bucky and the Howling Commandos deep in Nazi-occupied France, where top SS-ers the Red Skull and Baron Wolfgang von Strucker are currently overseeing things. Aiding the Howlers is a group of French freedom fighters, led by a woman named Marilyne who will have none of Cap’s white-hat, Americo-centric patriarchy. “It is the French who will free France!” she tells him at one point.

It is also the French who will betray France, as one among their number, a purple-clad, pointy-mustached man named Olivier Batroc – an ancestor of everyone’s favorite Leaper – sets them up to be captured by Strucker while the Skull plots mayhem elsewhere.

Cap’s sexual inexperience remains a theme, as a request to Marilyne to fix the straps on his shield is played for its innuendo, while Bucky and Reb Ralston, the youngest Howler, peep the action through a keyhole. When Cap realizes he’s being watched, he gets spooked and throws his shield through the door, giving Bucky a black eye. Cap apologizes, using the line at the top of this review, but the damage, both physical and emotional, is done. Bucky believes Cap has lost faith in him, and so he goes off to fight the Skull on his own, instead getting captured and strapped to all manner of explosives.

Now, the reader knows Bucky survives this one. This isn’t Baron Zemo’s rocket that turns Steve into a Capsicle and Bucky into a Soviet-sponsored killing machine with a cybernetic arm. But for Cap, at this point in his nascent superheroing career, this is his worst nightmare given form, the idea that the only person with whom he shares any sort of bond could die.

Yes, White is a pure nostalgia trip: a Silver Age-style story set in the Golden Age by a creative team best known for its ’90s work. But if you’re a fan of old Marvel, of Steve Rogers as Cap and pre-Winter Soldier Bucky and a Nick Fury that was essentially a John Wayne-meets-Patton homage, it’s a trip worth taking.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 8/5

Detective Comics #43
Story: Brian Buccellato
Art: Fernando Blanco 

I'm going to miss Brian Buccellato's run on Detective Comics when it wraps next month. It's been a nice mix of crime and super heroics, definitely the best use of crime comics plot points in a DC Comic since the reboot. This issue opens right on the heels of last issue, with Bullock and the Batman support team of GCPD officers rushing to help Batman, whose armor has been incapacitated by the assassins called La Morte. We've been seeing in Batman as well as here that Jim Gordon doesn't need the armor to be Batman, but the splash page of this issue, of a beaten but unbowed Gordon standing over two of the three La Morte hitmen is a great moment for him. But it also points out that Gordon isn't Bruce Wayne: three talented assassins is what Bruce would have called a warm up, and one of these guys got away, along with the power core to the Bat armor. The remainder of the issue follows three separate plot threads. One is Gordon, who feels like he's failed letting La Morte steal the core. Buccellato strikes a good balance between keeping Gordon from seeming self-pitying, but also making it clear how serious he takes this and how this failure has effected him. The remaining member of La Morte, meanwhile, goes and presents the power core to the person who hired him to steal it: The Joker's Daughter. Frankly, this is the first time I had any misgivings about this story. I haven't been a fan of this new Joker's Daughter since her introduction; she struck me as one of those instances where a character was introduced with some head and suddenly she was everywhere without enough time being spent on her personality. But her with a cult of Joker smiling underdwellers, and the final page revealing what she needs the power core? I'm willing to suspend my suspicion of the character because that's some very cool stuff. We also see La Morte has a second contract in Gotham, one with Stafano Falcone, but the who on that one remains to be seen next issue, and I'd place money it ties into the third plot of the issue. Bullock finds out pretty early in the issue that his partner (and lover) Nancy Yip is dirty, and Bullock tries to figure out what she's into. Buccellato writes the best Bullock since his heyday in the Moench/Grant/Dixon '90s run, and I like him as this gruff but good cop. It's sad to see him confront Yip, to deal with Montoya and Internal Affairs, and then to talk about what needs to be done with Batman. We come back around to the scene that was in the preview for this run that came out after Convergence, and I know there's more to it, since we know no one involved is a cold blooded killer. Next issue is going to have to wrap up a lot, including an assassination at a circus, the fate of Yip, and a giant Joker robot. That's a tall order, but I think Bucellato and Blanco can pull it off.

Nailbiter #15
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Mike Henderson & Adam Guzowski

Wow. That's how you end an arc, my friends. With last issue ending with our core cast of protagonists facing down the seemingly unstoppable Bucakroo Butcher, and the Butcher having stabbed Alice viciously, I though we'd get a chase story through the tunnels. And we do, but there's so much more in the issue. The final flashback to a young Sheriff Crane sets up this issue's big reveal, and I'll get to that later, but I have to stress how much these flashbacks in this arc have helped not only flesh out Crane's character, but have actually built some real sympathy for our titular serial killer, Edward Charles Warren. That is only enhanced when Warren lures the Butcher away and gives Crane and Agent Finch the directions out of the tunnels to save Alice. He also gives Finch and Crane additional clues to the mystery of Buckaroo, but that will have to be dealt with when the series returns, as Warren is overtaken by the Butcher and his (her?) master, who I've taken to calling The Doctor, and the threat against his loved ones that the Doctor levels at the defeated Warren is made all the more horrifying by one of the big reveals at the end of the issue (SPOILER WARNING): Alice is Warren and Crane's daughter. Since we're entering a skip month before the next arc begins in October I might have to go back and reread the series to date, because that's a major blow. I don't remember Alice mentioning she's adopted, but there's no reason she should have, and I don't feel this was a cheat in the least. As a matter of fact, with a distinct possibility of there being something genetic in what creates Buckaroo's serial killers, it makes Alice's own fears she's turning into one all the more chilling. I love Mike Henderson's design for The Butcher, and I can't stress enough how much his art helps make this book; the atmosphere in the tunnels, all the work he's done to make the characters distinct and emotive. You'd think this would be enough for one issue, but we also get further evidence of what the Doctor's ministrations did to FBI Agent Baker, and last two page spread that is a shocking twist that left me wanting to grab the next issue right there and then. I can now safely say that Nailbiter is my favorite horror comic on the market, and if you are even the least bit a fan of good horror fiction, do yourself a favor and get caught up before the next arc starts.


And Dan Grote visits World War II with a drugged out writer/artist team and Airboy...

Airboy #3

Story by James Robinson

Art by Greg Hinkle

When last we left this book, James and Greg, its creators and stars, had introduced Golden Age public-domain hero Airboy to their world, complete with alcohol, drugs and some light transphobia. Getting fed up with that quickly, Airboy – through means yet to be explained or explicitly illustrated – transports James and Greg to his world, where it’s still World War II, London has been bombed by the Nazis and steampunk battlesuits prowl the streets.

“Like something Mignola would draw,” James comments, referring to the creator of Hellboy.

How do the two creative types adjust to being thrust into the middle of a warzone? Well, after a plane buzzes them on a rooftop, James gets a massive erection, and Greg poops himself.

In need of a place to hide and clean Greg’s soiled trousers, Airboy takes them to his secret hangar and introduces them to his running crew. There’s Skywolf, who wears a wolf’s head atop his own; the Flying Dutchman, who is not Belgian; Iron Ace, who flies in full knight’s armor; Black Angel, who dresses in leather; and, finally, Valkyrie, Airboy’s lover, whom Greg almost immediately shags, condemning himself and James to greater self-induced punishment ahead (and giving readers another peak at his self-drawn endowment).

Hinkle’s layouts really shine in this issue, now that he gets to draw fighter planes and bombed-out landscapes. There’s a great splash page of the three leads climbing up the wreckage of a building, in which the reader is forced to follow the word balloons from the bottom left up, retraining the reader’s eyes and exploring metacommentary about the Assassin’s Creed games in the process. The color work is also phenomenal, as James and Greg remain painted in the muted blues of their world against the brighter – but still simple – pallet of Airboy’s.

What is actually happening – be it a dream sequence or drug-induced hallucination on the part of James, Greg or even Airboy – has yet to be delineated. That said, the morgue in Airboy’s hangar includes one particular body that deepens the mystery, though I’m not entirely convinced it’s a mystery the creators plan to – or even need to – explain.

Reviews of Comics for Wednesday 6/3

Airboy #1
Story: James Robinson
Art: Greg Hinkle

Meta-textual commentary has been a part of comics since Stan Lee wrote the Marvel Bullpen into Fantastic Four. Grant Morrison wrote himself into Animal Man, Warren Ellis popped up in Powers, and Brian Michael Bendis recently appeared in Nailbiter, to name a few. But James Robinson and Greg Hinkle's new series using the public domain flying ace Airboy, does something a little different, and absolutely fascinating: it pulls the hero into the real world, instead of inserting the creator into the comic book world. But we don't even get much of that this issue. No, this issue is the story of a writer in a tailspin. James Robinson has been offered the chance to write Airboy by Image Comics, and he's agreed to do it despite himself. He's unhappy with his work at DC (which he talks about frankly in the dialogue), and he's sick of being "the golden age guy" but he takes the offer, despite having no ideas. When he can't get anymore ideas, he gets his artist, Greg Hinkle, to fly to San Francisco, where Robinson lives, to try to get the juices flowing. What follows is not a night of comic creating, but one of alcohol, cocaine, and anonymous sex. It's only by issue's end that Airboy pops up, and only on the last page. Robinson doesn't pull any punches in how he portrays himself; he's a drunk, he's snorting cocaine at every chance, he's cheating on his wife, and he is wallowing in self-pity. From interviews, the general plot is semi-autobiographical, and it's interesting to see a writer most associated with superhero comics writing something so straightforwardly inner facing. I've been a fan of Robinson's since he wrote a couple phenomenal arcs of Batman: Legends the Dark Knight, and this is a very different Robinson. Greg Hinkle's art style is different and interesting (something talked about in the comic, actually), and works well with the material. The muted color palette also works with Robinson's mindset, and the flash of color when Airboy appears is an excellent visual trope.  Just to warn some of you more sensitive readers, there is some sexual material in the issue (although nothing hardcore), and some full frontal male nudity, but it's nothing worse than what you see on cable. This is a comic that takes the fourth wall and pretty much smashes it to pieces, so if that, along with stories about writing, creation, and self examination catch your interest, Airboy is something you want to check out.

Batman Beyond #1
Story: Dan Jurgens
Art: Bernard Chang

Since the reboot DC Comicsa post-Flashpoint, I've been hoping to see Tim Drake get his own series again. I started reading comic within a couple months of Tim's first appearance, and he has been my favorite Robin, and probably my favorite DC Conics's character aside from Batman himself. And while he's been in Teen Titans from the outset, I wanted a book that was all about Tim. And this past week, I got my monkey paw wish in the new Batman Beyond series spinning out of The New 52: Futures End, where a Tim Drake from five years in the future has been thrust thirty more years into the future. Yes, that's a pretty complicated, timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly set up, but you don't really need to know it. What you need to know is Tim is a stranger in a strange land, on an Earth where Gotham is the last bastion standing against the reign of Brother Eye, an evil cybernetic being. This first issue establishes the status quo that Tim walks into, a mixture of what we'd expect from the current continuity and the classic animated Batman Beyond timeline. We see Terry McGinnis's little brother, Matt, who thinks he should have been made Batman when his brother died (Terry died pulling a Kyle Reese, going back to stop Brother Eye, and died in the process), and a gang of Jokerz. We meet a new character, Nora Boxer, a former Global Peace Agency agent who is Matt's guardian. And we get to see what the world outside of Gotham is like, as Tim goes to free Maxine Gibson, Terry's best friend, from a Brother Eye prison camp and runs afoul of a superhero converted into a Brother Eye drone. Who that is, I want to leave as a surprise, as well as the last page reveal of the other hero who is imprisoned in the camp. It's a lot to take in for a first issue, especially if you didn't read Futures End, but the banter between Tim and ALFRED, the Bat suit A.I. is fun, the action scenes are beautifully drawn by Bernard Chang, and it's an interesting set-up. While this isn't the Batman Beyond of old, it's an interesting take on the world, and one that has potential to honor those old stories while beating it's own path.

Bizarro #1
Story: Heath Corson
Art: Gustavo Duarte

All ages comics have been severely lacking in DC Comics main line since the reboot. This first week of the new line sees the debut of not one but two series. And while Bat-Mite is a fun book, it was Bizarro that totally knocked my socks off. Writer Heath Corson has been the screenwriter of many of the recent DC direct-to-DVD movies, but this is his first comic, and it's a strong showing. There's no continuity knowledge needed, just a basic understanding that Bizarro is Superman's awkward opposite number and Jimmy Olsen is Superman's pal. The comic itself is the first leg of a road trip that Jimmy and Bizarro are on together. You don't need to know why, they just are, and craziness ensues. After smashing up his car, thanks to an attack by Bizarro's pet chupacbra, Colin, Jimmy and Bizarro wind up in a tiny town. There, to get his car fixed, Jimmy meets Regis "King Tut" Tuttle, the Pharaoh of Used Cars, and his lovely daughter, Regina. Of course, King Tut winds up being empowered by Ancient Egyptian gods (sort of, anyway), and uses his new powers to exert his will on the town, and so it's Bizarro to the rescue. Bizarro is the lovable oaf here, similar to how he was presented in Superman: The Animated Series, and his backwards talk and misunderstanding of the way people interact makes for much of the humor. Jimmy is presented as put upon and completely frustrated by how to deal with Bizarro's antics, and the fact that Colin seems to want to eat him. It's a classic odd couple dynamic, only with one of the two being a chalky clone of a superhero, and it's hilarious. I'm looking forward to seeing what other kinds of trouble Bizarro can get into.

Nailbiter #13
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Mike Henderson

A little over a year into Nailbiter, this issue begins to give us details on the backstory of two of our leads, titular serial killer Edward Charles Warren and his ex-girlfriend, Sheriff Shannon Crane. A series of flashbacks show Warren as an odd, sort of creepy kid, not the bold and strutting killer he is today, and Sheriff Crane has softer edges then she does in the present; I somehow think being known as the ex of one of Buckaroo's serial killers has hardened her considerably. Still the chemistry between the two of them is great, and despite knowing their fates, I found myself sort of rooting for them. But in the present, there isn't any romance bubbling between the two. Instead, Crane, Warren, and our other lead Nicholas Finch, have to make it past a group of robe wearing townsfolk led by Reverend Fairgold, who are swearing to follow Warren around to make sure he never kills again. It's one of those darkly funny scenes this book does really well, as Warren confronts the mob, and we see exactly how ready they are to stand up against the Nailbiter. Once that's done, we reenter the tunnels beneath Buckaroo, where Warren has promised to show the origins of the Buckaroo Butchers. This is where the book shifts from darkly funny to just plain creepy, which is another thing this comic does well. Darkness, weird statuary and wall paintings, it all helps further the atmosphere of darkness that permeates Buckaroo. I don't think anyone is surprised that Warren slips away, and the issue ends with him confronting the reverend again, this time in the hospital room of Agent Carroll, the man who brought Finch to Buckaroo and set off the chain of events we're witnessing. Like any good horror story, the last page knocks your socks off with how disturbing it is, and I don't want to say any more to possibly spoil the surprise. Nailbiter continues to be one of the best mixes of horror, character, and comedy produced right now, and inheritor of the legacies of Hannibal Lecter books and Tales from the Crypt. Each issue brings us deeper into the mystery of Buckaroo, and every step only makes me more nervous for the characters. I just do my best not to start biting my nails...

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #6
Story: Ryan North
Art: Erica Henderson

While most of the Marvel Universe is being swept up in Secret Wars, the hilarious all-ages Unbeatable Squirrel Girl starts it's second arc with the introduction of not one, but two new heroes, as well as a new villain, and a new... something. The charm of Squirrel Girl's comic is just how real the characters are written. Despite being so cheery and chipper, Squirrel Girl feels real, as does her roommate, Nancy. And as they spend time outside the bank that Squirrel Girl needs to guard, we meet Hippo the Hippo. He's a Hippo who has been mutated into a man-hippo, sort of like High Evolutionary's Knights, only without the motivation, armor, or highfalutin speech patterns. When SG starts fighting him, she is quickly aided by two new heroes, Chipmunk Hunk and Koi Boi. After some brief fisticuffs, SG is able to stop the fight be once again reasoning with the bad guy. I love that, over the course of six issues, nearly every major confrontation in this series has been solved by words, not by violence. It's both charming and sets a good precedent; Hippo isn't a bad man-hippo, he's just not sure what to do now that he's self-aware.  With the battle done, Nancy quickly calls out one of the great tropes of superhero comics, immediately identifying both the new heroes as fellow students Tomas Lara-Perez and Ken Shiga, since all they're doing is wearing domino masks. After a becoming friends montage (something the little caption narrator guy at the bottom of the pages really likes, and I do too), SG takes Nancy to the zoo to see if she can talk to any animal, since it seems everyone else can. There, though, the encounter Girl Squirrel, a superpowered squirrel. But all is not what it seems, and the final scenes, which pretty much scare the narrator of the comic away, shows that the relationship between Squirrel Girl and Girl Squirrel is not going to be the sunny one that would seem logical. The stakes are high in those final pages, the highest in the title so far. Sure, Galactus might have eaten Earth, but this is a more serious threat. Some people might think serious threats aren't something for an all ages comic, but I think we underestimate kids if we don't let them think about things. So if you're a Marvel person trying to avoid Secret Wars, now's the time to try out The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl; it's a classic Marvel comic with character and heart.