August’s Comic Block came with the following items:

• Bombshells 1 from DC Comics
• X-Files Season 11 Issue 1 from IDW (Comic Block Exclusive Variant)
• Red Sonja / Conan 1 from Dark Horse (Comic Block Exclusive Variant)
• Heart and Brain Comic Block Exclusive Print
• Spider-Gwendom T-Shirt

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First let’s take a look at the art print that came in the box.  This is the second time that a box has include a art print, the very first box had a cool Batman Print.  This month came with a print that was a Web Comic that was ok, but not particularly funny.  I’m not familiar with the web comic and it had the level of humor of a Bazooka Joe wrapper.  Regardless I would rather there be an art print than some of the random extra items that some of the other boxes have had.

Next was the Spider-Gwendom T-Shirt.  It is a White shirt with the following print in the middle.  While I’m happy to now have my first Spider-Gwen T-shirt, it is kinda of creepy.

Bombshells Issue 1

If you have been following my blog than you already know I am a big fan of the DC Bombshells.  I picked up quite a few of the variant covers of the initial set back in August of last year, and have picked up even more of this years set.  I was actually planning on picking up this issue myself at my local comic shop until I went online and spoiled myself that it would be included in this month’s comic block.

The first thing to know about Bombshells is that it is a Digital first comic.  This means that it is released weekly on ComiXology with every 3 issues collected and released for print each month.  So then it makes sense that this issue is split up into three parts.

The first part introduces Batwoman.  Batwoman is the star player of the Gotham Knights and does vigilate work on the side.  For reasons not really explained the players on the Gotham Knights all where disguises and keep their identity secret.

Batwoman breaks up a robbery at the Ballpark (which we won’t go into how ridiculous it would be to rob a ballpark), and we see her romance with Police Captain Maggie Sawyer.

It ends with a cliffhanger with Amanda Waller recruiting Batwoman to help stop the war.

The second part introduces Steve Trevor whose squadron is shot down by Amazonians as they unknowingly fly into their airspace.  This is a much shorter section so not much else happens in it other than he is brought to Wonder Woman for questioning.

The last part takes place in Russia with Kara and Kortni Duginovana aka Supergirl and Stargirl.  I’m not sure if both have powers but Kara definitely does.  They are fighter pilots for Russia and during their first mission Kortni’s plane malfunctions and Kara must reveal her powers to save her.

I enjoyed this comic enough that I’ll start picking up the other issues as they are released.

X-Files Season 11 Issue 1

I did not like this comic much at all.  I was in the process of giving up until I realized I only had 4 more pages to read.  If you are into the X-Files this will probably be your jam but it has been since the late 90’s since I’ve seen an episode so I was more than a little confused.

For reasons unexplained Mulder and Scully are not together and the FBI is looking for Mulder who is on the Lam.  We don’t know what he did or why the FBI is after him.  Mulder finds the debris of satellite and there are some wolves.  I don’t know.  It’s a confusing mess and honestly I just didn’t care.

Red Sonja / Conan Issue 1

This is my first time to read either a Conan or Red Sonja comic so going in I am unfamiliar with the characters.

The story centers around Red Sonja and Conan preparing for a war in Kush.  There are several smaller mercenary forces that are going to team up for this attack and it has been decided that the leader of each fraction will fight to the death until only one remains.  Red Sonja and Conan decide that rather than fight each other that they will lead together.  This upsets the remaining warlords so the pair make quick work killing them off.  While this is happening a wizard named Kal’ang is in the final stages of making some sort of super potion that will give him immense power.  He gives a couple of his men a taste of his unfinished potion that, while not giving them full strength as the completed potion will, still greatly increases their strength.  The superpowered troops try to surprise Conan and Red Sonja and are quickly killed.

After the attack Red Sonja and Conan decide to immediately go to war instead of waiting until the morning.

Overall it was pretty good.  I thought the art was great, it was a cartoonish style but not so much that the people stopped looking real.  The level of violence felt inconsistent.  It’s not that I even minded it but it seemed like it just jumped from being extremely mild to cutting off heads pretty quickly.  It was just jarring because the level of sexuality and language was extremely tame so I just assumed that this book would be for younger audiences.  I don’t think I’ll pick up the series but I liked it well enough and might keep an eye out if it falls in dollar bins.

Well that’s it folks.  I’ll probably keep doing these posts monthly as I’ve been enjoying writing them and it encourages me to really read all the comics I get in the box.