New Comics Reviews 4/9/25: Amazing Spider-Man, Fire and Ice, Daredevil & MORE!
New Comics Reviews for Wednesday 4/9!
Hello! Here are our new comics reviews for the week of 4/9/25, featuring Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over, and MORE!
Be sure to check out the review show if you want to hear our full discussions!
**EDITOR’S NOTE**
After selecting our picks for this week’s reviews, it came to our attention that Vatican City artist Per Berg is aligned with the online hate group known as Comicsgate. Joe and Matt strongly oppose Comicsgate, and support diverse inclusion in the comics industry in all its forms: in its characters, in its creators, and in its fans. We are publishing Matt’s review in the interest of transparency, but we encourage you to judge for yourself if purchasing the series is right for you.
Joe’s Reviews:
Cover by Terry & Rachel Dodson
Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over #1
DC Comics
Written by Joanne Starer
Art by Stephen Byrne
Letters by Ariana Maher
32 pages for $3.99
Solicit: SPINNING OUT FROM THE PAGES OF ABSOLUTE POWER AND THE DC ALL IN SPECIAL! In the pages of DC’s Absolute Power event, Fire and Ice had finally achieved what Fire always wanted. The dynamic duo made a glorious return to the ranks of the Justice League–and during a major world crisis, no less! But when the crisis was overcome, the smoke had cleared, and all the superpowers were restored, Ice found herself shooting off uncontrollable spurts of fire, and Fire had ice crystals forming at her fingertips. Oops. With their powers switched and no solution in sight, Fire and Ice tuck tail and regroup in Smallville, where they realize their predicament makes them something worse than has-been heroes: menaces to the local community they’ve come to love. But Fire’s always got a plan, no matter how shortsighted! And when she goes digging around in Zatanna’s bag of tricks for a quick fix in the middle of karaoke night…what could possibly go wrong? Aside from, y’know, everything. Again. Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville writer Joanne Starer teams up with fan-favorite artist Stephen Byrne, returning Fire and Ice to Kansas for another raucous romp full of heart and humor in the midst of their own personal hell!
Review: This series follows up directly from Absolute Power and Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville, so it might not be the most forgiving issue for readers coming in cold. That said, Starer’s script is strong and genuinely funny, and she does make an effort to recap the most important plot developments up to this point. I love seeing Ma Kent with an actual purpose other than as an Emotional Support Martha, and any comic that features DC’s greatest robot, L-Ron, gets my immediate attention. Stephen Byrne’s art is really fun, providing lots of visual humor to go with the dialogue. But I swear, the dude draws one of the WORST goddamn gorillas I have ever seen. It’s so comically bad I actually considered that it might be on purpose, which in turn enhanced the comedy. If it WASN’T intentional, I don’t ever want to know. I liked this first issue, but because it requires so much familiarity with past stories, I’m giving Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over #1 a strong Skim It.
Rating: STRONG SKIM IT
Cover by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia
Amazing Spider-Man #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Joe Kelly
Main story art by Pepe Larraz
Main story colors by Marte Gracia
Backup story pencils by John Romita Jr.
Backup story inks by Scott Hanna
Backup story colors by Marcio Menyz
Letters by VC’s Joe Caramanga
40 pages for $5.99
Solicit: ALIVE & THWIPPING! The next era of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN has arrived! Peter is, shockingly, without a job and looking for gainful employment, but his job search is interrupted by a RAMPAGING RHINO who is but the tip of a sinister iceberg. What major Spider-Villain is working behind the scenes weaponizing other Spider-Villains including one we haven’t seen in OVER SEVEN YEARS?! Also, what is that Goblin-free Norman Osborn up to anyway?
Review: This issue was everything I was hoping for when Joe Kelly was announced as the new ongoing writer of Amazing Spider-Man. Kelly immediately gets to the iconic core of Peter Parker as he suffers through a string of increasingly awful job interviews. He also manages to bring something new to the table in the form of a previously unknown childhood friend of Pete’s. His life from before the spider bite is a relatively blank slate, so there’s a lot that can be mined there without feeling like there’s an obvious twist coming (looking at you, Hush’s Tommy Elliot). There’s a tremendous amount of plot packed into this issue, all of it compelling. The art team of Larraz and Gracia is a revelation. The pages are loaded with personality and emotion, and the action is incredibly rendered. This might be the best the Rhino has EVER looked, even with the alarmingly lifelike rhinoceros-shaped cowl. John Romita Jr’s work on the backup looks a bit dated following the masterful lead story, but it’s vintage JRJR, and the “post-credits” scene(!) is beautifully drawn. We might complain about a lack of forward momentum with these franchise characters, but it’s hard to deny when the Greatest Hits are played THIS well. Amazing Spider-Man #1 is exactly that.
Rating: BUY IT
Matt’s Reviews:
Vatican City #1
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Mark Millar
Art and Letters by Per Berg
40 pages for $5.99
Solicit: The all-new series from New York Times-bestselling author Mark Millar! The world has been overrun by a vampire apocalypse, every man, woman and child dead except the two thousand tourists safe behind the walls and holy relics of Vatican City. But as the vampires gather in their millions outside, how long can they hold out? Because the monsters can wait forever.
Review: Few creators are better than Millar at coming up with a concept that can sell a comic on its own, and Vatican City is a perfect example. The story moves quickly to reach its main setting, as civilization falls to a coordinated vampire attack within the first few pages. The script is perfectly chaotic, slowing only to highlight the vivacious nature of the vampires—but it never really pauses to develop any characters, aside from a brief moment setting up what may be the hero’s first day at the Vatican. There’s a deeper mystery about what’s hidden inside the Vatican—something that could endanger not only the human sanctuary but the entire world. As mentioned, the setup is strong, and Millar’s script delivers sharp dialogue and an extra twist that makes humanity’s chances look increasingly bleak. But so far, we don’t have any clearly defined characters to root for.
The art may be where some readers take issue—and not just stylistically. Per Berg brings a loose, animation-inspired style that ramps up the chaos alongside the script. His action scenes can be breathtaking, and his minimalist design for the vampires—reduced to glowing eyes and teeth—evokes Ben Templesmith’s terrifying creatures from 30 Days of Night. His use of color is intentionally loose at times, using pools of red to show distant violence, but the thin lines and bleeding colors occasionally come off as messy rather than stylized. That’s not to say the art is sloppy—Berg’s choices clearly aim to enhance the story’s chaos—but some panels do end up muddy or hard to follow. Berg has also previously aligned himself with Comicsgate creators, and it wasn’t long ago that Millar stated he doesn’t mind working with creators who hold controversial personal politics. Vatican City is a well-thought-out new take on the vampire apocalypse, but it doesn’t yet develop much emotional weight for its characters. So far, it’s all plot and action with little characterization.
Rating: SKIM IT
Cover by John Romita Jr, Scott Hanna & Richard Isanove
Daredevil #20
Marvel Comics
Written by Saldin Ahmed
Pencils by José Luis Soares Pinto
Inks by Oren Junior
Colors by Jesus Aburtov
Letters by VC’s Clayton Cowles
40 pages for $3.99
Solicit: ALL-NEW STORY ARC, ALL-NEW ENEMY! After the harrowing events of DAREDEVIL #19, Matt Murdock is more alone than ever before — but he’s still has managed to find some comfort in the arms of a long-lost love! This, while a dangerous new enemy threatens to attack Hell’s Kitchen… FROM THE INSIDE OUT! LEGACY #682!
Review: Saladin Ahmed’s Daredevil run hasn’t really been hitting for me. He’s great at writing Matt’s inner dialogue and nails the Catholic guilt, but the Wraith story—where a devil literally killed Bullseye—was a bit much. Here, Ahmed and new penciller José Luis Soares Pinto (he’s got an inker and everything!) bring Matt back to the streets, with some fan service for those into the black-and-red Daredevil armor (not a fan, personally) and his old fling, the terribly named Nyla Skin. While I haven’t loved this current DD run, I had no complaints about Kuder’s art. That said, Pinto’s sharp lines and detailed work look even better. The inks and colors by Junior and Aburtov elevate the visuals even more, making for a slick-looking Daredevil comic—they even manage to make the armor look great. No spoilers here, but by the end, Ahmed’s story dives into body-horror territory, yanking Matt off the streets and dropping him into what looks like another supernatural arc. The art team alone will bring me back to see where this is going, even though I was hoping for a more grounded break from the previous run. Can’t we just let DD beat up the Bengal for an issue?
Rating: SKIM IT
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