New Comics Reviews 5/28/25: G.I. Joe, Mr. Terrific Year One, Giant-Size X-Men & The Goddamn Tragedy
New Comics Reviews for Wednesday 5/28!
Hello! Here are our new comics reviews for the week of 5/8/25, featuring G.I. Joe, Mr. Terrific: Year One, Giant-Size X-Men & The Goddamn Tragedy!
Be sure to check out the review show if you want to hear our full discussions!
Joe’s Reviews:
Cover by Tom Reilly
G.I. Joe #7
Image Comics/Skybound
Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Andrea Milana
Colors by Lee Loughridge
Letters by Rus Wooton
32 pages for $3.99
Solicit: A STANDALONE NIGHT FORCE COVERT OP! The FIRST APPEARANCE of the iconic BEACH HEAD! But is this really his last MISSION?! The new G.I. JOE epic STARTS HERE.
Review: Auburn, Alabama’s favorite son, Wayne Sneeden AKA Beach Head, has finally joined the Energon Universe and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I’ve proclaimed my love for the character on multiple occasions and so I was very happy to see him depicted like the stone cold badass he is in the pages of G.I. Joe #7. The Night Force idea didn’t come about until they started repainting and repackaging figures in the late 80s, but it makes sense to introduce them in this context. Night Force is a covert squad within G.I. Joe that plays by their own rules and deals with problems no one can ever know about. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Before the Night Force reveal, Beach Head embarks on a top secret heist with an increasingly outrageous series of snafus. But Williamson portrays the character as supremely capable and ready to adapt to anything. I could hear the character’s voice actor from the 80s cartoon in my head as I read his internal monologue, which was pitch perfect. We see the return of a few characters from the Duke series and the FCBD Energon Special, and it’ll be interesting to see this new cast dynamic play out.
Cobra Commander’s Andrea Milana is on board for art duties this arc, and his work is as awesomely chaotic as ever, with intense action scenes and great updated character designs.
G.I. Joe #7 was everything I could have wanted for my favorite Joe character’s reintroduction and I can’t wait to see where his story goes from here. This series remains one of the best action adventure titles on the stands right now, so do yourself and get caught up if you haven’t been reading.
Rating: BUY IT
Cover by Kubert & Martin
Giant-Size X-Men #1 One-Shot
Marvel Comics
Written by Colin Kelley, Jackson Lanzing, and Al Ewing
Art by Adam Kubert and Sara Pichelli
Colors by Laura Martin and Federico Blee
Letters by VC’s Clayton Cowles
48 pages for $4.99
Solicit: The past isn’t set in stone. The future is up for grabs. History will never be the same! JUST IN TIME FOR THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SEMINAL ORIGINAL ISSUE! FROM SUPERSTAR ARTIST ADAM KUBERT AND X-SCRIBES JACKSON LANZING & COLLIN KELLY! PLUS: A REVELATIONS STORY INTRODUCING THE X-MAN THAT NEVER WAS BY AL EWING AND SARA PICHELLI! Ever since she discovered she was a mutant, Kamala Khan has been balancing her previous life as MS. MARVEL with her role as a leader in the new community – but her conflicted identity has come at a deep personal cost. Now, pulled into the distant past by an unhinged villain with deep ties to mutant history, Ms. Marvel will witness the iconic birth of the Uncanny X-Men and their first encounter with Krakoa from an all-new, all-different perspective. But when history begins to change…can either Kamala Khan or the X-Men themselves survive the experience? THE FIRST OF FIVE GIANT-SIZE ONE-SHOTS!
Review: I’ve lost count, but I think this is like the ninth or tenth “Giant-Size X-Men #1.” I get that the name has some cache with nerds, but it’s getting a little ridiculous. But I digress. This issue kicks off a series of five one shots featuring Kamala Khan AKA Ms. Marvel, bouncing from major X-event to major X-event through the timestream. It’s perfectly serviceable as throwback adventure featuring the 70s team, and the art is fantastic, but it feels more like an attempt to finally synergize the comic book Ms. Marvel with her MCU counterpart than it does an actual story. I’ll give Kelly and Lanzing credit for making this work within the framework of existing continuity. There are nods to the Young X-Men spending time in the future and Cyclops’s time with the Champions with Kamala. And naturally Krakoa plays a big role in the story, though I’m not sure how it squares up with Hickman’s later revelations. I just don’t know how much I care about any of this. And the harder they work to turn Kamala into a TV-ready mutant superstar, the less compelling she becomes.
However, I’m much more interested in Ewing and Pichelli’s second story, about the Italian woman that not only turned down Professor X’s invitation to join the All-New, All-Different X-Men, but vowed to bring him to justice for being the child-endangering terrorist he’s always been. This new mutant, Justina LaGuardia, is kind of awesome and her powers are very cool. I’m interested to see how her character develops as we approach the present day.
Giant-Size X-Men #1 is fine. It’s got some interesting ideas that suffer under the weight of an obvious corporate agenda. But the backup story is really interesting and the art throughout is great. I’ll be checking out the next chapter at the very least.
Rating: SKIM IT
Matt’s Reviews:
Cover by Valentine De Landro
Mr Terrific: Year One #1
DC Comics
Written by Al Letson
Art by Valentine De Landro and Edwin Galmon
Colors by Marissa Louise and Edwin Galmon
Letters by Lucas Gattoni
32 pages for $3.99
Solicit: THE SECRET ORIGIN OF SUMMER’S BREAKOUT SUPERHERO! Brilliant young inventor Michael Holt’s life was destined for greatness… yet everything screeched to a halt when his wife Paula and unborn son were killed in a car accident. The Holts once shared ambitious dreams of using their technology to help others, but after the tragedy, Michael retreats from society and sells Holt Industries to mysterious and craven tech billionaire Athena Prescott. The domino effect of Michael’s actions set off an explosive chain of events that take a not-so-ordinary man from the depths of despair to the heights of heroism! Meanwhile, in the present day, Mr. Terrific continues his research into what became of Darkseid after the events of the DC All-In Special…and comes to realize that his past and the present might be inextricably linked… Discover all the secrets, sorrows, and triumphs of Mr. Terrific and how he came to be in this thrilling modern retelling and expansion of his origin story by DC Writer’s Workshop alumnus and multiple-award-winning TV writer Al Letson (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) and British Fantasy Award-winning artist Valentine De Landro (Black Manta, Bitch Planet)!
Review: Mr. Terrific is being billed as the summer’s hottest new hero following his appearance in James Gunn’s Superman trailer. But Michael “Mr. T” Holt has been around for a while—he was created by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake back in 1997 during their run on The Spectre as a legacy character taking up the mantle of the Golden Age Mr. Terrific (Terry Sloane), following the tragic death of his wife and child in a car accident.
The story opens with a gorgeous flashback to the DC All In Special, told from Mr. Terrific’s point of view with slick superhero art by Michael Galmon.
After that, Valentine De Landro takes over the art for a flashback sequence in which Letson explores the events surrounding the loss of Holt’s family, offering a deeply personal look at the character at his lowest. Letson’s script, paired with De Landro’s more grounded, realistic art, presents a side of Michael we rarely see.
Mr. Terrific: Year One examines Holt’s battle with depression, which led him to walk away from his tech company—a decision that will haunt him and ultimately shape his journey to becoming Mr. Terrific. So far, it looks like a must-read for fans both new and old.
Rating: BUY IT
Cover by Shawn Kuruneru
The Goddamn Tragedy #1
Oni Press
Written by Chris Condon
Art by Shawn Kuruneru
Letters by Shawn Lee
48 pages for $6.99
Solicit: IN THESE WOODS, FEAR EVERYTHING—EVEN EACH OTHER! From breakout writer Chris Condon (Ultimate Wolverine, That Texas Blood) and rising star Shawn Kuruneru (Fishflies) comes a vicious and vengeful account of one of the Old West’s darkest episodes from those that lived to tell it in a lavishly painted, entirely self-contained 48-page graphic novella! Ellen Janson is here to set the record straight about the highly publicized, oft-sensationalized journey her family undertook in 1846. Ellen sets out with her mother, Irena, and her father, Leo, on the treacherous road west in search of a better life. But when her father chooses to split off from the party, taking an untested shortcut through the mountains, can their small family survive the elements, the wildlife—and each other? Or will their journey become nothing more than another goddamn tragedy?
Review: Chris Condon is having a moment. His work on That Texas Blood and The Enfield Gang Massacre put him on the map, and while his Ultimate Wolverine story isn’t a western, it still carries the same brutal themes. Here, Condon returns to the West with a story inspired by the Donner Party’s gruesome and doomed journey to California.
Kuruneru’s art is loose and beautifully watercolored. He lets his shifting color palette carry the emotion of his cartooning, and the effect is perfectly eerie when the story takes a supernatural turn.
But this isn’t a ghost story—it’s a survivor’s tale, told as a rebuttal to a yellow journalist’s article that failed to portray Ellen as the survivor she is. The Goddamn Tragedy is a harrowing account of a desperate, flawed man leading his family toward certain doom, driven by hunger and the false promise of gold.
Condon’s Old West is a nightmarish place where the innocent only survive by chance—and they never leave their trauma behind.
Rating: BUY IT
NEED MORE THN?
Join us for the THN Gang Hang on Saturdays at 11:00AM Central. Check out our Discord for details. Head over to the THN Facebook Fan Page and check out our YouTube channel for extra content you can’t find in the show!
WANT TO BE A PART OF THE SHOW?
If you’re looking for a new read from the Comic Pushers, have a Hot Take or Ask a Nerd question, or just want to share your thoughts, send us an MP3 and we might use it for a segment!
KEEP THE SHOW ALIVE!
If you like what you heard, please consider donating! THN is a listener-supported podcast that we aim to keep ad-free; without your support, we don’t have a show. You can become a Patron where you’ll hear all kinds of Patreon-exclusive content, or just make a one-time donation via Paypal because you’re a comic nerd of the highest quality!
Excelsior!
