New Comics Reviews 6/11/25: New Avengers, Robin & Batman – Jason Todd, Death of the Silver Surfer & Runaways!
New Comics Reviews for Wednesday 6/11!
Hello! Here are our new comics reviews for the week of 6/4/25, featuring New Avengers, Runaways, Death of the Silver Surfer, and Robin & Batman: Jason Todd!
Be sure to check out the review show if you want to hear our full discussions!
Joe’s Reviews:
Cover by Segovia & Beredo
New Avengers #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Sam Humphries
Art by Ton Lima
Colors by Rain Beredo
Letters by VC’s Joe Sabino
32 pages for $4.99
Solicit: Carnage. The Hulk. Namor. Clea. Wolverine. Five of the most dangerous loners and antiheroes in the Marvel Universe. Nothing could make them work together…but Bucky Barnes and the Black Widow are going to give it a shot. Demented duplicates of the Illuminati are threatening the world, and if they figure out how to work together, they’ll be as unstoppable as the originals. Bucky and Natasha need allies who will do anything to take the duplicates out – but wrangling a team of killers and monsters presents its own dangers. Welcome to the New Avengers – hope you survive the experience!
Review: Never let it be said that Marvel allows an opportunity for corporate synergy to pass it by. Before the corpse of Bucky’s most recent Thunderbolts series has even cooled, Sam Humphries and Tom Lima have a fresh new volume for you that SURPRISE is actually called The New Avengers! I bet you didn’t see that one coming…
Jokes aside, this issue is really a lot of fun. The tone is a lot less serious than the Kelly/Lanzing stuff, but that’s okay. This isn’t a covert ops squad. This is a team with Carnage, Namor, and the goddamn Hulk on it. Some silliness is to be expected. That isn’t to say that Humphries is ignoring what came before. Bucky is still out there fighting the good fight against Emperor Doom when the Black Widow comes calling with an urgent mission. The pair make time for a brief booty call, and I enjoyed Humphries’s take on the Bucky/Natasha situationship. But what follows is an ultraviolent rampage to thwart a classic mad scientist villain; one that’s launching a ridiculous plan involving twisted human experimentation. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I leave it at saying that I cackled when the big twist was revealed.
Ton Lima’s art is absolutely phenomenal. I don’t know where this guy’s been keeping himself, but I was really impressed with everything from his character work and designs to his backgrounds and layouts. His knack for action scenes is excellent and Rain Beredo’s beautiful colors are pretty easy on the eyes as well.
All jokes about Marvel marketing aside, New Avengers #1 is a blast. The story is fast-paced and compelling, and the art is fantastic. We only meet about half the team this issue, and Humphries is going to have to bend over backwards to justify how the likes of Hulk and Carnage work in it, but he’s definitely earned the right to try. I’ll be back for more of this.
Rating: BUY IT
Cover by Stephanie Hans
Runaways #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Rainbow Rowell
Art by Elena Casagrande
Colors by Dee Cunniffe
Letters by VC’s Travis Lanham
32 pages for $4.99
Solicit: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BREAK A FAMILY? Superstar writer Rainbow Rowell (SHE-HULK) returns to the Runaways with visionary artist Elena Casagrande (BLACK WIDOW, BLADE) for a new chapter…but Marvel’s best and scrappiest found family has seen better days! Nico Minoru has lost her girlfriend, her best friend and her magic. With Karolina, Chase and Alex all out of the picture, Gert’s doing her best to shake the remaining Runaways out of running on autopilot. But when Doctor Doom tries to reclaim one of their own – Doombot! – it’s time to start running…
Review: It’s been a long while since I followed the adventures of the Runaways. I more or less missed the entirety of Rainbow Rowell’s last run. I was peripherally aware of new additions to the cast, like the genie-looking character that I now know is called “Gib,” but that’s about it. Fortunately, Rowell is a skilled author and no stranger to strong character work. She was able to fill me in on the team’s recent history and push the plot forward at the same time, before finally blowing the door open (or in this case, the wall) and kicking things into high gear.
Elena Casagrade’s art is a great fit for this series, and she dials down the harder edge she gave her style in the most recent Blade series in favor of a more youthful tone. Dee Cunniffe’s colors are a beautiful addition to the line art, bringing a subtle textured look to the pages.
The latest volume of Runaways picks up right where the last one left off more or less, but you won’t be punished for coming in cold. Rowell, Casagrande, and Company deliver a great read about a compelling teen team that deserves to be in the spotlight more often.
Rating: BUY IT
Matt’s Reviews:
Cover by Dike Ruan
Death of the Silver Surfer #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Grek Pak
Art by Sumit Kumar
Colors by Frank D’Armata
Letters by VC’s Joe Sabino
32 pages for $4.99
Solicit: SILVER SURFER’S FINAL VOYAGE?! The Silver Surfer returns to defend a war-ravaged Earth, but Norrin has a galaxy-sized target on his back. A new enemy will stop at nothing to steal away everything the Surfer is or ever will be. A single human life may be all that decides the Surfer’s salvation… or damnation. If the Surfer falls, who then wields the awesome Power Cosmic? And what of the Surfer’s old master, Galactus, Devourer of Worlds?! Guest-starring: The Fantastic Four! Greg Pak (Planet Hulk, Star Wars: Darth Vader) pens the Sentinel of the Spaceway’s next tragic epic with superstar illustrator Sumit Kumar (Web of Spider-Verse: New Blood, Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood)!
Review: Drawing the Silver Surfer is hard. It’s got to be the polar opposite of drawing The Thing or Spider-Man’s detailed costume. It’s difficult because of the character’s perfect simplicity—but holy $#%!, Summit Kumar and Frank D’Armatta make the Surfer look amazing. Whether standing in the event horizon of a black hole or whizzing across the sky over an all-too-familiar war on Earth, this is some of the most impressive Silver Surfer work I’ve seen since Tradd Moore’s Silver Surfer: Black (who also has an amazing variant cover for this issue).
Pak’s script is loaded with the typical Surfer soul-pain and guilt from acting as Galactus’ herald and dooming whole populations. But his story quickly switches to a new, optimistic take for the normally dour Surfer. It’s a welcome twist to one of my favorite cosmically powered—albeit formulaic—characters. The Fantastic Four only show up for a couple of pages, but they witness the Surfer’s heroic actions, and they aren’t alone, as Pak introduces a new corporate disruptor looking to cash in on an all-powerful, apolitical alien. As usual, Pak is working very smart, and The Death of the Silver Surfer looks like it’s going to be as clever as it is beautifully illustrated.
Rating: BUY IT
Cover by Dustin Nguyen
Robin & Batman: Jason Todd #1 of 3
DC Comics
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art and colors by Dustin Nguyen
Letters by Steve Wands
40 pages for $4.99
Solicit: Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen return to spotlight the early days of a very different Dynamic Duo, with a very different dynamic. Batman has a new Robin: a rash, impulsive, reckless kid with a troubled past, who Batman was certain he could mold into Gotham’s next crime-fighter. But can the Dark Knight save Jason Todd from the darkness within himself? And when a mysterious new villain sets his sights on Jason, Batman finds himself doubtful that even he has what it takes to train the anger and torment out of his new young ward.
Review: Lemire and Nguyen team up for their second Robin-centric mini-series, this time focusing on the infamous Jason Todd, who died during the Death in the Family storyline in 1988, only to be resurrected in Crisis on Infinite Earths with a new origin as an orphan raised on the streets of Gotham. Lemire explores Jason’s troubled youth and Batman’s fear of how different this new Robin is compared to Dick Grayson, as Jason pursues The Cuckoo—a new Bat-villain who fits perfectly into Gotham’s bizarre criminal cadre.
Nguyen watercolors the entire book, giving the story a tragic, dreamlike feel while maintaining enough edge to keep the action moving. More than half the issue consists of two incredible chase scenes. This is the purest version of Nguyen’s watercolor art I’ve seen—it looks like scans of his paintings on small canvases, resulting in a beautifully illustrated superhero comic unlike anything else on the stands.
This second Robin story tells a very different tale from their first Robin and Batman mini, but issue #1 is just as gorgeously illustrated, as it examines a young, damaged Jason Todd battling both the criminals of Gotham and his own past.
Rating: BUY IT
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