Look, there are a lot of comics out there. Too many. We can never hope to have in-depth conversations about all of them. But, we sure can round up some of the more noteworthy titles we didn’t get around to from the week. Today, Spencer and Drew discuss Justice League United 5, The Amazing Spider-Man 7, Rocket Raccoon 4, Sabrina 1, Hawkeye vs. Deadpool 1, and Superman/Wonder Woman 12.

Spencer: Justice League United is team that’s just chock-full of white blonde people — like, distractingly full of white blonde people. Thankfully, Issue 5 finally debuts Cree superhero Equinox, whose ties to the native tribes of Canada are something rather unique for superhero comics. Admittedly, the issue doesn’t give Miiyahbin’s origin much room to breathe, which means there’s a lot of telling and some rather familiar beats to her story, but it’s the added elements of Cree lore that make Equinox shine. Her powers come from the seven pillars of Cree life — love, humility, bravery, truth, respect, wisdom, and honesty — and are opposed by the forces of darkness — dominion, control, aggression, deception, greed, selfishness, and fear — embodied by the Whitago. I don’t know about any of y’all, but this clear-cut struggle between right and wrong, good and evil, is incredibly compelling to me; Miiyahbin defeats the Whitago through sheer courage, by facing her fears, and that’s a fight any of us can win. Also inspiring is the scene at the end where Miiyahbin and Alanna are simply given a chance to bond over their newfound superheroic destinies and geek out over the prospect of meeting Wonder Woman; for a book so caught up in intergalatic conspiracies, it’s the touching human interactions that stand-out the most.

Speaking of geeking out, Kamala Kahn — aka the new Ms. Marvel — puts in a guest appearance over in The Amazing Spider-Man 7, and she’s just as endearing under Dan Slott and Christos Gage’s pen as she is in her own title. They understand both the humor and the heart that makes Kamala such a rich character, and artist Guiseppe Camuncoli has a terrific knack for depicting her abilities, using tricks of perspective to show how much punch her shapeshifting actually packs:

The back-up continues the “Spider-Verse” story, which began in the pages of the recent Superior Spider-Man revival issues, but it mainly just repeats most of the beats already established in those issues in case readers of Amazing missed them. Slott and Gage seem particularly interested in firmly establishing just how evil Morlun and his family are, and they almost do too good of a job; the first set of characters Morlun kills off legitimately upset me, and I don’t even like that show. Drew, I think this may be your first exposure to “Spider-Verse”; what are your thoughts? To be honest, I found the Superior issues to be a much more fun take on the concept, so I don’t know if this is the best introduction.

Drew: Actually, I picked up Superior Spider-Man 32 when it came out, but I think you’re right to suggest that this issue doesn’t introduce the concepts quite as effectively as that issue. A key part of that is probably our relationship with Otto — he makes for a much more compelling audience surrogate than Spider-UK, who exudes all of the charisma of a Englishman wearing a mask. I suppose that lack of charm is more than made up for in the first half of the issue — Gage’s script really does capture Kamala’s voice, and I got a kick out of Anna Maria’s failed attempts to teach Peter about prioritization.

Speaking of charm, Skottie Young’s first arc on Rocket Raccoon draws to an appropriately absurd close in issue 4 with the reveal that Rocket’s doppelgänger is actually Black Jack O’Hare. It’s an absurd twist that Young floats on even more absurd logic, bringing the Ex-Terminators into the fold before Rocket sews the whole thing up. Young teases that there are answers about Rocket’s origin still out there, a detail that I would have thought was kind of besides the point for such a goofy romp if he hadn’t already managed to fill it with actual pathos.

Maybe I’m just discovering an emotional affinity for this character, but I’ll be damned if Young hasn’t got me on the hook.

I imagine I’m not the only person whose only familiarity with Sabrina the Teenage Witch stems from ABC’s late-90s T.G.I.F. lineup, which gave me wildly inaccurate expectations of Archie Comics’ relaunch of the character. Less gritty reboot than complete tonal overhaul, this issue featured virtually no strained puns but lots of references to corpse-eating. Writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa cleverly sets the story in the early 60s, giving us a very quick origin story before getting Sabrina mixed up in some decidedly 60s teen drama. I don’t have a particularly high-tolerance for stories focused on going steady with the quarterback, but Robert Hack’s moody art keeps it from veering into full-on bubblegum. More importantly, the end of the issue introduces a much more pressing problem, which also, hilariously, ties the series into Archie’s continuity.

Speaking of hilarious tie-ins, Gerry Duggan’s Hawkeye vs. Deadpool 1 mashes up two of Marvel’s funnier titles. It seems like a match made in heaven, but while Deadpool and Hawkeye are both funny, their senses of humor don’t necessarily blend all that seamlessly. Duggan obviously has a handle on Deadpool, but it’s difficult for that tone to coexist with Hawkeye‘s subtler, more grounded antics. The result is a story that feels decidedly more at home under the Deadpool title than as a true crossover of titles — hearkening back to the run of cameos Duggan did in Deadpool 10 and 11. For me, these were two great tastes that didn’t necessarily taste great together, but I’m curious to hear your thoughts, Spencer. Did this feel at home in Hawkeye for you? Should that even matter?

Spencer: Yeah, this title is definitely more Deadpool than Hawkeye, but I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. Deadpool‘s a fantastic book, and even if Duggan doesn’t exactly match the tone of Fraction’s Hawkeye, he makes sure to include enough of its continuity (such as referencing Clint’s deafness) so that this still feels firmly like a part of both books despite skewing more towards one than the other. And fortunately, while the actual plot is a little unspectacular, the book itself is very funny, and that’s probably what’s most important here. Deadpool is about as wacky as he can be without becoming overbearing, and while Clint is probably more stern than usual, that might even be part of the joke; compared to Deadpool, even Clint of all people comes across as capable and serious. Many of the biggest laughs in this issue, though, come from the art of Matteo Lolli and Jacopo Camagni, especially the stellar facial expressions they manage to pull off with Kate Bishop.

Maybe this isn’t the perfect “Hawkeye & Deadpool Reeses Peanut Butter Cup” that could have been, but I’m having way too much fun with it to complain.

So even after 12 issues of Superman/Wonder Woman I’m still not sure if I completely understand why these two are in love with each other, but despite all that, writer Charles Soule’s grand finale still manages to hit all the right emotional notes for me. Much of that comes down to artists Jack Herbert, Walden Wong, and Cliff Richards, who manage to strike just the right expressions matched with just the right staging to make Clark and Diana’s reunion feel like the climatic final scene of an epic romance movie, not to mention leaving us with a gorgeous final shot. Much of that emotion also comes from this issue being Soule’s goodbye to these characters, and soon to DC in general (he’s obviously using Swamp Thing as much as humanly possible while he still can); his affection for the characters practically bleeds onto the page.

Soule’s story shows yet another step forward in the evolution of Clark and Diana’s relationship as a gift from Clark causes friction between them, and it’s a cleverly exaggerated version of the very real issue of obligation in regards to gift giving. Much like early installments of the title, this works better as a general “relationship milestone” than anything specific to Clark or Diana, but fortunately, Soule handles both characters excellently on their own; I want to read the story behind Diana’s defeat of Giganta in a crowded arena, and both she and Clark get to display intelligence, strength, and compassion in their dealings with each other, their respective enemies and allies, and the renegade plant. While I don’t think Soule ever managed to convince me that Superman and Wonder Woman should be together, at its best Soule’s run on this title was an interesting look into relationships in general. It’s just a shame so much of it got caught up in “Doomed.”

The conversation doesn’t stop there, because you certainly read something that we didn’t. What do you wanna talk about from this week?