1. does this seem normal, the ability to read but the comprehension not being as high as the word recognition? Again, I don't know how much of that has to do with his general disinterest in reading by himself, for the most part.
Our DS was/is like this.
Yes this is "normal". What you are describing is exactly what you should expect. There are certain kinds of things where an advanced kid can be more advanced (in years) than other things, even if they are the same percentile.
For example [made up numbers for illustration purposes] perhaps a 3 year old at the 99.9th percentile for reading ability, has the reading ability of a 50th percentile
9 year old, while a 3 year old at the 99.9th percentile for comprehension, has the comprehension of a 50th percentile
6 year old.
A 7 year old that understands maths like an average 14 year old, while rare, is going to be much more common than a 7 year old that understands Shakespearian poetry like an average 14 year old.
A typical kid will be at different percentiles for different endeavors, but even if they were at exactly the same percentile for everything, that same percentile would correspond to different levels of advancement (in years) for different endeavors.
In other words:
Asynchrony is normal. 
