Yet another Sensational review!

Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #8, 9, 10 (I’m going to quit citing print versions because I’m confused.) Jan. 2015 Cover: Adam Hughes, Editor: Kristy Quinn

“Ghosts and Gods”

Writer: Neil Kleid, Art: Dean Haspiel

Haspiel gives us a very cartoony but consistent Wonder version here, employing much more body language and true anatomy than such efforts usually give us. Nice!

Though the story then has a Golden Age feel, especially since Etta Candy is in WWII-hairdo, we find Ra’s al Ghul has stolen a Purple Ray device. He wants his army as well as himself to be immortal.

When he grabs Etta and then disarms Diana (he propositions her to be his bride, which of course she refuses), Boston (Deadman) Brand, the ghost who can temporarily possess humans, enters and takes over Etta. We get a running joke of Diana not believing this, and thinking that Etta has gone a little more wacko than normal. Diana needs to get the Purple Ray if not for anything else than to cure Etta.

Boston gets in some great lines, as when he refers to Rama Kushna as “Hindu goddess of pain-in-my-keister.” He refers to Ra’s as “Dracula of Arabia.” Eventually he gets Diana to believe him, and fills in the reader on his origin story: he was a circus aerialist (the DCU is full of ‘em!) who was shot. Rama Kushna grabbed his soul and “charged me to stay on Earth and bring my murderer to justice… [and] solve crimes and maintain balance in the universe.”

Boston accuses Diana of not believing in ghosts, and she tells him that she does indeed, but ghosts stay tucked away in the underworld. She doesn’t bring up such Greek myth/legendary figures as Patroclus, whose ghost haunted his beloved comrade, Achilles, to beg for funeral rites (book XXIII of The Illiad). Both heroes reportedly wandered the island of Leuke post-mortem, sometimes accompanied by other famous ghosts.

Boston starts naming the many ghosts of the DCU, including the Hawks, whom I thought in most of their versions were reincarnations and not ghosts. Oh well, I’m not a Hawks expert. (And note that many ancient Greeks like Pythagoras were firm believers in reincarnation or transmigration of souls. The Orphic religion, which is supposed to have influenced Christianity, is based upon the cycles of transmigration.)

Maybe Diana is speaking of the Amazons' beliefs, and not those of ancient Hellenes.

Anywayz. They come upon Ra’s in his lab, and Ra’s throws his stolen Magic Lasso over Diana. “We have an understanding, my lasso and I,” she says. I have no idea what that means, but since Ra’s never gave her an order, I can see how she operates so easily under her own will while still tied in it.

Boston can’t take over Ra’s because “His soul’s corrupted… He’s come back too many times!”

Ra’s touches Diana’s shoulder and she cries out in pain. ?? But she recovers and chases after him as he and his thugs escape. He locks Diana and Etta/Boston in the self-destructing lab, but the good guys escape hale and hearty from (I guess) the way they came.

Diana apologizes to Boston as she aims the Purple Ray at Etta, because she needs her back at 100 percent. The ray forces Boston out of Etta’s body.

“If I want to be an ambasador to the world, I must be open-minded to the world’s diverse beliefs,” Diana says, and Boston heads off to a “date with a giant head.”

A nice, action-filled story with people from various corners and eras of the DCU. A bit preachy—WW stories are that all too often, which I think is a big reason why some people can’t get into her—but funny as well.

“Morning Coffee”

Writer: Ollie Masters Artist: Amy Mebberson

Another cartoony story, this one in a very different, more modern style. (And it’s darling!) (Except for that star over Wondie’s belly button, that is. :-D )

Catwoman arrives at the British Museum in London to release a smoke bomb for diversion and then duck to underground vaults, where she deliberately sets off an alarm before pilfering something she stuffs in her duffle.

The police call Wonder Woman, who is yawning from lack of sleep. (She was up all night dealing with Cheetah.) Diana lassos Catwoman (this is the last we’ll see of the lasso in this story), and Selena mutters that everything’s going to plan.

The police aren’t equipped to handle Catwoman (she doesn’t have super powers, so ??), so Diana takes her into custody. They stop off at a coffee shop and Diana orders a hazelnut latte with five extra shots of espresso. !!!

“You drink away, DOUBLE DOUBYA,” the handcuffed Catwoman tells her as she glances at the sky. “Don’t mind me.”

Diana opens the duffle, only to discover the Golden Fleece in there. My gosh, did the British abscond with EVERY antiquity they came across? But from up and behind comes the Colchian dragon, guardian of the Golden Fleece and breathing flame. He is ANGRY.

Di grabs a street sign and wallops the poor dragon with it. Catwoman uses the diversion as an excuse to grab the Fleece and take off. But she in turn is grabbed by Diana, dragged back to the coffee shop, and ordered to buy coffee. Ba-dum-dum!

Funny, lovely little tale! Ahh.

“Attack of the 500 Foot Wonder Woman”

Writer: Rob Williams Artist: Tom Lyle

The art in this story is okay, I guess, though it fluctuates in quality. The truly consistent part of it is the awful hair. Suggestion to the artist: study Nick Cardy. Please. Sound effects typography could use some work. ONCE AGAIN we get a sermon as the basis for a WW story. Everyone, please turn in your hymnals to...

Years ago young Diana had seen only strength and warriors when she looked at the statuary honoring gods and honored Amazons.

Present day: Gateway City, CA. The Atom sits on Diana’s shoulder talking about a “growth field,” which apparently has made her several stories tall.

“I think I stepped on an old Buick,” she groans as she tries to adjust to her new state.

“We can buy the owner a new Buick,” Atom replies.

Hawkman and Hawkwoman fly by to attack Byth, a shape-changing Thanagarian who is now in the form of a winged lizard the size of Godzilla. Byth tosses the Hawks into the ocean, and Atom takes off to rescue them so Wondie can act. The growth field will only work for a short time.

She and Byth battle hand-to-claw through the city, winding up in the bay. Diana grabs cabling that Byth has snapped from the Gateway Bridge, and it begins to glow gold in her hands. “I don’t need to be on Themyscira to feel the powers of my mothers,” Diana claims. “I carry my home with me wherever I travel. Wherever I choose!”

I guess this is the conceit of how she’s turned the cables into the Magic Lasso. ??? (And what is it with "mothers" plural?) She binds Byth in it, and gets him to tell her the truth of why he is there. He confesses that he just wants to have a solitary home where he could be at peace. He shrinks to normal size. (The cables don’t glow any more.)

This entire cable bit could have been tweaked so that the real Magic Lasso (which Diana does not carry in this story, but she should have) could have “powered it up.” Ah, backseat editor is rearing her head again.

After she has him clean up the mess he’s made, Diana takes Byth to an island off Themyscira. Along the way, she notes that when she was a child she saw only the statues of warriors on her island, but now she sees the statues of the wise and the scholars beside them. “THAT is what my home was built on.”

She says that he may live on this solitary island and be whatever he wants to be there. Though this story seems to be set long after men were allowed on Paradise Island—and besides, this isn’t PI anyway—Byth notes, “I thought only females could stand on Paradise Island.”

“Yes,” Diana replies. “…And I thought you were a changeling?”

The story had some good bits, nice guest stars, so-so art.

But all in all, a very good issue!

So… What did you think of it?

Another Sensational review!

Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #7, 14, 15 (print #3)

Dec. 2014 Cover by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado & Carrie Strachan, Editor: Kristy Quinn

Now we start getting fancy and mixing up these stories between print and digital versions. I see online reviews of the printed issue mentioning a Catwoman story. Turns out that that story (which is a really cute one!) appeared in digital issue #9. I'll get to it next time. Why are they doing this?

After last issue—after ANY issue—this is a real let-down.

“Bullets and Bracelets”

Writer: Sean E. Williams, Artist: Marguerite Sauvage

A hodgepodge of ideas (most of them preachy) thrown together with no cohesion. Here Diana is the leader of a rock band, “Bullets and Bracelets.” She has a rabid following and is playing in Athens while wearing an uber-short skirt that sometimes thinks it’s shorts. (No, it’s not a culotte or skort.)

Diana is worried and moping about “Steve,” though there’s no followup to this. As she exits the stadium, one pimply-faced fan shouts, “Slut! You’re corrupting our children!” Since when do kids of that age think about corruption of kids? A guy answers that “Some of us LIKE the way she dresses! She’s hot!”

Diana assures both that she dresses the way she wants to and “not to provoke or impress you.”

Diana ditches the rest of the band and discovers two young girl fans, whom she takes out to lunch. The one is too poor to order, so Diana orders for them, calling them “friends,” which makes them squee. (Why wouldn't a rich rocker automatically pay the tab for two young fans whom they've invited to lunch?)

The “she’s hot” guy from the concert steps out and reassures Diana that she’s really hot, then grabs her arm. Upset at her rebuff, he whips out a shotgun, which Diana then bends in half.

That’s it. Zzz.

The art is fabulous!!!! I'd love to see the artist handed a good Wondie story to work with. This one sounds like something later-era Kanigher would churn out on one of his worse days. Nothing like hitting the reader with a baseball bat "message," especially when NOTHING in the story requires the main character to be Wonder Woman. Zero. It could have been Jane Schmo or even Black Canary as the lead. Bleah.

So sorry for Ms. Sauvage that she had to draw this claptrap script.

Speaking of claptrap and Kanigher:

“No Chains Can Hold Her!”

Art & story: Gilbert Hernandez

Just let me puke a moment. Okay, I’m back. I don’t know what Hernandez is on for this, but he’s tripping through the very worst of Kanigher’s Silver Age. His he-man Wonder Woman is brainwashed and kidnapped by the alien Sayyar, who is in cahoots with Kanjar Ro. Ro needs an invincible warrior to help him conquer planets, and his brainwashing scheme will only work on the Earth-born.

A very young Supergirl whose presence has not yet been revealed to the public (or to WW) follows the space ship, which results in a fight between her and the hypnotized WW. Though Supergirl is the stronger, she says that WW’s magic weakens her so they are evenly matched. The two villains lustfully watch the fight.

The force of one collision breaks dimensional barriers, resulting in the arrival of Mary Marvel. She thinks the two heroines are Sivana’s robots, and battles them. At this point it seems that Wondie is no longer brainwashed. (“Supergirl’s extra-power heat vision blasted the hypno-poison out of me!” we learn later.) She is amused to be involved in page-wasting fist fighting.

Mary flies Supergirl to the local sun to cure her of kryptonite poisoning, while WW dispatches the villains, thinking that the girls are now dead. Everyone returns to the ship, hale and hearty, and the three capes pull off another shockwave to send Mary back home. Wondie and Sgirl part on good terms while Wonder Woman uses up a few more pages battling a goo-monster, hurting her shoulder, and then lustfully thinking about getting Superman to give her a shoulder super-massage.

Bleah. Bleah. Ptui! Spit! Ghastly!

Crap art. Crap story. Hey, why can’t you talk down even further to us, hm? Even colorist John Rauch seems to have been asleep at the wheel for this. Bleah!

So… What did you think of this issue?

PS: Congrats to Ceci C, who won the WW decals from last week! Stay tuned for more contests...

Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #4-6 review

First: A contest!

Etsy's "Good Mommy Ltd" has kindly donated a Wonder Woman decal set, suitable for your kitchen mixer. It's made for white mixers and has a metallic =w= with blue stars. This contest will run THROUGH July 4th. Just comment on this blog or on my Facebook page or Pro page to be entered to win! If you can't wait, just go to Good Mommy's site and order your own now! (They're available for different colors of mixers.) Put some WONDER into your cuisine!

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Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #4-6 (print #2)

Nov. 2014; cover by Gene Ha

“Brace Yourself” Writer: Jason Bischoff, artist: David Williams, Editor: Kristy Quinn

What a delightful difference from last issue this is! Captivating stories, lovely art, and a truly WONDERful atmosphere for both stories. Ahh. I Am Pleased.

That’s not to say my hackles didn’t rise because neither of these stories fit “my” version of WW, but I will graciously allow others to have their own. You're welcome.

We begin with an origin-ish story, in which Diana is already a young girl. Her mother, Hippolyta (blonde!), escorts her “cheeky lamb” to a mysterious chamber. There Diana learns the history of the Amazons—but even I stumbled at one sentence that made things unclear. Also, it paints all men as being bad, and says the Amazons have been in exile all these years and prevented from doing anything positive.

I prefer the mission to guard Doom’s Doorway. But…

A statue of Athena comes alive, and the goddess herself not only meets but teaches Diana. (How cool! It reminded me of WW (1st series) #147, in which Donna Troy received her official Amazon Test from Athena! That's one of my favorite Wonder stories!) Here and now, though, Diana makes a vow and pledges herself to hope, truth, peace, and justice. In return, Athena molds a silver bracelet around Diana’s right wrist.

But all the other Amazons have two bracelets. Hippolyta explains that the second must be earned in combat, and the only combat that will satisfy a princess’ requirements is a victory over her mother the queen.

From that day forth young Diana lays "crafty" traps and plans to best her mother, but she is always defeated. Diana grows to be the best of the Amazons, and one day appears with a red-headed (blond?) man bound by a lasso, a man who is no threat to the Amazons and someone who needs to be returned home.

The queen declares a contest to determine an emissary to the outside world who will accomplish this task and more. She commands that her daughter may not enter. But she recognizes her “warrior” (gosh, I wish the mythos wouldn't use that word) daughter as she defeats all others. (Unfortunately we get yet another fighting-only version of the Contest, which is something I do not believe in.) As a final challenger, the Queen names herself, and unmasks her daughter.

The battle is fierce. With great pride, the queen finally yields to the greater contestant, and her bracelet clones itself to become Diana’s left bracelet. The story ends with Hippolyta blessing Diana as she departs (in a boat, for those of us who take note of such minutiae):

“Go, if you must. Discover new worlds and dangers that will refuse you reprieve. But no matter how far you run, or what evils befall you—I am with you. I love you, daughter. My Diana. Weapon. Worry. Wonder.”

Ahh. Lovely! Lovely! This is a fabulous fairy tale to inspire children anew. Gorgeous art. Fabulous words.

“Taketh Away”

Writer: Ivan Cohen, Artist: Marcus To

For this story, Diana is an ambassador and is visiting Washington, where imho she should be located. The beginning of this story shows us why: the Wonder Woman mythos is a GREAT place from which to make pithy comments about the US government and politics/culture in general. But no, this story is from the Rucka era, so Diana’s home is NYC.

Circe has turned a number of Congresspeople into pigs. After Diana saves the day, the Speaker of the House calls Diana a “radical pagan with a Maxist agenda.” (Yes! This is the kind of thing that shows up in that novel that I’ll get published if DC will EVER make a deal with Kindle Worlds.)

Diana recounts this to a TV news show interviewer (the show is called Let's Be Frank, so perhaps his name is Frank? I don't see it noted, though the guy is a major player in the story), who is polite until he tries to goad her into confessing that she’s here to force her religious beliefs on people. “Do you deny that the gods literally made you who you are? Turning you from a clay statue into a super-powered spokesmodel?”

Stand back, Di— Let me hit him! "Spokesmodel." Rrr!

Diana argues, “I want people to pay attention to my WORDS, not my RELIGION.” At this point the interviewer becomes all sweetness and even asks her out afterward, which she declines. She can see that he is angry at this.

At the embassy, which is unstaffed for some convenient reason, Diana muses that “I just told the world my gods don’t NEED their worship.” Well actually, that’s not what she said at all. But let’s just pretend that for some reason she did, because the story relies on that.

What happens if the gods were watching?

Next morning, Diana flies across town concerning a report of a gunman at a hospital. Her head begins to buzz, making it difficult to concentrate. She’s arrived at the wrong location, but corrects herself and consults with a policewoman.

“Tell your snipers to stand down and pull the rest of your men back,” Diana tells her. “My negotiations often involve RICOCHETS.” Oh yeah!

Diana confronts the gunman and he fires. She pulls a Bullets & Bracelets on him… but one bullet gets through. It hits her shoulder. The gunman begins to ridicule her for having an inflated rep, and that she can’t be as good as Super-MAN or Bat-MAN, “because THEY have something you don’t! You know what that is?”

“Is it a code against KILLING?” Diana asks him just before she tosses him out into the street hard enough to divest him of his armored vest. The cops collect his sorry butt.

Luckily for Diana, her wound closes (why? how? She was a fast-healer back then, but that fast?) before she reaches the embassy. (And what happened to the bullet inside the wound?) (Shut up!) She wants to use the portal there to go home for counsel, but encounters “drakons,” or snake-like dragons. “Why did it have to be drakons?” Ha ha, I've seen Raiders too!

Ordinarily, such would be a hard battle for her, but now she has to give it her all. She finally makes her way across the chamber to the magic portal, only to have the portal implode on her, eliminating the drakons in the process. When she recovers, she looks into a mirror to discover that her “beauty of Aphrodite,” which she refers to “the most superficial of my gifts,” has left her, and she is ordinary-looking. Horreurs!

The next day Diana tries to clean up the mess, but doesn’t have the strength. “The Olympian abilities that were my birthright are truly gone.” She goes out into the city, unrecognized, to consider her options. “Even without my powers, I am an AMAZON. And Amazons do not ask for help… we GIVE it.” So when she hears a cry for help, she reacts.

Cheetah is in the zoo, killing animals and eating them. (A misplaced sound effect makes it seem like the dead animal is purring.) Cheetah implies that Diana’s gods have betrayed her. Their fight is one-sided, as Diana feels like she’s “moving through molasses.” Her lasso can’t contain Cheetah, and the villain tosses Diana into an aviary. Dazed, Diana lies with birds all around her before Cheetah rushes in.

Diana runs to open the door to a snow leopard’s cage. The rather human-looking beast attacks Cheetah, and that is that. (My logic circuits kick on again. Cheetah is not just a were-cheetah; she has suped-up powers. That's why she's suitable to be a Wonder villain. Couldn't she have kicked the larger beast's butt?) (Shut up!)

After all has been cleaned up, Diana returns to Washington (? might be NYC) and the Let’s Be Frank studio, where Frank awaits. She asks him if he still finds her attractive. He replies, “Not in the slightest, but I can work past it. And we’ve got the studio to ourselves, so we can keep the cameras rolling… if that’s what you’re into.”

Diana drinks from the goblet he hands her (why?), then hears Greek-accented (why “accented?”) voices call her foul names. They tell her that they’re taking away her life force and returning her to clay. She freezes into a crouch.

Frank asks if “it” is done, and from the seats, Dr. Psycho replies that it is. Wonder Woman might stay immobile for centuries, thinking she’s a statue.

Psycho plots Frank’s upcoming college tour with “so many NUBILE young fans,” and Frank says, “Please… I have a wife… a daughter…” Apparently Frank has, at some point, thought to be Psycho’s partner, but now he is his plaything. Psycho has manipulated Diana’s confidence, as well as the gunman and Cheetah.

When Psycho goes to Diana to gloat more, Diana grabs his wrist. Next time we see him, Psycho’s in restraints and splints as well as a neck brace (eat dirt, Psycho!), being hauled away by paramedics.

Diana excuses Frank by saying he was as much a victim as she. Well… okay, if you say so. At any rate, he's learned his lesson, which is the result she's always after. Y'see, Psycho forgot that Diana can talk with animals like birds. She had already been suspicious. “If [Diana's gods] wanted to punish me, they wouldn’t do it by a thousand cuts… they’d just cut off my HEAD.”

She concludes with, “It’s not my belief in THEM that’s important. It’s my belief in ME.”

Okay, good story! Sure, this is the “got her powers on a silver platter; didn’t have to work for ‘em” Wonder Woman whom I think took the wrong road, but if we put ourselves in her continuity, this plays very well. Plus it has that “confidence” thing at the end, always a plus. I don’t even mind— much— the use of that— gahh!— stupid “talking with animals” crap, or the bit about how WW can only be important if she’s the most beautiful woman in the world. Aren’t we beyond that now?

I thought Psycho could have looked a lot more, you know, psycho, but all the art here was handsome, the action clearly delineated. There were a lot of solid dialogue lines and situations.

Just a satisfying issue all around. Yeah!

So what did you think about this issue?

A Sensational Review! Issue #1

First: A contest!

Etsy's "Good Mommy Ltd" has kindly donated a Wonder Woman decal set, suitable for your kitchen mixer. It's made for white mixers and has a metallic =w= with blue stars. This contest will run THROUGH July 4th. Just comment on this blog or on my Facebook page or Pro page to be entered to win! If you can't wait, go to Good Mommy's site and order your own now. (They're available for different colors of mixers.) Put some WONDER into your cuisine!

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Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #1-3 (print #1) (yes, let's get confused)

Oct. 2014; cover by Ethan van Sciver

“Gothamazon” Writer: Gail Simone, artist: Ethan van Sciver, Editor: Kristy Quinn

I have mixed feelings about this issue(s), even if it was published as something to go up against the supposed “Wonder Woman” of the nu52.

I award it a zillion points for that alone.

The title was designed to be “continuity-free.” Reading it, it seems to be aimed at a very young audience, though it’s rated T for Teen and Two-Face gets slice-n-diced on-panel. It was created to be digital first (for the most part), and appeared in my Comixology file in half-page format. Lord knows what the published version looked like, because I didn’t get that. The issue isn’t even dated, other than by year.

“Gothamazon” is one of those stories that show us how like/unlike Wonder Woman is to Batman. We got a story arc like this in WW 2nd series #164-167, “Gods of Gotham,” in which WW’s and Bats’ casts were lined up and compared to each other. “See? Wonder Woman is JUST like Batman!” (No, she ISN’T!) (Though that story was miles better than this one, I hate to say.) Then there was Paul Kupperberg’s kiddie book, Dr. Psycho’s Circus of Crime, which I’ll admit isn’t a Batman comparison, but does hold the unspeakable crime of having Dr. Psycho disguised as a clown—who looks just like Joker. Really, Paul? Wondie’s villains can’t stand on their own?

And here we have this. The villains of Gotham (some of them seemingly straight out of the TV show, to judge from their dialogue) have worked together to kill all the Bat family. We see the huge explosion; we know this story is out of continuity. They’re DEAD, Jim. At this point Oracle (yay! She’s back!), who wasn’t caught in the explosion, considers her choices for keeping Gotham in order and she chooses WW. “This is war,” she knows.

We see panels of the chaos erupting in Gotham. One of them shows two Zatannas as villains carrying bazookas. What’s that about? HellifIknow. But Joker leads the main villain group, who work together very well for some unexplained (because comics) reason.

Superwo… I mean, Wonder Woman walks through a flaming inferno, unscathed, to impress the bad guys with her machismo. She uses Wonderangs, a “W” version of the Batarang. (Oracle had told her to use “Gotham solutions.” Why?) (Diana’s thoughts reveal that “[Amazons] INVENTED ‘Gotham solutions.’”)

Diana is unimpressed with Gotham’s situation but easily falls for Two-Face’s obvious treachery. The invulnerable heroine is not harmed by Mr. Freeze’s weaponry but uses Bullets & Bracelets to stave off some of his blasts.

Though she was unimpressed, we discover that Diana’s brought an Amazon army to Gotham. The Penguin blows up… something, turning the scene into a rescue mission as civilians seem to need rescuing. Perhaps it was an apartment building of some kind. Diana says, “No. Not even ARES would—“

We’re talking Ares, god of war, here, right? The guy who stands behind genocides. But this is something he wouldn’t do. Did I miss something?

Diana muses, “It took them five minutes to learn my weakness.” What, that she rescues victims? Don’t all superheroes do that? She muses about the Greatness of Batman, that he doesn’t turn dark like his nemeses.

Speaking of which, Diana thinks, "Oh, Bruce. But you do have the most EXCELLENT nemeses." From which I assume we are supposed to surmise that Diana doesn't. I beg to differ.

Oracle Bat-splains to WW that in order to win, she must think like Batman. Really? Wonder Woman hasn’t established her own prowess enough? Catwoman and Harley Quinn overhear the radio message (how?), and I wonder why Catwoman hadn’t been taken out with the Batses. Diana finds their trademark witty repartee to be baiting, but instead enlists them to her side, to which they quickly come. She calls them “girl-children.” ?? Aren’t girls children already?

And why does she need their help if she has an entire Amazon army? Right, she’s forgotten the army. The army has forgotten the army. It only appears for three panels and then...?

Ironically, Diana’s thoughts turn dark. Perhaps this effect is caused by her costume going through variations from panel to panel. That would do it for me.

Diana enjoys misleading fantasies in which she utterly destroys her enemies. One of the situations show her taking her sword to slice Two-Face vertically and bloodlessly. (Speaking of that sword, it suddenly appears from nowhere for a few panels ranging from Diana’s imagination to reality, only to disappear for the rest of the story. We also don’t see the Wonderangs after that one sequence.) Then she says, “No. I will remain Diana.” Yeah, Di. Why would such even enter your mind, if it’s not the way you’d think?

She now goes after the villains, quickly (! It takes her two panels to accomplish what Batman has been working 75 years to accomplish!) dispatching them and wrapping them in her lasso. It reveals the hidden fears of the villains. Oracle later reports that “some of the villains she touched went to rehab, and a couple even went straight entirely.”

Later we see that somehow Batman has not only survived his apparent death, but is back on the job. From afar, we learn he approves of WW. “A little.” Golly.

It’s a heavy-handed, jerky and rushed-seeming storyline with pretentious everything, not one of Simone’s finer hours or even mediocre ones. Van Sciver’s artwork held some really nice panels, some really so-so ones, and in places the action wasn’t clear as to what was going on. (I blame this more on the script, though.) Don’t know why he chose to have the costume morph all the time.

What was the purpose of this story? How was it suppposed to showcase Diana in this, the first issue of her new title? It kept invoking Batman instead, and Diana’s character/abilities (and costume) seemed to change from page to page.

“Defender of Truth”

Writer: Amanda Deibert, Artist: Cat Staggs

This is a very simple WW vs Circe (ack! Undefined magick! Alert! Alert! I hate undefined magicks) story, set in Washington. The costume used is a baggy version of the ElectraWoman/nuDC version, though who knows which WW this is inside the thing. Diana is able to flex and throw off silver streamers that seem to be some kind of (binding?) spell.

There’s nothing new here except the artwork. I feel for the artist. She’s trying to be very avant-garde, but a lot comes off as awkward, blobby and even amateurish. It's not consistent in style. Gold star for experimentation, because she was obviously trying hard. Not so much for the actual execution.

To make things worse, we get an epilogue that clumsily informs us that it’s all right for boys to like Wonder Woman. Golly!

Points awarded for Wondie not wearing makeup.

In keeping with the nu52, WW’s presence all through this book is only valuable if males approve. Even Oracle is presented as a tool of Batman and not as Oracle herself. She lives to serve him.

I think a solid edit of all the material could have improved things muchly, especially if the editor had encouraged Deibert to try something original in her story. If this is indeed aimed at young kids, well, most don’t like being talked down to. Check back to the Silver Age, where readers could enjoy simple but interesting stories across DC’s line and in which people were very rarely hacked up on-panel.

A disappointing beginning, but we'll get a very nice issue next time!

So, what did you think about this issue?