Superman and Wonder Woman in Justice League Dark # 1

Along with Cyborg and Batman, Kal and Diana make a brief guest appearance. Just putting this up because I love how they were drawn. But apparently the JL need to let the magic users deal with all the supernatural and paranormal stuff. Magical teeth is nasty.

Wonder Woman Spirit of Truth

This is a must have book for any fan of Diana. It is beautifully painted by Alex Ross and scripted by Paul Dini. It offers up the real and human side of heroics for a woman in a male dominated world and a foreigner in a new land. She is a Princess who has been gifted by the Gods and she comes from a kind of utopia which ironically, while being enlighten and peaceful, had closed its self off to the rest of the world for centuries.

Diana's ideals are lofty and even unrealistic and she is trying to administer to a world she does not quite yet understand. She who wants to be a teacher must become a student. She confronts many obstacles and hardships on this journey. People don't always respond to her as she would want or expect them to.

 A close friend and ally make a lovely cameo to offer his perspective as to how he keeps himself down to earth

Diana meets with Clark Kent

 She takes on board his suggestion and she travels the world and helps as a normal woman, and some times she is successful and other times not. But that is what she realizes is what being a part of the world is about. Nobody and nothing is perfect and the perspective on the ground can be as great as it is from the sky.

Covers For Justice League # 3

So we know Diana, Wonder Woman, is going to be introduced in this issue. We have the standard Jim Lee cover.

And then we have Greg Capullo's Variant cover. Kal looks hot. Lasso him, Princess! ;)

Henry Cavill Show Off His Superman Body

Yeah, I'll let this speak for itself and love the beard too.

Superman # 1 Review

Superman I found an average read. It just fell far too short for a # 1. It's not that the ideas are bad. In fact, some good ones. We get the new status quo of a young and single Superman and him being more of a crusading journalist, than just some reporter guy who just uses the Daily Planet as his cover. I loved that they gave Clark some passion regarding his job but the writing felt tedious and Superman seems to have gotten boring five years later. I feel,Morrison and Johns seems to be getting the voice but here he sounds too retro or too much like pre-relaunch Superman. He's not got the charisma, enigma, toughness, nor the edge.  The ironic thing? The last pages where Clark meets Lois' new guy was well written but what I got out of it was not what I think DC was hoping. I don't feel one iota of empathy for Clark. What the heck is he pining for? Why should he even be pining? The character has just kicked off in a new relaunch and he's acting like Peter Parker. Ballsy guy from Action with oddles of confidence and passion , smart reporter giving Lois puppy dog eyes in issue #1? Sorry, DC, pity is not the way to get readers to empathize with Clark. I hope this is a sign for Clark to pick himself up and move on but it still felt too out of sync. You took for granted we would root for him and Lois because you had a version of him married to her in the old books? Stop being lazy and a slave to tradition. This is a new book. A new era. Your audience is younger and modern or alternatively, as in lapsed readers, grown-up. Treat it and us as such.

I liked the art. But I would give this book 3 stars only because it was not a bad book but it feels too average for a # 1 book. And unlike say Justice league, I did not really leave it on a high and eager to read more.

Best Panel: Not too keen on anything really.I guess I will go with this splash page.

Wonder Woman # 1 Review

The book starts with Apollo in Singapore, on a top floor luxury suite, with three young beauties . He is after all "the sun of a king." As a God of Prophesy, he uses the women as his Oracles to see the future. Meanwhile on a Virginia farmstead, a woman, dressed in a cloak of peacock feathers, (the Goddess Hera?), slaughters horses and they regenerate as two evil centaurs. Hermes appears in the farmhouse to warn a petite young blond woman called Zola. That assassins (the centaurs) are out to get her. He saves her from a flying arrow but gets hit and has to give her a key to get the hell out the house. She appears in a room in London. Diana ,our Wonder Woman, who willing helps her because Diana recognizes the key. They end up back at the farmhouse together and Diana battles the two centaurs and manages to get them to retreat. A badly injured Hermes (possibly dying) tells Diana that she needs to take Zola and run. Why? Zola is pregnant with none other than Zeus' seed. Apollo finds out Zeus is possibly up to no good and he is setting up one of his unborn children (Zola's child?) to kill another. Apollo's fiery aura disintegrates his Oracles.

Wow. This book was handled with a light and deft hand. No long winded exposition but enough to know and understand what is going on. The Gods are all different, some plain self indulgent, some brutal, some kind and each has his/her own agenda. Why it's all happening is the mystery. The Gods are all nicely updated. Yeah, no togas but really thoughtful designs but keeping the mythical feel. Diana is the Diana we love. She is in control, she is clearly a warrior, she shows signs of compassion and shrewdness. There is no inner monologue from her that can at times feel so heavy handed by other writers of Wonder Woman . Her actions, her expressions speak for her. She is tall and beautifully drawn and she has that exotic , regal aura. She is an Amazon warrior princess. Zola is diminutive and almost childlike looking. There is a creepy atmosphere captured on the farmstead, yeah...like a horror movie..Azzarello kind knows what he was talking about. The action sequences were top notch and I think one really wants to know what happens next. If I had to critique, it was too short. But we leaving wondering with interest and excitement. What is Zeus up to? How did he even impregnate Zola? Is that Hera and what does she want? Will Hermes live?Why is Diana in London? What is Apollo going to do?
Cliff Chiang's art is almost surreal, dreamy and creepy at the same time.  5 out of 5 stars. 

Best Panel. I could have gone with the fighting but I like this simple one. It says who our heroine is.

Action Comics # 1 Review

Action Superman is brash,cocky, got a mischievous twinkle in his eye and I enjoyed the ride as much as most people.We meet a young man with abilities he seems to have embraced and his passion and idealism has lit a real fire within him to do right. Because sometimes the law is an ass and the poor or the small man does not get justice.

And of course the law can't deal with this. So we see police chasing after him when he tries to do what the law would not do. Clark is a social crusader. He is back to his roots, the Golden Age Superman, who would not sit by and watch bad guys do what they want cause the law can't or won't life a finger. It's a great relief to read after years of a reactive Superman, who tows the line at times, even when towing that line is questionable. He has no Ma or Pa with him to wag their finger and parent him. He's clearly going to learn and grow by getting a lot of knocks. Like we all do. It's refreshing not to see a Superman wringing his hands to be normal or the goody two shoes naive boyscout. The son of Jonathan Kent I always maintained would never be a wimp. He'd be ballsy boy who grew up tough on a farm. Heck, the guy would be a cowboy who would be king.

Lex Luthor and Sam Lane represent the human/government who are not happy about this alien's existence. We also meet Jimmy who is Clark Kent's friend. Jimmy feels less dorky and the dickie bow is gone. Jimmy has grown up too. Thank god. Lois is pushy as usual, and forces her way to get the story because she must be better than her rivals. Nothing changes there. It does nothing for the narrative really in that it's the same old same old. She won't be Lois if she did not get in the middle of trouble, I guess, and it's a way to shove her in the train.

Superman's power levels are lower and he can't fly yet and these abilities we are told will grow in time. So he can bleed. The last panel hits you in the gut. Rags Morales' art is so wild and kinetic. I love how raw and brawny he draws Clark. Get this book. 5 out of 5.


Best Panel:  I was torn between him lifting the business man over his head and the battle with the wrecking ball and the train sequence. In the end I'll go with this one. Says it all.

Review Justice League # 1

Fun comic. Not a perfect one by all means in the sense the writing was not the most enthralling. But it was upbeat and maintained momentum. I think because it needed to keep a certain tone so it can stand up to an all ages rating some of the dialogue might feel a little cliched. I believe DC wants a 10 year old to be able to pick this up and also enjoy it as well as teens and adults. You, therefore, are not going to please the ones who want some intricate book. But still, it was snappy and there were lots of humor and in jokes even a new fan might be able to pick up if all they have seen of our heroes are the movies or cartoons.

I understand what Geoff Johns wants to do and I agree with the idea. Not having our heroes meet each other for the first time and not fall into the cliche that suddenly these very different individuals would suddenly trust each other and have no problems. They should have teething problems and lock horns . They are all strong personalities. With different backgrounds and ways of doing things. We meet the Batman and Green Lantern who definitely like getting their own way and have different methods of dealing with threats. This is set 5 years in the past and is the new DCU's year 1. The heroes have, it seems, been operating covertly or recently gotten their powers and the world is just getting use to seeing them. The reason that brings Hal and Bruce together is a parademon. So we will be seeing Darkseid, no doubt, as the main threat.

Hal and Bruce seems to play off each other well. They can't stand each other and forge an alliance borne out of necessity, not choice. I suspect we'll be seeing DC play with this relationship a little more than the old boyscout Supes and paranoid Batman. Batman seems to have a little more balance in his attitude. He still does not take crap but he's not so anal. Hal is just cocky and acts before he thinks. They both track down Superman to Metropolis thinking this alien might yield some answers to their current parademon concerns. Hal of course thinks with a power ring he can do anything. But the new DCU Superman as we know is not a conservative boyscout. He is tough, brash and rough on the edges as he starts his heroics.

The working class hero meets the flyboy and the aristocrat and what an entrance he makes. Best panel of the whole issue. Supes with a challenging light in his eyes, body ready and poised to take on anything..."So what can you do?" he asks Batman after he blurs at Hal and KOs him with a punch.

Batman we know is just a human in a batsuit (yes that's how Hal puts it) But he is clever and resourceful enough to get Hal's ring off his hand. That seems a little far fetched to me seeing they just want us to believe that without showing how Bruce did it. Oh well maybe Zatanna's dad showed him sleight of hand when he was young. Anyway the next issue is set up as Batman (human) versus Superman ( powerful alien) . So I hope we don't go the same old same old kryptonite resolution. Batman says he has studied Superman's powers. Hmm, so did he get into the Fortress or managed to get some other Kryptonian bodies to study? Seems all a little too convenient and I hope the writing does not go down cliche street and we get Batgod taking down Superman so easily again. Bruce has a mother box by the way he got off the parademon so...maybe he has the very deus ex machina right there.

The art was very very good. Jim Lee is a master with pencils. He gets movement and does the Adonis like physiques so well. Alex Sinclairs colors are brilliant. I want to see how Jim gets these characters when they settle down and we have more quieter or interpersonal interactions. That's more the test to me to see how he gets individual character. Superman's entrance was a fine example of him getting character in one panel.

So I would say 3.5 out of 5 overall but in terms of expectation for the next issue a full 5 because as the team builds it promises to get better and better. And I think kids would love the heck out of this. Buy it.

Best Panel: Superman's entrance

Jim Lee's young Superman is hot!