Justice League # 3 Review

I have been waiting with bated breath for this issue because Diana was going to make her appearance and Geoff Johns, who has not written Diana that well in the past, really surprised and made me enormously happy! This new iteration of Diana he got perfectly! She is young, strong, and enthusiastic. Fresh off the boat. I love the stranger in a foreign land angle as opposed to the silly she is not human crap. She is curious about her new surroundings and she wants to help by doing what she does best. She is a trained warrior and she is seeing threats that she knows she can deal with. As we know parademons are coming in via boomtubes and kidnapping people and if you know who they are and why they take humans, you know that is not good. Diana is being kept in a government facility and she finally has had enough and throws off her leash. And she makes a stunning entrance.

Why she is there I am not sure but we know Steve Trevor is back into continuity and younger and her liaison.  I expect he fell onto Themyscira but I really hope Diana did not leave to chase after him. Least she does not seem to be crushing over him just yet and he comes across more like a den mother. Anyway, Diana discovers the joy of ice cream. It was a lovely little character moment and she is so unconscious that her sword, which is clearly just a tool to her, intimidates the already paranoid public.

Diana leaves Steve to go and fight the creatures. I bet he didn't fuss about her getting hurt then. Anyway, we see poor Vic Stone badly burned and dying (after being hit by a boom tube last issue) and his father refusing to give up and allow him to die.  The rest of the heroes, Green Lantern, Flash,Batman and Superman are in Metropolis fighting the seemingly infinite hordes of parademons, who all are like crazy suicide bombers when they shriek "For Darkseid!" Yeah, they are bent on death and destruction and I seriously doubt amid all the madness anyone could reason with them. So seeing the boys take them out and try to prevent them from kidnapping innocent people? Go team!

It is sheer pleasure to see Superman in action. The guy is a powerhouse and he uses that power. Enough with the whining already from the people who claim Superman does not kill. First off all, that is an incorrect statement. Superman has destroyed many forms of consciousness ( energy monsters, vampires, robots etc) and he killed Doomsday and was always pretty ready to kill and do other questionable crap like turn time for Lois. So the use of lethal force here is relative. You try not to kill but if you have no choice, you do must do something.  If the parademons are not technically alive, then why shouldn't he cut loose? He sliced off limbs and wings and used his heat vision in a kids' cartoon. Anyway it was funny to see Hal try keep up with him and Flash discover Batman was just a normal guy and not a vampire.

The moment Diana joins the battle with the boys is a classic. They are all stunned at her beauty and strength. Hal, the cocky one, naturally calls dibs. Barry, the well behaved one simply goes "Wow". And then there is her brief interaction with the tough one. He gives her an assessing look and states matter of fact, "You're strong". She retorts, giving him also an assessing look, "I know." The glint in both their eyes signal that something has flared between these two. All Superman Wonder Woman shippers hold their collective breaths. Are we going to get what we have been praying for years? Are we going to see a romance? I really hope so. But I want it to develop organically and no repeat of Action 600 (huge cop out) and just like how sparks fly here...give us more of that. It makes sense. Two strong personalities, great contrasts of the curious new comer who happens to be a royal princess and warrior with the standoffish, rough around the edges social crusader and reporter. Come on DC, make it happen.

We get to see the creation of Cyborg and somehow Vic seems to be able to get a vision of Apokolips and it seems Darkseid senses this. It's quite a nice, teasing shot of an enemy we love to hate.

The battle spills over to the seas and of course we sense something is coming.

And,boy, is it worth it when it does. Just to note that Jim Lee just aces it with the pencils in this. Everything is so damn pretty to look at and that is a plus. Kudos to Alex Sinclair as well. And here he comes. Bold and larger than life and full of attitude. I love the jewellery. He looks like a pirate/explorer, exactly what I expect of a young, arrogant king of the seas.

I give this issue 4.5 out of 5.

5 out of 5 for art and anticipation again.

It just keeps getting better and better. It's entertaining stuff. The only down side is that it feels too short and one has to wait too damn long for the next issue. But that is good, right?

Best Panel: Yes, the double spread of Diana is gorgeous and probably deserves it. But as a Kal and Diana shipper, I reserve the right to indulge myself.

It's the one where everyone else is looking at the retreating parademons and he is a mite distracted and simply staring at her. You can just about imagine the thoughts going through his head.

Wonder Woman # 3 Review

Well, this cover alone was a foreshadowing of what was to come. The clay baby origin has been turned on its head. The so called 'perfect' Amazon birth we learn was a lie. Diana suddenly becomes one of us, even though her birth still remains quite something. I mean, she is now the daughter of Zeus himself. That's not normal but the circumstances leading to it is so full of humanity. Triggered by passion and then motivated by maternal love. An affair with a man followed by a desire to protect the child conceived from that affair. Sounds familiar. What makes it now interesting is that man being the King of the gods who has an insanely jealous and powerful wife. The morale of this story so far is you don't get to choose your family. But does that really stop one from being a hero or what they represent? Not at all. Clay or the daughter of Zeus, Diana is still a daughter of Hippolyta, an Amazon and a brave, compassionate, strong, and confident young woman. It is simply right now it hurts. Hurts as any skeleton that comes out of the family closet that changes everything. At least until one come to terms with it.

Strife continues to be insidious. She is turning out to be such a dangerous and yet delightful foe. Stirring trouble and enjoying it. It was actually novel to learn that not all the Amazons liked Diana and she was called "clay". Again that little detail sort of makes any of us who were teased as children understand how that kind of thing can hurt.

Hermes continues to show that he is one of the few gods, so far at least, that truly cares for Diana and the Amazons. And even amidst all this drama, Zola gives us a light chuckle worthy moment.

Chiang's art is so good and really compliments Azzarello's script. The love scene between Zeus and Hippolyta was so well done as was the almost dangerous glint in Strife's eyes when she said "Lets be." Here we see two beings succumbing to passion. Two equals. Hippolyta's character has always been a woman of strong passions and at times she displayed poor judgement as with Heracles in the Perez origin. This was not rape. It was good old fashioned hot sex that they both enjoyed.

It was a beautifully written heartfelt scene here when Hippolyta explains to Diana why she kept her birth a secret and here it seems Hippolyta even allowed Diana to spread her wings because she understood that she needed to. I loved that. She always seemed to want to mollycoddle Diana and keep her in a kind of gilded cage. But Diana is very hurt. And very angry. She leaves the island, vowing never to return, with her little rag tag group. (It is so funny to see Strife casually stroll with them)  Where are they going to go and what is going to happen next? I can't wait!


5 out of 5 stars

Best Panel: Hippolyta's anguish. What a difference a day makes.