"We are each other's shelter from the storm."
SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #6
One day I walked into a library and my eyes fell on a book called Kingdom Come. I picked it up and to my surprise it was a comic book...or rather as I later learned, a graphic novel. But I saw beautifully painted panels and heroes that I recognized from my childhood who seemed ...well, grown up. I borrowed that book and I was moved and fascinated by, not only the story of men and women who are great heroes, but by they way they showed their humanity. They suddenly were not two dimensional people who just fought bad guys. They were deeply complex. I love books and reading on the whole and I guess getting into the comic genre as an adult woman was a case of serendipity. It led me to finding DC comics and the heroes I grew up with on TV and saw in movies and newsprint. It led me to finding Clark Kent or as he is known by his other name, Kal-El, and Princess Diana. I fell in love with them and am obsessed with all things Amazonian and Kryptonian now. I love their relationship. I love what they stand for. I love the contrasts of the princess/farmer's son; reporter/ambassador; pragmatic warrior/idealistic protector and empathetic teacher/enforcer of justice. A girl born of the earth and a boy who fell from the sky. The first daughter of Themyscira and last son of Krypton. And it surprised me to find that there were many fans like me, who adore them too.
DC rebooted their universe in 2011 and my favorite pairing is now canon!!! Yay.
Disclaimer : Superman and Wonder Woman are the property of DC comics.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Justice League #7 Variant Cover
By Gary Frank. Diana looks gorgeous. Kal:uniform looks good but his face! Yikes. Frank needs to try and stay away from Chris Reeve for a young 2012 Superman. The face looks old and the smile a bit creepy. The good thing about this: our couple, they look like they could be holding hands.
Action Comics #6 Review
We open with a creepy, little man offering the anti-Superman army or the K-Men, as they call themselves, splinters of the various kryptonite isotope that was stolen from Superman's baby rocket. It is the power source of the rocket, by the way, and the same K-Men who are demanding the kryptonite now apparently were the ones who stole it in the first place. Yep, this is going to be a trippy issue where we time travel quite a bit. Creepy, little man wants these guys, who are salivating for vengeance against Superman, to do him a favor.
We see Superman who has gone back in time ( five years) with the Legion. They are hanging out in Superman's first Fortress of Solitude, Brainiac's ship. Seems the kryptonite isotope has been torn out of the rocket. Well, we know it is the K-Men who did it. Saturn Woman, Lightning Man and Cosmic Man try to save the rocket from dying. While doing this they realize they are not alone.
They are attacked by a huge octopus, who really is a man by the name of Erik Drekken, who has the power to evolve and devolve his genetic material, and who was part of the Anti-Superman army. There is a big fight and eventually Saturn Woman finds out where the power source to the rocket is.
Yeah, a microscopic, hollow, lead bullet with the kryptonite isotope and a tessaract space (this is 31st century technology :it is a small space that can hold large amounts of storage) with the creepy, little man and the anti-Superman army was shot inside Superman's brain. We cut to the past when Clark meets the Legion as a boy and a really lovely moment with him and Pa Kent. I am assuming these are Superman's memories bubbling up since the pellet is causing some pressure in his head. The Legion goes into Superman's brain to face the villains and try to get back the kryptonite via a time bubble and using a tessaract key they took off Drekken. They face off with creepy little man and the K-Men.
There is a battle in Superman's brain and the Legion are about to take the kryptonite isotope, when creepy, little man opens the lead lined box in an effort to kill Superman. Note that creepy, little man seems to have almost magical powers. Superman fights the radiation and Drekken on the outside. He remembers important words said to him by his father and this gives him the will to not give in. Inside Superman's brain creepy, little man causes the kryptonite to tear apart. He disappears and only the green crystal remains while the other fragments vanishes as well. The Legion manage to retrieve it while Superman overwhelmed by the radiation from inside him uses his own body to power the dying rocket, which in turn saves him from Drekken. The Legion come out of his brain bearing the green crystal and they are able replace the power source. Superman is taken back to the future or rather his present. He just needs rest and sunlight and time to heal. The Legion reaffirm their commitment to the earth and him. We then go to the back up story.
It is a lovely little story of Clark's last day in Smallville. His parents have passed and he has chosen to move on and go to Metropolis to be a reporter. He is seen off by Lana and Pete. We see flashbacks of him with his parents and his two best friends and what's great to see is that these people are so important in shaping the man he would become. One person alone can never do that or ground you. Life and people in your life do that.
It was refreshing to see Lana especially (and Pete) written so well and how great a childhood Clark did have despite the challenges of his powers. Clark comes across as well adjusted and motivated because he had people who loved and understood what he needed to do.
I do love this panel of him and Lana just sitting up on the barn with sunflowers surrounding them. I hope Clark, while he goes to the city and plays hero and reporter, never forgets his roots. That he does not need a Ma and Pa alive to value that.
If you are a new reader to Superman you will be entirely lost. The way it is written with the jumps in time and allusions to what happened in the past and future makes it jarring. Since we left jeans and cape wearing Clark, Action's pacing has been a bit chaotic. Morrison is jumping all over the place. Half of these people I do not know. Who is little creepy man with magical powers? Who are those people on the anti-Superman army? Are they past villains Morrison revamped? They keep dropping names and events that's to come when we have not even tied up the Brainiac arc. I am assuming what happens here will tie in somewhere down the line but really that does not help while reading this. I did enjoy seeing the tough, current day Superman and the part where he used his own body to save his rocket was poignant. This seems more consistent with how he has been in Action and Justice League than what I read in the lackluster Superman title.
Anyway again for pacing and the disjointed feel...though on reading a couple of times...things do seem a little clearer and some really good stuff to refine the mythos is explored here...I give this 3 stars out of 5.
Best Panel: I love this image of Clark taking the bull down while Pa supervises. I love that rawness and real earthiness we are seeing. A farmer's son with a galactic inheritance would be tough.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Superman # 5 review
So the boring story line continues. Truly, this arc simply regurgitates the art and pacing from the former issues. In a nutshell, Superman is out of commission elsewhere and the elemental creatures are reabsorbed by someone who looks like Superman. He spends this issue undoing the good will that he built up with the citizens of Metropolis by going around and taking the law into his own hands and destroying any elements he thinks might affect the peace and harmony of Metropolis. Of course, he causes chaos and stresses out his friends and supporters and gets the military pissed.
We see Lois. On the phone. Again. Or watching behind a computer. In fact, like all four issues, she and the press keep following Superman around and it is fricking annoying. I know modern media uses phones and computers and videos to get events in real time but for crying out loud, can the readers just be allowed to follow the story and our hero without that annoying exposition of the press??? Is this book staring Superman or the press?
The supporting cast just gather in offices again as the people on the street to hold their heads in consternation. You know, they have to tell us stupid readers what is going on. They are like this idiot in the helicopter... an annoying fly you want to swat away. The press can hear Superman speak now. What the hell?
Anyway Superman goes and takes out Titano and what was left of the Terminauts etc. Oh yeah, Superman is a big bad killer now and you know that is not going to go down well.
Another prime example of wasted pages. Lois again stressing before a computer over Superman or Clark since Perez has been inferring she might know he is one and the same. Let me tell you there are pages like this spanning all 5 issues. I wonder Nicola Scott or Merino had anything challenging to really draw with regards to Lois. And what the hell? Is Jimmy Olsen fourteen years old?
So Superman crosses the line and Lois screeches. Once again...we are being treated to a format of story-telling that is very clunky and redundant. And the real kicker? This is not Clark/Superman. So we invested in several issues to find out this Superman is an imposter. Real Clark is floating somewhere in space looking as if he is fourteen years old as well. Nicola Scott's Superman is inconsistent.
George Perez, you are one of my favorite artists and I appreciate you want to raise relevant themes in the new reboot. The way Superman would not be trusted so easily in a modern, paranoid world post 9/11 and the role of the media and you even want to try to make Lois a focus point and even hint that she and Clark have something so special, even though we have just started the reboot. It is not working. Not in the way you have told this story so far. You have told us...in a heavy handed way but not shown us anything to make me care. I have learned very little about what drives Clark and Superman five years later (at least, compared to Action and Justice League) and I frankly don't care for him or what happens to him. You cannot world build based on old canon. This is a new reboot. Just because Lois hooked up with Clark then does not automatically mean we will buy they belong together when their personalities and histories are so different. That is lazy. If DC wanted to stay with old Superman and old dynamics...they never should have rebooted. We have elemental monster villains that frankly were a waste of 3 issues. They have added nothing to the world of Superman. A hero is measured by a good villain. Where is Heather in all this? Why is Jimmy drawn and written so poorly? Why is Perry so watered down? Who the hell are the rest of the Daily Planet crew and do we really care? Too much Lois pandering and too less world building and not enough of the energetic, charismatic and tough new 52 Superman.
I give this 2 stars out of 5.
Best Panel. : General Lane making his stance clear. Can you blame him? He's an ass, yes, but then Superman seems a bit of an idiot as well. What you sow you reap.
Justice League #5 Review
Flash is the first to wake from the destructive force of Darkseid's entrance. Now don't ask me how someone like Batman survives this. Once again we just have to buy he does not get squished to a pulp. Anyway Flash sees the mighty Darkseid for the first time and what the beams from his eyes can do and he is close to wetting his pants. He calls to the others for help.
Superman is up and he's rearing to go. "I'm up. But not to talk." Nice. Love this 'bring it' attitude Geoff Johns is giving him. Darkseid is ready for them both and Flash grabs Superman so they can get out of the way of a pair of omega beams.
Once again Jim Lee excels with the Flash and Superman panels. It is almost like a race while the two heroes try to out run the omega beams. These two share some good chemistry. It is fun to see Geoff build the dynamic between group members. We already know Barry and Hal are close and pre-reboot it was always Clark and Bruce. But as we will see later...we might be getting some slight variations. Anyway, these guys cannot outrun the omega beams, as rightfully no one should really. Flash manages to vibrate through a parademon and it takes the hit. Superman is not so lucky. He is captured and taken away. Flash regroups with the others who finally wakes up and informs them what happens. Of course, Green Lantern, cocky as usual, decides to rush in. He is severely punished by Darkseid.
He gets tossed around like a rag doll, his constructs are easily destroyed, his hand is broken and he still shows no sign of backing down. He shows how fearless he is but also how impulsive. Batman has to intervene and try to reason with him; that they need a strategy because this is an enemy they couldn't beat that easily. This is where this issue sort of goes off the rails. We already had Green Lantern rushing in and taking up panel time (god knows why the others are standing watching him) and then we have him and Batman take up more pages. Hal is trying to be all martyr-like and heroic and Batman is trying to convince him that they are alike as they are 'normal' and he knows how he feels. Oh, for crying out loud. Batman even unmasks. Huh? The only thing that makes this remotely passable was Hal's response.
Now I get they want to make Bruce be the focused and shrewd one and less like a paranoid jerk but come on, he just met the guy! Also why does Batman unmasked look like Superman? This is where Jim is very weak when drawing faces. Batman unmasking is weird enough, but he pulls off his cape and the bat symbol off his chest too. "This is bigger than you and I," he says and off he goes. Excuse me? Anyway this took nine pages. Counting from the time Hal rushed in. In a book that has 20 pages of story.
Green Lantern goes to the others. Don't ask me what they were doing while he and Batman were having a heart to heart. They decide they will follow Darkseid. Wonder Woman gets to speak twice. Wow. She got one up over Aquaman. Anyway, she thinks they should blind Darkseid. Geoff could only make up for wasting her so far by actually making her do that somehow in the next issue. Green Lantern jabbers on and takes charge. Batman, meanwhile, gets himself picked up by a parademon as a rouse to get to Superman. He manages to use his human skull to hit a parademon in the head too and bring it down. Good grief. He ends up before a portal.
Yes, he finds himself on Apokolips.
This issue unfortunately did not build well upon the last strong one. Cyborg, Wonder Woman and Aquaman were wasted. This was the Green Lantern and Batman show. This is a team book, is it not?
I give this issue 3 out of 5 stars. It would have gotten less but Darkseid is a badass and the art was pretty good and there were some fun moments. And let me rant a bit. I am pretty fed up of the 8 pages that are wasted on designs and adverts. Those could be used for, oh I don't know...the story???!!!!
Best Panel: Flash and Superman on the run.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The Super Friends
Now who thinks that the girls are focusing on the reader than the story? Though, Robin's look is a little suspect. Diana is probably thinking ...mmm, Kal smells so good.
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