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SUPERMAN & WONDER WOMAN
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Promo Image For New Superman Series by Scott Snyder and Jim Lee
Edit.
Diana will make a cameo, according to Snyder. She might be there for a few pages or panels? and part of the Justice League to give her pov, as part of the Justice League. He is not focusing on anything romantic. Seems Lois Lane will be in every issue and be the one to offer Clark great insights on morality, truth and prinicples and give support regarding his decisions. Will Snyder just show Diana's pov as the hardass warrior who snaps necks? I hope not. Makes you wonder why Clark is dating her in the first place if the writer does not see the relationship as important even as an emotional/supportive one.We shall wait and see.
Superman #13 Review
This is the new team of Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort. The third creative team change since the reboot last year and let me say, finally we have gotten a Superman issue worthy of reading!
Lobdell has approached this with a fearless attitude and has really given us a Superman that seems to meld with the one from Action and Justice League. He is idealistic and yet fiesty. He takes whatever is thrown his way. He is young and sexy and full of passion and god damn smarter than we have seen him in ages. And stronger.
We open with Kal-El at an advanced research facility at the earth's core using machines that allow him to bench press the earth for five days. He is being supervised by a woman called Dr Veritas. She is an Ominologist and she seems to know a lot about our Kryptonian. Who she is , where she came from and how she met him is something I am guessing we might learn in Action Comics. She seems a little taken with Kal-El but he seems more enthused about the fact he actually sweated than having her flirt with him. After he finishes his training, he leaves to go home and get ready for work.
Morgan Edge comes in and pushes Clark's buttons. Clark has had enough. He goes off on a rant and gets himself fired.
It's ironic how no one, not even Edge, pays attention to him. He even took off the glasses during this passionate outburst. Superman was speaking and no one knew. Only one person walks with Clark and that's Cat Grant. Cat's naive enthusiasm is adorable and it would be nice to see her written with more substance. Afterwards Clark wonders why he did what he did but he gets little time to ponder on it as something calls for Superman's attention.
It's a gorgeous monster and Superman shows us he can think stragetically and use his unique combination of powers in a very effective way. He defeats the dragon but encounters his pissed cousin, Kara. While they argue, they are being observed. Makes me wonder if H'El might have some psychic abilities to shield himself or to affect the mind of others.
Apart from the reservation I had with Clark pining, I really loved this issue. It's a great start. It can be looked at as a #1. You can forget those mediocre first twelve issues and start fresh from here. This is how a modern Superman should feel and Rocafort's art is perfect for the sci-fi/.fantasy feel of Superman. Also this cast should really be expanded and not rely on Lois, Perry and Jimmy. Like many of the new 52 books, it feels so short too with all the extra adverts so that is why I will not give it full marks. I give it a 4.5 out of 5.
Best Panel: What a sexy guy.
Action Comics Annual #1
This annual revisits the past and shows us a new foe called Kryptonite Man and we get to see a bit more of Steel. The back up is a story introducing the Atomic Skull. It's an okay issue. Nothing that memorable for me. The only thing I enjoyed was Steel. I really hope we see more of him.
Justice League #13 Review
The issue after the kiss that was heard around the world. Everyone wondered, what happens next? Do they date etc? Well, we start off at the kiss itself. They are in mid air this time, having floated from the rooftop. They draw apart and both stare at each other. Diana seems almost stunned and Clark tries to speak...perhaps to discuss what just happened between them. Diana seems unable to deal with it and she takes off before he could say or do anything else. Left alone, he stares after her, and one could feel the intensity of the moment.
Five days later we see Diana fighting the Cheetah. Diana is trying to get through to her, offering to help free her and make her human again. But the Cheetah does not want that. She is contemptuous of humanity and Diana's naivety. Because Diana is not using full force, the Cheetah gets to knock her out. It's odd she does not harm Diana any further and it does show that the Cheetah is holding out on some odd chance that Diana would join her as an ally. She believes Diana is drawn to violence because of the way she was reared.
Later in the Watchtower Diana, Superman, Cyborg, and the Flash discuss what took place while Batman and Aquaman go to check on Steve Trevor, who looks as if he aged overnight. We learn a bit more about the origins of the Cheetah. Her name is Barbara Minerva and she was the first friend Diana made. Diana also is trying very hard to avoid dealing with Superman but he keeps showing her how perceptive he can be.
We find out Barbara worked with Diana and Steve. She identified and cataloged artifacts in The Black Room at A.R.G.U.S. She was cut by a ritual dagger from a lost tribe in the Amazon and became possessed by the Goddess of the Hunt. We see enormous empathy for Diana on Superman's face as she explains what happened to Barbara. He must understand the guilt she feels when harm comes to her friends.
The League wants to help Diana but she refuses. Not out of ingratitude or stubborness but because she does not want to involve anymore friends into anything that she sees as her problem. Superman requests Barry and Vic to leave the room to speak to her alone.
Diana tries to be all pragmatic but Superman very tactfully and gently tells her that he wants to help and why he wants to help. His expression speaks volumes as well. Diana tries to make the kiss into something that just happened but once again Clark takes her by surprise. He gets her to admit she liked the kiss too but she insists they have other responsibilities to focus on. While they talk Flash and Cyborg stand outside. Barry thinks Clark is mad at Diana because she kicked him in the face in public and he's very curious to know what they're talking about. Cyborg can hear them, even though he tries not to but he does not give anything away. There's a nice moment of bonding between him and Barry and finally some nice characterization to Victor. It helps the reader to relate to the difficulty of being mostly a machine for this young man.
Superman, with the help of Cyborg and Flash, gets Diana to relent and see that accepting help is something friends do for each other. Batman and Aquaman leave Steve who clearly seems to be harbouring some guilt over the way he ended things with Diana. To me it seems clear that Steve and Diana were doomed to end and one can see the clear differences between Steve and Clark in the way they deal with Diana. Steve railed at and blamed her solely while Clark shows patience and empathy.
The team go to the Congo to look for the Cheetah and once there she ambushes them. She is definitely amped up in power and speed this continuity to take them all by surprise. And she shrewdly goes for the most powerful in the group. I'm not sure if she targets him because she senses he means something to Diana as well. I assume because the place is magical and Superman is vulnerable to magic, she could sneak up on him, breach his armor and skin.
This issue was paced very well. And loved the way Johns took readers by surprise and dealt with the kiss and the budding relationship. It is at a stage whereby we don't know what will happen. We know Superman seems to be willing to face what he's feeling but then he is more experienced than Diana. She is very hesitant and she is an Amazon as well. She probably does not want to get close to anyone after Steve and Barbara and Amazons are not exactly known to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Tony Daniel, who took over from Jim Lee, was able to portray the intense attraction and sexual tension between Clark and Diana, as well as do some great looking art. The League are also beginning to act like a team. Finally.
There is a back up with Steve Trevor meeting up with Green Arrow and they are going to start their own team.
I give this 4.5 out of 5 stars simply because the main stories always feel too short and those backups always seem to take away precious panel time.
Best Panel: I couldn't put up just one panel. It had to be this entire page. Clark and Diana are smoldering together. I swear she was going to go towards him. It looks like from her one step she thought about it.
Wonder Woman #13 Review
In the Antarctic a naked, hulking, human looking creature appears out of the ice and snacks on the head of one of the welcoming committee that was waiting for it.
Is it a New God, an Old God, a Titan...who knows? It calls itself the First Born. Meanwhile at Apollo's new Olympus, the 'most powerful' children of Zeus gather. We have Dionysus, a drunk and weak looking War, Sun, Moon, the Smith, and his surprisingly devoted Aphrodite. There is no Hermes or Diana. Athena refused to attend.
Meanwhile at Diana's London flat, she entertains company. The now mortal Hera and Zola are fighting every moment they get, keeping Diana and Lennox busy. We also learn that perhaps the Amazons are not entirely lost.
Lennox suggests to Diana in order to find Hermes she needs to get help. And they can from one of their other half siblings, (yeah Zeus was busy in the twenthieth century too...had seven kids) called Sirraca, who hears everything.
Diana goes to Libyia and we have a little girl who shows her "the place". Because it is a little girl Diana lets her guard down with her. I assume she is Sirraca and she's rather peeved.
I give this one 4 out of 5 stars.
Best Panel:Doing good old stuff like flying and deflecting bullets.
Action Comics #13 Review
This issue weaves a tale for Halloween along with that of a boy and his dog. The main story has some interesting elements that just makes the story of a dog's devotion that all the more touching.
We meet Xa-Du, a doctor who is sentenced to the Phantom Zone on Krypton. Jor-El himself is the one to banish him and Xa-Du vows to get out. There is an interesting tidbit that Jor-El fought the Multitude himself. (the same force that is supposedly coming for Earth as mentioned in the last issue)
The time that Xa-Du was banished to the Phantom Zone was Halloween on Earth and doors between worlds apparently open during this time. As well as the cycle of twenty years for Xa-Du's parole hearing had coincided when Krypton had blown up.
Superman is in his new Fortress of Solitude and he has the Phantom Zone projector among many artifacts he had gotten from Kandor. He does not know what it is or used for. He discovers a crack on the portal and sees paw prints. Xa-Du, who has crossed over, sends him into the Phantom Zone while he plots world domination on the outside.
Inside Superman ecounters many criminals that had been sentenced to the prison and he encounters the Phantom Stranger and Krypto's ghostly forms. He is given a clue how he could battle Xa-Du. He does the "impossible" and reaches out and grabs the suit off Xa-Du, using all his will.
Until he frees himself. And Krypto.
I'll just let these next pages speak for themselves. That includes the backup. Words can't seem to quantify this kind of love.
This gets a 5 out of 5 stars from me because for the very first time in the new 52, I choked up a little. This is Krypto's issue and he should never be parted from Kal-El again.
Earth Two #0
I am not following Earth Two. Only bought this issue because Kal and Diana are in it and had some hopes for some images. I will say we found out there were eight Wonders...Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Catwoman, Robin (Bruce and Selina's daughter) Supergirl, Terry Sloane...and one more. I am assuming this one could be in some way tied to Diana seeing we have Robin and Supergirl, legacy characters for Batman and Superman. There is mention of the Trinity hunting Steppenwolf. We also had an image of the last Amazon with Steppenwolf. Could she be Diana's sister or daughter? We have been told that she is called Fury.
She reminds me of the Female Furies like Barda and Lashina, but then if she was taken, she must have been brain-washed and converted to Apokolip's will. This is will expanded upon in issue #8.
For now I'll just put up some Kal/Diana images.
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