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.

Best panel:  You have a dog? I have one now. I had several in the past. .

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.

Superman #0 Review

This issue focuses on Kal-El's birth parents. And it was really refreshing to read a Jor-El and Lara who feel like characters and less like a plot point. So often we see mainly Jor-El with the council and then him and Lara putting their son in his baby rocket,sending him off and then Krypton explodes. Here we really see who they are. They feel like individuals as well as a couple in love and a real team.

What is science without a little chaos? He should not only be a genius, he's a bit of a maverick that pisses off the conservative elements on Krypton. So it was great to see him written as such. And to see more of Krypton as well.

Even better was to see this strong kick ass portrayal of Lara. This is a first, I think. She helps her husband in his work, is a trained physician but was trained in the military and unlike Jor-El, she is not averse to bloodshed if it is called for.

Kal-El speaks of how formidable his mother was but even togther, she and Jor-El, could not stop the doom of Krypton. The real surprise in this issue was the fact that the story was not being recounted by their son. But it was being witnessed by him. It was a stunning moment to realize Kal-El was there, looking at his parents.

So Kal-El has time-travelled. And what is he wearing? What is his purpose there? Will he meet them at all? Can he risk that? Will he try to help Krypton? With the genetics Kal-El shares with these two people, he would, in my opinion, never just be normal, be it Krypton or Earth. He'd have done super things

I give this 4 out of 5 stars.


Best Panel : I loved the last page but I also loved Lara. I thought of Diana when I read her and I wondered is this why Clark is drawn to Diana in a way? His mother is fierce and pragmatic and kickass like our Amazon.

Wonder Woman # 0 Review

It is Diana's twelfth birthday but like all Amazons, the Princess must present her Queen with a suitable gift so that the day can be acknowledged. Many a young Amazon has been known to fail this task.

 Diana braves a harpy's aerie and takes an egg. She is celebrated for it. Later in the evening there is more celebration and showing off martial skill!

Aleka requests to spar with Diana and after she loses, she sends Diana into a rage by calling her Clay. It takes the Queen to get Diana to stop pounding on her. Diana feels hurt and dismayed at being different from everyone around her.

She gets a new teacher who sees her potential. Brian Azzarello himself. The new version of Ares, War. Athena watches quietly.

War teaches his new protege and they forge a close bond unbeknown to her mother. On her thirteeth birthday Diana must again get her mother a gift and War sees this as a test for her. He sends her out to the labyrinth of the Minotaur.

Diana defeats the minotaur but she cannot deal the striking blow.

War leaves her because she fails him but Diana is left questioning whether she learned mercy from him or her mother. One even wonders if he knew how she would react.

This issue adopted that tone of fun and adventure when comics were written for a more innocent time. The focus is Diana and War's relationship. He is, ironically, the closest thing she ever had to a father figure. The relationship was not explored for long (that is simply the limitation of the medium) to feel any great emotion over their relationship. But one can see War softened up quite a bit due to this child. He could not even kill her. Twice he let her go after she raised her sword to him.

It was refreshing seeing Diana as girl. We see she can be full of mischief, curiosity, be impulsive, rash, kind, disciplined, sensitive...she's very lovable in this. Cliff Chiang's rendering of her is wonderful. Whenever Diana was in tears, I felt her emotions.

I give this 4 out of 5 stars.

Best Panel: The first page. The art of Diana and the intro. Kiss my Azz...haha.

Action Comics #0 Review

 We meet the newly arrived, 22 year old Clark Kent as he comes to Metropolis and takes up his place at the Daily Star. He's keen to start his life as a reporter and Superman.

We see him pal up with Jimmy Olsen and seems he has a crush on the obviously older and well established Lois Lane, who dates "warheroes and billionaires.". While bad guys meet with the younger, brasher and inexperienced Superman,Metropolis via the Daily Planet is learning about its newly arrived hero.

 The story focuses on a boy who takes the opportunity to "steal" Superman's indestructible cape to deal with an abuser. The best scene in the book is when the child stands on the train tracks, wrapped in the cape, believing nothing can hurt him.

The issue uses iconic imagery and moments while trying to update Superman's early days for new 52 readers. None of the ideas are very new, we have seen it all before but the art really makes the scenes pop. It's beautiful to look at.

The back up was about Adam Blake and a guy called Eric Drekken, (Action #5) and to be honest this did not really interest me that much, since we know he becomes a part of the Anti-Superman Army.

I will give this issue 3 out of 5.

Best Panel : That wink.

Cover Page Updated

Some beautiful Justice League #12, #13 and #14 variants added and a gorgeous, kickass Superman #16 by Kenneth Rocafort.

Cover for Second Printing of Justice League #12

This is just breathtakingly beautiful. Perhaps even more stunning than the first cover, if that is possible. There is so much beauty, love and passion in this image and that they are in an embrace unique to Superman and Wonder Woman as lovers truly makes this one perfect. Jim Lee, you hit this out the park. This cover is available on the 26th September.

Another Tony Daniel Tease of Justice League #13

Via Tony Daniel on Twitter

"I love drawing Wonder Woman and Superman."

Diana's eyes are so beautiful and expressive! October can't come fast enough!

Tease from Tony Daniel of Justice League #13

Thanks to the hellyeahsupermanandwonderwoman tumblr for picking this up.Clark is smoldering in that panel and the look he shares with Diana...October, you are too far away!