Wonder Woman Got Her Ass Slapped In Her Own Book, But Kicked Ass Everywhere Else This Week

If you read my review of Wonder Woman #17, you know that I didn’t particularly care for the issue. In the midst of critiquing all of the problematic writing and art decisions, I mentioned a panel that really got on my nerves only in passing.  It was this slap of encouragement from Orion:

Not classy.

But while Wonder Woman was busy getting her ass slapped and then not doing much of anything else in her own book (except talking and walking), she also appeared in several other titles in a suitably kick ass fashion with some other great DC heroines.

In Batwoman #17, the “World’s Finest” arc wrapped up with Batwoman and Wonder Woman teaming up to take down Medusa and this huge monster that was terrorizing Gotham:

The issue was gorgeously drawn by J.H. Williams III, and featured our heroines (along with two other gals, Hawkfire and Maggie Sawyer) taking down bad guys and saving the day.  There was no ass slapping whatsoever, just good old superheroics.

Over in Supergirl #17, Wonder Woman tried to talk some sense into Supergirl, who had teamed up with the villainous H’el to try to go back in time and save Krypton.  Initially, Supergirl wouldn’t listen to reason and so they resorted to fisticuffs:

It was an epic fight, beautifully illustrated by the criminally underrated Mahmud Asrar, and ultimately Wonder Woman got the better of Supergirl AND showed her the error of her ways.

Finally, over in Justice League #17, Wonder Woman was part of the team that defeated the Atlantean attack on Boston.  Usually, Wonder Woman is the only gal in the league, but check out all of the ladies in the Justice League reserves:

In this spread, we have Element Woman, Black Canary, Zatanna, and Vixen, and a female Atom shows up later on.  Plus Mera was in the thick of things too.  We went from one woman to seven!!

So while Wonder Woman might not have done much in her own book, she nonetheless had a great week elsewhere and saved Gotham City, Supergirl/the entire Earth, and Boston.  All without ass slaps.  This week, Wonder Woman was your worst Wonder Woman option, really.  Luckily, there were a lot of other fun choices!!

One Year Later: My Top Five New 52 Titles

It’s been an entire year since DC’s “The New 52” premiered, and with a year of new comics under our belts I thought it might be fun to take a look at my five favourite titles, one year later.  Originally I was going to do a Top Ten list, but it turns out I’m not even buying ten DC books right now!!  I’m barely buying five.  So “Top Five” could also read “the five books I actually buy”.  Let’s get to the list:

5) Dial H

Yes, it’s part of the Second Wave, but again, I’m not buying a lot of these books.  I’m very surprised by this, honestly… I assumed I was getting more.  Anyway, Dial H has been very fun so far!!  It’s weird and random, but a good time all around.  It’s fun to have China Mieville doing comics (have you read Perdido Street Station or The Scar?  If you haven’t, stop reading this article and go check them out now!!), and Mateus Santoluoco’s art has been great as he draws a variety of bizarre heroes each month.

4) Supergirl

The story is fun, albeit a little bit slow, but the reason I like Supergirl so much is because when Mahmud Asrar is on his game and can pencil and ink the entire book it’s just absolutely gorgeous.  The dude has skills.  Plus there’s been some cool villains with that weird alien gang and the Silver Banshee and such.  I do like the story, it’s just all about the art for me.

3) Batwoman

I am pleasantly surprised by how well J.H. William III and W. Haden Blackman are doing writing this book.  The first arc was great, and while the second arc went off the rails a bit with the weird time breakup and such it was nonetheless impressively ambitious.  Greg Rucka is a hard act to follow, and they’re doing a really good job.  And the book looks amazing… whether it’s Williams or Reeder or McCarthy, Batwoman’s been consistently beautifully drawn.

2) Batman

This is just a ridiculously good comic book.  Scott Snyder knows how to write a killer Batman story, and Greg Capullo is starting to grow on me as an artist (I like his Batman but not his Bruce Wayne, if that makes any sense).  The whole “Night of the Owls” storyline was great, and that issue where Batman was trapped in the Owls’ labyrinth was just amazing, both in terms of art and story.  Plus Becky Cloonan did a fill-in issue!!  I hope she, and Harper Row, are back soon.  Batman is the best it’s been in years now.

1) Wonder Woman

This is probably not a surprise, but a) it’s been AGES since Wonder Woman was even a Top Five book at DC, much less their best one, and b) it was touch and go for me for a while there with the whole Amazons murdering and raping dudes situation.  However, after the last few issues the book is back on track and firing on all cylinders.  Brian Azzarello is building a crazy, fantastic story and Cliff Chiang is drawing the hell out of it, along with Tony Akins sporadically.  New characters like Hermes and Strife are some of my favourites now, and the reveal at the end of Wonder Woman #12 is just all sorts of fun.  I’m so happy that Wonder Woman is good, and that Cliff Chiang is drawing it.  Chiang makes everything better.

So that’s my Top Five!!  It’s so weird to be getting only five mainline books.  When the New 52 started, my best friend and I picked up at least 20 of the new titles, but we really pared it down over the months.  Part of it was the freedom from what I’d always bought, I think.  I used to buy Batman, Detective Comics, Action Comics, Superman, and some other books because I’d ALWAYS bought those books, even when I didn’t like them, but now that completism is gone for me with the renumbering and the new universe.

Another part of it is the sheer number of awesome new books that came out this year from other publishers.  My budget is only so big, and books like Saga, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, and others have bumped a lot of DC books from my pull list.  I used to get 10-12 DC books and 2-3 books from other publishers, but now it’s around 5 DC books and 7-8 others.

I know the New 52 has been pretty decent for DC in terms of increased sales, but I’m getting a lot less than I used to.  However, what I do get I really like, which is fun.  When I used to get more DC books, I didn’t actually dig a lot of them.  So while I may be a worse customer saleswise, I’m a much happier customer with the books I do get.

Please feel free to leave your Top Five in the comments.  Are there books I’m crazy for not reading?  Let me know.

DC Comics’ New 52 Rundown: What Books I’m Excited For

Even though the DCnU began last week with Justice League #1, the real fun begins tomorrow with the first full wave of new books.  So I figured I’d throw in my two cents about what I’m most looking forward to and what I think might flop.  Going through all 52 titles would just be a tedious read for you all, so I’ve picked out out a few key books: the five titles I’m most looking forward to, five titles I’m not sold on yet but that I’m curious enough to try, and  then five titles that I think won’t survive.  Here we go!!

Five Titles I Am Crazy Excited About

I’m just super jazzed for these books and can’t wait to buy them.  NOTE: I’d have put Justice League here, but since it’s out already I’ll just stick with upcoming books.  Here they are in no particular order:

Wonder Woman: Obviously.  It’s Azzarello and Chiang… I’m over the moon excited for this book.

Batman: Synder’s run on Detective Comics was great, and I’m excited to see what he’s going to do with Bruce Wayne as Batman.  I’m going to miss Jock and Francavilla, but Capullo’s art looks cool so far.

Justice League Dark: I wasn’t totally sure about bringing Constantine back into the DC universe, but putting him on an awesome team like this sounds kind of great.  Plus I love Deadman, Zatanna, and Madame Xanadu, and DC’s weird magical things in general. 

Batwoman: It’s just going to be GORGEOUS.  I’m mildly concerned about the writing, as neither writer has done a lot, but J.H. Williams’ art is just insane… the preview pages are ridiculously good.

Aquaman: Johns and Reis are always a good combination, and no one can start a franchise like Johns… he made the Justice Society interesting, then turned Green Lantern into a must-read for years.  I think he’ll do the same with Aquaman.

Five Titles I’m Not Entirely Sure About But That Look Worth Checking Out

I am less confident in these books, but something about them intrigues me enough that I’m going to give them a shot.  Again, in no particular order:

Swamp Thing: Alan Moore’s run on Swamp Thing is epic, and I really don’t know what else you could do with the character.  But I do know that Snyder is an awesome writer, and that he’s one of the few people I would trust to take on Swamp Thing.  I have no idea what he’s going to do, but I’m curious.

Stormwatch: So far it looks like the Authority plus the Martian Manhunter, and that’s sort of cool.  It’ll be interesting to see how they try to fit that into the DC universe, and how much of the Authority’s edginess they can keep now that they aren’t at Wildstorm.  I can see this one going either way, but Cornell is usually good.

Supergirl: Supergirl is a character I always want to be interesting but who so rarely is.  This new angry Supergirl with what appears to be some disdain for humanity sounds like it might be fun… it’ll definitely be different, anyway.  I really dug Green and Johnson’s run on Superman/Batman, and the art looks cool, so I think it’s worth a shot.

Legion Lost: I find the Legion hard to get into… there’s SO many of them and the 31st century stuff often seems like bad sci-fi, but I think this could be a good gateway book.  It’s only seven Legionnaires AND they’ve travelled back in time.  Maybe this’ll be a good introduction to the Legion for me.

Demon Knights: Hey, another Cornell book!!  Middle Ages magic stuff can either be really cool or really lame, but I’m cautiously optimistic about this book.  I’ve always liked Etrigan and Jason Blood, too, which helps a lot… I hope he talks in rhyme.

Five Titles That Seem Doomed From The Beginning

DC’s said that every series in the New 52 will get at least to prove itself, but I doubt that these books will make it much past that:

OMAC: I know it’s Didio’s book, but OMAC is played out.  The guy has a mohawk, for goodness sake.

Hawk and Dove: Only because of Liefeld.  Apparently it’s sold out, but you can’t have superheroes without feet.

Voodoo: Yay for female characters and all, but have you seen the art?  Basri is a really good artist, but those are some seriously unclassy pages.  I sincerely hope you need more than T&A to sell a book these days.

Suicide Squad: Speaking of which, what’s up with Harley Quinn?  This is the weirdest team-up I’ve ever seen.  I wonder who said “Okay, we’re relaunching everything… know who we HAVE to include?  King Shark.”

Deathstroke: If you’re into comicly large swords, you might like this book.  But I just don’t see how they’re going to make a series out of Deathstroke.  Now a Ravager series I would have bought.