Review: Wonder Woman #1

 

Wonder Woman  has an image problem.  As an early entry in to the DC Comics stable of superheroes, she’s always been considered, in canon terms at least, a member of the ‘Big Three’ alongside Superman and Batman. DC have always maintained that Diana is a key figure in the company, a core member of the Justice League and a great feminist  super hero icon. However, It’s fair to say that in recent years this ideal has not really applied to the reality of Wonder Woman.

Review: Superboy #1

I’ve mentioned previously that the DC relaunch seems conflicted with regards to origin stories and new readers. Play to the faithful and assume prior knowledge enough to hit the ground running or risk loosing out on core audiences and tell new readers all they need to know from the off? Both approaches seem to have their dangers. Superboy is one of the few books that has opted to go for a straight up origin first issue, and from the looks of it, it was the right choice too. Superboy himself seems fairly radically changed in the nuDCU  (likely as a result of the so so reception of his last ongoing) so the fresh introduction seems the right sell.

Review: Batwing #1

There has been some debate as to how much, exactly, have DC erased with the nuDC relaunch.  Is it a total reset? Action Comics, Detective Comics and Justice League seem to suggest so, offering two early years tales and an origin tale for the team respectively. Books like Batwing, however,  suggest that the reset has affected far less than you might have suspected, and perhaps less than new readers might have hoped.

Review: Animal Man #1

What would life as a super hero actually be like? Oddly, it’s a question that most comic books and writers have little interest in answering. Usually, a series will only be really interested in the dramatic and explosive moments in their lives, leaving their day to day curiously underdeveloped.  One thing I particularly like about Marvel’s latest volume of New Avengers is that Brian Michael Bendis has latched on to the idea that The Avengers aren’t so far away from an emergency service like a firefighter crew and takes the time to show the team eating together and playing poker in Avengers mansion, much like the crews do in real life fire stations around the world. It adds context to their bouts of smashing badguys through skyscrapers, which can only be a good thing.

Closing Time, Ugly Light – Everybody’s Inspected

DC 1938-2011 has closed for business, now nuDC takes over, every one of the 52 featured character properties given equal time in the sun and equal chance to be achieve greatness, or so you’d think.

Review: Men of War #1

Well here’s a book I wasn’t expecting. And by ‘not expecting’, I mean ‘had no idea was even coming out at all’. But that’s partially why this blog was created: to explore every inch of the New-52 and find some new stuff. If it happens by accident, then all the better.

Review: Action Comics #1

How do you go about modernising Superman? It’s a question that’s plagued DC comics for years. There’s certainly a need for it: The corn fed, chisel jawed slab of all American farmboy that is Clarke Kent came about in the forties when America had a sense of moral superiority. Truth, justice and the American way were tangible concepts, almost absolute truths. In 2011, however, America is a country that has sacrificed much of their moral authority and exists in a far more cynical time. The former Man of Tomorrow looks, with each passing year, like the Man of Yesterday.

Review: Justice League #1

Comics continuity is nothing if not complicated. For those on the inside, it means that there’s a rich interconnected world which provides an exciting backdrop for great characters and their brilliant adventures. However, the sword is, as always, double edged. Every detail that enriches the world for fans is another detail to learn for an outsider.