Here’s a picture I made in under five minutes. I hope it makes you laugh.
Archives for posts with tag: DC Comics
Halloween has come and gone again like a murderous curse stuck on repeat or our ham-and-egg existence riding that eternal recurrence merry-go-round one more time for the sake of eternity. I love Halloween. This one (2015) was a pretty good one- candy, costumes, and a few Great Pumpkins. My wife and I attended a pumpkin carving party and she immediately took control of our pumpkin, deciding by executive order that we would make a Red Lantern pumpkin. This continues a tradition we started last year with our Green Lantern pumpkin. It worked out well since we didn’t have all of our pumpkin art tools at the party and the Red Lantern logo is probably the easiest Lantern logo to recreate.
Our friends made some pretty good pumpkins too, but I didn’t take any pictures of them so you’ll have to use your imagination. One featured a cat and the others were spooky in their own way. One of our friends tried to carve about thirty letters into his pumpkin. He gave up after about nine. Some people aren’t cut out for the pumpkin life.
Last year we scored some really good quality green lights for the Green Lantern pumpkin so we tried to do the same with red lights this year. After we were finished with with the pumpkin, I installed the lights in a small display of my Green Lantern toys.
We did acquire some red lights, but they unfortunately they are as good quality as the green ones we got last year. They’re really candy cane lights, not red lights. Now that Halloween is over, I plan to use them in a display of my Harley Quinn toys.
Pumpkins in Georgia are a bittersweet bit of Halloween. On the one hand, people from Georgia love stabbing things with knives. On the other hand, it’s still pretty warm around Halloween here and the pumpkins get pretty gross pretty fast. Once a pumpkin starts to devolve into a mushy, moldy insect orgy, you can feel more confident in your witchcraft.
My wife is adamant that we keep making Lantern pumpkins every year until we’ve done the logos of every Corps, so I’m not too worried about the strength of our marriage. I love Halloween.
The best decade has been great for zombie enthusiasts. Despite speculation on zombie fatigue, great zombie media continues to be released. I’ve shared my love for zombie comics on this site before in in my annual best-of lists and also in the Graphic Novel Faceoff (SIDENOTE: Now that the new 52 is officially over, I’m planning a New 52 Face Off in the coming weeks). Some of my favorite zombie books include Revival, ’68, and The Other Dead. 2015 has introduced some hot new zombie stuff.
DOUBLE TAKE COMICS- If you haven’t had a chance to look at this zombie-filled universe from new comers Double Take Comics, then you should and you can. In fact, you can preview all their issue ones for FREE on their website. They are really pushing the limits of what can be done with digital comics, which makes them pioneers in their fields, but what really makes these titles stand out in the story-telling and dialogues. Having only read issues digitally, I’m really curious to see how their physical counterparts work. As someone who prefers trades and long story arcs, I’m really looking forward to seeing where these comics go because the Double Take universe is off to a great start.
G.I. ZOMBIE- Another fantastically written (and poorly selling) comic from our my favorite creative teams in comics Justin Gray and Jimmy “Mr. Amanda Conner” Palmiotti! Those two are most famous for their work on All-Star Western (Jonax Hex) and they’ve actually ventured into the world of the undead before with The Last Resort. In addition to featuring Palmiotti and Gray’s story-telling, both GI Zombie and The Last Resort feature cover art by Darwyn Cooke (who does not do the interior art in either title), but beyond those two similarities, the titles are really different. The Last Resort is cute, funny, and pokes fun at our tendency as humans to be self-obsessed, detached, greedy, and petty while G.I. Zombie is a political thriller that has its cute and funny moments, but its social criticism is far more sophisticated and biting.
GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT- While Gotham By Midnight is not exactly a zombie comic, it does deal with supernatural mysteries. Like Gotham Central before it, it’s about Gotham cops and it’s well-written, but comparisons can really stop there. Ben Templesmith’s art creates a very playful nightmare to accompany Ray Fawkes’s fantastic story. What I like best about Gotham By Midnight is how the mystery actually means something; without spoiling a great read for you, let me tell you that the mystery touches on one of the most shameful yet elemental parts of US history. While I’m no longer a classroom teacher, I still consider the value of each comic I read as a teaching tool and I’d recommend this one to middle school, high school, and university teachers of US History.
On a somewhat related sidenote, Dan Abnett’s The New Deadwardians is being used in one of Dr. Carol Senf’s classes as a result of my lending her my copy. If you’re not familiar with Senf’s research and you like vampires, I strongly encourage you to check her out. You can find an interview with her here by comics writer and friend of the site Van Jensen.
Back to zombies, I’d also like to encourage all of you to watch the Season 6 premiere of The Walking Dead on AMC this coming Sunday October 11.
Dragon Con was a blast and I felt like the DC Comics and Cultural Studies panel went well. I’ve had a few requests so I’ve posted my paper “Discipline & Punish: Michel Foucault & the Suicide Squad” here. Hopefully I’ll get around to posting my paper from last year some time soon, but until then, enjoy this one.
Yesterday I received the Baby Nightsoil Series 5 Stickers in the mail. This batch is even bigger than Series 4, making it the biggest batch yet. A complete set would include 8 stickers. You may notice somewhat a return to pandas in the batch after exploring other critters in Series 4 and Series 3. This series contains a panda tribute to the recently deceased Hot Rod Rowdy Roddy Piper, a throwback from the Super Mario calendar, and some lovely panda ladies. This series also includes a sticker that will only be available for the next four days while supplies last during Atlanta’s notorious science fiction/fantasy convention Dragon Con, a send up of Jim Jones of the People’s Temple and J’onn J’onnz the Martian Manhunter, founding member of the Justice League of America. If you’re interested in any of these stickers and you’re attending this year’s convention, there are two easy ways to track me down: 1) Go to the Art Show between 3pm and 8pm and look for the most overwhelmingly handsome volunteer which will be me. 2) Attend the DC Comics an Cultural Studies panel on Monday at 2:30pm in Hanover F (the Comics track room) at the Hyatt. I like to trade stickers for art, comics, and pictures of cosplayers.
Here’s a look at the Series 5 stickers in all their glittery glory.
With Dragon Con less than two weeks away, the schedule for Dragon Con’s academic side-con has been released and I thought I’d share it with you here. While some events certainly appeal to me more than others, I’ll likely attend as much of the comics programming as my volunteer schedule allows. Quick observations: The schedule is pretty dominated by gender studies stuff. There seem to be a lot more television based panels than last year and most of the comic book stuff is on Monday. Sunday has almost nothing.
Anyway, here’s the schedule:
Friday
11:30 AM Comics, Trauma, and Psychiatric Disorders (Hanover F Hyatt)
- Austin Hendricks (Georgia Regents University), “Waiting for Heroes: An Examination of Psychological Disorders, Existentialism, and General Strain Theory in Superhero Films”
- Kari Storla (University of Southern California), “Superheroes, super trauma: Is trauma in superhero comics a human or superhuman experience?”
2:30 PM – Game of Thrones: The Dark Time – (M301-M302 – Marriott)
CPAC Panelist: Matthew J. Brown (UT Dallas)
4:00 PM – The Wayfaring Gater and Other Traveling Metaphors (Westin, Chastain FGH)
CPAC Panelist: Richard Scott Nokes (Troy University)
7:00 PM – Of Monsters and (Super)Men (Hanover F – Hyatt)
- Corey Goergen (Emory University), “’It’s [Not] Alive!’: Disability, Eugenics, Zombies, and Frankenstein’s Creature”
- Shanna Early (Emory University), “Are Superheroes Monsters: Of Monsters, Superheroes, and the Law”
- Stephanie Larson (Emory University), “Dial Meow for Murder: The Figure of the Feline in Horror Literature, Film, and Comics”
8:30 PM – Roundtable: History of Gender and Race in Comics (Hanover F – Hyatt)
Comics Scholars: Daniel Amrhein (Independent Scholar), Matthew J. Brown (UT Dallas), Kari Storla (University of Southern California)
8:30 PM – Anime, Manga, and Japanese History (Location)
- Yasemin Davarcı (Ankara University), “1904 – 1905 Russo Japanese War in Historical Japanese Manga”
8:30 PM – Hannibal Fannibals– Horror Track (Peachtree 1-2 – Westin)
CPAC Panelist: Damien Williams (Kennesaw State University
Saturday
10:00 AM – Wonder Woman and Greek Mythology (Hanover F – Hyatt)
- Daniel Amrhein (Independent Scholar), “Wonder Woman and the Reappropriation of Women Warriors of Greek Myth”
- Matthew J. Brown (University of Texas at Dallas), “Love and Strife, Aphrodite and Ares – Marston’s Manichean Reconfiguration of Greek Mythology and Philosophy in the Wonder Woman Comics.”
11:30 AM – Hannibal: Brunch (Peachtree 1-2 – Westin)
Aaron Abrams and Scott Thompson dissect Hannibal’s elegant take on the horror genre
CPAC Panelist: Damien Williams (Kennesaw State University)
5:30 PM – Virtual Reality in Japanese Anime
Panelists: Damien Williams, Michael Bugajski, Carl Dull
8:30 PM – Roundtable: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Contemporary Comics – (Hanover F – Hyatt)
Professional Participants: Kelly Sue DeConnick, Amanda Conner, Laurenn McCubbin
Comics Scholars: Kari Storla, John Flowers, Tini Howard (Cape Fear Community College), Daniel Amrhein (Independent Scholar)
8:30 PM – Sense8 – Is this just another Cluster? (M301-M302 – Marriott)
Panelists: Matthew J. Brown
Sunday
11:00 AM – CPAC Scholars Forum
Topic: Incorporating Comics and Pop Culture in the Classroom.
7:00 PM – Philosophical Perspectives on Japanese Anime
Scholars Carl Dull and Michael Bugajski discuss the philosophical themes in Madoka Magica and Cowboy Bebop.
8:30 PM – Diversity and Sexuality in Comics (Hanover F – Hyatt)
CPAC Panelists: Johnathan Flowers (SIU Carbondale), Daniel Amrhein (Independent Scholar)
10:00 PM – Con Culture and the changing face of Fandom (Hanover F – Hyatt)
CPAC Panelists: Molly Dilts (Pennsylvania State University), Kari Storla (University of Southern California)
Monday
10:00 AM – Comics and Feminism (Hanover F – Hyatt)
- Molly Dilts (Pennsylvania State University), “The “Fake Geek Girl”: Female-Occupied Space and Masculinity in Geek Culture”
- Tini Howard (Cape Fear Community College), “Thinking Outside the Fridge – Changing Comics with the Subject/Object Problem”
11:30 AM – Kelly Sue DeConnick in Focus
- Ahmed Younis (Chapman University), “Comic Feminism: Re-Imagining Traditional Perceptions of Heroism”
- John Flowers (SIU Carbondale), “Captain Marvel and John Dewey’s Theory of Imagination”
Response: Kelly Sue DeConnick
1:00 PM – Comics in the Classroom Hanover F – Hyatt)
- Elizabeth Perkins (Morehead State University), “Teaching Critical Thinking Skills to College Freshman Utilizing the Portrayal of Crime & Justice in Superhero Movies and Comics”
2:30 PM – DC Comics and Cultural Studies (Hanover F – Hyatt)
- Durf Humphries (Independent Scholar), “Discipline and Punish: Foucault and the Suicide Squad”
- Jessica Dambruch (Old Dominion University), “Rev Up Your Harley: Cultural Constructions of Gender In The Batman Universe”
The Suicide Squad have been in the news a lot lately, especially since the release of the trailer for the 2016 film. As I put together my presentation for this year’s Comics and Popular Arts Conference, I’m becoming more and more entrenched in the lives of Task Force X as my presentation tries to place the Suicide Squad within the timeline of modern discipline and punishment as put forth in Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. As I go through the source material, I’m also reading a lot of what people are writing online about the upcoming movie and I notice a dearth of articles written about the movie by people who have much experience with the actual comics. In an attempt to bring comic books back into the discussion of comic book movies, I thought I’d put together a few interesting tidbits about the Suicide Squad as they appeared in the comics.
1. The Suicide Squad is older than the Justice League…sort of.
When the Suicide Squad first appeared in DC Comics The Brave and The Bold #25, they weren’t a chain gang of super-villains, but rather of a state-sponsored group of everyday heroes having not-so-everyday adventures. None of them had any superpowers and none of them had criminal notoriety. In many ways, they barely resemble the Suicide Squad in the comics today or the Suicide Squad as its been portrayed in popular media (Smallville; Batman: Assault on Arkham; the upcoming Suicide Squad film). What connects the original Squad to the contemporary Squad are the memberships of Rick Flag- a character who hasn’t been on the Squad in the comics for a long time- and Karin Grace- a character that, excepts for a few issues in the first revival of the Squad, has largely been lost to comic book history. Still, that old Suicide Squad of scrappy superpowerless do-gooders appeared in the pages of The Brave and The Bold before the Justice League, which made its debut in The Brave and The Bold #28.
2. Those thugs were first assembled to defeat Darkseid.
While the Suicide Squad mostly goes on sketchy espionage missions to serve the interests of A.R.G.U.S. or Checkmate, they were first brought together to defend the planet against the terrible tourist from Apokolips, Darkseid. In his usual fashion, Darkseid has attacked the Earth on many fronts- physical, social, and psychological- which has made ordinary folks despise ‘heroes.’ Superheroes become unable to perform their basic function and villains are brought in to do the hero work. This may remind readers of how Lex Luthor, Captain Cold, and others came to perform heroic feats in the recent Forever Evil storyline when the Justice League was incapacitated by being locked up in the ever-unstable Firestorm matrix motel.
3. They are a group of predominantly white super-powered convicts being bossed around by a high-ranking government official, an out-of-shape and overweight black woman.
In the United States, we haven’t had a black female president yet. We haven’t had a female president and it’s arguable that we’ve only had half of a black president. In our most female-filled congress of all-time, only 20% of the elected officials serving in the legislative branch are women. Only half of the fifty United States have ever elected a black person to the House of Representatives. There’s only been nine black senators ever and only one of them was a woman. Still, overseeing the Suicide Squad isn’t really the responsibility of an elected official, so we can assume Amanda Waller wouldn’t have to campaign for votes. Well… no CIA director has ever been black nor female. The same is true regarding directors of the NSA, FBI, and ONI. Carolyn Payton was black and a woman, but she was just served as the Director of the US Peace Corps which seems like a job that would bore Amanda Waller. Growing up in poverty, it seems strange that Amanda Waller would also have the social connections to end up in such a position. Likewise, it’s not until Amanda Waller is skinnied up in the New 52 that she has any real military experience as part of her background. Sure, the US government is racially biased against black women in terms of promotion and Amanda Waller lacks the necessary background and physical fitness to perform her job, but we find Amanda Waller directing the affairs of the Suicide Squad, literally holding their lives in her hands- such is the unlikely magic of fiction.
Are we finished with ways that the Suicide Squad narrative does not accurately reflect the way racial tribes manifest their power through our social institutions? Worry not, because despite the fact that nearly half (1 million) of the entire US prison population (2.3 million) is black, nearly all of the members of the Suicide Squad are not black or were not black during at least part of their history- Bronze Tiger, for example, or Deadshot who has never been black until the casting of Will Smith. While short-time Squad member Black Adam has black in his name and is literally African, he’s got lighter skin than Betty White. While blacks and other ethnic minorities account for significantly less than whites in Suicide Squad membership, such disparity is not uncommon among super-teams as the superhero genre suffers famously for its lack of diversity. On the other hand, women consistently make up a larger percentage of the Suicide Squad than most super-teams (looking at you, Justice League/Avengers….), which is a little odd since men make up over 90% of the US prison population. As statistically unlikely as the Suicide Squad’s roster would be in the real world, it is essential to the dynamic of Suicide Squad because who is the Suicide Squad?
4. Amanda Waller is the Suicide Squad.
The Wall wasn’t part of the original Suicide Squad from the B&B days- there weren’t a lot of black female characters in 1950s comic books. She didn’t arrive on the scene until the Legends mini-series that introduced the world to the Suicide Squad as we understand them today and she’s been with them ever since. While the Squad certainly has its usual suspects (Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Bronze Tiger, Enchantress, Plastique, King Shark, Killer Frost, Count Vertigo- to name a few), the only constant is Amanda Waller. As a character, Amanda Waller remained pretty consistent during her tenure in the DC universe. She’s operates from some shadowy government organization (Checkmate, ARGUS), monitoring and managing the world’s ugliest secrets. She doesn’t take shit from anybody, even presidents. Her existence is kept somewhat a secret, but she’s got connections everywhere. Physically, she’s short and heavy-set. Her figure distinguishes her from the bombshells that make up most female characters in the superhero genre. Her weapons include the power of persuasion and the ability to circumvent bureaucracy.
Following in the 2011 film Green Lantern, Amanda Waller is portrayed by the lovely Angela Bassett- a casting decision that would have significant effects on the character. While the actress retained Waller’s authoritarian attitude, she did nothing to portray the character’s physical attributes and turned Amanda Waller not only into a sex symbol, but a much more physically violent character. Bassett’s portrayal heavily informed the way Amanda Waller would appear in the New 52, the company-wide overhaul that occurred in September 2011, the same year that the Green Lantern movie came out. In the New 52, Amanda Waller is a former member of Team 7 and actually joins the Suicide Squad in punching up the bad guys. The military background, weapons mastery, and martial arts expertise give Amanda Waller new strength, but at the cost of the original character. While I miss the original Amanda Waller character, I must admit I really enjoyed the New 52 Suicide Squad. The storylines related Waller’s past came across as very fresh, but I wonder if they couldn’t have created a different character- one skinny ex-military bad-ass and Amanda Waller instead of one skinny ex-military bad-ass as Amanda Waller.
5. Belle Reve is the official Suicide Squad prison.
The inductees of the Suicide Squad Hall of Fame come from the halls of Belle Reve prison in Louisiana. Amanda Waller is the on-again off-again warden. The prison first appeared in Suicide Squad #1 back in 1987. It shares the same name of Blanche Dubois’s lost estate in Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire and translates roughly as “beautiful dream.”
I got some good news a while back that I meant to share here. My paper Discipline & Punish: Foucault & the Suicide Squad has been accepted as part of the 2015 Comics and Popular Arts Conference at this year’s Dragon Con. This will be my third consecutive year presenting as part of CPAC. In the previous years, I had the privilege of sharing panels with some outstanding scholars and I’m anxious to see where I placed. As soon as I know the conference schedule I’ll share it here, but past experience tells me that won’t happen for a while. Still, I encourage all of you who will be attending Dragon Con to make time for a few CPAC presentations. Hopefully I won’t be booked at the same time as the parade like I was last year- not that it stopped folks from attending our panel.
As you can tell from the title (and hopefully the graphic), my paper will use the tools offered by Michel Foucault, particularly those found in Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison, to look at one of my favorite DC Comics super-teams- Task Force X aka the Suicide Squad. Loftily I hope this presentation will also offer some insight into the desperate need for prison reform outside the DC Universe.
For trade readers, April has seen a lot of action along the fringes of the Superman meta-narrative. Elseworlds, alternate Earths, alternate timelines, clones, and adaptations- we live in a time of many Supermen. I’ve written previously on how Batman is preparing us for travel through the multiverse and today I’m going to discuss how Superman’s multiple existences in the multiverse allow us to confront and cope with some of our fears- or rather, just one fear: evil Superman. (bad Superman?)
This month saw the publication of three trades that deal with an alternate Superman and each of these alternate Superman are more evil than the Superman archetype. Each of these titles stand among some of the best DC is publishing- compelling stories that twist the Man of Steel into a reflection of the terrors associated with absolute power and nigh-invulnerability.
In Earth-2 Vol. 5: The Kryptonian, a Superman under the control of Darkseid has come to post-Apokolips Earth-2 to bring about a revival of Apokoliptian terror. The fear that our greatest heroes will come under the power of tyrants is not an irrational fear and Earth-2 is full of deceitful authorities coming from all angles.
The heroes of Earth-2, including a Red Tornado Lois Lane, attempt to use Clark’s adopted parents Jonathan and Martha Kent to bring Superman to his senses. This strategy is common when trying to calm Superman down. It seems very natural to us because we believe that humanity is what makes Superman good which is all sorts of problematic, but it comforts us to think that our way of life could keep a god from doing terrible things, which is odd in itself as many comfort themselves by worshiping a god that does in fact do terrible things and swear allegiance to an employer who might not care if they live or die.
In Justice League 3000, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Batman have been resurrected alongside Superman in a morally questionable experiment completed by the Wonder Twins in the distant future.
These Wonder Twins differ greatly from the original Wonder Twins and that can be said for all of the members of the Justice League. Of these not-exactly-cloned clones, Superman falls the shortest of his legacy.
Here, Superman is a sex-crazed blood-thirsty idiot who keeps forgetting that he no longer has the power to fly. This depiction of an imbecilic Superman preys upon the same fear that perpetuates the dumb jock stereotype and inspired so much protest against George W. Bush’s presidency. We are afraid of the stupid and the powerful. Being powerless in the face of mediocrity can feel worse than being powerless in the face of brilliance- here, there is no respect for the fool leading you, no hope.
In Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Two, the story of a Superman driven to vengeful murder and then obsessive fascism continues as more and more DC Comics characters try to make sense of this totalitarian Last Son of Krypton. I’ve really enjoyed Injustice. When it first came out, I avoided it because I didn’t want to read a comic book based on a video game, but when I heard Mike Miller, one of the artists, speak about it at Dragon Con (and then subsequently found a copy of the first trade for $5), I decided to pick it up. Immediately I was impressed at how well Tom Taylor grasped the characters. I should mentioned that Tom Taylor wrote about this fascist Superman and also wrote the Earth-2 Darkseid-controlled Superman. Maybe he has an irrational fear of Superman and his therapist suggested he work through those issues by bringing his fears to their absurd conclusion. In Year One, Superman ended war. In Year Two, Superman must figure out a way to keep the peace. To do so, he needs an army and Lex Luthor has developed a pill that will allow normal humans to rock and roll all night while simultaneously partying every day. The pill even let Alfred beat up Superman.
Superman’s motivation towards absolute rule comes from the Joker tricking him into killing Lois Lane, their unborn child, and the entire city of Metropolis. Superman just wants to keep everybody safe. This motivation creates a very different totalitarian Superman than the classic Red Son where Superman’s drive towards a one-world government-dictatorship is more philosophical than emotional. All these stories of Superman going over the edge really make me want to reread Red Son. In both cases, Batman is there to oppose him. In Earth-2 and Justice League 3000, alternate Batmans prove to be the voice of reason in the face of a radically imperfect Superman.
All of this evil Superman stuff just off the heels of Forever Evil, a storyline than spanned nearly the entire New 52 universe and featured Ultraman, the Crime Syndicate’s answer to Superman, as one of its main villains.
As well as Superman works as a metaphor for absolute good, he also works quite well as a metaphor for absolute evil.
With the release a few weeks ago of Wonder Woman Vol. 6: Bones, Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang’s spectacular run on Wonder Woman is now available in full in trade format. The story, told over 35 issues and a few annuals, is compiled in six volumes each sporting a one word title: Blood, Guts, Iron, War, Flesh, and Bones. I imagine DC will release the run in a more concise form- maybe two volumes? omnibus? In its current state, you’ll want to read all six volumes as it is one complete story with suspense constantly building to a very classy plot twist.
Tasked with rebooting Wonder Woman for the New 52, Azzarello and Chiang made the bold decision to alter her origin story- exposing her origins from clay as lie told to Diana by her mother Hippolyta to keep her own affair with Zeus a secret from Diana and more importantly, Hera, who have demanded retribution for another woman sharing a bed with her husband as is the custom among Olympians. This change to Wonder Woman’s origin story brought forth scores of fantastic characters, a true pantheon of pun-masters. The scripts for this story possess a wit rare in comics or any other medium- a wit that perhaps can only perform in the medium of comics and a wit unabashedly fond of puns.
I spoke at length about Wonder Woman’s introduction to her extended family tree at last year’s Comics and Popular Arts Conference at Atlanta’s Dragon Con. With each issue, Wonder Woman becomes more acquainted with the citizens and standard operating procedures of Olympus. Hephaestus, Hades, Eros, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Cassandra, Artemis, Apollo, Demeter, Strife, War, and a Wesley Willis-inspired Milan are just a small sample of the colorful characters Wonder Woman now finds herself related to. The whole family adjusts not only to Wonder Woman, but other surprise family members come in to shake things up- particularly the one known only as the First Born.
Because Wonder Woman has her hands full with all of this family drama, the rest of the DC universe stays largely off the pages of these books with the exception of regular appearances by Orion of New Genesis (not old Olympus). Readers who follow Superman/Wonder Woman know that Superman’s absence from the adventures outlined in this story has left the Man of Steel with some feelings of inadequacy.
The lack of other DC superheroes is a bit of a blessing. Readers can read this run without feeling the baggage of an entire universe’s continuity. The series has since the New 52’s inception been a title that non-superhero readers could digest more easily than more continuity-rich titles like Green Lantern, Superboy, or any of the Trinity (War or Sin) related titles. Because of this, I highly recommend the collection as a gift for beginner readers. While the book contains a healthy bit of violence, some sexual content, and an intrinsic critique of religion, I believe the book is not only appropriate for young readers, but particularly valuable to a younger audience as it introduces them to Greek mythology as well as sophisticated story-telling elements in a way that’s more enjoyable than formal education.
As the New 52 comes to a close, this run on Wonder Woman will be remembered as one of the best elements of the reboot. Unlike other great runs (Manupaul and Buccellato’s Flash, Williams and Blackman’s Batwoman (especially), Johns and Reis’s Aquaman) that have ended, this series demonstrates a more perfect overall architecture. As I read the final pages, I feel more satisfied as the story came to its conclusion. The only other run from the New 52 that comes to mind that demonstrated the kind of forethought seen here is Morrison’s Action Comics but the creative teams behind both titles approached rebooting two of DC’s biggest titles. I don’t include Snyder and Capullo’s Batman here because their run hasn’t ended (and hopefully won’t end for a good long while)
Wayne Xiao Long (小龙) 