Superman/Wonder Woman #8 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Tony Daniel (pencils), Matt Banning & Sandu Florea (inks), Tomev Morey (colors)

The Story: If even the best man on Earth can be a bad boyfriend, what hope is there for the rest of us?

The Review: The tendency with writing Superman is to portray him as a goody-goody, such a paragon of model behavior that he comes frequently across as bland and unrelatable. That’s how he inspires both worshipful respect and defensive hatred from people, both fictional and otherwise. In real life, it takes real effort to maintain that degree of goodness, and in the new DCU, with a younger, brasher Clark, the suggestion is that it takes real effort for him, too.

But if Clark’s public virtues are the product of strict self-control, of suppressing an inclination to “punch down” (as Greg Pak always puts it), then we now have opportunities for him to relinquish that control. Such is the effect of the Doomsday infection, unleashing all those mean-spirited, primal thoughts that you’ve always wondered if Clark ever felt, much less repressed. It’s an interesting direction for Soule to take, exploring the psychological, rather than purely physical, dimensions of a Clark gone wild.

Superman/Wonder Woman #4 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Tony S. Daniel (pencils), Batt & Sandu Florea (inks), Tomev Morey (colors)

The Story: Like certain Phantom Zone super-criminals, the truth about comes out.

The Review: One thing you have to remember about Superman and Wonder Woman as a couple is that these two are highly competent and intelligent individuals.  They perceive the obstacles in their relationship, both from within and without, as well as you do, which is probably why Clark strove so hard to keep their hook-up a secret and why Diana repeatedly tries to convince him to do the opposite.  Outing them hasn’t mooted the conflict, only changed its direction.

There’s no mistaking that most of the tension comes from Clark, quite naturally.  After all, in this scenario Diana gets exactly what she wanted (though she later protests she “didn’t want it to be out of our control”) while Clark faces greater pressure than ever to reassure his fellow man that what he’s doing is nothing to worry about.  There lies the core of Clark and Diana’s conflict, one that many couples likely relate to: he cares too much about what others think; she cares too little.

Young Justice S02E15 – Review

By: Jon Weisman (story)

The Story: It stands to reason that a race which envisioned the Death Star wouldn’t fall for a massive planet-destroying spaceship.

The Review: For anyone experiencing early pangs of nostalgia and grief about the impending end of this show, the show doesn’t make it easier by continuing to stick to its high level of excellence despite the doom before it.  It especially doesn’t help when the show manages to deliver not only a respectable episode, but one of the best showings it’s ever made, one that puts all its sophistication, class, and appeal right in the forefront for everyone to see.

As much as I appreciate the show returning briefly to the “Wanted” Leaguers and their trial on Rimbor, the scene only serves as a catalyst for a much bigger and more important development for our heroes back on Earth.  The introduction of WarWorld, with its zooming dissolves and brisk exposition, feels truly epic, the stuff worthy of a blockbuster action-adventure film.  For anyone wondering, this is how you inform the audience of the episode’s premise without forcing them to slog through a long, excessively detailed briefing.

Superman #2 – Review

By: George Pérez (writer), Jesús Merino (artist), Brian Buccellato (colorist)

The Story: If you can’t see it, whip out your glasses!  They’re not just for show, you know.

The Review: While most characters generally survived the relaunch with their core personalities intact, with few exceptions nearly all of them had some tweaks and changes to their continuity.  I’d even go so far as to say the majority of writers have done a fine job balancing tradition with new ideas when it comes to crafting the DCU of the future.  Conversely, you’ve had a few titles where they stick so close to their roots that they come across a little worn and old by comparison.

That’s pretty much the case we have here.  To be fair, Pérez has updated Superman’s character by giving him a little more of a straight-laced edginess in addition to his younger, sharper look.  But in terms of the kinds of stories Pérez is telling, he could very well use the former version of the Man of Steel and very little of the plot would be disturbed.  This flies in direct contrast to the innovative concepts going on in the other icon books: Wonder Woman, The Flash, Batman.

Supergirl #59 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (writer), Jamal Igle (penciller), Jon Sibal and Robin Riggs (inkers), Blond (colorist)

The Story: Nothing like spending the night fighting crime and searching for the one person in the world you hate the most, which is what Supergirl finds herself doing on Christmas Eve—it sure is a wonderful life!

The Review: One of the very fine comic book bloggers out in the webosphere is Rokk Krinn, founder of the Comic Book Revolution.  Being an otherwise open-minded reviewer of comics, he had a massive pet peeve for derivative characters, those spun off from already established ones.  He felt they lacked originality and crutched on their originator’s cast and image.  This meant his distaste fell on quite a number of DC’s galaxy of stars, most of them sidekicks to the big leagues—Batgirl, Superboy, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, and yes—Supergirl.

There’s credit to Rokk’s prejudice, but if writers give derivative characters distinct personalities and motivations, then originality isn’t so much an issue.  People love imitations—tune into any pop radio station and you’ll sense that immediately—but no one loves a copy.  The best imitators use the original as an outline, then spin it into something new.  Sterling Gates has been working to do this since he took over Supergirl, and he’s gotten some good things out of it.

The previous Bizarro-girl storyline was exactly the sort of material Rokk would have hated: pitting an imitation of a hero versus an imitation (a rather weak one, too) of a villain.  This issue features a similar matchup with the Dollmaker, essentially a younger Toyman who specializes in the creepiest of all children’s playthings.  The Dollmaker has a fairly cliché connection to the classic Superman foe, and the full package of misguided angst.  By every definition, the Dollmaker is totally unoriginal.