It's Official - Wonder Woman #602 / LOSH #3 and more...

Wonder Woman #602

Last time, we were talking about Wonder Woman #600, her new costume, what was cool, what was not so cool, and how the changes would affect her future.  Last month, a lot of our customers were saying they weren't too sure about #601 and the direction the story was going.

I don't know how long the changes will last, or how permanent they'll be, but I'm sooooo IN.  With #602, the story begins to really solidify, and though a few diehard fanboys jumped off after last month's installment, I am not one to stick to the old when the new is just soooo good.

For starters, it feels a lot like Babylon 5.  I loved Babylon 5.  Until Battlestar Galactica came along, I thought Babylon 5 was probably the best TV series ever.  The thing I hate about JM Straczynski is how long he can sometimes take to set up all his pins before really moving the story along.  That's not the case here - after only 3 installments, the wheels are definitely on and the train has left the station.  The things I love best about JMS are his handling of mythologies and his handling of female characters, and here, he is shining so brightly he's like the sun. 

So the question for most of the hardcore fans is: is this Wonder Woman?

I think maybe the true answer is, "Not the Wonder Woman you've known."  But it most certainly is Diana.

The great thing about this is that it's deconstructing the character so that she can be reconstructed with better materials, and hopefully, with better hope for the future.  This Diana is fierce and smart, and we're getting a front row seat into what makes a legend.  She's learning to wear the mantle of leadership and authority that are hers by birthright, and earning her powers in the process.  As a future queen of the Amazons, she's learning that she needs to be strong, she needs to be decisive, and she will have to make painful decisions.  Not only that, but she'll need to know when she has to act contrary to what she's told while she's waiting to be the one calling the shots.  And she does - though she was told that her first priority was to protect herself, because the Amazons' hope rests in her, she risks her life to save them.  She takes on an army, for crying out loud.  That's heroism.

JMS is defining a character that will, I hope, do away with all the previous arguments.  Is she an Amazon Warrior?  Is she an Ambassador of Peace?  Which side of her nature will win?  In this story, we're seeing a coherent, integrated confluence of the two, rather than the fractured and completely unbelievable character we've been seeing before, when every month when you picked up the book, it was a crap shoot as to whether Diana was going to be kicking superhero ass, or kissing it.

The one problem I am having with the book is the outfit.  I really hate those hand things.  The bracers are nice, the trousers are nice.  But the jacket is so dated.  And then she takes it off.  And there they are.  The straps.  Dear God in heaven, what the hell are those?  They look like ballet shoes gone rogue attacked her arms.  How would you fight in that?  Who the hell ties them on her every day?  Come on.

I know the fanboys are crying foul, outraged that Gail Simone is no longer writing and that JMS is doing radical things with their personal icon.  But fanboys alone cannot keep Wonder Woman alive - she, like the Olympian Gods of old, needs more followers to keep her legend alive and her flame burning.  I think this Wonder Woman deserves more than a chance - she deserves your respect.

God, I've been dying to say that for years.  Thanks, JMS, for finally making that possible.

Legion of Super-Heroes #4

I want to like this more than I do so far.  It's beginning to finally start to fire on all thrusters, I think, but there are still some little things about this series that bother me. 

First, I think Paul Levitz is finally finding the characters.  They're beginning to gel at last into recognizable individuals.  That's good.  I'm not a great lover of fictional swear-words, which used to pepper the speech of the Legionnaires.  I don't know if "nass" was one of his, but the last run had one that I don't even remember.  I do remember seeing "florg" in the new Doctor Solar, which Jim Shooter's writing (and which, btw, is quite good, despite that) - dumb.  I did like "grife" and"sprocking", but the others just sort of grated, so if we're not going to say "Grife, Timber Wolf, get your sprocking temper under control!", then I'd rather we didn't say anything.  Levitz has toned some of that down, and that's good.

Second, I think the story is beginning to come together.  But I have to say, it's been a slow build to get here so far.  I have felt like he was trying to do too much with too many characters, too fast.  Finally, though, it seems that he's sowed enough seeds that they're beginning to sprout and twine toward one another, and join up into something that's beginning to make sense.

But I'm still ... I don't know.  I guess it feels a little old school to me.  That being said, I'm a big fan of the Silver Age stuff, and I actually was one of the three or four people who enjoyed the Birnbaums' run on the book (the grown-up Legion).  But I wasn't a huge fan of the 70's stories, or even the 80's for that matter.  And this feels that way to me.  I know comics can be written with a cool retro feel - look at Astro City.  That's a great take on Silver Age books with a very contemporary edge.  Love it.  This Legion, though, feels a little stuck in old times, and not current.  So I guess I like it, but don't love it.

Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom #1
Now this is could turn out to be a comic book.  Although the B plot is rather tired (a writer whose creations are coming to life), the main part of the story is terrific.

Doctor Solar is reintroduced into the 21st century with great aplomb by veteran comic honcho, Jim Shooter (former editor in chief of Marvel, Valiant, Defiant, and perhaps, tomorrow, THE WORLD).  The character is vintage and storied, from its beginnings back in the Gold Key days to its Valiant run under Shooter's watchful eye, to its reintroduction here as a Dark Horse property.

Without a lot of annoying exposition, Shooter deftly retells the origin story of Doctor Solar - similar to Dr. Manhattan's, from Watchmen - but adds a couple of little twists or nuances.  First, there's a terrible incident in a nuclear plant, from which Doctor Solar eventually recovers - he wills himself to re-form.  He then realizes he can manipulate energy, even time.  He re-writes an inconvenient 8-seconds, and the resulting ripple creates his first nemesis (the aforementioned writer).  It's a good read, opening a lot of possibilities for future storylines - for example, the corporation who owned the nuclear plant clearly knows more than it's saying.  Did they cause the accident specifically to create a Doctor Solar?  To discover if more could be created?  Or did they know what would happen at all?  Will more happen (there are little "pockets" of weirdness cropping up all over)? 

The artwork is only competent.  While Dennis Calero manages to use color very nicely to illustrate Solar's powers, most of it feels hacked.  There were a couple of panels where I couldn't tell exactly what was going on (I think Doc was levitating), and a few where I felt like he just didn't really have much energy for the project.  I hope that changes - this book needs a more stylized approach than standard super-hero fare, and unless Dennis comes to the party quick. I think people might pass on the book simply because the art just isn't there.

Still...  It's an interesting premise - I've always liked this character, and if I had my druthers, Shooter would still be at Valiant AND Marvel, so having him on the book is a definite plus - although I do wish he would forego the concocted swear-words.  "Florg" just does not have the same ring to it as "frak."