DC's New 52: Reviews and Discussion (Spoilers welcolme and likely)

Yeah, that doesn't sound good. Simone's Birds of Prey and Secret Six were two wheels that weren't broken, so there seems little need for the radical fix of one and the complete obliteration of the other.

 

I think this origin also gives her parental issues like Batman/Superman. In the case of WW now she is a literal bastard.

 

Sorry, I'm not seeing any of that. I think the book is remarkably well-written, especially given what they're trying to accomplish. I like the characterizations.

Supergirl remains good this month, too. So, is her ship powered by Kryptonite?

 

Justice League is not incredibly well written but I'm glad some of us are enjoying it.

 

Agreed. But I am interested in this french maids book. Does it star Larfleeze?

 

We've been focused on character here, but Justice League does one other thing pretty well: it's remarkable how much it feels like a ground floor arc. The sheer number of continuity references is overwhelming: from the big touchpoints like Steve Trevor to little ones like the staff at STAR Labs (Orr, Charles, Morrow, Ivo) and the little girl who introduces Diana to ice cream (one of the sidekicks from the Icon universe.)

The continuity guy in me really like Cyborg's new origin being so connected to the Kirby stuff (his original origin really was just "crazy dimensional blob"), but I can also see how tying everything so closely together might end up limiting this new universe somewhat. There's already a theory that OMAC is related to Motherbox tech as well.

 

The only thing that I can say that I genuinely like about Justice League is Jim Lee's art work. Top notch Lee.

 

Admiral, right now I find the Justice League to be pretty good. Its establishing the first meeting stuff and its doing it ok. What worries me is if the characters will remain like this or if they will "grow up' when the next arc moves to the present day. That will make or break the book for me.

 

While I'm dropping the origin arc, I'll check back on it when they catch up to the present.

 

I haven't particularly liked the characterization. I feel like they're doing caricatures where they take one trait and maximize to its highest potential, except Barry. However, my biggest problem is with decompression. You can't even call it serialized. Serialization is where you get a complete story that leads off into the next issue, episode or whatever. It's issue 3 and now we're just getting to a real story. That's just bad storytelling.

 

All of this is true.

Additionally, the original Justice League was pretty much a bunch of superfolks with no personalities (which is to say, 1960s-1970s DC standard characters) who "complemented" one another because Wonder Woman's magic lasso could work on yellow when Green Lantern was in a jam - etc., etc. This version is a group of people who have distinct behavioral traits and strengths and weaknesses of character that both make it possible for them to help one another and get on each other's last nerve. Batman and GL, in particular, are entertaining as hell. And the very idea that Superman of all people has a reflexive, male emotional reaction to Diana showing up and kicking the baddies around is marvelous.

 

I also think the decompression really worked in the third issue: the previous issues had "interludes" with the Stones which now get caught up in the main plot; Wonder Woman has an interlude in which she thinks one thing is happening when really it's something else. The rest of the plot, seen as one long cross-country chase that started on a rooftop in Gotham but subsequently sucks up every other potential plot in its path? That's at least a little bit brilliant, and the moment it really gelled for me was Superman one-armed batting of a dozen parademons with a truck. It's breakneck because its supposed to look out of control. I'll take it over tree-demon aliens any day ...

 

Isn't that black canary this time around?

 

If it's Tuesday on Earth-47, it must be Dinah Lance.

 

I was talking to a friend about the changes about Wonder Woman's origin and he turned to me and said "that's interesting, does that mean she now has a vagina?"

I went "..em.. " and changed the subject.

 

I say this as someone who's somewhat a fan of Wonder Woman, I think changing her origin in this manner somewhat gimps the power of her character. She went from being practically the Jesus of her people in having a clean, immaculate, birth so thus pretty much a goddess to being, well, a bastard child.

There's something a bit more nicely mythological and "neat" about her being molded from clay and then given birth by the Gods, now she's just another statistic in the WIC system.

I wonder where/if the story will go anywhere with this new change or if it'll be ret-coned back. I mean this change is tantamount to making Batman's parents still alive or saying Superman is an earth-born accident of genetics.

Changing the origin in this manner pretty much changes the entire character and everything she's supposed to mean. I also wonder if Wonder Woman's more infinite compassion for everyone will come out more. Up until now she's been sort of a ... Bitch.

And... I pretty sure in spite of her (original) origins Wonder Woman always had a vagina.

 

It'll only be retconned back if they go back to the previous continuity. I would disagree about the new origin I think it makes her a much more interesting character while still maintaining her mythological aspects. As mentioned prior it also gives her parental issues. Diana now is a demi-goddess (is that the right term?) and half sister to Hercules who has always played a nefarious role in the lives of the Amazons in the previous continuity. Making Zeus her father opens up a myriad of story possibilities which is what this new relaunch is supposedly meant to do.

 

I don't see how it makes her a more interesting character. There are about 100 million characters out there with parental issues due to their parents producing out of wed-lock after a night of passion.

It was more interesting, to me, that she was something of a more mythical creature. And I think a "ret-con" could be done without having to reboot the comic again. They can try and to change it back by explaining the new story as a lie or simply just shrug and change it.

 

Demi-goddess is probably the right term, but there are certainly half-human characters in Greek myth who are full-on deities: Hercules, for one (although he's made a god at the end of his life) or Dionysus. She's just as mythical now, but her origins are in closer sync with the bulk of Greek myth. The clay origin always had a faint whiff of Judeo-Christian Adam about it.

 

I really don't think they're going to retcon something that is obviously supposed to give Diana a link to the Gods which is what i think the intention of this was. This also makes Wonder Girl...Cassie's origin even more interesting in Teen Titans. We can agree to disagree about the origin. I like it. One of the few changes in the New 52 that I actually do like.