Tpull's Weekly DC Comics Review – Part 1

February 6, 2010 3:10 AM | Comments:

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman 3

by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott

We end this mini-series with a good deal of closure. Dianan has some good insight into the workings of the purple ring, pointing out that the ring is a place-holder for the others; the rings find people who have the capacity for great love, but do not have that love with them. Max Lord is back, but he doesn’t have much of a chance against Diana now that she is also a ring-bearer. Nicola Scott delivers the goods for both a sexy Wonder Woman and a rage-filled, blood-spewing Mera.

One point in the story has caused a big deal of confusion among readers. When Diana uses the lasso of truth on Mera, we see two big “reveals.” One is that Diana has very strong feelings for Bruce Wayne. There is precedent for this, as Joe Kelly had a quick fling of sorts between them, and Rucka was writing the Wonder Woman title at the time. Rucka played along with the idea and had her and Batman together a couple of times with scenes that hinted at the tension/awkwardness of their tentative feeling out of each other. This was after we had already seen a future in Kingdom Come where Wonder Woman was married to Superman. A lot of current fans are not aware of this, perhaps because it was so brief. It wasn’t the best plotline, but it was there.

Given all the love Diana evidently has for everyone in the entire universe, there is actually potential for her to fall in love with almost anyone. Wonder Woman’s words make it murky, though, as she says, “…there was nothing that ever needed saying. And even if there had been… it’s too late for that, now.” It sounds as if she doesn’t know her own heart, or even after the truth has been revealed through the lasso/ring combination, she is still trying to deny it. Having read it all and seen it all, I would say that this one moment did more to convince me she might truly be attracted to Bruce than all of the attempts by anyone before now.

However, there is another way to interpret what Diana said. “…there was nothing that ever needed saying.” She might also be hinting that their true feelings for each other were equally known between the two of them, such that it never needed to be said out loud. We’ll have to leave it to the writers when Bruce returns and has some alone-time with Diana to see how it all plays out in the future. It is worth remembering that another Star Sapphire showed Kyle his true love, and he saw Jade, while Soranik saw Kyle, and thought that Kyle saw her. The purple rings have the ability to show you your true love, but the addition of the magic lasso created a two-way link that also allowed each person to see what the other saw as well. So far all intents and purposes, I have to believe that Rucka is well and truly trying to set something up between Diana for Bruce. Whether Bruce feels the same way towards her is a different story.

As an aside, all of the havoc that DC writers have introduced into the love lives of these two has been utterly inconsistent and made for disappointing reading. Wonder Woman had a love that defied death itself with Steve Trevor, but an editorial decision removed that. Then we had to put up with a sudden romance with Batman that went nowhere fast, and a nonsensical relationship with Nemesis over in Diana’s main title that really was revealed to be that she wanted to breed to have another little female Amazon. Batman is worse, having this wrench thrown right into the middle of his other relationships. This was part of the reason that Grant Morrison’s Black Glove storyline fell flat for me, this idea that Bruce had fallen so deeply in love with Jezebel Jet, somebody from out of nowhere. Then he was dallying around with Zatanna, all while another writer was claiming his heart belonged to Selina Kyle. So which is it? I understand different writers may want to explore relationships that their characters have, but DC editorial should have some sort of ranking order to let us know who his true love is, even if he’s with somebody else at the moment. Is Selina his soulmate? Or Diana? Or Talia? The problem is that there is no consistency, and different writers contradict each other every other month, and this is even while Bruce is thought to be DEAD by everyone else! It ruins any chance for the reader to believe in his emotions, and the same goes for Diana.

The second “reveal” concerns Mera, who was on the other end of the lasso/ring truth whammy. The montage shows Black Manta, next to Mera’s son in a water bubble, followed by her attacking Black Manta, followed by her standing over a sleeping Aquaman. This has led to a ton of rumors, including the idea that Mera had an affair. That doesn’t read right to me. What happens is that Diana senses more than the normal rage that a Red Lantern would feel. That rage is usually directed outwards, but Diana uses her magic lasso and the purple ring to get to the truth. What Diana sees is that Mera hates… herself. And it involves something she never told Arthur.

Since Green lantern #50 takes place after this issue, and Mera reveals that she “never wanted children,” that could indeed be the answer. However, Mera may not have been very honest at that moment, overtaken by rage as she was. While Diana expresses the thought that it is too late for her to do anything about her situation with Bruce, it might not be too late for Mera. Does that mean Diana thinks Arthur can be brought back to life? Or does it simply mean that Mera will have a chance to heal from her self-hatred? Either way, there might be more to this mystery. It could be revealed by the end of Blackest Night, or it might be settled later, with the writers having plans for Mera’s story after this.

The actual montage brings to mind the death of Gwen Stacy, actually, and the neck-snap that chilled us to the bone. Did Mera fashion a hard water barrier to protect her son, and it somehow backfired and played a role in their son’s death? Was all the anger she directed at Arthur, blaming him for the death of their son, misdirected rage, trying to deflect guilt away from herself? Could this little fact that she could not bring herself to tell Arthur the truth of her own guilt the thing that makes her hate herself today? It is obvious from the montage of her kissing Arthur that he is the true love of her life, so an affair makes zero sense. Hopefully we’ll find out in the next couple of BN issues if there is anything more to reveal, or if the secret is simply the fact that she never really wanted a child in the first place.

After all of that, there is considerable backlash from fans who think that Mera stole the show, and this was really an excuse to use Wonder Woman’s name to give Mera a Blackest Night mini-series. I can’t complain that much. I liked the story, I liked the art, and I liked the interaction. I really appreciate Mera getting some decent screen time for a change, and the prospect of a little mystery regarding Diana’s true love and Mera’s secret has piqued my interest. Not bad for a three issue series.

The Question 37

by Dennis O’Neil, Greg Rucka, and Denys Cowan

Our next Blackest Night tie-in brings back the original Question, with some interesting art by Cowan, who gives us a lot of line-work, but in a splotchy way, alternately showing us some pretty tight work, and others using a ton of hashes to exaggerate what could be rendered more simply. It feels right for the mood of the Question, though.

Shiva has shown up to challenge Renee Montoya, to judge her worthiness as the new Question, and Charles Szasz shows up as a Black Lantern to attack everyone. They come up with an innovative way to beat the Black Lantern. They don’t defeat him, but they do survive by turning invisible to his senses. They manage to empty themselves of all feeling, leaving nothing for the undead Lantern to feed off of. They simply don’t register in his radar anymore, even standing right in front of him.

Considering how deadly powerful and frighteningly regenerative these creatures are, I’m actually impressed with all of the different ways all the DC writers have come up with for stopping/killing/thwarting the Black Lanterns. It is yet another reason why the Blackest Night event is so much better of a read than any other event (Siege, for example, is really just a big slugfest and that’s it). This was one of the better “resurrected” series for the event.

The Great Ten 4

by Tony Bedard and Scott McDaniel

Thundermind reveals that their opponents are counterfeit gods: they believe they are the real deal, but they have none of the complex thoughts of a true high-order being, and Thundermind would be able to tell. We then switch to focus on Immortal Man-In-Darkness. We learn his origin, and learn that there is an entire squadron of men who assume the role of this persona, because each flight takes a year off of the pilot’s lifespan. The dude volunteers to join up anyway! That’s dedication. He stays even when one of the other pilots gets out of the ship and melts - disintegrates almost - in his arms.

The ship, Dragonwing, has some intelligence, and does not want to attack one of the enemy, because of a sense of kindred. Once he has Dragonwing scan for alien DNA, we have confirmation they are pretender deities. We also learn that there are a ton of sister-ships, ten in all, that can be called to fight. Does this mean the pilot squadron consists of ten men, or is there a larger squad, another man ready to take over for each of the ten pilots? It’s also a little dreadful to see our current main Immortal cough up some blood at the end, letting us know his time may be up soon. It reminds me a little of Strikeforce: Morituri.

I may have criticized McDaniel’s art as not being the best choice for showcasing these new characters, but I really enjoyed it here. Whether it’s because the story was just so awesome, or because his style really helped to bring out the story, I can’t tell. But this was my favorite issue so far, and it has made me glad I picked up the series.

If there are one or two more issues in here this good, that means this will be a worthwhile trade to get later. I’ll let you know as I go along!

Tpull is Travis Pullen. He started reading comics at 5 years old, and he can't seem to stop.

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman 3 \n\n by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott \n\nWe end this mini-series with a good deal of closure. Dianan has some good insight into the workings of the purple ring, pointing out that the ring is a place-holder for the others; the rings find people who have the capacity for great love, but do not have that love with them. Max Lord is back, but he doesn’t have much of a chance against Diana now that she is also a ring-bearer. Nicola Scott delivers the goods for both a sexy Wonder Woman and a rage-filled, blood-spewing Mera.\n\nOne point in the story has caused a big deal of confusion among readers. When Diana uses the lasso of truth on Mera, we see two big “reveals.” One is that Diana has very strong feelings for Bruce Wayne. There is precedent for this, as Joe Kelly had a quick fling of sorts between them, and Rucka was writing the Wonder Woman title at the time. Rucka played along with the idea and had her and Batman together a couple of times with scenes that hinted at the tension/awkwardness of their tentative feeling out of each other. This was after we had already seen a future in Kingdom Come where Wonder Woman was married to Superman. A lot of current fans are not aware of this, perhaps because it was so brief. It wasn’t the best plotline, but it was there.\n\nGiven all the love Diana evidently has for everyone in the entire universe, there is actually potential for her to fall in love with almost anyone. Wonder Woman’s words make it murky, though, as she says, “…there was nothing that ever needed saying. And even if there had been… it’s too late for that, now.” It sounds as if she doesn’t know her own heart, or even after the truth has been revealed through the lasso/ring combination, she is still trying to deny it. Having read it all and seen it all, I would say that this one moment did more to convince me she might truly be attracted to Bruce than all of the attempts by anyone before now.\n\nHowever, there is another way to interpret what Diana said. “…there was nothing that ever needed saying.” She might also be hinting that their true feelings for each other were equally known between the two of them, such that it never needed to be said out loud. We’ll have to leave it to the writers when Bruce returns and has some alone-time with Diana to see how it all plays out in the future. It is worth remembering that another Star Sapphire showed Kyle his true love, and he saw Jade, while Soranik saw Kyle, and thought that Kyle saw her. The purple rings have the ability to show you your true love, but the addition of the magic lasso created a two-way link that also allowed each person to see what the other saw as well. So far all intents and purposes, I have to believe that Rucka is well and truly trying to set something up between Diana for Bruce. Whether Bruce feels the same way towards her is a different story.\n \nAs an aside, all of the havoc that DC writers have introduced into the love lives of these two has been utterly inconsistent and made for disappointing reading. Wonder Woman had a love that defied death itself with Steve Trevor, but an editorial decision removed that. Then we had to put up with a sudden romance with Batman that went nowhere fast, and a nonsensical relationship with Nemesis over in Diana’s main title that really was revealed to be that she wanted to breed to have another little female Amazon. Batman is worse, having this wrench thrown right into the middle of his other relationships. This was part of the reason that Grant Morrison’s Black Glove storyline fell flat for me, this idea that Bruce had fallen so deeply in love with Jezebel Jet, somebody from out of nowhere. Then he was dallying around with Zatanna, all while another writer was claiming his heart belonged to Selina Kyle. So which is it? I understand different writers may want to explore relationships that their characters have, but DC editorial should have some sort of ranking order to let us know who his true love is, even if he’s with somebody else at the moment. Is Selina his soulmate? Or Diana? Or Talia? The problem is that there is no consistency, and different writers contradict each other every other month, and this is even while Bruce is thought to be DEAD by everyone else! It ruins any chance for the reader to believe in his emotions, and the same goes for Diana.\n\nThe second “reveal” concerns Mera, who was on the other end of the lasso/ring truth whammy. The montage shows Black Manta, next to Mera’s son in a water bubble, followed by her attacking Black Manta, followed by her standing over a sleeping Aquaman. This has led to a ton of rumors, including the idea that Mera had an affair. That doesn’t read right to me. What happens is that Diana senses more than the normal rage that a Red Lantern would feel. That rage is usually directed outwards, but Diana uses her magic lasso and the purple ring to get to the truth. What Diana sees is that Mera hates… herself. And it involves something she never told Arthur.\n\nSince Green lantern #50 takes place after this issue, and Mera reveals that she “never wanted children,” that could indeed be the answer. However, Mera may not have been very honest at that moment, overtaken by rage as she was. While Diana expresses the thought that it is too late for her to do anything about her situation with Bruce, it might not be too late for Mera. Does that mean Diana thinks Arthur can be brought back to life? Or does it simply mean that Mera will have a chance to heal from her self-hatred? Either way, there might be more to this mystery. It could be revealed by the end of Blackest Night, or it might be settled later, with the writers having plans for Mera’s story after this.\n\nThe actual montage brings to mind the death of Gwen Stacy, actually, and the neck-snap that chilled us to the bone. Did Mera fashion a hard water barrier to protect her son, and it somehow backfired and played a role in their son’s death? Was all the anger she directed at Arthur, blaming him for the death of their son, misdirected rage, trying to deflect guilt away from herself? Could this little fact that she could not bring herself to tell Arthur the truth of her own guilt the thing that makes her hate herself today? It is obvious from the montage of her kissing Arthur that he is the true love of her life, so an affair makes zero sense. Hopefully we’ll find out in the next couple of BN issues if there is anything more to reveal, or if the secret is simply the fact that she never really wanted a child in the first place.\n\nAfter all of that, there is considerable backlash from fans who think that Mera stole the show, and this was really an excuse to use Wonder Woman’s name to give Mera a Blackest Night mini-series. I can’t complain that much. I liked the story, I liked the art, and I liked the interaction. I really appreciate Mera getting some decent screen time for a change, and the prospect of a little mystery regarding Diana’s true love and Mera’s secret has piqued my interest. Not bad for a three issue series.\n\n\n The Question 37 \n\n by Dennis O’Neil, Greg Rucka, and Denys Cowan \n\nOur next Blackest Night tie-in brings back the original Question, with some interesting art by Cowan, who gives us a lot of line-work, but in a splotchy way, alternately showing us some pretty tight work, and others using a ton of hashes to exaggerate what could be rendered more simply. It feels right for the mood of the Question, though.\n\nShiva has shown up to challenge Renee Montoya, to judge her worthiness as the new Question, and Charles Szasz shows up as a Black Lantern to attack everyone. They come up with an innovative way to beat the Black Lantern. They don’t defeat him, but they do survive by turning invisible to his senses. They manage to empty themselves of all feeling, leaving nothing for the undead Lantern to feed off of. They simply don’t register in his radar anymore, even standing right in front of him.\n\nConsidering how deadly powerful and frighteningly regenerative these creatures are, I’m actually impressed with all of the different ways all the DC writers have come up with for stopping/killing/thwarting the Black Lanterns. It is yet another reason why the Blackest Night event is so much better of a read than any other event (Siege, for example, is really just a big slugfest and that’s it). This was one of the better “resurrected” series for the event.\n\n\n The Great Ten 4 \n\n by Tony Bedard and Scott McDaniel \n\nThundermind reveals that their opponents are counterfeit gods: they believe they are the real deal, but they have none of the complex thoughts of a true high-order being, and Thundermind would be able to tell. We then switch to focus on Immortal Man-In-Darkness. We learn his origin, and learn that there is an entire squadron of men who assume the role of this persona, because each flight takes a year off of the pilot’s lifespan. The dude volunteers to join up anyway! That’s dedication. He stays even when one of the other pilots gets out of the ship and melts - disintegrates almost - in his arms.\n\nThe ship, Dragonwing, has some intelligence, and does not want to attack one of the enemy, because of a sense of kindred. Once he has Dragonwing scan for alien DNA, we have confirmation they are pretender deities. We also learn that there are a ton of sister-ships, ten in all, that can be called to fight. Does this mean the pilot squadron consists of ten men, or is there a larger squad, another man ready to take over for each of the ten pilots? It’s also a little dreadful to see our current main Immortal cough up some blood at the end, letting us know his time may be up soon. It reminds me a little of Strikeforce: Morituri.\n\nI may have criticized McDaniel’s art as not being the best choice for showcasing these new characters, but I really enjoyed it here. Whether it’s because the story was just so awesome, or because his style really helped to bring out the story, I can’t tell. But this was my favorite issue so far, and it has made me glad I picked up the series.\n\nIf there are one or two more issues in here this good, that means this will be a worthwhile trade to get later. I’ll let you know as I go along!\n\n Tpull is Travis Pullen. He started reading comics at 5 years old, and he can't seem to stop.

Tpull's Weekly DC Comics Review – Part 1

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