The trinity of superheroes at DC Comics are all celebrating milestones this month. Batman and Superman both reached their 700th issues. And now there's Wonder Woman, reaching her 600th. It's not technically her 600th, but since her first volume contained 329 issues, her second 226, and her third 44, if you add them all up, the next issue would be 600. And that works for me, because I think she deserves to be recognized for surviving so long as an under-appreciated character.
Wonder Woman's milestone turned out to be the best of the three (save the best for last?). The first story within Wonder Woman #700 was beautifully written by Gail Simone. It was drawn by and "inspired by" the ever-fantastic George Perez and I see why. The tale harkened back to when George Perez took the reigns of Wonder Woman back in the 1980s and gave her a fresh start and look. Diana was a fish out of water back then, and I was very happy to see the return of Julia and Vanessa Kapatelis. It was a return to the uncomplicated stories that were full of heart and not so Greek god- or Amazonian-based.
The next two stories featured Power Girl and Superman, respectively. Two mighty players she could team up with against a powerful villain. Instead, she dealt with both on a humanistic/personal level. Power Girl's story was a little silly, but still cute. I thought it was great that Power Girl looked up to Wonder Woman as an idol, even for the smallest advice about her cat (no sexual pun intended).
I'm not quite sure what to think of the last story in the giant-sized issue. It's a lead-in to the future storyline of Wonder Woman starting in issue #601. It features Wonder Woman's new costume, which is all abuzz in the news. To me, the storyline seems kinda Lost-ish. From my understanding, time has been shifted, Paradise Island has been destroyed, and she had a different origin story, hence the new costume which, by the way, is very Black Canary-ish. (That's my second "-ish" in case you're keeping count.) She has to try to get time back in alignment? At least that's what I got out of it. Hmmm... I'm not so sure about that direction, if that's what it is. That seems beyond the scope of Wonder Womandom and a bit overdone. DC has been doing too much lately with parallel worlds/earths and time travel (Bruce Wayne coming back to "life," Booster Gold bebopping all over the time continuum, bringing Superboy back to life from the future, the Legion of Superheroes going back and forth between their time and ours, etc.).
I'll keep reading Wonder Woman, though, because I'm curious about her future. And she needs all the support she can get! (Again, no sexual pun intended.) Here's to another 600 issues! (Let's hope she never has another #1.)
2 comments:
Doooon't like the new costume. You can't mess with an icon!
Imagine if Superman started wearing black tights instead of blue. Or if Bats started wearing green knee-length shorts instead.
I give it 18 months before the writers decide to return to the original WW costume.
Btw, you going to cover the new LSH at some point?
I think it'll be a phase, too, like Spider-Man's black costume (although I liked that one). It's just something to stir up controversy, spark some interest in WW, and drive up sales. :)
I've never been into the Legion of Superheroes, so I probably won't be posting any reviews about their new series. In fact, I've stopped purchasing Adventure Comics as it transitioned from Superboy to LSH. Sorry! Thanks for reading my postings, though!!!
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