Women of the New 52
New 52 - Week of 9/14/11 Continued and Week of 9/21/11
I'm a week behind on the comics now, and it's going to be tough to get caught up by Wednesday since last week I bought 5 comics that I need to talk about instead of three (I also buy both of DC's all-ages comics for my library, but I've decided not to review those.). So I'm going to try breaking them up thematically. So we'll start with Batwoman and Wonder Woman.
Batwoman
We start off with the preview pages that went out in the comics almost a year ago when Batwoman's solo series was first planned: La Llarona, a creepy, pale woman whose face continually shifts between beautiful young woman and skeletal corpse floats into a Hispanic family's home and freezes them in place. The background suddenly looks like it's underwater as the corpse-face says that she needs the children. (Throughout the scene the woman switches between first-person singular and plural.) The beautiful face apologizes as she begins weeping a small stream into the boy's open mouth.
Suddenly, Batwoman bursts through the window, and I cannot emphasize enough how cool it looks to see her hard black-and-red pallette intrude on this background of washed-out blues and grays. Batwoman shoots a grappling hook at La Llarona, managing to grab her arm and drag her towards her, but before this can turn into a battle, she disappears and so do the children. Batwoman promises the weeping parents that she will save all of the children.
At GCPD, the parents tell their story to Detective Sawyer, whom we last saw as Kate Kane's potential love-interest, and call Batwoman "the dark red angel of the night," which has got to be one of the coolest nicknames in the comics. Dt Sawyer can't promise to save the children, but does promise never to stop looking. As she walks the parents out, she finds Kate standing in the entryway looking at a wall of cop pictures which includes her former lover, Renee Montoya, aka "The Question." Sawyer reveals that she knows Kate and Renee's history, and with one ambiguous glance back at Renee's picture, Kate and Sawyer make long overdue plans to go out.
Later that night, Kate shows cousin Bette Kane, formerly Flamebird of the Teen Titans and currently Batwoman's new sidekick, her headquarters and ignores all of Bette's questions about why she no longer talks to her father. She also reveals that she has burned Bette's Flamebird costume and that Bette will be wearing a janitor-type jumpsuit with a mask until she "earns" a uniform - not a costume. Most of this conversation takes place while they are changing to go on patrol, and I just want to say that if you are going to do fan-service at all, you should do it like this - so that it's organic and feels natural to both the plot and the characters. It's much better than the "it's vital that Zatanna be having this conversation on speakerphone while she's using her magic to undress for a relaxing bubble bath" that I'm used to.
Cut to the Department of Extranormal Affairs, a government agancy that I have not been reading long enough to be familiar with but that Wikipedia says is supposed to monitor super-powered individuals to prevent threats to the public yet is plagued by rogue agents who try to take down superheros. A cigar-smoking man with a black skull for a face (or possibly mask) sends an attractive female agent to Gotham to discover the identity of Batwoman, citing as his reason the MEDUSA organization Batwoman fought in her last storyline as their cause of interest, and mentioning that they don't know exactly what happened or how she was involved because Col. Jake Kane classified everything. (He also says that they've given up on figuring out who Batman is since they keep coming up empty - I would suggest they try again now that Bruce Wayne has come out as his backer.)
Meanwhile Detective Sawyer has found the drowned body of one of the other 16 kids that La Llarona has taken, and discusses the case with Jim Gordon. The only things you need to know about this scene are 1) including the 3 from the beginning of this issue, La Llarona is responsible for 6 drowned children and another 13 missing, 2) her name comes from a South American ghost story about a peasant girl who lets her kids drown, drowns herself out of guilt, and returned to attack other people's children and 3) both Sawyer and Gordon are deeply moved by the loss of these children.
Kate and Bette are now undressing again - this time to change back into civilian gear - and discussing the recent fight against theives dressed as pool balls (seriously). Kate thinks that Bette is not taking this seriously enough and she had to look over Bette's shoulder the whole night. Bette thinks that after fighting Deathstroke with the Teen Titans, she need not take clowns like this seriously and she knew that one of them was behind her and would have taken him out if Batwoman hadn't done it first. They are interrupted by Jake Kane, who's come uninvited to try to reconcile with his daughter. Kate yells that he's unwelcome and reviews their backstory for Bette: for years, she thought her mother and twin sister had been murdered, but Jake knew that her sister Beth survived and never told her - later, Beth seemed to have returned as the supervillain Alice, Jake figured out her identity and didn't tell Kate, and during the fight, Beth fell from a plane into Gotham Harbor and presumably drowned. She also accuses him of doing nothing to find her sister during their childhood, even though last time they discussed this he claimed that he never stopped looking. She walks out on her dad and heads to the most recent crime scene, where she's met by Batman, who's come to offer her a proposition.
Thoughts:
This is possibly the best comic from the new 52 so far. It's full of action and character development, the art is exquisite, and I'm at the point now where I would happily read about this character going to the supermarket as long as these writers were handling it. Rob Bricken over at Topless Robot thought that, while good, this issue wouldn't convince new readers to fall in love with the character. I respectfully disagree. Her coming into that washed out world as a "crash of red" is possibly the best superhero entrance I've ever seen, and introducing her through the words of the anguished parents she helped who are looking to her for hope of their children's return really cements her as an important hero. We see a woman who's tough and compassionate, with a professional, almost soldierly attitude towards crime-fighting and a complicated personal life that includes strained familial relationships and recent trauma, yet she doesn't whine about any of it. I don't see how you could not love this character and I can't wait to see what happens with her next.
Wonder Woman
A man later revealed to be Apollo is showing off the view from his skyscraper to three beautiful women who don't find anything amiss with the fact that he looks like he's made of iron and has glowing yellow eyes. Well, it's the DCnU, perhaps inhuman appearences are not uncommon. Saying that his father is missing and he needs information, Apollo turns the girls into his oracles, and they narrate the following vision sporadically over the ensuing pages: "There is a storm gathering just beyone the horizon and the one responsible shall rule in fire." They can't see the one responsible due to the smoke, but it wears a crown of thorns and a cape of blood, and the blood is falling on a naked woman at its feet. Zeus has abandoned "fate" to someone who can choose to blow away the smoke. Zeus wants one of his children to kill another and take their place. But "he" doesn't exist yet. (I think they're talking about the child of Zeus that will do the killing, but they may be talking about Zeus himself - perhaps choosing to be reborn as this child?)
While this is going on, we see a naked woman in a cloak of peacock feathers (possibly Hera or one of her minions, since peacocks are her symbol) remove the heads from a white and a black horse with a scythe. Human torsos emerge from the holes, turning them into centaurs. Hermes warns some random woman that assassins are coming after her and her child, but she just wants him out of her house until the centaurs attack, when he tosses her a key that transports her to Wonder Woman's apartment, where she is sleeping in the nude. Telling the girl to call her Diana, Wonder Woman dons her battle gear (in the previews, I didn't like Wonder Woman's new outfit, but in context it does look like minimalist armor), and tries to take the key, but it transports them both back to the house where the centaurs are torturing Hermes. They emerge, Diana kills them both in a rather awesome battle, and a dying Hermes emerges from the cabin to reveal that the random girl is pregnant by Zeus and Hera is trying to kill the child.
Back at Apollo's pent house, the oracles finish their vision as the sun comes up, transforming Apollo into a being of fire which burns his oracles and their charred bones fall to the ground below as he contemplates the meaning of what he's heard.
Thoughts:
I really liked this issue. I love the mythology tie-ins and the complex relationships among the gods, who, as the issue points out, have the world's most messed-up family. The woman Diana is protecting seems like she'll be interesting - she's an angry little thing who threatened Hermes with a shotgun, but recognizes and seems to trust Wonder Woman. The battle scenes were great. The art is good. Honestly, the only thing wrong with this issue is that we didn't see much of Wonder Woman in her own issue: it spent more time even on Apollo than on her, and we only really saw her fight. But the issue did make it clear that they are going to be focusing on the warrior aspect of her character, and if, now that they've set up their dominoes, Diana has a more leading role in her own comic, this is going to become one of the best of the new set.
Next post: the two non-headliners (Green Lantern Corps and DC Presents), and I will finish up with the other Bats, hopefully before Wednesday when I'll be picking up Aquaman, The Flash, Green Lantern: New Guardians, and Superman.
I'm a week behind on the comics now, and it's going to be tough to get caught up by Wednesday since last week I bought 5 comics that I need to talk about instead of three (I also buy both of DC's all-ages comics for my library, but I've decided not to review those.). So I'm going to try breaking them up thematically. So we'll start with Batwoman and Wonder Woman.
Batwoman
We start off with the preview pages that went out in the comics almost a year ago when Batwoman's solo series was first planned: La Llarona, a creepy, pale woman whose face continually shifts between beautiful young woman and skeletal corpse floats into a Hispanic family's home and freezes them in place. The background suddenly looks like it's underwater as the corpse-face says that she needs the children. (Throughout the scene the woman switches between first-person singular and plural.) The beautiful face apologizes as she begins weeping a small stream into the boy's open mouth.
Suddenly, Batwoman bursts through the window, and I cannot emphasize enough how cool it looks to see her hard black-and-red pallette intrude on this background of washed-out blues and grays. Batwoman shoots a grappling hook at La Llarona, managing to grab her arm and drag her towards her, but before this can turn into a battle, she disappears and so do the children. Batwoman promises the weeping parents that she will save all of the children.
At GCPD, the parents tell their story to Detective Sawyer, whom we last saw as Kate Kane's potential love-interest, and call Batwoman "the dark red angel of the night," which has got to be one of the coolest nicknames in the comics. Dt Sawyer can't promise to save the children, but does promise never to stop looking. As she walks the parents out, she finds Kate standing in the entryway looking at a wall of cop pictures which includes her former lover, Renee Montoya, aka "The Question." Sawyer reveals that she knows Kate and Renee's history, and with one ambiguous glance back at Renee's picture, Kate and Sawyer make long overdue plans to go out.
Later that night, Kate shows cousin Bette Kane, formerly Flamebird of the Teen Titans and currently Batwoman's new sidekick, her headquarters and ignores all of Bette's questions about why she no longer talks to her father. She also reveals that she has burned Bette's Flamebird costume and that Bette will be wearing a janitor-type jumpsuit with a mask until she "earns" a uniform - not a costume. Most of this conversation takes place while they are changing to go on patrol, and I just want to say that if you are going to do fan-service at all, you should do it like this - so that it's organic and feels natural to both the plot and the characters. It's much better than the "it's vital that Zatanna be having this conversation on speakerphone while she's using her magic to undress for a relaxing bubble bath" that I'm used to.
Cut to the Department of Extranormal Affairs, a government agancy that I have not been reading long enough to be familiar with but that Wikipedia says is supposed to monitor super-powered individuals to prevent threats to the public yet is plagued by rogue agents who try to take down superheros. A cigar-smoking man with a black skull for a face (or possibly mask) sends an attractive female agent to Gotham to discover the identity of Batwoman, citing as his reason the MEDUSA organization Batwoman fought in her last storyline as their cause of interest, and mentioning that they don't know exactly what happened or how she was involved because Col. Jake Kane classified everything. (He also says that they've given up on figuring out who Batman is since they keep coming up empty - I would suggest they try again now that Bruce Wayne has come out as his backer.)
Meanwhile Detective Sawyer has found the drowned body of one of the other 16 kids that La Llarona has taken, and discusses the case with Jim Gordon. The only things you need to know about this scene are 1) including the 3 from the beginning of this issue, La Llarona is responsible for 6 drowned children and another 13 missing, 2) her name comes from a South American ghost story about a peasant girl who lets her kids drown, drowns herself out of guilt, and returned to attack other people's children and 3) both Sawyer and Gordon are deeply moved by the loss of these children.
Kate and Bette are now undressing again - this time to change back into civilian gear - and discussing the recent fight against theives dressed as pool balls (seriously). Kate thinks that Bette is not taking this seriously enough and she had to look over Bette's shoulder the whole night. Bette thinks that after fighting Deathstroke with the Teen Titans, she need not take clowns like this seriously and she knew that one of them was behind her and would have taken him out if Batwoman hadn't done it first. They are interrupted by Jake Kane, who's come uninvited to try to reconcile with his daughter. Kate yells that he's unwelcome and reviews their backstory for Bette: for years, she thought her mother and twin sister had been murdered, but Jake knew that her sister Beth survived and never told her - later, Beth seemed to have returned as the supervillain Alice, Jake figured out her identity and didn't tell Kate, and during the fight, Beth fell from a plane into Gotham Harbor and presumably drowned. She also accuses him of doing nothing to find her sister during their childhood, even though last time they discussed this he claimed that he never stopped looking. She walks out on her dad and heads to the most recent crime scene, where she's met by Batman, who's come to offer her a proposition.
Thoughts:
This is possibly the best comic from the new 52 so far. It's full of action and character development, the art is exquisite, and I'm at the point now where I would happily read about this character going to the supermarket as long as these writers were handling it. Rob Bricken over at Topless Robot thought that, while good, this issue wouldn't convince new readers to fall in love with the character. I respectfully disagree. Her coming into that washed out world as a "crash of red" is possibly the best superhero entrance I've ever seen, and introducing her through the words of the anguished parents she helped who are looking to her for hope of their children's return really cements her as an important hero. We see a woman who's tough and compassionate, with a professional, almost soldierly attitude towards crime-fighting and a complicated personal life that includes strained familial relationships and recent trauma, yet she doesn't whine about any of it. I don't see how you could not love this character and I can't wait to see what happens with her next.
Wonder Woman
A man later revealed to be Apollo is showing off the view from his skyscraper to three beautiful women who don't find anything amiss with the fact that he looks like he's made of iron and has glowing yellow eyes. Well, it's the DCnU, perhaps inhuman appearences are not uncommon. Saying that his father is missing and he needs information, Apollo turns the girls into his oracles, and they narrate the following vision sporadically over the ensuing pages: "There is a storm gathering just beyone the horizon and the one responsible shall rule in fire." They can't see the one responsible due to the smoke, but it wears a crown of thorns and a cape of blood, and the blood is falling on a naked woman at its feet. Zeus has abandoned "fate" to someone who can choose to blow away the smoke. Zeus wants one of his children to kill another and take their place. But "he" doesn't exist yet. (I think they're talking about the child of Zeus that will do the killing, but they may be talking about Zeus himself - perhaps choosing to be reborn as this child?)
While this is going on, we see a naked woman in a cloak of peacock feathers (possibly Hera or one of her minions, since peacocks are her symbol) remove the heads from a white and a black horse with a scythe. Human torsos emerge from the holes, turning them into centaurs. Hermes warns some random woman that assassins are coming after her and her child, but she just wants him out of her house until the centaurs attack, when he tosses her a key that transports her to Wonder Woman's apartment, where she is sleeping in the nude. Telling the girl to call her Diana, Wonder Woman dons her battle gear (in the previews, I didn't like Wonder Woman's new outfit, but in context it does look like minimalist armor), and tries to take the key, but it transports them both back to the house where the centaurs are torturing Hermes. They emerge, Diana kills them both in a rather awesome battle, and a dying Hermes emerges from the cabin to reveal that the random girl is pregnant by Zeus and Hera is trying to kill the child.
Back at Apollo's pent house, the oracles finish their vision as the sun comes up, transforming Apollo into a being of fire which burns his oracles and their charred bones fall to the ground below as he contemplates the meaning of what he's heard.
Thoughts:
I really liked this issue. I love the mythology tie-ins and the complex relationships among the gods, who, as the issue points out, have the world's most messed-up family. The woman Diana is protecting seems like she'll be interesting - she's an angry little thing who threatened Hermes with a shotgun, but recognizes and seems to trust Wonder Woman. The battle scenes were great. The art is good. Honestly, the only thing wrong with this issue is that we didn't see much of Wonder Woman in her own issue: it spent more time even on Apollo than on her, and we only really saw her fight. But the issue did make it clear that they are going to be focusing on the warrior aspect of her character, and if, now that they've set up their dominoes, Diana has a more leading role in her own comic, this is going to become one of the best of the new set.
Next post: the two non-headliners (Green Lantern Corps and DC Presents), and I will finish up with the other Bats, hopefully before Wednesday when I'll be picking up Aquaman, The Flash, Green Lantern: New Guardians, and Superman.