Hello again GEN readers! It’s Jill a.k.a. The Nerdy Bird back with this week’s installment of DoubleDCoverage. Wonder Woman versus Black Lantern U.S. military. How’s that for a main event? The JSA may have gotten a divorce but that doesn’t mean the arguing has stopped. Reviews for Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1 and JSA All-Stars #1 are ahead. Also, check out my star ratings for my other pulls from last Wednesday!

BLACKEST NIGHT: WONDER WOMAN #1 (OF 3)

Greg Rucka is back writing Wonder Woman in this Blackest Night mini-series and suddenly all is right with the world. Well, not for Wonder Woman, she’s fighting undead soldiers and Maxwell Lord. You remember him, don’t you?

I have to say, I was really looking forward to Rucka getting to write Diana again. His run on Wonder Woman was one of my favorites. Of course the man Diana murdered without remorse, Maxwell Lord, is the main player in this first issue. Max has lead the Amazon Princess to our nation’s capitol by a trail of dead bodies. He’s also left her taunting messages written in blood, “You’re a pain in my neck.” Considering this is a Blackest Night issue, there’s a lot of talk about death but a lot of that comes from Diana herself who has had a lot of experience with it. She eventually winds up in the worst place imaginable for anyone dealing with Black Lanterns – Arlington Cemetery.

Max, just like all the BLs, hopes to incite the most emotion in his victims as he can. To his surprise it’s nothing but love emanating from Diana when the two meet. She struggles with his BL regenerative powers until thousands of black power rings decend from the heavens and reanimate thousands of dead soldiers. In what might be considered sacrilegious by some, a black ring penetrates the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and awakens him as well. Thought I suppose the entire premise of this issue might be offensive to some, it’s one powerful piece of imagery. In the end, Diana uses her lasso to set a ring of fire around her and the few remaining living soldiers in the area, turning the BLs to ash. Max is still holding on for a return next issue and we have a BL Wonder Woman to look forward to as well. Whether that will be Diana’s mother or Diana herself is still in question.

As much as I’m glad to have Gail Simone on the Wonder Woman book, this one issue really made me want to see Rucka have at it again. I just love his characterization of Diana. He has a mix of strength and humor he seems to use effortlessly. Nicola Scott recently drew Wonder Woman in Secret Six so I knew she would do the Princess justice here but I was actually even more impressed by her work. And a word on the cover by Greg Horn, (which I actually bought a print of a few months ago) it’s one of my top ten of the year. Diana looks breathtaking even though Max is manhandling her violently. Speaking of Max, one of the humorous bits in this book that I enjoyed the most was Max’s head constantly getting ripped off or twisted around by Diana and having to affix it over and over again. I hope that gag keeps up.

JSA ALL-STARS #1

I can’t decide if I want to start off yelling at DC or the JSA itself. I guess I’ll go with DC because they’re, you know, real. Did we really need another JSA book? I know there ranks were getting ridiculously crowded but not every character needed to be in every issue of JSA and quite frankly, a few of them didn’t need to be in it at all. But noooooo, you go and split the team in two, putting just enough of my favorite characters in JSA All-Stars that I couldn’t help but buy it. Damn you.

Here’s the gist. The JSA basically took in any stray dog (or cat as the case may be) that had even a hint of legacy to them and eventually the brownstone got really crowded. So crowded in fact that no one realized they had a traitor in their midst who eventually led to the division of the team and destruction of their headquarters. Now, the younger members (and the one’s who like to hit first and ask questions later) have branched off into this so-called JSA All-Stars. To the public, they insist they are still part of the main JSA, but in private they realize this is a huge change. In this issue a group called Novyj Soviet is attacking them. Even though the newly formed team manages to save the day they are sending mixed signals to each other during combat and just plain working horribly together.

Stargirl, who’s still being avoided like the plague by any villains after the JSA, is questioning her part on the team, much like I was. She doesn’t really fit in with the rest of them as far as philosophies and loyalties go. But Power Girl convinced her to join them because she feels the younger members look to Courtney as a leader, even though she’s younger than some of them. The team goes to work doing some serious training at their temporary headquarters, the Star-K Ranch, with everyone getting their own brand of exercises suited to their particular powers or lack thereof. Sandy Hawkins, who we haven’t seen in quite a while, is briefly seen in New York. He’s still trying, and failing, to stay awake to avoid the horrific nightmares he suffers while sleeping. Later, at a press conference, the soviets attack once more but the nephew of Sylvester Pemberton (the Star-Spangled Kid), Arthur, is with them. He manages to escape at the same time Stargirl disappears. She’s been sold to a villain who claims to be in love with her.

A lot of this first issue was set-up, which is fine, but boring for the average reader. A lot of the content could have easily been condensed to move the story along a make it a little more compelling. Matthew Sturges has an uphill battle to fight with this crew. Sure he has characters like Power Girl and Stargirl but with the likes of King Chimera and Wildcat’s son (Wildkitten anyone?) around a lot of work must be done to make them worthy of the JSA. But, I guess that’s what this book is for, right? Giving the little guy a chance to shine. Let’s talk about something that’s not little for a moment – Power Girl’s breasts as illustrated by Freddy Williams II. This is the perfect example of how one artists interpretation can infuriate the masses and make all comic readers look like perverts. I’ve liked Williams’ art in the past but it’s literally like she’s got two basketballs barely attached to her chest. On the other hand, I really liked his Magog and Steel so let’s hope Williams can learn to deflate just a bit.

BLACKEST NIGHT: THE FLASH #1 (OF 3) – This is more like Blackest Night: Rogues and I’m vaguely confused as to how this fits in with The Flash: Rebirth but, you know, Black Lantern gorilla.

LOBO: HIGHWAY TO HELL #2 (OF 2) – Every bit as fun and ridiculous as the first issue, plus – Beelzepup!

SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #10 (OF 12) – Is two issues enough for the labor guild to rise up and claim New Krypton as their own? I wish.

My pull list for this week:

ACTION COMICS #884
ADVENTURE COMICS #5
BATGIRL #5
BOOSTER GOLD #27
DCU HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2009
RED ROBIN #7
SECRET SIX #16

Which two should I review for DoubleDCoverage #38?

Related Posts:

• DoubleDCoverage #49
• DoubleDCoverage #46
• DoubleDCoverage #58
• DoubleDCoverage #53
• DoubleDCoverage #48