Comic Book Case

Wonder Woman #2 (Already better than Earth One)

Origin time. This issue is less about story and more about story. What I mean is that instead of there being some sort of plot or goal like you would find in most stories but here we are getting the story of Diana and Steve just living their lives. I't sort of like DC's Secret Origins and that is just fine. We get Diana as pretty much an Amazon and Steve just being a guy in the military.It helps you get a feel for them as a characters. It reminds me a bit of the ideas set for Gotham, where before there was Batman, Catwoman, Riddler, and Commissioner Gordon there was Bruce, Selina, Nygma, and Jim Gordon. We don't know exactly what the dead tree that had the snake that bit her means or if it had something to do with Steve's crash but it does promise to be an interesting story. 

One thing I do really like about this issue so far is how it deals with Diana and Steve's relationships. Steve seems generally uninterested in dating and it seems Diana is the same way, it doesn't make them seem emotionally distant or anything as Diana seems to have plenty of Amazons interested in her and same with Steve but the two really don't seem to want to. They are pretty much happy with their friends and family. Also, I'm really glad that there is no advanced society with PURPLE RAYS among Diana's people. My only real issue with this is how it is going to go back and forth between Diana's story in the present day and a Year One story. I think it will feel a bit more natural as a trade over this bi weekly schedule.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corp (Epic is the word)

Hal Jordan is losing himself and fittingly it's to his Power Gauntlet and is becoming a being of pure will power. Keeping a mantra of stating who he is. Hal does the impossible as he goes over his life, as a Lantern, as the leader of the corp, and his friends as he attempt to do create his own ring and the process shakes the Emotional Spectrum, gaining the attention of Carol, Kyle, Ganthet, and every GL in the universe. Meanwhile Sinestro, now operating on War World in Sector Zero has aged and is basking in his accomplishment, having instill order throughout the universe apparently and he ponders the irony of using War World to bring peace. As he heads down to the center to see Parallax he seems to be preparing for something.

This issue is all right. Hal's story is simple and informative and does get you interested in what he's doing and what he's done. The idea of him making his own ring was awesome, made form his own will where the last time was saw a ring being made it was made by Sinestro. This is Hal making his own ring, his own way and it's epic and even more appropriate is how once again Hal defying the odds seems to send ripple through the Emotional Spectrum as if he's waking up the GL universe. Sinestro seems a bit wasted here and I'm having trouble figuring out if he has just aged or if he is still suffering from his injuries against the Paling.  Overall this was a fun issue and I can't wait to see what's in store later on.

Detective Comics #936 (This escalated)

Kate asks her friend/ex about what she should in regard to her new position and Montoya talks about her past in the military and Montoya tells her to just trust herself before she leaves. She is later contacted by Red Robin about the abduction of Batman at the hands of The Colony. Kate watches the video of the attack and outs the group attacking as having military training so she calls Spoiler, Clayface, and Orphan in as well as her father to help and says they are going to go find them and bring Batman back. Her father then reveals that he is the one behind The Colony or at least a leader. He says that Batman's training and his tech leave him wasted stopping crime and that he should be fighting America's enemies and offers  Kate the chance to lead and even to bring in Red Robin and the others  as her unit. Kate has Clayface encase them in a clay ball to allow them to escape.

This issue was fun but rather short but in a fast paced way. Again we get a lot of stuff from Kate but more as her character and how it relates to the story. Kate mentions her drill sergeant when she was in the army and how he pushed her so she would be able to give commands and lead through the worst of it and it shows here. It seems that Batwoman may be the main character of this arc as she essentially declares war on her father as she escapes. He's coming off more like Lois Lane's dad and that's interesting. Going by the original cover for this issue I thought Clayface was going to betray them which would have upset me cause I really do like the idea of him at least TRYING to be a good guy. He's a lot like Killer Croc in this book, not really a bad guy but someone who got dealt a bad hand. Another great issue.

Civil War 2 #3 (Why is this book five dollars?)

Seriously, why is this 4.99? So Carol and Tony arrives at Bruce Banners lab and we don't know what they plan to do as while Tony and Carol meet Banner inside his lab, pretty much every other hero is outside the lab. Banner gets the run down on why they're here but Banner tells them that not only has he had no Hulk outs in a year but his research has helped control it. Things start to heat up as Bruce calls them out on them accusing him of doing something wrong but before anything else can happen, Hawkeye shoots him.  Later Carol and the others attend and speak at Hawkeye's trial where we find out that Hawkeye was told by Banner to kill him if it looks like he going to Hulk out. Carol and Tony speak up about what happened as well as Ulysses. Tony is later seen at his lab, saying he knows the verdict before they give it and his computer Friday tells him that she has found the source of Ulysses powers.

This issue is just so small and misleading. You'd think that the fight against the Hulk would put an end to the discussion of Ulysses really. It makes sense that Carol and Tony would want to take it slowly but everyone just treats Banner like he's already done something wrong, he's being treated as guilty for something he MIGHT/WILL do as opposed to what he has done. Carol says that she felt it was the right thing to do because they stopped people from getting killed and Banner wanted to die, while Tony seems to speak for accountability and they aren't supposed to be guardians. The problem is that this kind of stupid. Carol saw a vision of Hulk killing everyone, so everyone goes down there to prevent Banner from Hulking out and as a result, Banner is killed to prevent him from Hulking out. but would he have Hulked out if they had never gone there? Carol mentions that they have prevented other disasters through Ulysses and that this was a one time thing but she also said that the predictions were not totally false. The idea of them being not entirely false is interesting because it's never addressed. I kind of just don't want to shell out the 4.99 for this anymore and I'd much rather just prepare for other books Marvel is bringing out later this year.