An Annual Non-vent

I am so glad that the Wonder Woman annual came out yesterday because I can finally feel good about dropping the book. When I picked up the first issue, I promised myself I was going to buy the first arc and go from there. If I liked it, great, I could keep picking it up. If I didn't, I would stop. I just didn't expect that the first arc would take longer than a year and not actually finish in the regular book.

The annual itself was okay. I hadn't gone back and read the first parts of the "Who is Wonder Woman?" arc, so I couldn't remember if all of those villains had shown up in #3 (#4? I can't remember which was the last time Heinberg wrote an issue.) so it was odd seeing the Silver Swan and that cyborg woman and all the others there, but I did like seeing Wonder Woman take down all those villains while she tied up Giganta. That was cool.

On its own, the main story in the annual was a solid meh. Maybe it would have been better if I'd have refreshed myself on the story. Or maybe it would have been better if it didn't remind me of Green Arrow #75. Yes, I know that it wasn't just two baddies stomping down Wonder Woman and, no, no one had sword down their throat, but the moment I turned the page and saw the spread of the Titans and the Justice Society and the Justice League swooping in to rescue her I uttered "Shit" to myself and hoped it wouldn't turn out the same way. It didn't, since there was an actual fight instead of threats, but come on. I would have been happy if both Wonder Girls had come to help her, that would have been family. As much at I'm hoping to enjoy reading this new Justice League, they are not her family. Neither are the Titans and the JSA. Obviously, the Wonder Women, alone, were deemed not enough to win the day.

The art in the main story was, of course, splendiferous. Terry and Rachel Dodson's work always makes me happy. Each character not only looks unique, but they hold themselves differently from others. Their names are one of the few art teams that make me always take a look at the book, if not buy it out right.

The back-up story was boring. A retelling of origins. A boring retelling of origins. A boring retelling of the origins of Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl 1, and Wonder Girl 2. (PS Whoever decided that Zeus was her father should know: Zeus cared not for his mortal daughters. He barely cared for his mortal sons. And what has Hera's reaction to Zeus's mortal daughter been? Did she just welcome the bastard (no slight against Cassie, but she is a bastard.) into her bosom when, in the old day, she would have put the daughter to work cleaning the stairs on Olympus using only her tongue? But I tend to dislike the comic book portrayals of gods and goddesses of ancient myth.) And Gary Frank, oy. Maybe it was the inker, but this wasn't your best stuff. There's a picture of Donna smiling, I think, that made her head look like a skeleton with hair. The rest was just kind of okay. There was one picture I liked, where Wonder Woman is leaning forward, relaxed, and just talking. That on was nice. More of that, next time, would be nice.

If comic people ever read this blog, I can hear the cries already:
"Don't go!" "The Salvation of Wonder Woman is at hand!" "Gail Simone!" "Wait for Gail Simone!" "She will bring about the Restoration!"
And she may do just that. Still, I won't be reading.

My problem with the Wonder Woman comic is the same problem I have with the Batman and Superman comics. They just don't live up to my expectation. Sure, I pick up the occasional Batman when Harley Quinn or Zatanna stop by, but I only ever get Batman books for the guest stars. I grabbed the first Busiek/Pacheco and Donner/Johns/Kubert issues, but once I saw that new Krypton kid I decided not to buy another on for a long while. The thing about these three superheroes is that I like the versions of them I have in my head better than the versions of them I've seen in their solo comics.

I know their basic mythologies. I know their origins. I know how they started their careers. I know many of the trial they've had. I know these thing and I've only read a handful of their comics. But I've also experienced them in other comics (mostly the Justice League books) and other media. Using what little I've seen and the things I already knew, I built up my own idea of who these heroes are and what their "civilian" lives are like. I'll stick to the team books and the solo books featuring heroes that haven't been so harshly defined in my mind.

As for Gail Simone, I'm sure she'll do fine, but I'll stick with grabbing Welcome to Tranquility each month and any back issues of Birds of Prey happen to see.