Thursday, June 08, 2006

Wonder Woman #1 First Reactions

Vague Spoilers

Upon noticing me enter the store, the clerk imemdiately asked," What have you heard about Wonder Woman?"

After he assured me it arrived, I grabbed a copy. He went on to explain that he wanted to see my reaction, particularly to page two. so, I read the whole thing in front of him.

This is what he saw:

Page 3: *Bloodcurdling scream as I watch my hopes of a good series dissolve*

Page 8: "This actually isn't too bad."

Page 11: "I really like how they're using [male character]."

Page 18: "This is actually pretty cool."

Page 23: "Oh, good!"

Page 25: "Oh, wait..."

Page 26: "Oh gawd... Attempting to disbelieve..."

Page 28: "Oh!"

Page 29: "This is actually really cool."

Page 30: "This. Is. AWESOME."

"Oh, good, I'm glad," the clerk smiled as I went back to the shelf for the rest of my comics.

"If you like it it must be cool," he gives me an odd look as I go back to the Wonder Woman pile, "Since you're the most discriminating Wonder Woman fan I know..."

"I am buying my sister a copy," I answer authoritatively.

17 comments:

  1. I was right about Heinberg!

    I WAS RIGHT!

    I FINALLY WIN!

    ~Squeals~

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  2. I think my opinion ran along almost exactly the same arc as yours.

    (Although my page 3 reaction was somewhat tempered by my kinda liking that costume.)

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  3. I liked it. I hope they keep Donna around, they keep trying to find a good place for her, and I actually liked her in this issue. It was a pleasant surprise; I picked it up because someone suggested it to me considering what might happen in #3...

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  4. Liked it a lot. But I hated HATED! the redesign of the "Emma Peel" costume. How hard is that to screw up? And then go cheescake?

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  5. That's kind of funny - my reaction almost mirrored yours, except for the bloodcurdling scream on page 3. As soon as I saw who was in the costume as "the NEW Wonder Woman", I knew it was a gimmick and that Diana would be back sooner rather than later. From the promos, I was a bit afraid that they were going to be starting everything up all over again, and so I was quite happy.

    And the last page reveal - well, that made it worth the price of admission. I actually kind of liked the "Diana Prince - Agent of SHIELD" costume (which is what it reminded me of - a white version of Fury's outfit).

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  6. "I am buying my sister a copy," I answer authoritatively.

    ...
    Oh, no...

    Oh, and he sure knows how to pick 'em. :)

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  7. I found the opening page as nice as the first page of Morrison's All Star Superman. Learning that it was Donna Troy's monologue made it that much better.

    I'm just hoping that rather than be the storyline's passive hostage, DT actually gets it together and contributes to the takedown of the villains ...

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  8. Nobody's really commented on page 5, which gives DT's post-IC background: She's Diana's sister, period, and grew up alongside her until following in her footsteps as Wonder Girl -- "and then simply as Donna Troy."

    No "Magical Mystery Mirror Clone". No "Abducted By Villainess With Lame Name And Put Through Lifetimes of Torment".

    No more embarassing "Troia" moniker, and, by implication, no more of those other obnoxious tangents about The Titans Of Myth (not of Teen).

    No More Wonder Girl Out In Man's World Before Wonder Woman!

    I'm happy.

    And note that the Post-IC Steve Trevor, illusory though he is, is depicted as a youngish man in his 30s or so, not the middle-aged coot that Perez and his successors shuffled from supporting cast to background character to rubbish heap.

    Maybe they'll undo the similar indignities Perez inflicted on one of the most butt-kicking comedy relief characters of the Golden Age, and give Diana a proper supporting cast again. Woo woo!

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  9. Mallet -- *Pbblltt*

    Steve -- It is a cool costume.

    JLG -- Holy cats, that's a promising solicit. Hope to Hera it's Hippolyta they mean (if the solicit's true, they've lied before!).

    sean -- See how deadened I've become to cheesecake by now -- I was just happy to see the white suit. (And she does have biceps, at least). The shoes look odd, though. Shades are awesome. One of the LJs I read said that she was wearing "rose-colored glasses" which is a neat symbolism.

    Sandicomm -- The writer is a tV writer. And it probably seems especially fluffy since we're coming off a volume that was rebooted by Wein/Potter/Perez and the last run was Greg Rucka. You know what I thought the best part of Rucka's run was? The Land of the Dead story, the bright cheery one that ended with the return of Lord Hermes! Not just that, Lord Hermes making jokes!

    I'm thrilled to see a little fluff. WW's been so serious for so long, now. This is our lighter brighter DCU right here and I have been looking forward to it! I want some spy stories and secret identity shenanigans.

    And diana_fan is irritating me. I've worked for the US government in the past. And it's in Diana's history. No one objects to Clark Kent working for the planet or Bruce Wayne sitting on his lazy rich ass, why should someone be annoyed Diana's with the government again?

    And July will come, one issue of 52 at a time. (Speaking of which, I hope lesbian Batwoman gets a little fluff in her series too.)

    Jer -- *Nod* I know, I convinced myself of that, but you know how I feel about Donna.

    Yeah, the alst page was the best.

    Sinspired -- You Will Love This.

    Melchior -- There's 4 more issues.

    Athelind -- I know, isn't that wonderful? Part of the problem wtih Donna was too much backstory, not enough personality. If she's just Diana's baby sister it's perfect.

    I'm still worried about Steve, as I'm not sure if that's just how Dodson draws a middle-aged man.

    But I'm hopeful. You know with New Earth they could easily remove Etta from the history -- she hasn't been vital to any really important storylines. They can just reintroduce her as a neighbor or civillian coworker.

    No military job, no military standards making her diet.

    Oh, how I hate that they made Etta diet!

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  10. Well, obviously diana_fan is from that particular group of people who think that the Government Is Bad, Like Seriously Fer Real Baby-Eating Bad.

    I almost went off on her about it, but it would have been utterly pointless and off-topic.

    Some people are just convinced that the US government is pure deadly evil, no matter that it's less corrupt than most democracies (impressive, given its size) and more in line with Diana's principles than most of the rest. I for one could see Hippolyta hanging out with Ben Franklin and the Founding Fathers with no problem at all. But noooooo, the US government invaded Iraaaaq, the US government is doing all the Bad Things...

    ...who votes for whom these days?

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  11. Someone suggested to me that if Donna is still Wonder Woman at this point, the solicit would be referring to someone from her past. And since it seems Cheetah's human, that figure could be a certain past teammember of Donna's I've been constantly whining about...

    I've just gotten more used to just tuning out the DC boards. One of the reasons I got fed up was with the trolls attacking the Beast Boy/Raven relationship back when Johns looked like he was going to do something with it. For various reasons, it's more noise than signal...

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  12. I think the DC Message Board is fascinating.

    Not that I actually read it...

    ...but I think it's funny that there is a place where the angriest fans, the most passionately hateful of DC Editorial and all decisions they make, have a place where they can scream and shout and vent their electronic spleens in the most vitriolic and off-putting manner...

    and that site is hosted by DC Comics itself. It's like they built an insane asylum that attracts the crazy people to it, while the rest of us can get on with our lives out here in the real world.

    Erm, sort of.

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  13. I made sure that, last night, when I read WW#1 for the first time, that I had this post in front of me so that I could follow along.

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  14. I as well.

    I'm superpleased that this feels like a SUPERHERO book. Action! and stuff, you know?

    And I think Donna's WW costume is so so so much better than Diana's. It's GOLD armor, fo god sakes. I been saying that should be played up for a while now.

    I wouldn't mind reading a book featuring the Wonder Sisters working together. Provided they play Donna right, whatever that might be... Lord knows there's enough versions to warrant a blog dedicated to that suggestion alone.

    On the subject of Diana workin' for the gubment. True it's an established secret identity, but she's not working FOR a particular political office. She may collect a paycheck and "follow orders", but make no mistake... She's working WITH the US military. The US Armed Forces are the single most powerful force for combat on the planet. Diana's hidden presence will be what changes a potentially "bad" force into a productive, protective one. No more steno pads, bring on the secret covert ops and Star Trek:TNG Prime Directive rule-breakin!

    Plus, she's an agent for the superhuman affairs branch, making her even more of a bridge between worlds. One can only hope we'll see Frankenstein and The Bride in future issues.

    Finally: Nemesis, a man whose schtick is lying, is an EXCELLENT foil and partner for the former Greek Goddess of truth. "Nemesis". Hehe!

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  15. Toby S -- I love how those people that think the US government is pure evil also tend to be US citizens that don't ever vote.

    JLG -- Hmm.. To be honest, I'm not seeing the likelihood of that, but who knows? I doubt anyone saw Nemesis showing up. (Boy am I glad I had some old Brave and the Bolds lying around so I knew him)

    Steven -- Actually, it's brilliant. They can go in and see for themselves that everyone is still buying what they're complaining about.

    Matthew -- I'm flattered :)

    chad -- I know! The last time WW came close was the LotD storyline -- which, coincidentally, was right after I'd decided to drop the book because it was depressing me, and coincidentally, brought back a character they, under no circumstances ever should have killed and I am still superpissed at Grorge Perez for even thinking it. Killing a Greek God, please!

    Donnna right is tough to do. This is a step in the right direction, but (as I discovered when Kali suggested pairing a male character I liked off with her) I'm still a long way from finding her likeable again.

    I love your bridge between worlds point.

    And good catch on Nemesis. It would be funny, as Diana's major patron is Hermes (now that he's alive again he should be taking a more active role than the rest of them). Hermes and Nemesis used to do that same job of punishing mortals who pissed off Zeus. They just had different styles.

    Jenn -- *Nod* I know. I'm not in any hurry to see her turn into the Punisher, but I love that she's that comfortable as a warrior now.

    I'm thinking the vision's prescient, too. But I'm getting the impression Diana'll be in the right, and Donna's anxieties will be affecting her judgment.

    I'm a bit irked that she seems to have blue eyes. I hope she hasn't lost Athena's clarity.

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  16. Late to the party here, but I really like the tone this one set up. Very bold, heroic, dynamic- the stuff thay we've been promised for "One Year Later" and which is starting to bear out.

    Excellent art too.

    Never followed WW before, may start now.

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  17. I say this as a complete D.T. fan so take that with a grian of salt. I am really disappointed by Wonder Woman #1. Why do they constantly have to make D.T. the punching bag? Can't she WIN a battle for once?

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