Wonder Woman

Yay, another Wonder Woman book. I will admit that out of all of the New 52 this series is my favourite. Ok, she is now only 23 years old, and wasn't originally made out of clay, but they have kept her essential essence in this series.

In the first volume she found out that she was a daughter of Zeus and now has an interesting family of gods. In 'Wonder Woman: Guts' she has to save a friend who has been kidnapped by Hades. Cue a roadtrip with many gods and lots of action scenes.

I really, really enjoyed this book. I like te Greek mythology and this story delievers it in spades. There's political intrigue and lots of great character stuff. It makes Wonder Woman into a really cool herorine, someone people can look up to again. Not the Wonder Woman portrayed in the Justice League, here she is in control all the time.

This would be ok for high schools, especially having a strong female character as the lead. Reading groups would enjoy talking about the Greek mytholog and how it has been changed to fit the comic. Finally, I would really recommend this book, and as you can see from this blog, it's rare that I do that.

Why Gail Simone should write Batgirl

I was shocked with everybody else when Gail Simone was temporarily taken off Batgirl. She is one of the few comics writers that I will read anything that she writes.This book alone proves why she should continue to keep the job.

In the New 52, Barbara Gordon can walk again and is no longer Oracle. This is not as bad as it sounds, according to the new 52 only 3 years has passed since she lost her ability to walk. I, personally, look at it as an alternative time line story to make sense of it all. Anyway, on to the review.

 

The 2nd volume in this run Batgirl: Knightfall Descends starts with a flashback that tells you all you need to know to read this particular story. Don't worry if you haven't read Vol. 1, you don't need to. Barbara has to face her past and start to cope with the fact that she can walk again. There are some truely great character moments, and you really feel for Barbara. There's a couple of interesting bad guys, both old and new. The artwork is decent, and helps tell the story. This is one of those books that is hard to review without giving spoilers. However, if you always wondered what happened after 'The Killing Joke' read this book.

I think teenagers and above would like this, especially girls. It's great to have a strong female role model written by a woman, and that is rare in comics these days. A very good read, but warning, it does end on a cliffhanger.

What the Dickens.... Batman?

I thought I’d review something to tie-in with Charles Dickens Centenary. I didn’t want to go the obvious route of a straight adaptation, so I found ‘Batman Noel’. This is basically a retelling of ‘A Christmas carol’ but with characters from the Batman universe. The most interesting idea, and the one that really grabbed me is the Batman is Scrooge. It came as a shock reading it, because Batman’s nearly always pictured as the hero. The author cleverly plays with the readers expectations all the way through, and there are some unexpected moments. I tried to guess who the different ghosts and characters would be in Gotham, I didn’t always get it right. I like books that surprise me and this one did. The characters draw you in and there is an uneasiness throughout the book that Batman may have finally turned too dark.

The artwork is beautiful, breathtaking at times, a painted style that tells a lot of the story for you. Yes, I know graphic novels should do that anyway, but some artworks just do it better.

There’s a bit of bad language in the book, but I suspect some teenagers would love it. Reading groups who don’t do graphic novels would enjoy comparing it with the original ‘Christmas Carol’

A must read.