Superman/Wonder Woman Vol.1: Power Couple (The New 52) Review

Superman/Wonder Woman Vol. 1: Power Couple (The New 52)

Ewww... kissing!

Writer: Charles Soule

Artist: Tony S. Daniel

Collects: Superman/Wonder Woman #1-7

Background Information:

For years Superman and Wonder Woman had their own love interests; Superman pined for, kissed and even married Lois Lane, while Wonder Woman and Colonel Steve Trevor have been a pairing ever since she appeared in Sensation Comics. 

Then the New 52 started. Lois and Supes left each other over creative differences at the Daily Planet and Wonder Woman decided she wasn't interested in Steve after all. The second Justice League volume featured the two sharing a passionate kiss at the end, and they've been a "thing" ever since.

Review:

So, for better or for worse, that's the status quo. Although I can credit Justice League writer Geoff Johns for trying to make this relationship work, it always came off as forced, and Trinity War did nothing to make the paring believable.

That's where Charles Soule comes in. His work in  Power Couple becomes a legitimising tool for the Wondersupes relationship, and ends up being a great tribute to everything there is to like about the New 52 versions of both characters.

Phew... they do superhero stuff, too.

So, Superman and Wonder Woman's relationship is now public. People are freaking out that the two
most powerful in the world are together and what this might mean for everyone else, and that's getting Wonder Woman and Superman concerned. In the meantime, Zod has appeared in the New 52 universe for the first time along with his beloved Faora. It's a great choice of villain for the new couple; as it shows just destructive this kind of couple can be, and that's one of the driving themes in this book.

Whereas Marvel is about average Joes in non-average situations (science nerd get spider powers, weakling gets the super serum, total narcissist wears armour to become hero), DC has always been about, to borrow from Injustice, gods among us. Larger than life characters and the real world's reaction to them has always been the crux of DCs line. Power Couple catches that crux perfectly; Wonder Woman and Superman are the subject of celebrity. We regularly see people referring two Wondersupes as attractive, their relationship trumps any hoopla created by any Hollywood scoop, and there's a certain level of secrecy to the whole thing.

That said, this is less of a love story and more of a relationship story. Superman and Wonder Woman are already together, and this story becomes more about what happens after the kiss at the end of every rom-com you have ever seen. The question, thankfully, isn't one of "will they/won't they", but "how will they make it work now that they have?" The result is a great humanising of both characters; the kind that we haven't seen in most of their books.

I know, far be it for Superman to wear makeup, still...

I've stopped commenting on art in DC. I'm suspicious that Jim Lee is drawing everything under
different names. That said, Tony S. Daniel's art deserves some mention. It won't stand out to anyone as particularly diverse, but if you're familiar with his work, then you know you're in for a book that is going to feature some pretty brutal panels. It near-perfectly balances the romance with hard-hitting action scenes and reminds you that this is, in fact, a superhero comic.

Somehow, even though I have nothing bad to say, I didn't love this book. Something, I don't know what, felt missing- maybe it was that love is meant to feel fun. I would have loved to see Wonder Woman and Superman tease each other good-naturedly, or laugh at an awkward situation, but it just wasn't there. Power Couple, therefore, gets only a four and a half out of five rom-coms.

**** 1/4

+ Works as a relationship story.
+ Plays on the "gods among us" theme.
+ Brutal, entertaining art.
- Wondersupes' love didn't feel too serious.

Alternate Option: Justice League: Villains' Journey

Wonder Woman and Superman are together? When did that happen? Find out here.

Justice League Vol. 2: Villain's Journey (The New 52)

Justice League Vol. 2: Villain’s Journey (The New 52)

When face with a threat, The Flash makes
stupid faces!

Writer: Geoff Johns

Artists: Jim Lee and Scott Williams

Collects: Justice League  #7-12

Background Information:

It’s the fourth and final in our Geoff Johns week!

The last volume of Justice League saw the league form no so much out of a desire for justice, but in order to stop the public from hating them. For those not in the know, this iteration of the team consists of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. Last time we saw them, they took on the galactic evil-dude known as Darkseid and won, earning the world’s trust, even though they don’t really trust each other.

Review:

The last volume, Origin, was fun, but in the end, it was mostly popcorn-munching stuff. Hardly a deep story, I compared it pretty heavily to Marvel’s Avengers film back from 2012. In Villain’s Jorney, Geoff Johns offers much of the same, but unfortunately, as readers, we’re ready for something meatier.

By now, the Justice League is adored by the whole world. There are many civilians calling for them to lead the US government. They believe that the League could put on a united front and fix every political problem in the world. The League, however, are at best overvalued in reality. They still do not trust each other, even though they work together better than they used to. And they haven’t yet become actual good guys. And now, a man by the name of David Graves is out to show the world just how unheroic these heroes really are.

I’m pretty sure every superhero franchise ever created has had a story like this. I can think of two Batman movies and a Spider-Man videogame that have had the “make the public hate the hero” storyline. The difference here, though, is that Graves isn’t trying to lie to the public; the league are not yet united and they aren’t able to fix everything.

It sounds like the story is going to offer plenty of depth, but don’t be fooled. This is another fairly shallow plot in reality. That was fine in a book like Origin, where we were just getting used to the team and were probably more interested in what the team was capable of than in complex storytelling, but the status quo in Justice League has already been established. Johns should have offered something a little deeper for this second story, and as such, the whole book feels pretty dismissible.

And that’s even considering the Wonder Woman/Superman kiss at the end of the trade (I’d give a spoiler warning, but it was advertised like crazy when it happened- that isn’t a spoiler). I’m not too concerned that there was little substance given to the moment- even though Superman and Wonder Woman barely exchange a word before they meet on the rooftop and then make out. I’m not even that keen on a Wonder Woman/Batman relationship. To me, the only person in the DCU that could be considered “Alpha Male” enough for Wonder Woman would be Superman, so the relationship makes perfect sense. But that’s the part that bothered me. There was nothing that seemed adventurous about the kiss; nothing that seemed like it would be a defining moment because I’m pretty convinced most new reads thought it was happening anyway. As such, it’s hard to really care about the kiss at all. I was actually more interested in what happened to Green Lantern at the end of this collection.

The art is just as good here. Jim Lee now shares writing duties with Scott Williams, but honestly, I couldn’t see any drop in quality. There are all of those trademark “big moments” that the last volume did so well. It’s great to look at and Johns gives Lee and Williams plenty of awesome things to draw.

By the time you start reading Villains Journey, you realise that you are done with stories of this calibre. The third volume in this series is supposed to be spectacular, but this one only gets three out of five over-advertised kisses.

 ***

+ Story is a clever idea

+ Art is still really good

- It’s still too shallow- we need depth by the second volume

Alternate Option: Teen Titans: Its our Right to Fight

Okay, so it’s hard to really recommend this, but if you want another team book, this one also has some big-name heroes. They’re just younger.