Justice League #2- The New 52

And so with the promise of a fray between Batman and Superman, I dive in and read on to Issue #2. By the cover alone, I was already rewarded with the promise of a great read. Plus seeing Bruce and Clark go at it like there’s no tomorrow with Hal by the sidelines trying to keep Superman at bay with green chains was just great.

The second issue opens with criminal lab guy, Barry Allen, trying to divert attention of his boss to a case that for him was more important but higher ups want him to unravel the identity of the Flash. Good luck there.

The battle continues in Metropolis with Batman trying every trick in the book, or in this case, his belt, in the hopes that it stops Superman. But to no avail as we all know the only thing that will take Superman down. But if case, you are a new reader and you don’t know, heck, I am not telling. But don’t fret either as our heroes don’t know it as well. Just your luck as you’re not the only one in the dark.

Now, it was only with the intervention of Flash did the battle stop for Batman to get a word in and convince our Man of Steel that he and Hal are not in league with the monsters that equally attacked different parts of Metropolis. They came to the city in the hopes of finding more about these things because they are “alien”. So since Superman is one, he’d know them too. Now this if viewed negatively, this may sound racist to some and would go along with the concept that every chinky-eyed Asian would know every chinky-eyed Asian that passes by and they’d shake hands and sing some common national anthem. But I digress so allow me to get back to the topic.

The intel session continues with Batman showing Supes the box that he had with him in an abandoned printing press plant. As it is, the caped Kryptonian doesn’t have a base of operations and all of this talk is operating on the level of trust that they can extract from one another. Hal for his part, carries on with his cocky I-Can-Do-This attitude and suggests to Flash that they ditch “Black and Blue” because Batman is a pain in the ass and Superman doesn’t know shit about the box they brought in. How’s that for cooperation? 

Hal and Barry Allen's bond and banter carries off well into the new 52 and I'm glad they retained that. Much of the superheroes on this timeline had to hide themselves from the law and are considered a threat by the law. Needless to say, most of them go to great lengths to keep their identities secret. Until, Hal slips. LOL! (again)

The intel continues with each hero finding things about what they can do and Flash is surprised that Superman can see into things to which he pointedly asks Batman what he can do. And you know Bruce will have a retort to that by saying that he can “Keep us all on point.” LOL! Nice one Bats!

Apart from trust, lack on info is another element that keeps our heroes going and learning what they can from each other and the box that seems to elude any further discovery. Of course, they pretty soon learn that the box activates itself and “Pings” again and brings in more of those metallic creatures in that eerily chants, “For Darkseid”. Like the innate detective that he is Batman’s fears of having another box out there in the city is not far from the truth, as one was certainly being studied in Detroit within StarLabs by scientist Dr. Stone who currently was trying to have a decent and rational conversation with his son Victor when the box blew up and caught Victor in its wake. 

Here the issue ends with the image of a burning high school kid who earlier had simple wishes that his father come to his football game and share in his success.


Clearly that’s not going to happen as Victor will soon find out after this that his life is now not his own and that we will be meeting another super human in Issue #3 named, Wonder Woman. 

You know her right?

Who is Wonder Woman?

I think a politician was the one who said that, unless it gets my attention, it doesn’t get my vote. Now, our favorite Amazon Princess has always gotten my attention and my vote but I felt that it was just a vote that was naturally given. I mean, how could you not?

She is a compelling figure to look that. She is fierce, fearless, gorgeous and as per Batman, never fails to inspire and that puts her above the rest of all other superheroes. But for this compilation, the life of Wonder Woman that we all view as almost perfect as her form and figure is less than ideal. This compilation comes after the startling events in Infinite Crisis and follows the death of former Justice League member turned murderer, Maxwell Lord who saw his own demise at the hands of our Amazon as a result of mentally manipulating Superman to kill her. The world saw her then as a murderer and Diana had to retreat and go into self-imposed exile and let Donna Troy, then Wonder Girl take over for her as Wonder Woman.

In this compilation, Donna does the best that she can to fill in for Diana but finds herself up against former British archeologist, Dr. Barbara Minverva, aka, Cheetah; Dr. Doris Zeul, aka. Giganta; and the most power telepath, Dr. Psycho. Together they ganged up on Donna and almost left her for dead, although not quite while our own Diana, having been stripped of her title, goes undercover to work for the US Department of MetaHuman Affairs as Agent Diana Prince.  With this new assignment she adds the “title” of double agent to her superhero resume and had to work with Agent Tresser, aka. Nemesis, the Master of Disguises in search of the missing Wonder Woman who has not been seen since.

This search soon finds herself being allied with Hercules and facing the witch Circe who for a time being in this compilation relegated herself to being the new Wonder Woman; vengeful and unrelenting, after stripping Diana of her powers and capturing both Donna Troy and the new Wonder Girl, Cassandra Sandsmark. While being human has not dampened our Amazon’s spirit, it in a way has been the catalyst for her to move forward and be resourceful in unraveling a conspiracy between Hercules and Circe and later managed to get her powers back and once more become the Wonder Woman that we all love.

This was the Wonder Woman that I knew and this was the compilation that won me over once more. With brilliant and beautiful art drawn by Terry and Rachel Dodson and creative and paced writing by Allan Heinberg, this compilation attempted to answer the question we all asked ourselves. Who is Wonder Woman? To paraphrase the foreword by writer, Brian K. Vaughan, the iconic and elusive Amazonian was never that easy to understand, much less write about for she was full of contradictions? Diana Prince was a warrior at heart and yet loved peace. She also was a champion for women’s dignity and yet runs around wearing star-studded blue underpants while in spite of being a goddess possessing the gift of flight, still rides an invisible plane to get around. Truly a woman herself is already hard to understand and to add these contradicting elements into the mix, no wonder readers have yet to still scratch the surface about this iconic lady.

And given her icon status, layers upon layers have yet to be peeled off to understand her. And thus gives rise to the opportunity to always spin a new take on her story as it revolves around the people closest to her. From members of the Justice league, to her constituents as Ambassador of peace of Themyscara, to her fellow Amazonians, Donna and Cassie, her desire to be human and to explore this side of hers continues on promisingly after this compilation. This, for me, is human and goddess drama at its best. Next episode please.