In this edition, Supergirl spends some quality time with her cousin while Wonder Woman’s enemy, Veronica Cale, searches for a way to help her daughter. And in the first issue of the Injustice 2 tie-in web comic, Harley Quinn finds a new family.
Wonder Woman 20
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Bilquis Evely and Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Greg Rucka’s run on Wonder Woman hasn’t been one of my favorites, but his work with the book’s supporting cast has been pretty amazing and one of the main reasons why I’ve stuck with the book through 20 issues. With the GODWATCH story running through the even-numbered issues, the travails of Dr. Veronica Cale and her daughter has been an engaging story that has made Wonder Woman a very powerful secondary character in the book.
Cale enlists the aid of Circe to defeat the demigods who she believes have stolen her daughter’s face. Unfortunately, they’re idiots and have lost that control to their father, Ares. The issue sets up a confrontation between Cale and the God of War, and you know the star of the book will be involved.
I found myself really looking forward to the next issue, as this one had a lot of momentum going for it. Then I remembered with the last page that the next issue would go back to Wonder Woman’s origins, in a much less engaging story than GODWATCH. Rucka’s run – and his recent announcement that he’s leaving in the next few months – would have likely been less disappointing had he not decided to split the book into two ongoing stories. It’s a neat gimmick, but it really hurts the flow of the two stories alternating between issues.
Supergirl 8
Written by Steve Orlando
Art by Matias Bergara and Michael Atiyeh
This was a ridiculously jam-packed issue of Supergirl, which ties in to the ongoing REBORN: AFTERMATH arc going on in the Superman books; the story laid out in Justice League vs. Suicide Squad with Emerald Empress searching for Saturn Girl; the continuation from the Batgirl Annual; AND the ongoing story going through the Supergirl book.
It’s a good thing Supergirl has superspeed.
Amazingly, Steve Orlando weaves everything together beautifully and the book never feels overwhelmed by everything the writer was putting into the story.
The heart of the issue is the reunion between Supergirl and her cousin, who is newly restored from his battle with Mxyzptlk. The cousins meet on a Kryptonian Day of Truth, so Kal-El decides it’s an opportunity to explain what’s happening to Kara and prepare her for the big fight to come.
And much like other recent issues of Superman, there’s food involved. Last week, we had the Kents and the Waynes sitting down in costume for some pie. This week, Superman and the New Super-Man of China had some food together on a Metropolis rooftop. And in this issue:
It’s nice to know that the Kent family values having dinner together as much as they do, but this may be getting out of hand.
Injustice 2 No. 1
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Bruno Redondo, Rex Lokus and Alex Sinclair
With the Injustice 2 video game coming out next month, we get a jumpstart on the story with a new webcomic that gets everything going with a confrontation between the imprisoned Superman and his jailor and former friend, Batman. In a universe where Superman took over the world and created a fascist regime as a gross overreaction to the Joker killing Lois Lane, his words to Bruce (pictured above) may be one of the harshest things he’s ever done.
The book quickly shifts to Harley Quinn, who is one of Batman’s top lieutenants in this new reality, and I quickly lose interest. Harley is being pursued by Amanda Waller, and that means the Suicide Squad can’t be that far behind. How did Superman NOT kill all of these guys when he took over during the last game?
Thankfully, these digital-first webcomics are pretty quick reads, because I really don’t like Harley Quinn-focused stories. We’ll see if Tom Taylor can keep me interested in this as we count down to the game’s release in May.