Black Canary, Wonder Woman, and Simon Dark

Green Arrow and Black Canary #3

I'm still liking this, but I was mildly annoyed this issue by the explanation behind Ollie's "death." That's due more to DC's "event-itis" than to Judd's writing, but it's still icky.

Other than that though, fun stuff. Mia's trying to excuse herself from the arena to check up on Conner and Ollie was funny and so was the interplay between the two Green Arrows. I love that Canary basically pulls her punches in her arena match in order to drag the fight out long enough for Conner and Ollie to escape.

I had to do a bit of thinking about where Ollie's new costume came from, but I think I've come up with a reasonable way of reading the scene. At first read it sounds like Ollie created the costume and everyone else is seeing it for the first time, but that doesn't make sense because it would've been impossible for him to stash it on the boat.

The only way it makes sense is that Dinah brought it with her. From the way she says she likes it, she may not have made it herself, but it doesn't have to be the first time she's seen it. Just the first time she's seen it on him.

And the last two pages? I totally called that.

Wonder Woman #15

As much as I liked the Green Arrow Family's adventure on Paradise Island, I'm liking Wonder Woman's even better. GA/BC has some butt-kicking Amazon's but they're not the real deal. These are. Complete with unicorns and dragons and some kind of nasty, Nazi-eating tentacle-monster.

And, oh yeah, there are Nazis. And talking gorillas. And Wonder Woman's three-page tour of the gods that would've taken other writers six issues to tell.

Odin. Man, I hope Gail's sticking him in her back pocket to pull out later.

The god Wonder Woman eventually aligns herself with is an interesting, unexpected choice. I'll look forward to seeing where that leads.

And I love that it looks like there's finally going to be a grounded explanation for Wonder Woman's claybaby birth. It's entirely possible that there's been one before, but if that's true, I've missed it. I never liked that part of her origin because it just sounded mystical for the sake of being mystical. It would be really cool to have it make sense.

Simon Dark #3

This seems out of place next to those other two, but I really liked this and want to mention it.

Most reviews I've read of Simon Dark have been an excercise in head-scratching over DC's decision to try something new. The critics are trying to figure out if it's a horror series or a superhero series and why it's set in Gotham City. They're overthinking it.

I can see how Simon Dark might not be everyone's bag, but he's definitely mine. Someone described him as emo and that might be true, but so was Frankenstein's monster by that measure. And I see a lot of the things I like about that character in Simon.

It probably is more horror than superheroics, but there are superhero elements to it that make it an interesting hybrid of both genres. Sort of like the Hulk was a combination of superheroes and Jekyll/Hyde at the beginning.

Anyway, it's very different from anything else I've read and between its unique feel, some great characters, and Scott Hampton's fantastic art, I'm enjoying the heck out of it.