I'm curious if there's anyone here that reads any of the X-men books. The reason I ask is because I find it far too daunting to get into. I read them casually as a kid because of the animated series, and I loved Louise Simonson's X-Factor, but there just seem to be a ton of X-books, each with their own large cast of characters. Its as if the X-men exist in their own little universe, much like Punisher Max and the intergalactic Marvel titles. Am I alone in finding that a bit weird? I know that obviously Wolverine and Deadpool are the exceptions, but I just don't get why we haven't seen much of mutants since the crossover with Dark Avengers during Dark Reign.

Now I know we've all gone over how much of a douche JMS turned out to be with the way he just left DC hanging mid story arc with both Superman and Wonder Woman. I'm not sure if anyone else here on the forums was reading either of those runs aside from me, but I picked up both books when he signed on. Never being a fan of his work back when he was at Marvel (I hated his Spidey run and I'll admit I'm not into Thor all that much) but both stories sounded different and interesting enough to pick up.

Having never really been much of a WW reader outside of some of Greg Rucka's run that tied into Infinite Crisis, I only had a general understanding of the character. So when JMS joined on and made huge changes, my interest was peaked and I wanted to see what everyone was flipping out about. I liked that new costume (I'm one of the few apparently) and was surprised for all the liberties taken by a writer I never liked. I was intrigued. Then Superman Earth One came out and we all know the story from there.

Except this post isn't about JMS so much as it is about how Phil Hester was not only able to salvage the Wonder Woman book, but deliver a damn good single issue in Wonder Woman 609. So good that I felt the urge to write about it here, where if I'm lucky two or three of you might read.


Some back story for those not reading the book


So the book opens with Dr. Psycho and Diana in what seems like a dream world where he will she her who she truly is. Now without spoiling the book too much he shows Diana her past lives; all strong woman that collectively build up the Wonder Woman mythos. Diana obviously questions him on why she doesn't remember any of this, why he knows so much about her and who he is. And his response to each is by far some of the best character development I've read in a while. The way Hester writes this story out he turns a relatively two demential character like Doctor Psycho and humanizes him, all while shaping up story that I feel is the way all mediocre writers can learn from when trying to ease in new readers.

I know I'm probably going to catch some flack from Darkseid for this, but what Hester did in this one issue Morrison has failed at pulling off in Batman, and Hester gets it right on the first try. He takes both characters and breaks them all the way down to there core and then ties in those Silver Age elements that most would think goofy, but pulls it off effortlessly (hint: it involves Wonder Woman's invisible jet). This is the kind of writing I've always praised over the years from the likes of Geoff Johns and Greg Rucka, but oddly enough the first time I felt compelled to write about it. So if you've gotten to this point and want to know more, I'd strongly recommend picking up Wonder Woman #609 (and 608 for the lead in) the next time you're in your local comic shop to see it for yourself.

Has anyone here ever read 100 Bullets?

Because it's blowing me away. Seriously, this series is just amazing.

I read the first four volumes a while back. I've been meaning to get back into it. So far it's been a pretty good series.

I adore the art of this series, it's so disgusting but in a way that keeps you looking at it.

Definitely. My favorite part is probably the dialogue. Writing with any kind of ethnic or "ghetto" tone always takes the risk of going too far and just sounding silly. 100 Bullets walks the line perfectly. Talking the talk without sounding like some "Transformers 2" stereotype.

The art/writing is superb in 100 Bullets. It's one of my favorite series. The multiple plots and characters intertwine with one another so well. Especially, near the end. It comes together so well at the end, that I was truly stunned, just staring at that final panel. Such a great series. Bought all the trades. Brian Azzarello is one of my favorite writers because of that series. I strongly suggest you check out his Joker graphic novel.

Its cool bud, I know the title isn't for everyone, but I think you might have missed one point: it doesn't matter if you had any prior knowledge on the characters used. All the info you need on Dr. Psycho for that issue he provides: he's a Wonder Woman villain who's somewhat a telepath. He hints at the fact that he secretly loves her, admits she hates him and is ashamed by his height problem. You don't need his history to understand where he's coming from and its engaging enough for new readers to want to know more. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with not caring for the book, I just thought it was a good way to wipe the slate clean for WW without throwing out her history.

From what I've read, this is Hester's best issue on WW so far and a good issue all round. That is saying something considering the mess Hester inherited on the book. I've somewhat fallen out of Wonder Woman since Simone's run ended. I'm really tempted to pick this up though.

This one is really for Mongo. It looks like we got our answer.

Casually follow Green Lantern. Explain please.

Truth be told, its kind of hard to, but I can give you the set up from the past few books.

Throughout Brightest Day there has been a small shrouded figure collecting all of the emotional entities that represent each Corps. It turned out to be Krona, the renegade guardian and a classic silver age GL character who now through some really cool retons is not only the reason the guardians repress their emotions but was also the catalyst for the forming of the Green and Red Lanterns. Long story short he joins all of the entities with the current guardians (save for Ganthet) and puts Parallax back into the power battery; thus re-introducing a weakness of fear and yellow to the GL rings. This causes all of the GLs who haven't fully overcome fear to fall under Krona's control save for a select few, including the four earth-born GLs, but its affecting them aswell.

Now as for why Hal seems to be a Sinestro Corp member I'm not sure yet because its all going to happen in this week's issue. Coincidentally though it is one of only 4 rings he hasn't worn yet. The other three are Black, Indigo and Violent (Death, Compassion, and Love).

EDIT: Correction Hal HAS worn a black ring. Its was for only 3 panels in issue 50 but it counts.

Recently went into a comic shop ... what's this $3.99 .1 issues bullshit, Marvel!?

It was Marvel's way of trying to introduce new readers to ongoing books. The .1 issues are mostly updated origin stories, or stand alone issues that flesh out the main character(s) so from that point on you'd understand what's going on.

I honestly think it was one of they're more annoying "experiments" and another cheap and easy way to make some extra revenue. I honestly found it to be confusing to new readers. Because say for instance you walk in a shop and on the shelf you see Invincible Iron man #500 and next to it #500.1. And then a month later #501. Most new readers would have no prior knowledge of what the .1 means, if its just the same as the previous issue, perhaps an event running through Marvel, whatever and probably skip it.

It was also hassle for a lot of comic shops who now have to figure out how to categorize it. When I asked a friend of mine who works at a comic shop he explained that it's annoying because in their inventory .1 means a first printing and this kind of f'ed up they're filing a bit.

This to me though is just one of the many reasons I don't read as many Marvel books as I used to. They are constantly renumbering books either by going back to the original numbering, or canceling a book only to bring it back in under six months with a new Issue #1. And EVERY SINGLE TIME the price gets hiked up a couple of dollars.

Read the prologue for Deadpool Corps.

Way better than any actual issue of the series. My only real complaint was the last story has art so bad it made my eyes burn, but otherwise it was great. If only the actual series could be that entertaining.