Normally, this is the bit where I give the latest Wonder Woman news, but there ain’t any, unless you count the new picture above. And I don’t think Supergirl teaching the Live with Kelly crew the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman twirl counts either:
Oh, the prices of a whole bunch of DC Rebirth comics are going up by a third soon, including Trinity. But not of Wonder Woman, I don’t think.
So without much – or indeed any – ado, let’s head off to the reviews of Trinity #5, Justice League v Suicide Squad #5 and Justice League (Rebirth) #13. Spoilers: at least two of them aren’t any good.
Trinity #5
Plot
While still dreaming, the Trinity discover that they’ve all been afflicted by the Black Mercy and are inside Mongul’s dreamworld, because Poison Ivy wants to get her dreamworld child back into the real world and Superman might be the way to do it.
What does Diana do? Punch and get punched by Mongul; have the plot explained to her by Mongul
Extra notes
As an issue, this is basically a colossal nerdfest for continuity fans. The Black Mercy is, of course, the alien flower that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created in For The Man Who Has Everything and which popped up in the first season Supergirl episode For The Girl Who Has Everything.
On top of that, we have Mongul, the well known Superman villain and for those of you who remember when Poison Ivy was simply a Batman villainess who likes plant – surprise! Writer/artists Francis Manapaul’s remembered that 30 or so years ago, she was revealed to be a sort of mini-Swamp Thing (aka ‘The May Queen’) who is in telepathic contact with The Green.
Which is nice for those who like that kind of thing.
In terms of plotting, it’s basically either everyone hitting one another or explaining the plot to one another, whether it’s the Trinity to Mongul, Mongul to the Trinity, or Poison Ivy to Lois Lane. It also requires Poison Ivy to be colossally stupid and not to connect the following facts:
- Bruce Wayne the billionaire is at an old farmhouse
- A woman who looks a lot like Lois Lane is at the farmhouse
- A very tall and strong woman who looks like Wonder Woman is at the farmhouse
- A strong man who looks a lot like the very famous Clark Kent and/or Superman is in the farmhouse
- One of these people is a huge source of sunlight
I mean duh.
Still, where Francis Manapaul’s storytelling falters, his artwork, particularly of Poison Ivy, is actually very pretty:
Rating: 3/7 (Artwork: 6/7)
Justice League v Suicide Squad #5
Plot
Max Lord has enslaved the Justice League using the Eclipso diamond. Using them, he puts the whole world under his (peaceful) control. Except the Eclipso diamond might have its own ideas about who’s in charge and whether it wants this to be peaceful or not…
What does Diana do? She takes over Congress for Max…
…and joins with the rest of the Justice League fighting against the Suicide Squad (and Batman).
Extra notes
Basically, the standard “Justice League turn evil” plot melded with “Justice League take over the world to bring about world peace” plot. Minimal Diana in it, too.
BTW, is Captain Boomerang supposed to be something Australians are in on the joke with, or is he supposed to be genuine? Because I’ve yet to find an Australian who likes the “Dingos ate my baby” thing.
Rating: 2/7 (Artwork: 5/7)
Justice League (Rebirth) #13
Plot
Contuining from Justice League v Suicide Squad #5, Justice League (Rebirth) #13 sees Steve Trevor having to deal with the fact that the Justice League and an increasing number of the general populace, including friends and family, are turning into Eclipso-zombies.
What does Diana do? Say a mean thing to Steve while zombified.
Extra notes
Essentially, it’s Steve Trevor as The Omega Man and that’s about it really. More interestingly, it’s also a huge info dump for the Rebirth Steve Trevor.
First off, we learn that as in the nu52, Steve was the liaison between the US government and the Justice League when they first started. But we also have confirmed (about 27 times) that as I deduced a while back, Steve has indeed switched services in Rebirth to become a member of the Navy, his rank being Master Chief – yes, just like Steven Seagal in Under Siege:
We also learn that his middle name is Rockwell and that he has sister called Tracy, who has a son, Ian, and a daughter, Allison.
We also learn that he was in a plane crash once “A bad one. Copilot killed. No idea where I landed. But I was saved. Taken in. Healed. Lifted up by an angel. It’s what elevated me from a cynic to a believer. Because my angel is always there when I need her.” Lovely, hey?
Now, obviously, DC’s attention to continuity between titles, even ones being published within a few of months of each other, let alone years is ropey at the best of times. But we had Steve’s crash landing on Paradise Island in July and he was just a passenger on that, and even in the nu52, he didn’t have a co-pilot. Plus SEALs don’t usually do a lot of piloting AFAIK.
But as always, we’re in the middle of the whole Lies storyline so is this a suggestion that maybe Steve’s memories are the ones that are screwed, not Diana’s? My money is on another DC cock-up, but YMMV.
Rating: 4/7 (Artwork: 4/7)
