Although DC’s nu-52 so far can hardly be described as epic in its sensibilities, it has at least one thing in common with Homer: it began its stories ‘in medias res’ – that is, in the middle of the action. There were no origin stories, no explanations for what had happened before each issue. Instead, we were thrust into the stories, assuming we would learn later on what was going on.
And so it is this month, 12 months after the first of the nu52 titles came out, that DC has released issue #0s for a whole range of both its surviving titles and its forthcoming titles. For the most part, these have been simple origin stories – Catwoman explains how Selina Kyle lost her memory and became a criminal, Supergirl explores why her parents sent her away from Krypton, Batgirl looks at how Barbara Gordon became Batgirl and lost her ability to walk, Batwoman looks at how Kate Kane was trained by her father and so on. Even Justice League #0 is merely about how Billy Batson gets the power of Shazam.
The thing is, we know nu52 Wonder Woman’s origin already: born on the island of the Amazons to Queen Hippolyta, her father the god Zeus – that much is clear and has already been (infamously) spelt out in issue #3. True, we’ve not really seen Steve Trevor crashing on Paradise Island, but we’ve had that reasonably well covered in Justice League #12, which only really left a couple of possible elements that needed covering: ‘the Contest’ among the Amazons to be the one to take Trevor back to the outside world and the point at which Wonder Woman decides to stay and fight for mortals against gods and monsters.
So leave it to Brian Azzarello to do something completely different. His #0 is a far more interesting affair: a story that takes an affectionate look at the Silver Age with an alleged tale from All-Girl Adventure Tales For Men #41 to explore just how Wonder Girl became Wonder Woman, and more importantly, given it’s Wonder Woman, how she learnt there’s more to being a warrior than killing.
We also learn exactly what DC thinks of Wonder Woman and what their master plan is.
So after the jump, let’s look at Wonder Woman #0, as well as Earth 2 #0, in which an alternative universe Wonder Woman appears to have no romantic interest in Superman, Action Comics #10, in which in retrospect the nu-52 Wonder Woman actually does appear to have some romantic interest in Superman, Justice League International Annual, in which the nu-52 Wonder Woman and Superman very much have a romantic interest in one another (and the superheroes of the future are not best happy about that), and Ame-Comi Girls, in which an alternative universe Wonder Woman proves that she’s the strongest superhero of them all – and is definitely not interested in Supergirl.
Incidentally, Cliff Chiang had already drawn a cover for Wonder Woman #0, before all the #0 issues were standardised on the ‘burst’ motif. Wouldn’t this have been just so much better?
The Avengers (Assemble) has been out on Blu-Ray for over a week now. Now, I could at this point write something long and exciting (not) about the differences between the US version and the UK version: the fact the UK version has edits, doesn’t have one of the documentaries and doesn’t have director Joss Whedon’s commentary.
But let’s ignore that and concentrate on something important: the fact there’s – depending on your point of view – a lot of studly comic book superheroes and superheroines to admire or ogle. And given we’re occasionally given to lists round here, today’s question is suitably list based:
Who did you enjoy the most of all The Avengers? And which character’s movie would you like to see next?
Your list can, of course, be entirely sexual, there being a lot of man candy (Thor, Captain America, Tony Stark, Nick Fury, Bruce Banner and – no judgement – the Hulk) and of course Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) and – no judgement – that waitress Captain America saved. There’s also Tom Hiddleston.
It can also be a list based on which characters you liked the best, which actors you liked the best, who you thought got the best dialogue, who had the best scenes and so on. So let us all know below or on your own blog the answer to that question – you can opt to tell us what the list is or just list them and let us guess.
As for which character you’d like to see next, that’s a slightly more difficult question. Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 are filming right now; Captain America 2: Winter Soldier is currently in discussions; and the Hulk won’t be back until The Avengers 2. There’s also been talk of a Black Widow spin-off movie, although nothing definite yet, and Joss Whedon is working on a SHIELD TV series, albeit with brand new characters.
But, whether it’s happening or not, which of the characters are you looking forward to seeing in their own franchise again next, and which would you like to see get a franchise if they don’t already have one.
Here’s my shortlist (it probably works for all possible permutations):
Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow)
= Chris Hemsworth (Thor)
= Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man)
I did like Mark Ruffalo’s the Hulk. But he’s not on any list.
Incidentally, I should point out that comics-wise, Black Widow is currently the co-star of both Captain America and Black Widow, as well as Winter Soldier, so it’s not entirely out of the question that she’ll be back in Captain America 2: Winter Soldier.
For those that don’t know Black Widow’s comics back story, she’s as old as Captain America – he even saves her as a child from the Nazis in one comic – having been given the Russians’ version of the Super Soldier Serum, but was conditioned to be a spy and assassin by the Soviets’ ‘Red Room’, Hawkeye eventually breaking her conditioning (as hinted at in The Avengers). Here’s a little explanation of the character and her development in comics.
In the UK: Saturdays, BBC1. Now available on iPlayer In the US: Saturdays, BBC America
Ah, pathos, tears, romance, cameos by famous people, a domestic UK setting, characterisation, a big hand-wavey, 30-second sonic screwdriver way out of a massive alien invasion, menacing kids, families, an emoting, lonely Doctor, voiceovers, continuity references and more – isn’t it great that Russell T Davies came back to write an episode of Doctor Who for Steven Moffat, bringing with him all his writing trademarks?
What’s that Sootie? Rusty didn’t write The Power of Three? Then who did?
Who???
You’re shitting me, Sootie. Chris Chibnall wrote that? Well, colour me surprised.
Yes, the man responsible for Cyberwoman, Countrycide, Adrift, Exit Wounds, The Hungry Earth and Camelot, to name but a few, most of which have been banned by Geneva Conventions, has finally turned in his indisputable masterpiece – by the simple mechanism of instead of merely copying every B-movie he’s ever watched (with perhaps the exception of Super 8), pretending to be Russell T Davies.
Shame it didn’t have a proper ending and the plot was nonsense, but that’s what happens when you copy Rusty.
They were shooting it in New York over a year ago – something of a surprise since the book was set in LA – but finally, the film of Syrup is ready to premiere… in Russia at least, 2013 everywhere else, according to the author, Max Barry. And here’s an unofficial trailer, posted by Barry himself.
A satire set in the world of corporate marketing, Syrup sees ‘Scat’ (Shiloh Fernandez from Red Riding Hood) trying to get his idea for a black-labelled carbonated beverage picked up by a certain major drinks company, helped (and occasionally stabbed in the back) by ‘6’ (Amber Heard), a brilliant young, gay marketing executive with few morals, and former best friend ‘Sneaky Peak’ (Kellan Lutz, whom you might recognise from the Twilight series, even though he never gets much to do). As 6 guides Scat through the chess game of corporate politics, Scat begins to fall in love with her. But can he trust her, can she love him and how much of anything she’s told him about herself can he believe – is he in love with a piece of marketing?
The movie, co-written by Barry and the film’s director Aram Rappaport (Whore), is going to be a bit of a change from the book, by the looks of it, not least because Tom Cruise and Gwyneth Paltrow aren’t going to be making a major sci-fi blockbuster during the movie; Brittany Snow (Harry’s Law) plays 6’s evil opposite, a character called ‘3’ rather than ‘@’; and because Sneaky Pete was originally Asian.
The trailer does also spoil rather a lot the book’s major question of whether 6 is quite the lesbian she claims to be, which makes me think it might not be as big a question in the movie.
Now it might just be our Amber getting all meta, given she’s one of the film’s producers, but a ‘might be lesbian, might be bi’ character who sleeps with a magnum under her pillow? That’s some major ‘from real life’ typecasting right there.
