Well, I’m back after the Christmas break and there’s been a whole load of comics released over that time, including Wonder Woman, Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman and Superman/Wonder Woman, that I wasn’t able to cover. However, for the sake of my sanity, rather than try to review them all now, I’ll try to do a load of 2-for-1s and review each in combination with its following issue, whenever that happens to be.
That means that this week, I’ve only one comic to cast my glance over, namely Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Three. If you recall, this is the alternative DC universe that sees Superman take a strange turn following Lois Lane’s death and try to rid the world of evil by imposing a quasi-fascist regime. In this, he’s supported by some other superheroes, opposed by others. The result? Lots of former friends and enemies kicking and even killing each other in preparation for the ‘Injustice: Gods Among Us’ video game, where lots of former friends and enemies kick and even kill each other.
Over the past few issues of ‘Year Three’, the Injustice alternative universe has taken a slight turn for the odder, since it’s the year the magic-based superheroes step into action. And right now, thanks to John Constantine and an unnamed ally, Superman has fallen into a deep, deep sleep where he’s in an alternative to the alternative universe, in which Lois Lane is still alive and Bruce Wayne has killed the Joker and turned himself him.
This issue, we see how things have evolved after a few decades in Superman’s dream world. He and Lois have a grown-up daughter called Lara; and Bruce Wayne is out of jail and grown a moustache. And Wonder Woman? She’s secretary general of the United Nations and married – you’ll never guess to whom.
Yes, she’s only gone and married Bruce Wayne.
It’s a slightly questionable issue, as per most of Injustice: Gods Among Us, with Superman’s dream world apparently one in which he never commits his own crimes and instead gets his best friend to do it for him and then go to jail. It’s also one where he thinks Batman would be happier with Diana than with Selina Kyle and hasn’t noticed that Wonder Woman (in both the regular Injustice and nu52 universes) would be happier with him. But at least everyone’s happy in it for a change.
Trivia lovers will note that Superman is now wearing his Kingdom Come costume – that’s the future alternative DC universe in which Superman and Wonder Woman end up getting married and having a child, and which is currently being referenced in Superman/Wonder Woman. Is this important? I don’t know.
Those same trivia lovers will also note that while Lara is, of course, Superman’s mum’s name, it was also the name of Superman and Wonder Woman’s daughter in Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again. In that series, Lara was keen that Superman take over the world, whereas here, she’s the opposite.
Again, I have no idea if there are deliberate messages here or mere shout-outs, but the issue should please both the Clois and Briana fans, anyway, even if it’s all a dream.
Rating: 3/5
Disclaimer: Owing to the small fortune it would take to buy every single DC comic each week, this is not a guaranteed rundown of all the comics that feature Wonder Woman. If you know of any I’ve missed, email me or leave a comment below and I’ll cover them the following week
