Blackest Night Wonder Woman #3, Secret Six #17 & Wonder Woman #40

Since I won't be posting anything new tomorrow(I've got to take that delayed Accounting exam on Monday!), I'll be firing three new reviews out tonight. With only two days of college this week(Monday and Tuesday), I'm hoping to take a big chunk out of my ever growing comic pile this coming week, but knowing the way I am, I'll probably lay around my place, watch the Winter Olympics, and do little else instead...

Blackest Night Wonder Woman #3(of 3): Writer: Greg Rucka. Pencils: Nicola Scott.

Star Sapphire Carol Ferris finds Wonder Woman after she gets her Start Sapphire ring and the two women combine forces to attempt to halt a few rampaging Black Lanterns. Carol takes off to find Hal to help, and WW winds up running into Black Lantern Maxwell Lord again. WW makes quick work of BL Max with her Star Sapphire powers, but her battle draws the attention of Mera, who is currently a Red Lantern. For some reason, Mera decides to throw down with WW, although they are both surrounded by Black Lanterns. The women battle to a stalemate, so WW decides to employ her lasso in order to force reason onto the uncontrollably angry Mera. WW's lasso seems to do the trick, and Mera's head becomes clear enough to halt her rampage. This issue ends with the rest of the Color Corps arriving on the scene in order to rally against Nekron.

Umm, why did I just read this? I don't get what the purpose was... I don't really get what the purpose of this entire mini-series was actually... It was kind of all over the place. Instead of getting something simple like WW vs. Maxwell Lord for three issues, we instead get one issue of WW, one issue of Black Lantern WW, and an issue of Star Sapphire WW. I don't see any reason to spend more time talking about this comic actually, since it never really went anywhere.

Score: 3 out of 10.Ah, BL Max... If not for you, this mini would have been a complete waste...

Secret Six #17: Writers: Gail Simone & John Ostrander. Art: J. Calafiore.

This issue gets underway with Yasemin Soze, formerly of the Suicide Squad, rising as a Black Lantern, and deciding to hunt down the man who killed her, Deadshot. From there we go to various battles, including Amanda Waller and her men burning down the Secret Six's headquarters in an effort to capture Scandal Savage. At Belle Reve prison, Bane and Black Alice defeat Count Vertigo and Nightshade, while Bronze Tiger and Catman wind up knocking each other out. In another part of the prison, Virtuosa has Ragdoll on the ropes until Jeannette arrives on the scene to provide him with an assist. From there, Black Lantern Fiddler arrives and lays all three characters out with the horrific power of his violin... OOOOOOK then. This issue ends with BL Yasemin catching up with Deadshot and Rick Flag, while a small army of Black Lanterns arrive at the prison.

Meh. I don't know if it's me, or if it's the books I've been reading tonight, but once again, this issue didn't really do anything for me. It's got to be the severe case of Black Lantern fatigue I'm suffering through... That's got to be the reason I haven't been enjoying these comics that much. I really don't have much to say here. This issue was like any of the other five-thousand, seven hundred and forty-six Blackest Night comics flooding the market. Like I said, meh.

Score: 4 out of 10.His name is Catman, of course he bit you!

Wonder Woman #40: Writer: Gail Simone. Pencils: Aaron Lopresti.

This issue kicks off with Wonder Woman battling a giant serpent god, and forcing it to spit out the subway train it had eaten. Upon spitting out the train, the serpent admits that it is unsure as to why it decided to eat the train, and it apologizes for it's actions before taking its leave... Well, that was strange. Off in the distance, a couple of creepy kids watch what happened, and plot against Wonder Woman. After dealing with the serpent, WW heads to the hospital to see her friend Etta, who was nearly killed by Genocide a few issues back. WW keeps feeling awful that she had allowed Genocide to harm Etta, but Etta reveals that she had been secretly working for Checkmate, so she was fully aware of the dangers of being around WW, and as such, WW shouldn't feel guilty for what happened to Etta. From there, we find the creepy kids from earlier tricking a man into burning down a synagogue. The kids then convince the man to commit suicide in order to save himself from years in prison. Upon witnessing the man's death, the kids lie to a reporter, telling her that the blaze and the man's death was caused by an angry black man, which ultimately leads to widespread rioting throughout Washington DC. Power Girl arrives on the scene to help with the fire, and is confronted by the children. Back at the hospital, WW catches a glimpse of the rioting on the TV, and rushes outside to see if there was anything she could do to help. This issue reaches its end with Power Girl attacking WW(!), while ranting that WW had stooped to a new low.

Hey, this was finally a comic that I enjoyed reading! I'm guessing these are the "children" of Ares who we caught a glimpse of last issue. I have to say, I sort of like the idea of WW being victimized by a bunch of evil little kids, because knowing WW, she is going to have a HARD time bringing herself to physically confront them because of their age. Although I could have done without the racial overtones, for the most part, this was a pretty good start to this storyline.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Wonder Woman vs Power Girl?!? Next issue should be awesome!