Tuesday, April 5, 2011

X-23 #8 & Wonder Woman #609

We take a break from the one company theme I had going the past couple of reviews, as I take a look at comics from both Marvel and DC, both coincidentally featuring female leads. This review is also notable because it's probably the last Wonder Woman comic I plan on reading in quite some time, as this issue was the last for my subscription, and with how absolutely abysmal J. Michael Straczynski's WW run has been, I just can't reason spending money on this series. Oh, speaking of DC and sucky stories, I was planning on reading/reviewing Green Lantern Corps #58 and Emerald Warriors #8, but I just can't bring myself to read another story from the “brain” of Chairman Johns. So yeah, don't expect to see me review ANY of the War of the Green Lanterns tripe.

X-23 #8:

Summary: X-23 and her Gal Friday, Gambit finally arrive in Madripoor to find Daken, who they believe knows where Malcolm Colcord(who is trying to restart the Weapon X program for the umpteenth time) is. X-23 is able to locate Daken almost immediately, but spots some goons trying to kidnap a child off the street and has to ditch Daken to save the kid. Gambit manages to find Tyger Tiger, who tells him that she had been forced to work for Daken. Since Tyger hates Daken and all, she agrees to help X-23 and Gambit trick Daken into meeting with them. To that end, Tyger has the two meet her in her office the following day, where they demand to see Daken, and she dutifully protects Daken. After X-23 and Gambit leave, Daken comes out of a hold in the wall(?!) and is intrigued enough by X-23's claims that she was Wolverine's clone to go to meet X-23 and Gambit. Daken locates the duo at a restaurant, and refuses to believe X-23's claim, at least until she pops her claws, which angers Daken, and provokes him to attack. Gambit naturally gets knocked out early on(MAN has he become such a damsel in distress lately!), leading to X-23 and Daken battling across the rooftops of Madripoor as this issue ends.

Thoughts: First things first, when did it become common knowledge that Daken and Colcord were working together? I mean I thought it just suddenly happened in the last issue of Daken, but it seems that it's a well known fact or something now... Weird. As for the story here, I liked it. It's hard to screw up a comic that was leading up to an X-23/Daken fight, and this comic gave me what I expected. I'm not exactly sure where the story goes from here(I guess Colcord betrays Daken? Or maybe vice-versa?), but I was pretty happy with the first part of this x-over, which continues in the next issue of Daken: Dark Wolverine.

Score: 8 out of 10.Gambit's one to talk, what with that trenchcoat he's always wearing!


Wonder Woman #609:

Summary: Dr. Psycho takes Wonder Woman: The Teenage Amazon on a journey through WW's mind and shows her several different versions of WW throughout history, eventually getting to the real WW that we all knew and loved. Psycho tells WW she has to choose which Wonder Woman she wants to be before leaving her alone with her thoughts. WW treks through her mind, walking past several different versions of herself before stopping and choosing one. This issue ends with a nurse with the last name of Prince(who looks quite a bit like WW), calling a doctor to look at the patient who just woke up, a patient who looks like Wonder Woman.

Thoughts: You know, the beginning of this comic actually grabbed my attention. I liked Psycho's little trip through WW's mind, and the various different versions of WW were kind of interesting. Now don't get me wrong, I don't know what the hell any of it meant, but it did manage to hold my attention, so there's that. The end was a straight-up confusing mess, but, and I hate to say it, I am a bit intrigued to see just what this all meant. Which means I'll be picking up issue #610... Dammit!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Hey, this all looks vaguely familiar...

17 comments:

  1. Okay X, you REAAAALLY must be trying to get me over to the Marvel side. You're X-23 scores have been pretty solid and well pretty damn good so, *sigh* I think I may give in and pick up X-23. Lol. I'll either A) Pick up the issues after issue 10 comes out or B) wait for a trade. Lol.

    Annnd as for WW, *sigh* this issue sounds decent, I think I may pick this up when I pick up my Vol 4 of girls tomorrow.... I really hope they bring back the classic WW. I seriously miss reading this series and almost breaks my heart I've missed the last few issues. But it does sounds like an interesting issue with the whole mind wondering stuff. And if it can get the X-Man to get the next issue, it has to be worth a try.

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  2. That WW issue sounds confusing but surprisingly good Here's hoping the real Wondy returns soon and starts snappin necks and cashin checks.

    Oh, and Emerald Warriors & GLC were really good, I reviewed them and thought they were good issues, especially Emerald Warriors cause Guy whoops Hal's ass..

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  3. "Okay X, you REAAAALLY must be trying to get me over to the Marvel side." HA! My master plan has nearly come to fruition!!! :D I HATED X-23 as a character before this series, but Marjorie Lui has caused me to(grudgingly) become a fan of hers, something I would have SWORN would never happen.

    Lisha, I wanted to HATE this issue of WW like you wouldn't believe. Because if I would have hated it, I was going to drop the series. But this issue left me a bit intrigued... Intrigued enough to want to see what happens next. Of, and on the letters page the editor was nearly BEGGING people to stick with the series until issue #612, which is when they said everything would make sense, so maybe that's when we'll finally get the REAL WW back!

    "Here's hoping the real Wondy returns soon and starts snappin necks" Amen!

    Yeah, I recall seeing your review for GLC, and seeing that it got a pretty solid score, JT. It's just that I REALLY don't want to read about Hal anymore. Seriously, I'm done. From now on, if Chairman Johns writes, thinks about or creates it, I'm going to skip it. And sadly, that includes this storyline.

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  4. I was completely unaware who X-23 was until you started reviewing this series. And I'm kind of on the flip flop about where I should read some older stuff with X-23, lol. But I'm looking forward to reading some of these newer issues of X-23.

    And the fact that you wanted to hate the issues says something about it. Lol. So *sigh* as bad as I don't want to admit it, I think I'll get back on the WW bandwagon to see how things go. And the fact that the editor was begging folks makes me feel so bad for the guy/gal. Lol. I'll be reading #609 and come back with some thoughts.

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  5. X-23's first few appearances were in a title called NYX, which is written by my blood enemy Chris Yost, but before he was my sworn foe. To be perfectly honest with you, I'd start reading at this series. I mean Marjorie Liu is 500,000,000,000 times the writer Yost is, so yeah, that'd be my recommendation.

    That letter page in WW was so damn funny! I mean the editor(or assistant editor, who ever answers those letters) was literally like, "PLEASE stick with us until WW #612! Everything will make sense then!" I'll tell you this, Lisha, if the REAL WW doesn't come back in issue #612, I'll DEF drop the title. Period, end of discussion!

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  6. I think I will take you up on that recommendation. I mean 95% of the time I follow your recommendations and love it! So I'll wait around for a trade of the current stuff because, I still have TONS of things to read of my own in addition to reading Invincible lol.

    Lol. I can only imagine the hilariousness of someone begging to read the comic. It's almost pitiful, wait it is. Lol. And I'm right a long with you about dropping WW if they don't make any sense of this non-sense. I had no problem dropping WW when the new tramp came a long, lol. If they continue to mess up I'll drop it again.

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  7. Cool. I hope you enjoy it when you do read it, Lisha. And boy do I EVER know what it's like to have a zillion things laying around to read! I STILL haven't finished Y, OR caught up on Invincible myself!

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  8. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, you have great taste. ^_^. I have shocked myself by reading through 9 of 10 Vol's of Y. It's been one fun read and I'm really sad to see that I'll be finished soon.

    And *sigh* over the past couple months the number of things I've managed to put hundreds of dollars toward will take months to read, lol. And I'm steadily adding to that pile. Lol.

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  9. *Sigh* I just read WW #609, although I seriously dreaded reading it, I still set my feelings aside and read it. And you now what, it seriously wasn't that bad. I'll say this, it's the best of the worst so far. And I'm drawn back into wanting to read again.

    But if that editor doesn't find some way to bring the old Wondy back, I'll be writing him a letter that will make him cry.

    So, I too will be picking up #610. Lol, let's hope things turn out for the best.

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  10. HA!! At least it wasn't just me, Lisha! See, if you would have come on and been like, "I don't know WHAT you were talking about, X, this issue was as awful as the rest!" I'd have been SO confused! :P I'm glad we both thought it wasn't that bad, which is better then how it usually is with this series!

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  11. Lol, in all honesty, I started reading like "What the hell? X must've been reading something else." But as I read, I'm like "Ohh okay I get what he was saying" So no sir you aren't alone in this case. NOW if the next issue just ruins WW for life with a continuation of this teenage WW and you like it, I think I'll be forced to handle you myself. Lol, knock some sense into you.

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  12. HA!!! That's EXACTLY the way I felt when I read this issue! I remember kind of breezing through it in the beginning since I figured it was gonna be awful, but by the middle I was really getting into it! Great minds do indeed think alike! :D

    Trust me, if it's about WW: Teenage Amazon and I like it, I'll be the first to admit that you SHOULD knock some sense into my head! :D

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  13. Lol, I was just like, flipping through telling myself this was a waste of money, but it did indeed end up getting better than I thought. And I agree 100% great minds do think alike. ^_^

    Awesome, I get permission to beat you up. On record! And I hope it returns to the way it was before. That would be the greatest thing DC could ever do for me.

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  14. DC fixing WW would at least be a step in the right direction for me. There are still a bunch of other things I'm SUPER pissed off about, but yeah, fixing WW would DEFINITELY be a great first step, because really, who wants to read about WW: THe Teenage Amazon anymore?

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  15. I sure as hell don't. I'm so over this current WW stuff. Was at the comic shop today looking at old issues of WW by Gail...made my so sad lol. Like I literally felt my heart sink. *sigh* I really, need to see WW come in contract with Genocide again. The "Rise of the Olympians" arc was so great. *sigh*

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  16. UGH! Now I just remembered the Genocide stuff! Gail's run was like 5,000,000% better than the Teenage Amazon stuff we're currently suffering through... Man, what I wouldn't give to see Genocide pop up again! Genocide SHOULD have become a regular rogue for WW to deal with in that series... Sad...

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  17. X, I seriously just looked at the cover like a kid in the toy store. It was like reliving the greatest WW stuff only to come to reality seeing what I have to look forward to reading in the next issue of WW.

    "Man, what I wouldn't give to see Genocide pop up again!"

    X, my words exactly. It was like we were introduced to one of THE greatest WW rogues only to have her fall off the face of the earth. Ohh what they could've done with that character. They could so use her to "help" WW remember who she was. And by help I mean beat the crap out of her lol. That riot monster is starting to make some noise in my head again. Lol.

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