Batman Incorporated #5 & Wonder Woman #610

Two DC books on tap for today. Usually I dread reading both titles, but shockingly, I enjoyed them both! I must have been in a GREAT mood when I read these comics or something... Anyway, here they are!

Batman Incorporated #5:

Summary: Batman(Bruce Wayne in this series) and his Argentinian amigo, El Gaucho, finish beating up El Sombrero(or, if you prefer, The Hat) and head off to the scenic Falkland Islands. It seems that Dr. Dedalus(AKA Agent-Zero, AKA Daddy 8-Legs, AKA Sleipnir, AKA The Spinner, AKA The Master Spy... Does anybody really need THAT many nicknames?!) has hidden the Oroboro somewhere on the island, and several parties are interested in getting a hold of whatever the Oroboro is. Batwoman and a British secret agent by the name of the Hood are already on the island and soon find themselves under attack by Scorpiana's scorpion bombs. Luckily for Hood and Batwoman, Bats and Gaucho arrive on the scene and fry the little critters before they detonate on anyone. Since her ambush failed, Scorpiana tries the direct approach and attacks the four heroes on her own... Well she's got nerve, that's for sure! Bats tells the other three heroes to deal with Scorpiana while he hunted for Dedalus. While the trio take care of Scorpiana, Bats follows Dedalus's henchman into a lighthouse where he shows Bats a “meta-bomb”(which I'm sure is WAY worse than a regular bomb!) that Dedalus was planning on detonating to start an international incident between Argentina and England. Bats safely defuses the bomb, while the trio on the ground locate Dedalus... Or so they think... Bats arrives, listens to a recording “Dedalus” had on him and deduces(correctly) that the real Dr. Dedalus was far away from the Falklands. This one ends with Dedalus and the mysterious Leviathan watching Bats and his crew from afar, undoubtedly plotting all sorts of evil actions.

Thoughts: Oddly enough, and nearly inexplicably, I liked this issue. I think I've FINALLY figured out the secret of reading a Grant Morrison comic book... The secret is to read the comic REALLY slow... I mean exceptionally slow! Like literally study the frigging page, the language used, the pictures, EVERYTHING before turning the page. And then repeat the process. I did just that, and I'd say that I understood like 85% of this comic, which is better than the 25% I normally understand! So Leviathan seems to be a person, as opposed to an organization like I initially thought... Leviathan rescued Dedalus from his island prison so Dedalus would help Leviathan with the Oroboro. I'm still not 100% sure what the Oroboro is, nor what it's purpose is, but hey, I didn't expect to figure out everything that was going on here! I'm still not sold on El Gaucho, but I'll admit that I did like Hood, or what little we learn about him. It turns out that a secret British agency wanted Hood to infiltrate Batman Inc.(and who could really blame them?), which was the REAL reason he was on that island, with his hunt for Dedalus being a ruse. As for Batwoman? She was just sort of there... All in all though, good stuff. Who'd have thunk it?!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Behold! The dreaded META-Bomb!


Wonder Woman #610:

Summary: The Morrigan teleport Cheetah, Giganta and Artemis back to their base and tell Artemis to use her hunting skills to find Wonder Woman, as opposed to running amok in the hope of drawing WW to them... And that ladies and gents is why the Morrigan are the leaders of Artemis and company! Wonder Woman wakes up in her hospital bed(much to the surprise of the doctor and nurse), trying to figure out how she got there. Eventually WW realizes that she had to get moving, and the nurse(who happens to be named Diana Prince) gives WW her WW equipment as well as a blanket that an old woman knitted for her. The blanket seems familiar to WW(it's her old starred cape), so she asks to be brought to the old woman before she leaves. WW meets with the old woman, who reveals that she was one of the Fates. And the old woman actually has some information! It seems that the Goddess of Vengeance had scared most of the other gods away from the mortal coil, and was the force behind the Morrigan. WW was pretty much the only thing that could stop this crazed Goddess, but was destroyed when she stood against the Goddess the first time. The Fate managed to create a second life for WW, the life she is currently leading. However, the Goddess knows WW is out there still, thus creating and using the Morrigan to draw WW out and kill her once and for all. After she passes this information onto WW, the old woman dies and Cheetah enters the room to attack. WW tosses Cheetah out the window and follows her outside, where WW is immediately attacked by Artemis. WW manages to wrap Artemis up in her lasso and shows Artemis that she had no reason to be angry with WW and the Amazons, but that her anger should have been directed at the Morrigan, who were using her. Artemis sees clearly now, and WW repeats the process on Cheetah and Giganta, righting their minds as well. From there, WW and her newfound allies head to the Oracle, declaring that she was going to take the battle to the evil Goddess of Vengeance.

Thoughts: Hey, this issue was really good! That's the first time I've said that about an issue of WW in ages! FINALLY, after a good 10 issues, we're finally getting to the bottom of the whole, “WW: The Teenage Amazon” deal. The Fate(the old woman) reveals that the original WW was killed/destroyed by the Goddess of Vengeance, but that the Fate recreated WW since she was still humanity's best hope against the Goddess. You'd think being killed by this Goddess once would disqualify WW from being humanity's best hope, but there you have it. Things are coming to a head here, and if you ask me, not a moment too soon!

Score: 8 out of 10.What's this?! A Wonder Woman comic making sense?! I won't believe it!