Dark Wolverine #81 & Wonder Woman #39

I've got two new reviews to post tonight, one from Marvel and one from DC. Who's going to come out on top? Read on and find out! Besides that, I've got my fingers crossed that I'll be receiving a shipment of new comics tomorrow, including Blackest Night #6, which WILL be the first thing I read. But before we get to tomorrow, we've got to get through tonight, so here are my thoughts on Dark Wolverine #81 and Wonder Woman #39.

Dark Wolverine #81: Over the course of the past few issues, Daken has been flirting with Moonstone, and the psychologist in Moonstone wants to know more about the mysterious Daken. Moonstone follows Daken to a Japanese restaurant and the two talk. Moonstone questions and prods Daken, and he deftly sidesteps the questions, answering nothing. Eventually, Daken tells Moonstone a fictitious story from his youth, with the moral being that he's an awesome liar, and that he's been toying with her and the Dark Avengers from the beginning. With that, Daken leaves and Moonstone realizes that she'd never be able to get into Daken's head, because he has never once dropped his guard, and that he probably never would.

Man, this comic was an absolute treat to read... I've been a huge fan of Daken since Daniel Way introduced him in Wolverine Origins a while back, and I've always loved Moonstone's mind games, from her days as a Master of Evil, through her Thunderbolts days, so I was expecting pretty big things from this comic. Both characters are master manipulators, so I knew this comic had the potential to be a whole lot of fun... And it was! There were no real action scenes in this one, just a lot of talking between two of the more cerebral Marvel characters. It was kind of like a good chess match, some people probably won't get what was going on, while others will absolutely love what they read. For the record, I'm a member of the latter group.

Score: 10 out of 10.This comic was awesome in ways that I can't even put into words! Long live Daken!!!

Wonder Woman #39: We begin with Ares collecting the pregnant Amazons and telling them that he'll be taking their children, and that there was nothing they could do about it. From there we head to the battle between Wonder Woman and the creature Alkyone summoned. The creature claims to be WW's father, but WW doesn't buy it. All of the Amazons and Olympians present on Themyscira rush to WW's aid, much to the surprise of Alkyone, who figured the Amazons would attack her for unleashing the creature, not sacrifice their lives to save WW. While WW and the combined forces of the Amazons and the Olympians battle the creature, Achilles takes on Alkyone and her Circle. Before Alkyone and the Circle can kill Achilles, Alkyone is slain by WW's mother, Hippolyta. WW manages to defeat the creature thanks to an assist from Zeus, who finally realizes his recent actions have been fueled by the embarrassment he suffered at the hands of Darksied's forces prior to Final Crisis. Zeus apologizes to WW and the Amazons before deciding to leave them all in peace. This issue concludes with Zeus telling Ares that he was hereby banned from stepping foot on Themyscira. However, Ares is more then happy to follow his father's edict, especially since he had what he wanted from the Amazons, their children.

Huh, this issue surprised the hell out of me. I really wasn't feeling the first few parts of this storyline, but everything came together beautifully in the end. I could have done without the creature, WW's supposed father, but everything else was really dead on. Gail Simone did a great job of tying up several loose ends, from Alkyone and her Circle, to Achilles and his Olympians, to Zeus and his behavior, as well as planting the seeds for Ares and his "children" in the future. I've got to say, this comic was a very pleasant surprise.

Score: 9 out of 10.That last panel, the one with Ares and his "children", needed to be posted on this blog.