It is 2019. I am reading a comic in which Wonder Woman has been brainwashed into being a housewife.

It is 2021. I am reading a comic in which Wonder Woman has been brainwashed into being a housewife.

It is 2024. I am reading a comic in which Wonder Woman has been brainwashed into being a housewife.

While the premise is tired and overdone because it's a very easy idea, this issue does do something I've been pleading with this run to do. I've wanted it to show a Wonder Woman who struggles, and in this issue she does. I think the messaging here is very effective, for the most part. Religion as a tool of oppression is not a new idea, but I'm glad that it's so openly stated in this issue. If this run is going to continue to tackle themes such as patriarchy and oppression, it needs to do so sharply, or else it's going to fall into the trap of appearing somewhat complicit and wishy-washy with regards to the societal problems it speaks to.

This issue is about how society will beat women down and silence them, and even convince them of the misogyny that restrains them. You may call it over the top, but it's only over the top because you recognize the framing. From the onset the issue tells you, "This is bad." You catch the small slights Lasso of Lies Steve fires at Diana because you're prepped to, until the subtlety is replaced by overt misogyny. If this was presented in a different context, I think there would be far less whining about how over the top it is.

So many people in their reviews for this issue out themselves as willfully ignorant or media illiterate. Guys, here's a hint: If something is genuinely bad, you don't have to lie or exaggerate in order to make it seem bad. I could go through each and every intensely negative review for this issue and point out their flaws, but it'd honestly be a waste of my time. I mean, the reviews themselves signal that they couldn't even read and comprehend my rebuttal if I posted it. more

This issue was a nice change of pace. It was fun and funny, and had genuinely good character moments for Diana. We see her worn down by the conflict of the first arc, for once. Why was this never shown in the first arc?

As someone who's been involved with and had friends involved with some sort of activist work, this issue kind of invokes the feelings of being so rundown by that work and just needing a break from it, for a moment, so you don't go crazy. Now if King had written Diana to be more openly affected during any of that first arc, this would be more effective. But I'm willing to overlook her disaffectedness in that first arc because I enjoy this issue a lot. It's giving me what I desperately needed: A Wonder Woman with character. Suffering Sappho. more

This arc ends on a frustrating note. I recognize I keep saying that about this book, how it's frustrating me. It's just not hitting the mark the way it should. It ultimately comes down to Diana's lack of real characterization. A problem with the back half of this WW arc is it becomes super myopic. The start of the run tries to show the wider reaching consequences of what's happening, and that's good, because ultimately the book is about a societal and systemic issue. But then the second half of it is exclusively focused on Wonder Woman specifically, with the wider implications just blurring out in the background. And since Wonder Woman isn't really a character, it's grating. She's a stone bust in some Greek museum, she's not a person. You could have these big mythic moments, where you show how strong she is, but what makes it hit is that we know her struggle. She seems almost blasé about the wider conflict that this series is about at points. And that's... Shitty.

While reading this comic, I couldn't help but compare it to the recent JMS Captain America run. It's a way better comic, I highly recommend it. It's about a resurgence of hate in America, as it often is, and something it does wonderfully is it shows Steve Rogers' connection to his community and the people. It shows you *why* he's so heroic and iconic, and that he gives a shit. He's not great for his power, he's great because he's always willing to do the right thing at any cost. He is a man of the people. His first act in that run is to create affordable housing for his neighborhood! He's so grounded, so that when he beats the Nazi or does some grand show of strength against uncertain odds, it hits. He's one of us, he's fighting for us, let's cheer him on.

Meanwhile, in Wonder Woman, we never get that connection. She does these great, powerful things but we're only told they're great and powerful, and we ought to cheer, by the villain of all characters. This is an example of agency without showing it. Which I find worthless. You need the hero to genuinely have conflict, so you can relate. And what's more relatable than having your government persecute you? It's such an easy thing to explore, but King wants to maintain that Wonder Woman is unstoppable. What makes great heroes, what makes feminist icons, is not that. more

I honestly don't have much to say about this one. Not much happens and the ending really frustrated me. I'm all for subverting expectations but this issue really felt like a slog, so to have it end that way really makes that slog even more frustrating to have gone through. I don't think anyone was too out of character, aside from Yara. I've read literally every issue she's ever appeared in and her characterization here seems very off. It's way too stereotypical of the young blood archetype. But you know, King does a lot of work in stereotypes. This issue also continues the myopic trajectory of the arc, which remains frustrating because Wonder Woman still isn't really a fully fleshed out character in her own book.

The backup as always is a lot of fun. more

This is the issue where this arc takes a weird shift and the focus becomes much more myopic, which isn't great because I feel like King has so far failed to make Wonder Woman herself engaging. I don't really *get* what King is going for with her character, even with the minimal character depth we do get. She's talking about choosing love, but it seems like she's a very contemptuous person in her interactions with anyone who's not currently a dying child. It just seems disconnected. Sure, people are multi-faceted and sometimes Wonder Woman is right to be cold, but why is she threatening her fellow Amazons when talking it out seems like the better option? It points to the major flaw I find in Diana's characterization thus far. King wants to show that she's strong and powerful, and has agency, but we don't see the value in that strength and power, and agency, because we never see her struggle, nor do we ever see her question herself.

There is a great moment with the dying kid, and it actually hits back on the larger patriarchal conflict this book is about. The child is questioning whether they're bad or abnormal for not liking what's expected of them to like by society's self-imposed gender norms. Whether they're sick and dying because those norms seem so ingrained into everything that it must be how God wants it. It has to be something far beyond humanity's control. Something innate. That's good stuff. Wonder Woman rambles on it too long, but I applaud the effort.

Unrelated, I wonder if we'll get follow up on that scene with Steve Trevor where he gets into a fight over some rude, sexist comments from another soldier. This scene is played straight, but it nags at me because it's played straight. I'm not sure what it's saying. Because while the soldier is being sexist and wrong, he's also doubting Steve's manhood and Steve has to prove him wrong by... Punching him out. Which seems like toxic masculinity if I've ever seen it. But is the scene saying, "Hey, Steve's right" or is it saying, "Hey, look at all the ways patriarchy affects us"? Eh, I don't know. The scene with the kid questioning whether he's bad or not is what saves this one for me.

The backup is cute although I find it really reductive to say Damian has no hopes and dreams. Kind of flies in the face of everything I've ever read with that character. But it's Damian, so who cares? more

The art is good. But, Wonder Woman exists as the truth to combat the lies of the evil patriarchy who spread nothing but lies and only seek power to oppress women. Christianity is a tool of the evil patriarchy, blah blah blah. This series started off OK but after these last two issues maybe it’s time to take this off the pull list.

goated. Don’t listen to the homophobic fake reviews this is the best issue of this book so far. The complex relationship we’re getting between the green and red lanterns is awesome and if one of them was a woman those guys would all agree

Another amazing issue! This is the only book I'm picking up this week. tbh, probably an 8 or 9 but I'm rating it 10 because of the weirdos who try and tank the rankings every month. If you don't like it, read something else, weirdos! lol

This book had already caught my attention with its cover and premise and the fact Mike Perkins was drawing it. But it ended up being surprisingly great all the same living up to these high review scores. It doesn't rely on memberberries or winks and nudges to have appeal, its pure old fashioned noir storytelling with characters skme unfamiliar some not in a setting based on the world Batman was originally born in.

This is far from the first noir Bat story and God willing it won't be the last but it feels fresh because of the presentation and setting, juxtaposed to the high tech modern Bruce Wayne we obviously see a lot today.

This Bruce is young, scrappy, not entirely put together, but determined to do the right thing. Theres some backdrop elements focusing on surprisingly relevant topics as facism was on the rise in the thirties too.

The art is just incredible, Mike perkins is who you go to when you want insanely depthful, detailed, human depictions of these characters. The characters feel grounded and vulnerable, the environments grimy, dark and mysterious. His figure work shines brilliantly as does his inking techniques on things like the wrinkles in Bruces cape.

It all comes together to make a sequence that feels grandiose and high art, no less so with the premium large size of the black label line. We get too many bat books, but this one has earned its keep as a mini. more

I'm very shocked by the reception to this issue from readers. I feel like it's important to remember what Animal Pound is attempting to be. It's Animal Farm but instead of satirizing the Russian Revolution and eventual rise of Stalinism, it's satirizing the American Revolution and the rise of whatever you'd want to call America now. This issue is directly satirizing the constitutional convention and the establishment of the electoral college. There's also a very direct immigration component with the all doors shall remain open bit. We know where things go from here, don't be thrown off when they go that direction. Piggy has found Capitalism, expect the poison of that to lead wherever this story goes. This isn't incredibly difficult storytelling but it is important to lay the groundwork, much like Animal Farm did, otherwise things will start happening for seemingly little reason and the satire will be lost. more

This ending kinda missed the mark for me. It's not bad, but if you were to re-read issue one, you'd be wondering how we got here.

I wasn't expecting much from this, but the Detective Chimp story was actually pretty good.

This is a very weird anthology. It honestly shows me a Spider-Office that doesn't really know what it wants. The entire thing is an exercise in synergy, with Madame Web haphazardly being the impetus for the anthology. It gives me the same vibes as when Black Adam got a full page splash in Dark Crisis along with an extended sequence showing just how great and heroic he was, because he and his movie were definitely going to be a smash hit. Luckily, Marvel didn't commit quite so hard to Madame Web, at least. We also get some weird synergy with Loki. I really just want Spider-Gwen to be in her own universe. Half the fun of the original run was exploring Earth-65 and seeing how different it was from 616. You take that away and Spider-Gwen gets lost in the sea of ancillary Spider-Characters with nothing to truly define her besides the memory of her counterpart's death 50 years ago. Now tying her to the off-brand comics-catching-up versions of the MCU's Ouroboros and Mobius, it seems like Marvel simply wants her brand to continue to diminish. The synergy might run even deeper with Spider-Man 2099 taking the lead role in whatever the next Spider-Verse event is, but who knows if he will be by the time issue 1 of End of the Spider-Verse, For Real This Time, comes out. My point with the synergy is that it feels like so much of the creative side of editorial, specifically Spider-Editorial, is being driven by whatever the latest creative flaunt is. That tells me that the editors don't really have a direction or directive, or drive, for how they want to shape Spider-Man and his extended cast's books for the foreseeable future. They're just latching onto whatever might work.

I'm behind on every Spidey book that isn't Amazing, so I know I'm missing context for certain things, but never so much that I felt lost. However, this anthology does not make me want to rush and catch up. The standout story for me was literally the first one. It's Wells and Romita, and it's about Tombstone. As much as Gang War bummed me out, I still really enjoyed the first arc of Wells' ASM run and this brief story has the vibes of that rather than what Gang War was like. The tone feels more consistent, Spidey is turning the tables on Tombstone somewhat... As an incredibly stupid man once said, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." I am extremely hesitant here, but I'm looking for something in this anthology. Miles' story was fine, but too caught up in its lore for me to latch onto anything. I haven't read that arc yet, why do I care about whether this vampire guy gets out? Spider-Woman had me interested, until Nick Lowe spoiled it for me in the back matter, and now I'm kinda dreading that one. The second Wells story did *look* fantastic, but it did nothing for me. Green Goblin is coming back, we know. The Chasm/Kaine stories are ones I want to enjoy, but the absurdly awful Greg Land art really took me out of it. Whenever I see artists that *I know* are hired for their speed rather than their ability, it tells me that Marvel doesn't actually care about this story and selling it. So why should I care? The Spectacular Spider-Men story was cute but I wasn't super invested in it either.

It's weird that there are two major elements of the Spider-Comics at the moment that weren't represented here: Ultimate and Slott. Ultimate is edited by a separate group (which is why it's better), I know, but this is supposed to be the grand opening statement of all things Spidey come 2024, so why not include an incredibly brief story by Hickman to grab the 2 and a half people who aren't yet reading that book? Hell, maybe its inclusion would boost sales for this anthology. The Slott stuff being absent is much more perplexing. He's writing two separate titles right now, that's a big chunk. And I assume those stories are building to something in the near-ish future. And Slott participated in the last big anthology issue, so why not here? I don't know about you, but this web feels pretty incomplete!

I wish I could say this book is exciting, or serves a purpose, or feels important. It's not any of these things. You can skip it, in fact, *do* skip it. It's a waste of your money and your time. I only rated it a 5 because nothing is really bad, it's just bland as hell. This book is a statement on editorial's failures. Eight dollars of non-excitement. more

Kelly Thompson's run completely redeemed this character after years and years of writers not being able to escape the mud the character was dragged through during Civil War II. I think a big reason why Thompson was able to do this was because she always writes character-first. This can give some of her books this sort of eclectic feeling, which may put off some readers, but when it works and when it pays off, it does very well, and there's not a better example than this specific run. An issue writers tend to struggle with when it comes to characters that are meant to embody specifically feminist ideals is making sure that the character feels genuine. I get that we're way behind the eight ball here, especially given the rising tide of anti-feminism that has captured the male youth and has been perpetuated in law lately. I get that it wasn't so long ago that female characters were consistently written as either seductress or servant. I understand the urge to unapologetically flaunt these ideals, and you should definitely do that. But make sure the character that you use to do that is an actual person. It falls on deaf ears if the character comes across as unrelatable or metatextually disingenuous. It's a trap that many genuinely good writers have fallen into. But Kelly Thompson doesn't. She writes strong, powerful women all the time, but I've never felt like it was insincere, or that she wasn't invested in these characters. This run was so successful because Kelly Thompson *cares* about Carol Danvers as a character first, and not as what she represents to the company's brand. Editors take note. more

I didn't like this as much as I liked the first arc, but it's still very good. A big reason why is the art. I've never been a fan of Magno, they're just not for me.

I'm not sure why the critics seem so put off by this title. Is it wordy? Sure. But what's being said is usually pretty poignant, and when it's not, it's fairly breezy dialogue that doesn't feel forced. This arc is a near-classic sort of Captain America story. Nazis are bad; progress is good. I don't see the big misstep that I hear about in the reviews. One of the best aspects about the Captain America character that is ever-present in this first arc is his indomitable will. His persistent and unwavering defiance of strongmen. His frank inability to stand by and let hatred go unanswered. It's Cap at his best. This is a trade I would hand to someone who doesn't get Captain America, because I don't think you can read it and come away still misunderstanding who this character is. I have nothing but praise for it. more