Superman/Wonder Woman #1 review

Wonder Woman and Superman are dating and while they'd like a nice dinner and some snogging, the superhero life tends to get in the way. So it is that a quiet night at Diana's London flat is interrupted by a call to Norway, where an unnatural storm threatens sea traffic. Superman is confident he can calm the maelstrom below the waters while Diana looks after the surface chaos, but neither of them are prepared for the monster known as ... Doomsday.

Dramatic dots there - it's a pacing thing. And writer Charles Soule does a good job with his pacing this issue, punctuating the main beats, described above, with moments from Clark and Diana's private lives earlier in the day.

Diana spars with Amazon pal Hessia and worries that Clark is ashamed of their new relationship, that he's embarrassed somehow. Hessia reassures (click on image to enlarge).

Clark is having a drink at Bibbo's bar with newsblog partner Cat Grant, who asks him to bring better stories to their site, before introducing him to her boyfriend Aaron Lord. Clark is distracted, looking forward to a date with Diana.

And a memory stick posted to Cat is ignored, cos she's just too darn hi-tech and modern to open the mail. Or have her assistant Brian look at it for her.

The balance of action and emotion is about right for a series centred on the Superman/Wonder Woman romance. Cards on the  Ace of Clubs table, I'm not a fan of this pairing; the heroes have their own corners of the DC Universe and their own supporting casts and occasional team-ups aside, never the twain shall meet. And while the current version of Diana has already rejected traditional beau Steve Trevor, so far as Superman is concerned, we have Lois Lane - sparky, intelligent, beautiful Lois. The woman to keep him grounded; I'm not at all convinced Superman would be attracted longterm to a warrior woman from a land of myth, it makes as little sense as Dick Grayson and Starfire dating all those years ago. For now, poor old Lois doesn't rate so much as a mention.

But someone at DC or Warners wants this pairing, and Soule is a good enough writer that I'm interested enough to take at least an initial look at this book. I like his Diana, as she's more than the choppity-slash fighter we've seen so often in the New 52 continuity; she actually thinks about her transformed-into-serpent sisters, something absent from her solo title back when I was reading it. And I like Hessia, another displaced Amazon, one I've not come across previously. Maybe she's been created for this book, along with Aaron (no relation to Max?) Lord, and Brian.

I'm less keen on Clark's portrayal, though - it makes some kind of sense that he doesn't want to announce his thing with Diana to the world and its arch-enemy, but to not even let those closest to him know? That's a guy who ain't going to commit!

Worse, though, is his attitude to his day job, telling Cat that big stories aren't lying around waiting to be scooped up, seeming almost blase about their business start-up. I'm all for fair play and Clark not using his powers unfairly to beat the opposition, but he's meant to be an ace reporter - he should be able to find something. But it's not a priority for him. What happened to the man who quit the Daily Planet with a heartfelt, if naive, speech about getting The Truth before the public?  I don't blame Soule, as his presentation is in line with how Clark's been shown in his own titles a lot of the time, but blimey, he's a waste of space these days.

He perks up around Diana (steady!), in my favourite scene of the book.

Mind, he isn't half patronising.

I can't see the proud Wonder Woman putting up with this kind of thing for long, which is fine by me. Break 'em up, they make an excellent team, but the current feelings between them - crush, rather than true connection - impede their on-duty effectiveness. They need to get things out of their system and move on - who knows, that could be DC's plan for this book. Meanwhile, Soule shows that as Clark doesn't get Diana, she doesn't get him.

The appearance of Doomsday is a shocker, as he explodes onto a boat, tearing crewmen apart. The scene is more graphic than I'd like, unnecessarily so, but as a Big Moment it works. Soule ensures we don't forget this is a relationship book, honest, by ladling over an earlier conversation between Diana and Superman as they canoodled. Whereas the slaughter is graphic, the smooching is in silhouette - this seems typical of the North American media, which sees sex as scary, but violence as family friendly.

The scene that doesn't ring true for me is Cat not bothering to have her mail opened - she's a reporter with good instincts, she needs material, of course she'd want to know what people are sending her. Heck, there might even be a cheque in there. I have to say, I'm puzzled as to why she and Clark are apparently renting office space, when they're all about on-the-go blogging. And hiring an assistant? Then again, this is 2013, Brian is likely a poor, unpaid intern.

Soule's creative partner, penciller Tony S Daniel, handles his share of the workload with style, giving us good-looking, on-model stars, a scary Doomsday and a convincing, detailed world for them to move around in (extra credit for showing Diana in a modern, Gherkin-present London, rather than the medieval hamlet so often shown in comics). Cat doesn't look quite as she does in the Superman titles, with Tomeu Morey's hair tones not helping - Cat's more suicide than strawberry blonde, but that can be tweaked. Hessia is a strong piece of design, and Aaron, well, it'll be interesting if he doesn't turn out to be the sleazeball visual shorthand hints at.

Matt 'Batt' Banning's careful inks ensure a sharp look to the pages without things getting too glossy (it's probably sad that I'm so impressed by his treatment of Diana's balcony wall), while Morey's colour choices are on the whole spot-on. Daniel, Batt and Morey work especially well together so far as the stormy scene is concerned - look at Diana above, wet, a tad bedraggled, thoughtful ... wonderful.

I like Daniel, Batt and Morey's wraparound cover - I can't see many of Wonder Woman writer Brian Azzarello's characters showing up here, but it's good to be reminded of the sweep of her world. The Superman logo is pants, mind - where's the classic, as on the preview material?

All in all, an interesting start, I'll likely stick around awhile, see which way things are going. Downhill all the way for Diana and Clark, I hope!