Book Review: Daredevil Vol. 3 by M. Waid et al.

Daredevil Volume 3 written by Mark Waid and Greg Rucka, art by Marco Checchetto, Chris Samnee, Khoi Pham, and Tom Palmer

Daredevil has the same problem as last volume--the Omega Drive. It's a piece of Fantastic Four tech that stores information on five different super criminal organizations. After defeating Black Spectre (one of the organizations), he's now on a mission to keep it out of any wrong hands. That includes Frank Castle's hands. Frank is The Punisher. He'd love to use the information to cause mayhem and destruction for organized crime. Daredevil thinks that will involve too much collateral damage, so he teams up with Spider-man to keep Castle in check as the three try to destroy the drive, hopefully in public where all the bad guys will realize it's gone and stop hounding Daredevil. Plans don't go according to plan. Other plots are tried, though they are interrupted when Doctor Doom abducts Daredevil for his own nefarious purposes.

This story continues to entertain and be creative. The plans to get rid of the drive are interesting. At first, the Doctor Doom stuff seems shoehorned in. As that story develops, it makes a little more sense. The art is a bit uneven since the story was spread over different comics. The volume includes issues of Avenging Spider-man and The Punisher. It was one of those crossover stories--the bonus materials in the back show how the three different issue covers are put together to make one big picture. The characters look a little different in the different issues, a fact I found distracting. Still, the story is solid and I am ready for more.

Recommended.

Book Review: Wonder Woman Vol. 2 Year One by G. Rucka et al.

Wonder Woman Volume 2: Year One written by Greg Rucka, art by Nicola Scott, and colorist Romulo Fajardo Jr.

The DC comic book universe recently underwent a "rebirth" and relaunched a bunch of titles, including Wonder Woman. So naturally they had to retell her origin story with a contemporary setting. The overall arc follows the standard Wonder Woman mythology--Steve Trevor crash-lands on Themyscira, home of the Amazons. The Amazons have a contest to determine who will take him back to the outside world. Diana, daughter of the queen, wins the contest and enters the larger world and becomes Wonder Woman.

The updates are many. Steve is part of an elite military force that is hunting down a terrorist group called "Sear." His small squad is flying to a secret Sear base when they crash on the island. Everyone dies except for Steve. He is nursed back to health but has no understanding of their language, so he doesn't quite know what's going on. The islanders somehow repair his plane and put special plating on it to make it invisible. On returning to America, they report to a military base where the army gathers some experts to try and figure out who and what Diana is and how to communicate with her. One expert is Barbara Ann Minerva, an archeologist who coincidentally has been looking for the home of the Amazons and thus has some knowledge of their language. Diana's powers slowly manifest themselves (and yes, she does have the magic lasso with her) as they all discover the true leader behind the Sear terrorists--the Greek god Ares! Because "Sear" is an anagram of "Ares," right?

The story is interesting if not as compelling as the other origin story I read a while back. Some of the modernizing is fine--the terrorists feel like a real threat (though they have no character depth) and the language and cultural barriers are dealt with well. The three or four references to lesbianism read more like kowtowing to political correctness rather than part of the storyline and felt out of place. Nothing graphic ever happens on that front.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. It's worth a read.

Book Review: Wonder Woman: Her Greatest Battles by G. Ruka et al.

Wonder Woman: Her Greatest Battles written by Greg Ruka, George Perez, John Byrne, Gail Simone, Geoff Johns, and Brian Azzarello with art by many talented artists

Ares, Medusa, Cheeta, Power Girl, Superman, and a host of others (including the vengeful children of Ares!) face off against Diana of Themyscira, better known as Wonder Woman. This book takes seven single issues from the past thirty years and gives readers almost literally Wonder Woman's greatest hits. The stories are epic and entertaining, showcasing not only her amazing strength and agility but also her intelligence and integrity. She is a powerful fighter and often makes tough sacrifices in order to save the mortals of Earth.

The art ranges from good to great and the writing is very well done. Highly recommended!