Sunday, September 29, 2013

365 Comics...268: Wonder Woman #23.2: First Born (2013)

I'm actually rather proud of myself for sticking to my plan of only buying two of these Villains Month books, but then again none of the other books even remotely enticed me (well, actually I was a little curious about the Lobo one, until I saw a preview and then realized I didn't give a shit about the character, the story, or the universe it was taking place in.  I was only interested in the controversy,  which I'm now thinking is just another part of DC's marketing plan.  Do something to upset people, make an even bigger stink out of it by prentending there's nothing to make a stink out of, and pray that the hype will bring new [always temporary] readers to the book).  The only books I bought were connected to my  narrowing list of regular DC monthlies, and futher whittled down to those that had the series creative team involved (see 365 #247 for the other).

First Born is actually a worthy and necessary aside to the ongoing Wonder Woman monthly saga.  Azzarello takes full advantage of this Villains Month opportunity to present First Born's origin and pained history, as well as set up some elements for the future and even tease the book's end game a little.  I'm guessing that it's one of the few - perhaps only - Villains Month books that would actually be presented even if there was no Villains Month to spur it on.

By the by, the cover has nothing to do with the book... just another excuse to show WW all trussed up.

1 comment:

King Beauregard said...

I can't blame you for eschewing Villains Month; most of the comics have been origin tales all built around "had a shitty childhood, grew up evil, found a way to commit crimes". Even the Count Vertigo comic follows that model (and I guess First Born does too), just better done than the rest.

The better villain comics, I find, simply showcase the villain and demonstrate why he is cool. For examples of that, I would recommend the Riddler, Two-Face, Scarecrow, and Lex Luthor comics. Riddler is conducting a complex break-in on Wayne Corp and it shows his ingenuity. Two-Face has chosen to be the face (ha ha) of law and justice in Gotham. Scarecrow is less the fearmonger and more the psychologist interacting with other Gotham villains. And in the Luthor comic we see something like a typical day in his life, which includes trying to steal Kord Industries out from under its founder.