Comic Info
Comic Name: Superman/Wonder Woman
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Tony S. Daniel/Paulo Siqueira/Eddy Barrows/Barry Kitson
# of Issues: 7
Release Date: 2014
Superman/Wonder Woman #3
Reprints Superman/Wonder Woman #1-7 (December 2013-June 2014). Superman and Wonder Woman have started a secret relationship…but when the world learns, things are going to change! In addition to the pressures of being a couple, Superman and Wonder Woman finds that Krypton’s past including Doomsday and a pair of Kryptonians from the Phantom Zone named Zod and Faora could mean danger for the couple and the world. Plus, Clark has to meet his new girlfriend’s family and Apollo isn’t happy about Diana’s new boyfriend.
Written by Charles Soule, Superman/Wonder Woman Volume 1: Power Couple is part of DC Comics’ New 52 line of comics. The series features art by Tony S. Daniel, Paulo Siqueira, Eddy Barrows, and Barry Kitson.
Superman and Wonder Woman as a couple was always kind of a joke-geek boy fantasy probably for decades. Things like Mallrats questioned what would happen with them as a couple and it was always an idea that pooh-poohed due to Clark’s relationship with Lois Lane (more so than Diana’s relationship with Steve Trevor). With the New 52 rewriting Lois and Clark’s relationship, Diana had an in…and DC decided to take it.
The “big kiss” in Justice League (2) #12 (October 2012) meant big changes, and DC decided to make a whole series out of it. There had been previous Superman-Wonder Woman series, but they were often teamed with Batman to make the “big three” at DC. Here they are alone with Batman as the sometimes third wheel. It is a strange dynamic, and it feels like the series really is just about the dynamic which could cause problems.
Superman/Wonder Woman #7
The collection has Superman and Wonder Woman taking on some of Superman’s biggest enemies (while also trying to incorporate Brian Azzarello’s New 52 take on Wonder Woman and the Olympians). In the downtime, Wonder Woman pretty much spends her time asking Clark Kent to come out of the Superman closet while he tells her that he can’t. In seven issues, it seems to get a bit redundant, and I hope the series has more to offer than that in the second volume.
The collection also oddly deals with Superman’s villains. They seem more of a non-threat in that there doesn’t seem to be much urgency surrounding Doomsday, Zod, or Faora. Doomsday disappears, and Clark and Diana just move on instead of researching and trying to track him. Zod appears, and Clark just throws him in the Fortress of Solitude for safe keeping. Faora and Zod escape, punch Wonder Woman and Superman a big, and call a truce for a bit…it feels very random and episodic. The story with the villains feels incidental instead of something that compels the story forward (except for the last issue of the collection).
Superman/Wonder Woman seems like a “good on paper” type of comic book. It doesn’t have enough punch and it doesn’t have enough story to fill out the issues. It feels like the story needs to be streamlined, pepped up, and structured better to really have an impact and not just be a novelty…maybe the future Doomsday story will be better. Superman/Wonder Woman 1: Power Couple is followed by Superman/Wonder Woman 2: War and Peace.
