Comic Conversation: Lady Superheroes

So how about I focus on some lady superheroes for a change? By the way, I don't like the word heroine for a lady superhero so I'm going to just use lady superhero. I like the sound of that better anyway.

"Supergirl #6" by Michael Green, Mike Johnson and Mahmud Asrar

This marks half a year of this all new Supergirl and maybe a week has passed since she first landed on Earth. This series has really been moving at a snail's pace and I think if it wasn't for Asrar's art, I might have dropped this series by now.

Really, the events of the first issue of this new Supergirl could have fit into a quarter of a comic considering how much happened, which was this:

• Supergirl lands on Earth wearing her Kryptonian armor and is confused about why she's there.
• Kara is attacked by men in big robot suits and then Superman shows up.
• The next issues had Superman briefly explaining what happened to her and Krypton before he had to go save some people.
• Kara then flew up to space where she was captured by a ruthless businessman (who wasn't Lex Luthor) who wanted a DNA sample.
• She trashed his station and then went looking for Krypton.

At this point she still isn't even a superhero yet.

I might not be fair to this title after the previous "Supergirl," especially the issues by Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle. They were on the old "Supergirl" for many issues together and they made for a good read every month.

All of their issues have been collected by now and I would also suggest "World's Finest," written by Gates. It took place at a time in the DC Universe when Bruce Wayne was presumed dead and Superman was living on New Krypton and it had different members of the Superman and Batman family teaming up. I actually have all four issues of the miniseries signed by Gates and one by Igle.

Anyway, in this issue, "Supergirl," although nobody's called her that yet, left what remained of her hometown on Krypton and decided she should go back to Earth where she runs into a 'worldkiller' calling herself Reign.

So it looks like there's going to be a big fight in the next issue and I'm hoping this means we're getting to the point where Supergirl starts being a superhero on Earth. Origin stories are important for a superhero but this has been too slow.

However, Mahmud Asrar's art is very nice and you can see more of it here or here.

"Catwoman #6" by Judd Winick and Guillem March

There was some controversy with this new "Catwoman" series after the first issue ended with Catwoman and Batman having sex on her living room floor in a pretty graphic way. I decided to keep with Catwoman anyway because I've enjoyed Judd Winick's work on Batman in the past and after a bumpy beginning, I've enjoyed this comic.

In this issue, Catwoman is in police custody and quickly figures out that the cops holding her are corrupt cops and she just stole their money. And then they bring in a supervillain with electric powers to do their interrogation.

I'm definitely going to keep getting this series. It's been a lot of fun and I like March's art. I especially love the look on Selina's face in this issue when Batman catches up with her and her duffel bag full of money.

"Birds of Prey #6" by Duane Swirczynski and Javier Pina

The Birds of Prey is a team made up of Black Canary, Batgirl, Katana, Starling and Poison Ivy, so you get an entire team of superhero ladies and one supervillain.

I've been reading one "Birds of Prey" series or another for a while and I've enjoyed it. This particular team isn't the same without Oracle around but still enjoyable. Oracle was the identity Barbara Gordon took on when she was the world's foremost hacker, information gatherer and sometime communication hub for the Justice League of America.

Lately, this team has been tracking down a mysterious supervillain who has been mind-controlling regular people to act as assassins. The person getting mindjacked always receives e-mails full of creepy nursery rhymes before the mindjacking occurs.

When Black Canary, team leader and one of the world's best martial artists with a sonic scream, finally hears the nursery rhyme, she figures out who's behind it. Of course, being creepy is par for the course for the supervillains of Gotham City, but right now my money is on the Mad Hatter.

"Wonder Woman #6" by Brian Azzarello and Tony Akins, Cover by Cliff Chiang

This series has been so good since it relaunched in September. Brian Azzarello has changed Wonder Woman's origin, making her the daughter of Zeus, and making it so that she grew up unaware of that fact.

Being the daughter of a god also means she has to get involved with the affairs of her family. In this case, she is protecting a girl named Zola who is pregnant with Zeus' baby.

In this issue Diana is in a battle with Poseidon while also maneuvering against Hades as part of a larger plot against Hera. I hope you remember the Greek mythology you learned in school so you can keep up.

I highly recommend reading "Wonder Woman." It has been a fantastic mix of superheros, Greek mythology and horror.

Now if you're looking for more, then there are two writers who have done my favorite work on "Wonder Woman." First there's Greg Rucka, who wrote Diana for a few years. His run had a great mix of Greek myth, superheroics and espionage, along with the political drama of having Diana acting as the ambassador of Paradise Island in New York.

The other is Gail Simone, whose "Wonder Woman" was a real warrior and meant to be the person you would call on to fight as opposed to somebody like Superman, who is around to save people. Also -- and this is important -- her run had apes in it.

"Glory #23" by Joe Keatinge and Ross Campbell

I've never read any "Glory" before this issue which, although it's numbered 23, is the start of a new story for the character, which is a kind of Wonder Woman analogue.

Gloriana is from another planet and the daughter of two peoples. She represented a peace between those two people and after spending her life training for a war that didn't come, she came to Earth to fight.

Glory came to Earth during World War II and spent that time fighting Nazis and punching tanks and Ross Campbell draws Glory so that she looks like she could punch a tank. She's drawn to actually have a large, Amazonian body type.

In this issue, Glory's been missing for 10 years and a girl is on the search for her after having had dreams about Glory all her life. She does find Glory, hurt and convalescing, in a small village in France. There she learns that whatever did that to Glory is coming back.

I can't wait for the next issue. This made for a great first issue; it introduced the main character and her world and also set things up for the future.

That's it for this week. Next Wednesday I'll be headed to Legends of Superheros in Middlebury to get Flash, Ray, Superman and anything else that catches my attention on the shelves. And, as always, I can be found on Twitter @BJDowd if you're ever curious about anything comic book or superhero related.