So Many Storms - the Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Men (2011) vol 1 - God Particle

  

Front cover of the Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Men vol 1: God Particle

This book collects the following comics: The Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Men (2011) #1-6

Score (out of 5 Capes)

3 out of 5 capes for a creative new take on Firestorm. Is it an improvement over previous mythologies?

My Review

With the new The Fury of Firestorm ongoing series kicking off a few weeks ago, let's revisit the trade paperbacks of some past iterations of the flame-headed nuclear fusion hero.

Firestorm's earliest comics are hard to find in collected editions. His original series, Firestorm the Nuclear Man, debuted in 1978 but only lasted five issues. The character had lots of potential, though, making appearances in the Justice League of America series and getting more than a dozen backup stories in The Flash.

When he returned in his own solo series, The Fury of Firestorm in 1982, it kicked off a long run, lasting until 1990. Like the short first series, these tales all centered around teenager Ronnie Raymond and middle-aged professor Martin Stein.

The third Firestorm series brought Jason Rusch into the Firestorm fusion, following the death of Ronnie in the DC crossover event Identity Crisis. This third volume ran from 2004 to 2007.

Fewer than 20 of those first 150 or so Firestorm comics have been reprinted in collected editions like a TPB. So we are kicking off this review of Firestorm books with God Particle, which collects the first six issues of Firestorm's fourth series, 2011's The Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Men.

It's a long and somewhat unwieldy title. But don't miss the subtle shift to the plural - nuclear men not nuclear man. Because this new series has Firestorms popping up all over the place. Eight of them appear in this collection of the first six issues, and we get big hints that there are many more. So many that one of them, Mikhail Arkadin of Russia who calls himself Pozhar, takes on the personal mission to eliminate as many of them as possible.

In this take on the character and mythology of Firestorm, part of DC's line-wide New 52 books, professor Martin Stein is already dead. But his research had discovered what he called the Firestorm Protocol which he distilled into a substance that could imbue humans with the classic powers of Firestorm: element transmutation, nuclear blasts, flight and more, always with flaming heads.

Individual scientists trying to keep up with Stein's research and make a name for themselves, corporations and industrial espionage, military strategists and more all have an interest in Stein's work. But the whole protocol was unstable and the resulting Firestorms it created are dangerous to themselves as well as others.

Within this larger, globe-spanning battle over the Protocols, we meet our two teen heroes. Ronnie Raymond is the high school star quarterback; Jason Rusch a brilliant science-minded teen who has been working after school assisting Martin Stein. They have a testy relationship, in line with the classic jocks-vs-nerds conflict.

When a corporately funded assault team attacks, Jason triggers the vial of the Protocol that Stein had left in his possession. The result endows both him and Ronnie with separate, individual and remarkably stable Firestorm powers - maybe Stein had solved the instability flaw before his death?

They also discover that they can fuse together, but unlike classic Firestorm, this time neither of them is in control of the result - a monstrous, towering flame-headed monster calling itself Fury.

Gail Simone handles the writing duties, with a plotting assist from Ethan van Scriver. Simone injects a lot of layered relational elements into the plot. If classic Firestorm always had the Raymond - Stein partnership at its core, this one replaces that with a Raymond - Rusch tension. Jason's relationship with his father also plays a central role, and we get several other tender or emotional moments involving other characters like teenaged love interest and friend Tonya, the mysterious Director Zither and her personal history with Stein's research, even some interpersonal connections in the attack team.

The story itself settles into a regular rhythm. Each chapter opens with a violent encounter with an international Firestorm, then zooms in on Ronnie and Jason in their struggles, zooms out to reveal another angle of Zither's complex history and motivations, moves back to lots of blazing nuclear explosions, and ends with a twist to hook us into the next chapter. It's a comfortable, standard formula and Simone paces it reasonably well.

Yildiray Cinar leads the art duties, with an assist for a couple issues from Norm Rapmund. Firestorm has never looked better. Each of the many nuclear men wears a variation on the theme, with their own unique colour combination as a nice assist to us potentially befuddled readers. These outfits shine and almost glow with ripples of power and flames everywhere.

The page layouts vary widely and can get a little over-crammed with small visuals. For one key example, Cinar uses 20 panels on a single page to show Jason's medical intervention to save a friend. For all their compactness and occasional clutter, the narrative flow is rarely unclear.

Overall, it is an intriguing new beginning, a whole new direction for Firestorm. The first volume ends with almost nothing resolved, as Simone draws out key plot points into the second book. I am curious enough to look for the next volume.

3 out of 5 Capes.

What I loved

Firestorm has never looked better, even with the goofy transmutations

These Nuclear Men look good! Firestorm has never looked better. 

Gone are the goofy, poofy sleeves, so painfully dated to his origins in the late 1970s and the fashions of the day. The original outfit avoided bell-bottoms but certainly quickly became very dated.

The other elements that remain from those earlier outfits - the red and yellow colours, the nuclear symbol, the fiery hair and wrap-around balaclava-like face frame - just look and work better in this book than they ever have before.

High praise for that goes to lead artist Yildiray Cinar. He pulled off a solid redesign. It is helped, in no small part, by the ability to roll out variations as this book has a surprisingly large number of Firestorms. He kept the core characters - Raymond and Rusch in the frame above - true to the origins, while leaving them easily distinguishable and with strong ties to the history and mythology of the character.

Even the cheesier parts of classic Firestorm are presented in a well-handled reinterpretation. In the panel above, Jason has transmuted the ground into hands grabbing hold of Ronnie's ankles, an action reminiscent of the power ring constructs of Green Lantern. In this book, such moments are present but far fewer and more subtle than in Firestorm's 1980s books. 

What I didn't love

The classic Firestorm fusion produces this unpleasant monster, Fury.

The fission and fusion elements of Firestorm are present in this book, but they look a lot different. I am not a fan of this take.

Classically, Firestorm is composed by the fusion of two people. Not so here. Any individual infected by the serum or protocol or particle - the narrative is not as clear about this as I would like - can become a metahuman endowed with all the nuclear powers simply by shouting their magic word. But unlike the "Shazam!" that gives the Marvel family their divinely sourced powers, these diverse Firestorms do a lot of nuclear blasting, brooding and sizzling.

Fusion only appears a couple times in these pages, when Ronnie and Jason fuse to become the monstrous nuclear giant named Fury. He towers over mere humans, standing 15 feet tall or so. He can grab hold of the half-dozen fiery strings that are attached to his chest and crack them like a whip, with devastating results on any human flesh they touch.

He is loud and rude, immensely powerful and uncontrolled, and while Ronnie and Jason are both inside the monster, neither has much sway over its actions.

As good as these Firestorms look, the abundance of individuals and ferocity of the fused version are ultimately disappointing.

Related Reviews

New 52 Futures End volume 1, volume 2 and volume 3 take Firestorm in a whole new direction.

Firestorm rejoins the Justice League in New 52 Justice League volume 4

Quick Reference Details

Writers:  Gail Simone, Ethan van Sciver
Artists:  Yildiray Cinar, Norm Rapmund
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  Sept 18, 2012
Parental Rating: Teen

Back cover of the Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Men vol 1: God Particle

FOMO - Review of Absolute Batman vol 1 - the Zoo (2025)

  

Front cover of Absolute Batman volume 1 The Zoo

This book collects the following comics: Absolute Batman (2025) #1-6

Score (out of 5 Capes)

4/5 Capes for an exciting and novel new take on Batman and the entire circle of characters, a little rough on the edges but with loads of potential.

My Review

The Absolute line of books from DC Comics has made a huge splash with comics fans. None more so than Absolute Batman. The first issue has been reprinted multiple times and every new issue of the ongoing series places high on the monthly sales charts.

The series has been getting so much attention that I could not ignore its trade paperback collection any longer. I needed to get myself a copy to read now, so I would no longer feel like I was missing out.

I see why there is so much buzz behind this title. Writer Scott Snyder has done a superb job of reimagining and reinterpreting the entire Batman mythology and universe.

The previous high-water mark, the set of three original graphic novels Batman: Earth One, included some clever new twists and takes of Batman's origin story but left many of the secondary characters roughly within their canonical takes.

Snyder feels no need to hew so close to canon. The characters are still there - Selina Kyle, Edward Nygma, among many others - but rather than homicidal or psychotic villains and anti-heroes, they are part of Bruce Wayne's circle of peers, poker buddies, former classmates. Still all special, with their gifted intelligence, curiosity and acrobatic skills, and so on, but at least in the early days of Absolute Batman, they help more than they battle.

Snyder likewise gives us a fresh take on Bruce Wayne. Still driven, strong, athletic and acrobatic, still highly intelligent with clever inventions. But no longer the wealthy playboy and business tycoon. Now, he is a construction worker.

Its outside-the-mansion take on Bruce is reminiscent of the limited series The Return of Bruce Wayne, in which he was reimagined as a pirate, a Puritan-era man, a Stone-aged primitive and more. But those were much more limited in length of run and in size of the Bat universe. This series uses the ongoing format to go much deeper into the details of its reimagined Gotham and all its characters.

This Bruce Wayne, rather than rely upon his millions and billions, deliberately torches in flames and smoke the hundreds of millions of dollars given him as a bribe to look the other way from the villainous chaos exploding throughout Gotham.

The zoo of the book's title and first story arc of the ongoing series is the literal Gotham Zoo, where beloved and wise teacher Thomas Wayne was killed while protecting his son and classmates on a school field trip. The tragedy's telling is carefully paced out with flashbacks running throughout the book, raw memories from the invention competition that was rewarded by the field trip to the day itself and the police and courtroom scenes that followed.

These flashbacks and their gradual unpacking of such critical events in the life and formation of young Bruce are one reason why I prefer reading - and reviewing - graphic novels and trade paperbacks. By collecting so many chapters in one place, it is easier on the reader to follow the threads and emotions that run through these scenes. No need to wait until next month or the one after that to start putting those pieces together.

In these first chapters of the ongoing series, Batman is still rough around the edges in his tactics, strategies, equipment. Through other flashbacks, we get a glimpse of earlier outings, when he was even less polished in his abilities, but he is clearly a quick study and is making his way toward the incredible, nearly flawless crime-fighter of legend. Will the Absolute Universe Batman wind up in that same place?

The visuals also show some rough edges that could stand some polish. Yes, they convey the gritty, intense and dark mood of the series, but on several occasions lead artist Nick Dragotta and fill-in Gabriel Hernandez Walta seem to take short cuts, leaving us with some sloppy and over-inked panels.

But those are just the edges. At its core, this book and the Absolute Batman series are beautiful and intense. Dragotta in particular makes great work of silhouette and shadow in controlling the mood of the scene and the flow of the narrative. Battle scenes are intense. This new Batman is truly terrifying, dangerously violent and slightly unbalanced, all of which is conveyed by Dragotta's art.

A new take on Batman also needs to wrestle with the tools of the non-meta man in the costume. The decades of accumulated miracles on his utility belt are not completely swept away but rather are replaced with several shocking and brilliantly creative new tools and weapons.

The bat-trimmed dump truck. The collapsible battle-axe with logo-shaped head. The mask's ears that can be detached and used as daggers or rotated for a bloody head-butt. The extendible arms. The multiple pieces of the cape and the diverse ways such a cape could be used. Snyder must have had no end of fun brainstorming these ideas, and I suspect more will come in future books.

My FOMO - fear of missing out - caused me to bump this up my list of books to acquire and review. And I am glad it did. This is a delight and sets up well for a long run of an alternate but very enjoyable take on Batman.

What I loved

Innovative and genuinely bat-themed tools of the trade

Batman's famed utility belt has long held all manner of clever inventions and tools for his battles with the evil villains he confronts. We have emerged from the more comical era where everything became bat-themed simply by slapping the prefix "bat-" on it: bat-cave, batmobile, batarang and so on.

The creative teams behind Absolute Batman kept the core idea - a man with no super-powers but lots of intelligence, inventing things to help him battle his enemies -  while throwing out most of what came before and doubling-down on the tie-ins to the Bat theme.

My personal favourite is the one pictured - extendible rods, inspired by the way some bats walk around using their arms. And in the stories in this volume, he makes good if occasional use of this innovation.

It is hardly the only one. Another impressive new weapon is the collapsible battle-axe with two-bladed head shaped to match the blocky logo on his chest. The bat ears on his cowl and mask are also cleverly converted into weapons with multiple uses, whether removable knives or ones that can be rotated for other uses.

And since he needs to get around, there are also vehicles like a motorcycle and a dump truck (!) bedecked in subtle but functionally important bat logo trimmings.

Every Batman era and writer introduces new such Bat-weapons. In this heavily reimagined Absolute universe, though, these stand out as brilliant, innovative and on-point. Nice!

What I didn't love

Scratchy, over-simplified art

For such a high-profile, imaginative and innovative rethinking of one of comics' flagship characters, the visuals frequently disappoint. Sure, they evoke a dark, gritty and violent world with a hero ready to meet the challenges before him. But too often artists Nick Dragotta and Gabriel Hernandez Walta give us something that feels slapdash and rushed, or that spends too much time on the wrong details.

Take the image above, for one example. It is a flashback panel to the earliest days of Batman's vigilante crime-fighting, so a simplistic profile layout and basic framing and facial details is consistent with the basic beginning and simplistic approach of the budding new hero.

But the effect is overwhelmed by the dominant detail of the background, the metal bars on the window, dirty brick and graffiti walls, rusty pipes and shadows. It sets the mood but overshadows the main actors in the scene. The net result is even more attention on the scratchy, careless look of our hero and his prey.

The problem continues outside these flashbacks as well, with so much time spent on the novel tech and tools or the hellhole of Gotham that the main characters wind up looking rushed and half-finished.

Related Reviews

All In Saga that kicks off the Absolute DC Universe

Another take on Batman in Justice League 3000

Batman as Pirate, Puritan and more in the Return of Bruce Wayne

Quick Reference Details

Writers:  Scott Snyder
Artists:  Nick Dragotta, Gabriel Hernandez Walta (#4)
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  Aug 5, 2025
Parental Rating: Teen

Back cover of Absolute Batman volume 1 The Zoo

Back to High School - Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows vol 3 Eight Years Later (2018)

  

Front cover of Marvel Comics TPB Spider-Man Renew Your Vows volume 3

This book collects the following comics: The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (2017) issues #13-18

Score (out of 5 Capes)

2.5 capes - The creative team took an imaginative but risky decision to jump the time line eight years into the future between issues #12 and 13. It makes for a stronger role for Annie and more focus on the tensions a teenaged super hero has with her parents. But with shaky visuals and uneven storytelling, it comes out as a mediocre book.

My Review

Spider-Man's earliest stories give us a smart but socially awkward Peter Parker in his late teens, at the tail end of his high school days and the years that follow. Some versions of his origin story have the radioactive or genetically altered spider biting Peter while he is on a school field trip.

The new creative team on the Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows ongoing series gave themselves a cleaner slate by jumping the timeline eight years into the future. Now, Spider-Man Peter, Spinneret Mary Jane and their daughter Annie's Spiderling have had years to work out the kinks in the family super-hero business.

This eight-year jump also moves Annie from a little super-powered kid to a sophomore in high school. She has become a mid-teens young person navigating the treacherous waters of growing up and transitioning from childhood into adulthood. Her struggles and journey are central themes of this book.

The opening pages of the book show her battling six classic Spider-Man villains at once. It would be a tall order for her father, so imagine how she fares as a 15-year-old. When things start to go badly, good old Dad is there to swoop in and assist. At least until Wolverine kills the Battle Room simulation. Turns out Annie is undergoing some intense education and training.

But her lessons are learned on the job, not just through lectures Battle Room sessions. So it comes as no surprise to anyone, the Spider family included, that their relaxing trip to the Coney Island fairgrounds is interrupted by a rampaging, out of control Lizard.

Over the course of the three-chapter arc, she learns some important lessons about jumping to conclusions, using only her fists when she should also be using her head and her heart, and what is really important when battling super-powered villains. Best of all, the lessons give her - and us - a glimpse of Annie emerging from a child hero, with heavy-handed parental lessons, to something closer to an intern or even a peer, a valued contributing member of the heroic team.

In the second three-part story, the family finances are tight so Peter takes on a teaching position at Annie's high school. His excitement at the potential for super-fun father-daughter time is equalled by her dread and dislike for the new arrangement.

Annie also learns some important self-taught lessons about super-hero team dynamics when two new meta-humans she befriends are driven by a passionate desire to kill Normal Osborn Jr. for the sins of his ancestors.

Teens having disagreements with people in authority is nothing new. And when the teen is actively teaming up and working closely with Mom and Dad in the emotional blender of the super-hero work, the possibilities are that much stronger.

Author Jody Houser does not shy away from moments of conflict and tension at home between Annie and her parents, or even between Peter and Mary Jane themselves. Although admittedly those moments of tension are pretty mild - everyone is just too light-hearted for anything too serious to last more than a few panels.

That also describes the stories overall: pretty mild and light. It is fun to watch Annie growing up into her heroism and, conversely, her parents learning to let her figure it out on her own, when to guide, or when to step in and take over. None of this feels too threatening or broken or dysfunctional, always staying on the light and fun side of the line. 

Houser's writing is simple and straightforward, with only a couple threads weaving together at any one time and everything proves to be resolvable within an issue or two. 

The art duties are split between Nick Roche (#13-15) and Nathan Stockman (#16-18). Both artists favor a style that is overly cartoony for my tastes but does match and help keep the overall mood light. The deliberately cartoon-influenced expressions, poses and style sometimes turn into a visual hash and it can be hard to distinguish the characters, beyond hair style and clothes.

The three heroes wear very different and somewhat gaudy costumes, which does help us tell the spiders apart. The three certainly want nothing to do with any family Christmas-Jammy matching cuteness. While Spider-Man's outfit has become a classic with its mix of blue and red with webbing pattern in the red parts, the women have much worse costumes.

Spiderling's two-tone blue with the common web-and-spider elements is offset by pops of red on her boots, ankles, wrists and mask and a bit of a neckline. The satchel on her right hip is a twist on the utility belt of other heroes and adds to an overall goofy effect.

Mary Jane's Spinneret costume is the worst of the bunch. I say more in the "What I Didn't Love" section below, so for now let me just say that the colors, cut and accessories exude a "Mom on a fitness kick" vibe.

The concept of a Spider-family, one of whom is now a teenager, breathes fresh air into a long-standing pillar of the Marvel universe. At times heavy-handed and uneven, and dragged down by an overly cartoony style, it results in a middling book with intriguing potential.

What I loved

Taking on adult levels of leadership and responsibility

With the jump eight years into the future, little Annie Parker is now a sophomore in high school, with all the attendant teenaged angst and challenges. I love the many various ways the creative team shows her wrestling with the transition from childhood to adulthood.

She wants to reject the childish hero codename name "Spiderling" but is not quite sure how to shake it.

She is mortified when her dad Peter winds up teaching at her school and, even worse, trying to make eye contact in the hallways.

And, best of all, when she encounters some fellow teens in her school with new super-powers, but still very rough around the edges, she takes them under her wing, steps into her first leadership role and guides them into becoming more effective and making better decisions in the application of their new-found abilities.

The "Annie is growing up" arc can be overly cliche and wordy, but has some powerful moments and real character growth.

What I didn't love

Spinneret's hideous costume

Mary Jane Parker has usually been portrayed as a classy, sometimes even sexy lady in Peter's life. Now, in the Renew Your Vows universe, she is married and the mother of a teenaged daughter. So there is a definite Mom vibe to her portrayal in these pages.

Which is fine. It is nicely offset by her heroism as the costumed hero Spinneret; her parental wisdom and relationship with Peter are well handled; and she gets a few pages about how she runs her small business, showing good acumen and skills. Mary Jane is a multi-faceted character, even though she is clearly the third-wheel to father and daughter, the supportive mother who quietly fades into the background for much of this book.

But then she pulls on that hideous Spinneret costume. It hurts my eyes just to look at it. The goofy little elf-booties; the boundary lines and cut of the red areas and dominant white sections; the ridiculous mid-thigh cycling-shorts look of the webbed red areas. The mid-thigh thing is so bad that the artist draws it differently whenever he can get away with it, sometimes condensing the red area all the way up to the bikini line.

The overall effect of Spinneret's costume screams "middle-aged mother on a fitness kick." It is completely at cross-purposes with the woman Mary Jane is portrayed to be while out of costume.

Related Reviews

Spider Island Warzones! has an imaginative take on the spiders

Spider-Verse Warzones! brings together lots of other spiders

Quick Reference Details

Writers:  Jody Houser
Artists:  Nick Roche (#13-15), Nathan Stockman (#16-18)
Published By:  Marvel Comics
Published When:  May 30, 2018
Parental Rating: Teen

Back cover of Marvel Comics TPB Spider-Man Renew Your Vows volume 3

Earth-shaking Whimper - Wonder Woman: Earth One book 3 (2021)

  

Front cover of Wonder Woman Earth One volume 3

Score (out of 5 Capes)

A disappointing conclusion to an innovative new take on Wonder Woman's origins and foundational mythology.

My Review

With book three, the remarkable new vision for Wonder Woman and her origin story as told by Grand Morrison and drawn by Yanick Paquette reaches its conclusion.

Diana is no longer the princess, after the death of her mother she is the Queen of the Amazons. She bears the weight and responsibility of uniting her people and leading them in the battle that descends upon Amazonia, on Paradise Island.

And what a spectacular battle it is! The remote-controlled battle suits of Maxwell Lord's division of the United States military pack a considerable punch. Especially when he takes personal control of the giant, experimental A.R.E.S Mark 2 suit.

Unfortunately, like that giant battle suit, this story is ultimately brought to its knees by the sheer volume of the scattered plot threads.

Morrison has brought to these pages so many elements from different eras of Wonder Woman's long and storied history. He presents many of them with a new twist. Elements like the evil Nazis; tensions from both involvement and conflict with the military and other agencies of the United States; Doctor Psycho as a master manipulator; Maxwell Lord mind-controlling attack androids through technology; Etta Candy and Steve Trevor in recognizable roles but with a unique new angle; and most of all the Greek mythology.

He succeeds in his efforts to reinterpret and rearrange these elements, with a surprising dose of new and contemporary ideas and issues.

Where it falls flat is the overall coherence of the story. It is a challenge that I noted back in my review of book one, but it reaches a critical crescendo in this final volume. The sequencing and collisions between the plot lines was so sloppy that at one point I wondered if my copy had been bound with pages out of order.

The work by artist Yanick Paquette remains astounding. These are some of the most beautiful superhero pages you'll find. Paquette packs so much detail into foregrounds and backgrounds yet none of it feels superfluous. His images work together front to back. They flow smoothly from panel to gorgeous panel. His battle scenes burst with energy. His Hades scenes are appropriately spooky, even horror-tinged.

These three books have been a fun and visually fetching read. They are imaginative, beautiful, filled with intriguing new takes on so much of the Wonder Woman universe. If only the pieces were less scattered; sadly, the whole is less than its individual parts.

What I loved

The three books of this graphic novel series pull in so many themes and characters from Wonder Woman's history, as described in the main review above. Author Grant Morrison then reimagines and reinterprets them. Some work well, others fall a bit flat.

One of them stands out above all the others. Morrison's new vision and portrayal of Wonder Woman works best when it leans fully into its Greek mythology roots.

From Hippolyte battling and defeating Hercules in the first pages of book one, to Diana wandering the dark paths of Hades as the series climax approaches in book three, and a dozen times in between, the nods to this rich mythology are many and they almost always land the punch their creators intended.

Best of all, Morrison presents these sections in a way that rarely needs the reader to have much previous understanding of these ancient characters and their stories. With the possible exception of the Fates, whose pseudo-poetic snide commentary falls flat on occasion, this blending of Greek mythology is a standout feature and adds depth and texture to the tale.

What I didn't love

While Morrison takes so many elements throughout Wonder Woman's long history, reimagines them and recombines them into a creative whole, several elements do not work well together, or go astray.

None more so than the ending of the conflict, a silly twist in which Amazonia or Paradise Island uses advanced technology from a parallel universe to remove their island completely from the earthly oceans.

A nod, sure, to past multiple-earths elements in DC books and Wonder Woman history, but one that ultimately undercuts much of the tension between the world and Amazonia, or between men and women, with the equivalent of a magical snap of the fingers.

For this review, I read in part from my Compact edition that collects all three volumes of this series. DC Comics has done well with this new format, making its works available in an accessible and affordable book.

I can see why they are so popular; they are a great value, packing lots of comic book adventure into an affordable package.

But I am not enamoured by them. The page quality is medium at best, with the darker printing and extremely flat finish reducing the thrill and sparkle of the art - although in this book, Paquette's brilliance still shines through.

The binding quality of the book is also very low. The glue holding the page signatures in place let go on both the top and bottom of the book, so now the pages are almost falling out before the end of the first read through the book.

Related Reviews

Wonder Woman Earth One volume 1

Wonder Woman Earth One volume 2

Teen Titans Earth One volume 1

Quick Reference Details

Writers:  Grant Morrison
Artists:  Yanick Paquette
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  March 9, 2021
Parental Rating: Teen

Back cover of Wonder Woman Earth One volume 3

Cover Girl - Wonder Woman Earth One volume 2 (2018)

  

Front Cover of Wonder Woman Earth One volume 2

Score (out of 5 Capes)

Packed with elements from across Wonder Woman's storied history, this is another piece of a stunning reimagination of our favorite Amazon princess, filled with page after page of jaw-dropping images.

My Review

Writer Grant Morrison and artist Yanick Paquette return for the second volume of their original graphic novel series reimagining Wonder Woman's origins.

True to their vision from book one, they draw elements from across Wonder Woman's long and storied history, pulling from Golden Age tales here, Silver Age there, and even more contemporary elements and themes.

It starts off with a 1940s-era Nazi raid on Paradise Island. The Nazi troopers and seamen, regular foils in our hero's earliest appearances, are led by the tall, blond haired and blue-eyed woman calling herself the Uberfraulein.

She temporarily gains the upper hand, even stealing the magic girdle of invulnerability from Queen Hippolyta. But in the end, she bows in submission to the loving authority of the queen she sought to destroy.

This concept of submission to loving authority first arose in volume one, and was presented in contrast to how Steve Trevor hears it clashing with his core values formed in his freedom and individualism. It gets a much deeper look in this second volume.

It comes through most intensely in the exchanges between Diana and Doctor Zeiko, revealed to be Dr Psycho. The villainous character has had a range of powers and motivations, dating all the way back to the earliest Wonder Woman comics. Here, he is a brilliant manipulator, tasked with making special use of his skills and talents on Diana.

She indulges many of his curious questions, even demonstrating her bracelets while he fires a gun toward her - at her insistence of course! But the truth and honesty gets especially strained on the topic of submission and when the lasso of truth comes out.

Over the course of the book, Diana goes from globally admired - with baseball hitting demonstrations and cover profiles on magazines - to feared and hated. The full-page spread of magazine covers is delightful!

But when Uberfraulein returns to her original programming, throws off her submission to loving authority and again attacks Queen Hippolyta, Wonder Woman must return to Amazonia and take on a whole new role in preparing her people for the challenges ahead.

Morrison continues to play with a large number of loosely woven plot threads. I admire how well he sprinkles reimagined villains from both long history (Dr Psycho and the Nazis) to much more modern ones (Maxwell Lord pulling strings behind the scenes). The sheer size of the collection of plot threads means that this book cannot be the end - we need the third volume to see if he can tie the whole package together.

Artist Yanick Paquette continues to lift the story to new heights with stellar visuals. There is a beauty in the faces and body language of the good guys, and an emerging darkness in others with less virtuous motives.

His panels and pages flow together with such dynamic power, each one packed with detailed backgrounds and attention to the smallest details. A truly magnificent work, a testament to his craft!

We are left with a strong and satisfying final page, but we know that more books must follow, for too many balls are in motion to feel like this could possibly be the final word.

What I loved

Wonder Woman wears a more culturally-influenced garb

The book is every bit as gorgeous as volume one. Yanick Paquette does another fantastic job at filling in backgrounds with spectacular scenery. It is most noticeable in Paradise Island settings, but his creative attention to every beautiful detail oozes from every pore of this book.

One of my personal favorites is the outfit Diana chooses for her rescue mission of a man held prisoner by some Middle Eastern terrorists. Pause and admire the overall look and the finer details. 

The red, gold and blue tones, in step with her other outfits; the symbols of stars and feathers, too; the accommodation to cultural sensitivities, with the flowing sleeves and the head and face coverings; even the stars-and-rainbows along the seams of the robe, that call to mind some of the scene-transition bursts in the 1970s Wonder Woman TV show.

What I didn't love

How easy it is to lose your best defensive shield!

Imagine you had a defensive tool that made you invulnerable - a shield, a force field, maybe a magic girdle as worn by Queen Hippolyta. You would want to ensure that it could not be disabled or stripped from your possession without great effort.

How shocking, then, to twice in these pages see Hippolyta so easily stripped of her wonderful magic girdle. Wearing it, as she does, outside her clothing and tied with an easily broken or untied knot, it turns out to be a simple enough matter to rip it from her possession.

Now, spoiler alert, the second occurrence shown in the above panel may not have been unexpected, possibly part of a larger plan. But the first time Paula the Uberfraulein confronted the queen, she pulled the same stunt in the middle of the battle.

Do we need a lesson in double-knots?

Related Reviews

Wonder Woman Earth One Book One

Wonder Woman Earth One Book Three (coming soon)

Teen Titans Earth One Book Two

Quick Reference Details

Writers:   Grant Morrison
Artists:  Yanick Paquette
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  Oct. 9, 2018
Parental Rating: Teen

Back Cover of Wonder Woman Earth One volume 2

A Paradise of Rebooted Origins - Review of Wonder Woman Earth One vol 1 (HC 2016)

  

Front cover of DC Comics original graphic novel Wonder Woman Earth One volume 1

Score (out of 5 Capes)

My Review

DC Comics loves to reinvent itself and its characters, a pattern that has only accelerated over the years. Transitions from Golden Age to Silver Age to Bronze Age of comics all came with radical new takes on characters, canon and continuity, over a period of decades.

Then through the Crisis-themed cross-over events, the New 52, into Rebirth, and continuing with the modern All-In and Absolute books, the reinventions have been happening every couple of years instead of decades.

The Earth One standalone graphic novels have always stood on their own - rather than a reboot or a ret-con of established continuity, they strive to reimagine key elements of their subjects and their history across the various incarnations and reassemble them into compelling new takes.

Writer Grant Morrison, in his new origin tale of Wonder Woman, does exactly that. He pulls themes, characters and elements from Golden, Silver and more modern Wonder Woman canon, mixes in some contemporary considerations, and produces a fascinating new stage for this long-standing and much-loved hero.

He takes us way back, to a time not only before Diana was born but before the Amazons established their society on Paradise Island. Back to a confrontation between Queen Hippolyta and mighty Hercules, a seminal event leading to their self-imposed isolation.

Then, jumping ahead 3,000 years, Paradise Island is a land of rich architecture and advanced technology. The women have built a society defined by a blend of strength and beauty, simplicity and sophistication, undergirded by submission and authority bound together by love.

The foundations of their society, especially in the eyes of Diana, are challenged and shaken by the arrival of Steve Trevor, an African-American pilot sent on a spy mission by the American military leadership. But his wounds are so grievous, and their advanced healing abilities so incapable of helping a human man, that Diana returns him to the USA for treatment, ultimately saving his life.

But in the process, Diana becomes a figure of both inspiration for those who aspire for a more just and equal society, and of suspicion for those who hold the reins and enjoy the spoils of power, especially patriarchal power.

This whole tales is structured as a series of flashbacks and explanations that emerge from the Trial of Truth; Diana is accused of being a prodigal child who has exposed Paradise Island to the rest of the world. It is an unfortunate choice that misses on too many points.

From trial to pre-Trevor moments to civics lessons to Amazonian shock and dismay at the contemporary gender dynamics, so many separate threads are swirled together in the narrative. Too often, the transition between them is sloppy, the cues for the reader inadequate to prevent confusion and frustration.

Where this trial-centric approach works most is in illustrating Diana's embrace of the hand-in-hand pattern of submission and authority. The theme is revisited several times throughout this book, and the ones that follow. While it sounds very much out of step with the American cultural ideals of freedom, individualism and democracy, Morrison presents people's embrace or rejection of the ideas and their underlying principles in very compelling ways.

With his absolutely incredible visuals, artist Yanick Paquette does his part to clarify and smooth out the seams, transitions and gaps in the narrative. Subtle shifts in style, more pronounced shifts in colours and shading, amazing panel borders and visual flow all do their part to show us the clues needed to move between plot threads.

And throughout, Paquette's images remain stunningly detailed. Panel after panel contains so much background detail. It well portrays the island's architecture and natural beauty, the variety of fashion styles favoured by the Amazons and more. You will find yourself lingering over so many pages, drinking in their beauty. 

Paquette's pictures alone make this book worth your time. And Morrison does some bold things with elements of Wonder Woman's past. It does not all hold together but on the whole, this is a solid first book of the three planned graphic novels for Wonder Woman's Earth One reimagined origins.

What I loved

A beautiful and highly detailed panel

Yanick Paquette's visuals are so breath-taking! In a typical super-hero story, we would get the occasional full-page or stand-out panel with loads of attention to the little details in the background.

Here, though, Paquette packs page after page and panel after panel with intricate details - Paradise Island scenery or classical architecture and statuary, nature bursting with flowers and wildlife, people with a variety of fashions.

He must be allergic to rectangles and the standard 6 or 9 panel page layouts; nearly every page has a rope or stars or other shapes containing the pictures themselves.

We readers cannot help but let our eyes wander across the scene, drawing out the sheer pleasure of reading this beautifully drawn graphic novel!

What I didn't love

A sample of the confusing overlap of plot elements

There are several time and plot lines woven together in this book. At key intersection points, like the one pictured above, the handoff from one to another is sloppy and confusing.

Grant Morrison has shown some real writing chops in his storied career. In this work overall, he does terrific work reimagining so many factors from Wonder Woman's history. 

So it is disappointing to see him fumble these shifts, requiring the reader too often to wait till the next page to figure out which of the times and places we've landed in. Whether it needed a few more revisions in the writer's room or tighter editorial guidance, the unfortunate result is a choppy flow and too many moments of confusion for the reader.

Related Reviews

Teen Titans Earth One Book 1

Teen Titans Earth One Book 2

Wonder Woman Earth 1 Book 2

Wonder Woman Earth 1 Book 3 (Coming Soon)

Quick Reference Details

Writers:  Grant Morrison
Artists:  Yanick Paquette
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  April 12, 2016
Parental Rating: Teen

Back cover of DC Comics original graphic novel Wonder Woman Earth 1

To Hell and Back with a Friend - Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over (2025)

  

Front cover DC Comics TPB of Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over

This book collects the following comics: Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over issues #1-6

Score (out of 5 Capes)

A charming story of love, friendship and family, set amidst the trials and tribulations of Fire and Ice and their journey into Hell and back. It is fun but does not reach the overall level of cleverness of the original.

My Review

In their 2024 limited series Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville, Fire (Beatrice) and Ice (Tora) were banished to Smallville as a timeout to work on their dedication to serving others with their super-human powers.

Author Joanne Starer, who wrote that previous series, returns the pair to Smallville, this time to sort out what to do with their powers, which were swapped during the events of the Absolute Power mini-series. She trims the size of the supporting cast to just eight or so, and amps up the chaos.

The swapped powers introduces some mild initial chaos, as Fire and Ice wrestle with the different offensive and defensive strategies inherent in blasts of flame vs walls of ice.

But, like in their previous series, these ladies like to have fun. When Fire finds some of Zatanna's magical artifacts at a house party and accidentally adds body-swapping to the mix, the chaos hits another gear. Fire lands in Ice's body and vice versa. Wheel-chair-bound Charlie and super-intelligent ape Grodd's little sister Linka swap. Villain wanna-be Mo and persuasive-talker Honey swap. And all Hell breaks loose.

Unfortunately, to put things back, Fire needs a magical bracelet that is in the care of some of the denizens of Hell. So she and Ice set out to battle the hordes of demons and temptations, retrieve the magical cure and restore sanity to Smallville.

These characters have been through Hell before, in 2005's JLA Classified series, collected in the TPB I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League. Starer does a nice job of tying this tale together with those earlier ones, and with the ladies' internal battles with their personal demons and haunting history.

One minor annoyance is the almost complete lack of of the demon Etrigan's famous rhyming way of speaking. While the rhymes also disappeared in that JLA Classified story, it was a running gag and kept slipping in and out. Here, it gets one brief note then disappears. It is disappointing that Starer did not spend more time nailing the Etrigan character.

For all the drama and emotional impact of the Hell scenes, the Smallville scenes come across as lame comedic relief or eye-rolling distractions. The supporting characters can't carry these secondary scenes. It is also both a relief and a shock at how quickly all the loose ends are wrapped up, too abruptly in my opinion.

Artist Stephen Byrne handles all the visual duties, from pencils to inks to colours. In keeping with the tone of the earlier series, the look and feel of Byrne's images calls to mind classic Archie Comics.

The colours are especially notable in the variety of skin tones in these diverse characters. From Tora's Nordic pale whiteness to Bea's Latina complexion, to the different shades for supporting characters like Honey, Charlie and Tamarind, Byrne put lots of time and attention into their skins.

Byrne also carries the distinct dressing preferences of the heroes into whichever body they occupy. Ice's hair becomes extra-long when Bea is in the body, and she bares lots more skin. Fire wears a hefty green-flame sweater when Tora in in that body. Nice touch. If only such visual cues carried over to the other body-swapped pairs.

A real highlight of the collected TPB format is the inclusion of all the alternative covers, Different artists lend their time and skills and really run with the playful side of the swapping theme. I also love all the different fashions these ladies model on the different covers!

Overall, this is a solid tie-in with some of the key developments in the DC Comics All-In cross-over. Some nice artistic touches, if overly simplified in places; and some intriguing ideas in the writing, despite a few gaps. A recommended read for fans of these characters.

What I loved

Fire sees through the tricks thrown at her in Hell

In a plot filled with body-switching and un-switching, the relationship between Bea and Tora, whichever one is Fire and Ice at any given moment, remains a central anchor throughout.

It affects their actions and decisions in Smallville.

And, more crucially, it helps them see through the demonic trickery they encounter while in Hell. Bea and Tora know and understand each other so well that they can identify an imposter. At least eventually.

I love that this collection is more than just the adventures of two friends; the different aspects of that friendship itself takes centre stage. Author Joanne Starer packs emotional wallop into several of these scenes. In the panel excerpted here, Bea's strength of conviction and dedication to her friend stand out. It all adds depth to the tale and to these two characters who are better together than apart.

What I didn't love

Linka, Charlie, Superman and Grodd discuss body-switching

The Freaky Friday ("Furry Friday"?) body-switching gets more than a little tiring over the course of the series. 

Fire and Ice had their powers switched in Absolute Power #4 and extending that to a full body swap was a natural, if somewhat predictable, plot twist. But why stop there? Why not also pair up several minor characters and swap them too? 

Why not? How about because these are not well-established characters, making the reader's job to distinguish between them more difficult. 

Why not? Maybe because some of the body-switched characters do have meta-human powers of their own, but the narrative is inconsistent about whether the power transfers in the swap, as in the panels above with Charlie and Linka, or stays in the original's body, as with Honey and Mo. And if you don't know who they are, that just proves my first point that the swapped characters are not well-known enough.

Related Reviews

Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville

All In Saga

I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League

Quick Reference Details

Writers:  Joanne Starer
Artists:  Stephen Byrne
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  Jan 27, 2026
Parental Rating: Teen

Back cover of Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over