Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1

Wonder Woman is an amazing character for all of comics & this addition to DC Comics Earth One line is a breathe of fresh air in many respects.  Now Wonder Woman has had countless origins since she was created her New 52 origin being the most memorable to date.  With a Wonder Woman movie just on the horizon which has an awesome trailer released over the summer.  This volume again explores Wonder Woman's origin but its not just the retelling of the origin that is amazing its everything else in the book.  The inclusion of the tale of Hercules & the Amazons, the re-imagining of Steve Trevor as an African American Pilot on a recon mission even the artistic style that is used to portray Diana is echoes the origin as a warrior woman instead of busty female form that people associate with women in comics.  All of this adds to the tale that master storyteller Grant Morrison has crafted.  Grant Morrison is known for delving into a characters rich history & mining it for everything it is worth.  Wonder Woman is no different & she has a very rich history in this instance I think that Morrison has not only researched her past but the life of her creator.  There is a lot of symbolism in this book many of which can be taken in a negative light when taken out of the context of the story especially when viewing Wonder Woman in chains.  If you are at all interested in Wonder Woman pick up this book, after reading this I am interested in what inspired her creation in the first place.

New X-Men Omnibus

I am amazed beyond belief New X-Men was one of the most amazing & inclusive X-Men books I have ever read!  Grant Morrison is a genius pure & simple I wish he would write something else for Marvel.  I have been a longtime X-Men fan ever since I was introduced to the uncanny mutants through the 90's cartoon.  The cartoon convinced me to track down early collections of Chris Claremont's run on the X-Men.  Now Stan Lee may have created the X-Men but Chris Claremont is the godfather of the franchise no other writer has taken the X-Men so far or added so much to the mythos.  Grant Morrison is one of the greatest writers when it comes to researching a franchise & bringing original concepts to the forefront again.  Not only does he flush out the original concept but he injects new ideas & new concepts.  In just his brief X-Men run Morrison has used almost every trope & idea that the X-Men are known for.  Everything from adventures in space, the phoenix, persecution, racism, drama, death, sentinels, Weapon Plus program, the Shi'ar Empire & alternate reality futures,  Everything is here & it is executed almost perfectly.  I absolutely loved the the majority of this run as for what happened to the Magneto in this volume I agree that it didn't stick to the landing but the overall reveal was awesome.  I completely disagree that Marvel erased the majority of Grant Morrison's run on from continuity in fact I think they preserved a great portion of it.  Since this run not only have Magneto & Xavier taken more of a back seat but leadership of the different mutant factions has been taken up by other characters.  Cyclops has had an especially big push over the last couple of years.  As for the Scott / Emma relationship Jean gave her consent in the end so I think it was a nice progression for both of the characters.  Several characters that Grant Morrison created are still being used today, Quentin Quire, Angel, Beak, Fantomex & the Stepford Cuckoos.  Yes I know Beak & Angel are depowered now thanks to M-Day but they still exist.  I really love the final story-arc Here Comes Tomorrow an alternate future story in which the X-Men of the future must take on The Beast & it reveals the real fate of Jean Grey-Summers.  Since her final death the original Jean Grey has been dead since 2004, longer than any of her previous deaths.  The story introduces the idea of the Phoenix Egg which is currently being used in Brian Michael Bendis's current X-Men run.  Physically Jean Grey is dead but spiritually her consciousness has fully merged with the Phoenix Force as a cosmic entity.  She returns when needed to restore balance appearing multiple times since Morrison's run.  In essence this series brings forth many of the ideas that Marvel has been using currently taking chances with characters in new directions.  Currently Marvel has killed off Charles Xavier & given his mind to the Red Skull.  They have killed off the Watcher & replaced him with the original Nick Fury.  Wolverine has also been killed off is being temporally replaced by several of his enemies before being fully replaced by X-23.  Currently in there major summer event of 2015 they have destroyed both the Marvel Universe & the Ultimate Universe to create a battle world in the style of Game of Thrones ruled by Doctor Doom.  This event will create a new Marvel Universe so in the fall anything is possible as to what the new Marvel Universe will hold but these type of out of the box thinking is the type of stuff that Grant Morrison brought with his writing style.  The follow up to Morrison's run is Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men I look forward to everything that comes after the this run which includes one of my other favorite X-Men stories Messiah Complex which leads to a whole set of other stories.  This is a fabulous jumping on point for all of the lapsed X-Men fans or people who just don't know where to start.

WE3

Horrifying & beautiful at the same time, even if your not a fan of Grant Morrison this is one of his best works.  In just this three issue mini-series Morrison & Quietly pull out all the stops to give us a truly heart wrenching tale.  WE3 is Weapon X meets The Incredible Journey,  it is a story about humanity's inhumanity to nature.  Using animals as commodities to save human lives by sacrificing the animals in the name of science & the greater good.  What happens when one of the scientist has a bout of guilt about what they've done; what happens when the animals escape.  Morrison's script is actually pretty straight forward with a nice ironic ending but the real gem of the book is Frank Quietly's art.  His art is horrific & hauntingly beautiful at the same time.  For anybody that is an animal lover this is short & tough read but the ending will satisfy.

Superman, Action Comics Vol. 3: At the End of Days

Like most if not all of Grant Morrison's work this is best read as a collection or in this case a group of collections.  I can see why people reading this in single issues would be confused beyond belief it is a serious fraking mess when you look at any single issue especially the later ones.  By the end of this third volume I have to say Morrison crafted one hell of a story that is full of twist and mind fraks at every turn.  By the time you get to the third volume you begin to realize that Morrison's entire New 52 Superman run is one big Mxyzptlk story.  Except this time Mxyzptlk isn't a villain instead he is a hero of some sort, the true villain of this encounter is Vyndktvx another magician from the 5th Dimension.  Overall Morrison has crafted a Superman story of biblical proportions the only thing I wish had been left out was the references to the "Death & Return of Superman" story arc.  If that had not been referenced then it would have made this story feel like a complete reboot.  Another gem of Grant Morrison's Superman run are the back up stories written by Sholly Fisch.  Her back ups have brought this sense of wonder & awe that reminds me of the Superman I grew up with in contrast to the Superman that Morrison is crafting.  In the future I hope DC giving her full creative control of character to craft & broaden the fan-base.  I would love to see what Grant Morrison could do if DC planned a reboot where he had the ability to craft every character as he sees fit.  Morrison's true gift as a writer is in mining the material & creating something entirely out of left field.  I would really like to see a grand epic from Morrison in which he crafts a universe of characters similar to what Brian K. Vaughan & Mark Millar do on a regular basis.  If he could do that I think he would truly be on his way to being considered one of the great comic book scribes of all time up there with the likes of Alan Moore, Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.

Superman, Action Comics Vol. 2: Bulletproof

The second volume of Grant Morrison's Superman Epic is here & I must say things are beginning to get a little clearer & I am becoming more invested in this new interpretation of Clark Kent / Superman.  One of the high points for me in this collection is the revelation that Clark's landlady is Mr. Mxyzptlk's wife I thought that was such an awesome nod to such an old adversary.  I hope that this leads to a story with Mr. Mxyzptlk in the near future.  This book also saw the origin of a parrallel earth Superman, another super-human for Kansas & the origin of the Kryptonite Man.  Clark Kent does do what I feel is such a mistake when he fakes his own death because he felt that his alter-ego had outlived its usefulness; thankfully Batman & his landlady set him straight.  I really like the zero issue in this collection for its main story The Boy Who Stole Superman's Cape it brings back a sense of awe that causes kids to idolized characters like Superman.  I like were this is going but it still feels strange & unusual but its definitely getting better.

Superman, Action Comics Vol. 1: Superman and the Men of Steel

This is the first volume of the New 52 Action Comics starting Grant Morrison's Superman epic.  Over the years Superman has had his origin told & retold.  In every retelling some of the facts are changed & enemies or specific events are changed.  When DC Comics rebooted there continuity they gave the reigns of Superman's origin to Grant Morrison to shape for a new generation.  This first volume shows us a cockier Superman in a t-shirt & jeans looking more like the Smallville version or Superboy.  Throughout the book Superman discovers his own origin about who he is, where he came from.  This story puts a new spin on who or what Brainiac is.  Several members of Superman's supporting cast are present throughout this story Sam Lane the primary antagonist of The World of New Krypton story-arc is here in a similar fashion.  Metallo's origin appears in this book along with Clark Kent's first meeting with the Legion of Super-Heroes.  Steel also makes his triumphant New 52 origin in this title & I have to say his parts of the book are some of my favorite throughout the story  In this book Clark Kent & Lois Lane work for rival newspapers.  The art is this book is some the best I have seen in a lately Rags Morales & Andy Kubert should be applauded even if you are not a fan of Grant Morrison's writing the art alone is worth giving this a look.  Overall this is a good start but since I am a product of the Post-Crisis continuity that broke onto the market back in 1985 with Crisis on Infinite Earths this is going to take some time to grow on me.  In time I'm sure Grant Morrison's origin will stand up to those of Geoff John's Superman: Secret Origin, Mark Waid's Superman: Birthright, John Byrne's Superman: Man of Steel Vol. 1 or even Jerry Siegel's Action Comics #1.  For now it is just another entry in line of Superman origins, but I will definitely be checking out part two.