Recently on the Bleeding Cool site it was reported that Grant Morrison is preparing a Wonder Woman story, which i have to admit piqued my interest. Grant Morrison has written a variety of work for DC, from the surreal to more straight forward fare, and regardless of if you like or dislike his work, it is never less than interesting to read. The only complaint i could aim at him is that in the last few years his work has felt maybe a little over indulgent and at times disjointed, Morrison's story telling has increasingly become a little bit of a chore to read ( Final Crisis suffered this ). Nevertheless, Morrison does have a good feel for most of his subject matter, and it will be fascinating to see what he does with it. Also the preliminary artwork looks rather good with a scene that appears to be either Wonderwoman or ( most probably ) her mother, strangling Hercules.

I suspect i'll still prefer the Animated DC version of Wonder Woman from the excellent Justice League/Justice League Unlimited series  [link]

I was thinking about why i have been having difficulty accepting the DC New 52 universe, i think it might have something to do with the fact that DC made a mess of ending the 'Modern Era' DC universe. Had DC's main controlling writers actually given the abandoned Universe and its many characters a proper conclusion to their stories, be it 'every superhero died in a bleak Alan Moore style Superwar' or  'They all lived happily ever after under Grant Morrisons Superman Prime watching over them', or whatever, it would have made the replacement New 52 Universe more palatable. If the old Universe had been brought to an actual end, there would be nothing to go back to, and the New 52 would perhaps have been seen more positively, but they didn't actually do that.

As it is, it feels as though the old Universe has been simply paused by the ( Barry Alan ) Flash screwing with time and reality, with a sudden 'Meanwhile' shift to this alternative 'New 52' DC before it snaps back to the 'Modern Era' DC universe once more. Had Geoff Johns, Dan Didio or whoever, actually thought to implement a genuine conclusion to the 'Modern Era' DC, there wouldn't be this feeling among some fans that this New 52 will eventually burn out in spite of their stubborn determination with forcing it to work.

Ideally, 'Final Crisis' should have been the name for the story to end 'Modern Era' DC, but the actual Final Crisis should also have been held back until it was made into a more clearly told and complete story, sadly it was a bit disappointing and wasn't even the final crisis to hit DC.

Having seen the third Man of Steel trailer, i have to admit that i now feel enthused about this particular reboot. I think it has the right feel. The music used in this trailer is spot on, it is different from the original Superman movies, but takes its cues from them, starting off slow and building up before really bursting into life, if this is part of the actual theme from the movie, i approve.

Also with the Zod and what looks like his Kryptonian force, as far as i can make out from the trailer they seem to use their technology and suits to match up to Superman levels rather than having powers like him, so i'm hoping they are using an idea i had ;That regular Kryptonians don't have powers and are instead very similar to humans, and Superman was genetically engineered as a weapon, making him almost unique ( though my own idea had him, Supergirl and Powergirl as all created as weapons for Darkseid by a militaristic Krypton before an event flung them towards the most distant in progress colony of Krypton, the planet called Earth ). At least the way i interpreted the dialogue in the trailer kind of suggests that Superman was originally intended for something that his father Jor-El didn't want him to be used for, and why Zod would be trying to find him.

This film looks like promising, really promising, Henry Calvill looks and sounds comfortable in the role, and in fact i'm looking forward to this more than Iron Man 3.

Here is a link to the third trailer on Youtube, [link]

As much as i like Powergirl visually, it was her likeable, confident, independant and mildly put upon character that made me a fan, her outfit was secondary, which is why i'm happily using her Gold and white one in my artwork ( it looked good to me back then, it still looks good to me now, with slight adjustments ). A while back i posted an entry on why it is a mistake to write Powergirl off as just a Supergirl from another Earth, having finally read the first collected edition of Powergirl and Huntress, or 'Worlds Finest' i think i was spot on [link]. although i was taken aback by the fact this New 52 comic has done something i didn't think possible, it has made me dislike Powergirl, which is pretty impressive really.

'Worlds Finest' covers the adventures of the Supergirl ( Kara Zor L ) and Robin ( Helena Wayne, daughter of Batman and Catwoman ) from 'Earth 2', who have become trapped on the New 52 DC Earth and are trying to find a way back, having adopted new identities as Powergirl and Huntress to avoid their New 52 Earth counter parts and sort-of relatives. Which strikes me as a curious way to make these characters more accessible to new readers.

It's odd really but Paul Levitz has pretty much taken Powergirl and reversed her, removing the aspects of her personality i liked and taking all of the stereotypical assumptions made by those unfamiliar with the character and fusing it into being. In a complete reversal of personality she's now more covered up but her attitudes seem rather more akin to that of an attention seeker, which is quite different from her previous incarnation ( previously this was an incorrect assumption about her character ). One of the accepted things about Powergirl was that in spite of her eye catching outfits, she seemed to find the attention tedious ( though she did seem to appreciate and understand the effect she had, which made sense given she wasn't stupid ), hence the amusing "My eyes are up here" thing that had emerged over the last few years. How fans of Powergirl missed this i can only put down to them being blinded by her classic costume being absent, unless they prefer her like this, which is possible, a pity, but possible.

If the New 52 Powergirl were male, i would describe her character as having a fairly chauvinist attitude, she has the same type of personality that Powergirl despised in some Men in the old DC Universe ( It was weird as anything to read Powergirl refer to a man as a 'cute souvenir' in the comic ) she also displays little interest in people other than to use them to get home to 'Earth 2', or to pass the time, as it's kind of implied this version is happy to go through men like cigarettes. If this version had been forced into the 2009 Palmiotti written series ( which is increasingly looking like a masterclass version of the character ), she would probably have bedded Vartox. But maybe i'm reading the character wrong.

As i see it, the Paul Levitz take on her is so far, frankly awful. He firmly pins her as being a former Supergirl which feels like an instant failure of understanding with the character really ( but then this is just my opinion, what do i know ? ). It is strange really given that he has been at DC for longer than i've been alive, i would have thought he would have a better grasp on her, but he writes her as i would have my own Fanstories hero hating News Media try to present her as. But then this version does come across as much younger and more immature in personality, and not nearly as bright, while the old universe Powergirl came across as a more mature minded young woman. Perhaps this New 52 version will eventually grow up.

I did notice that Levitz portrays the Huntress as the more sensible one, though given that he created the Helena Wayne Huntress back in the 1970's i shouldn't be surprised by that. Though I was surprised by the off screen killing of the 1989-2011 version of the Huntress, handled in a short conversation on the first page, given that this universe is 'New' they didn't even need to kill off or even mention Helena Bertinelli, it felt unnecessary, and a little mean spirited ( and wouldn't Batman look closer into the matter ? ).

Finally, the lines from in the origin story made my heart sink with Earth 2 Supergirl and Robin now trapped on the Main DC Earth ( before they adopt new identities )  Powergirl - "Name's Supergirl by the way--or Kara to my Friends"
                      Huntress - "Helena. And i think were going to be friends forever"
So.. no chance of these two going their separate ways any time soon then ?

Ultimately I guess this series will possibly appeal to brand new readers, and maybe readers who prefer the Huntress/Powergirl team of the 1970's over anything Powergirl and Huntress did from 1986 until 2011. To be honest if anyone actually wants to read a good Powergirl comic, i recommend hunting down the old DC universe Palmiotti/Gray/Conner comic collected volumes.