New 52 Justice League # 3

By Mark Rodriguez

Well by now, Justice League War has already been released, and I'm sure most of you DC fans have seen it by now. I did my review on it and honestly I could have babbled for hours on the differences between the comics and the animated version. In fact, it will be difficult to do this review without saying 'this was in the movie' and 'that part's changed', and we didn't even get to the issue where Aquaman debuts. I kinda regret not getting into this back when the blog was new... but I guess for whatever reason it was interesting to talk about the WTF-ery of Batman The Dark Knight and all the pointless Justice League cameos. LOL Anyways let's continue as this issue throws Wonder Woman into the mix.

Issue 3 opens in Washington DC as Steve Trevor sees some guards watching several TV screen, most of them arguing about how violent Wonder Woman is, or how she dresses. The soldiers tell him she started arguing with the TV screens as if they could hear her and then left when she saw a news report about a winged monster attack people downtown. Trevor asks them why they didn't stop her. They point to the hole in the brick wall she made as she escaped and ask him if he's kidding.

Wonder Woman wanders around downtown looking for a Harpy (which is what she considers the winged monster to be) and asks anyone if they've seen it so she can chop off its head. Everyone is too scared of the warrior woman waving a big sword around. Everyone except a little girl with some ice cream that think she's cool. Wonder Woman never saw ice cream before, and after the girl drops hers, she gets some for both her and the girl. The amazon loves it and tells the ice cream vendor that he should be proud of accomplishing such an achievement.

My favorite scene of the entire issue. Wonder Woman is so adorable here!

Trevor finds her and tells her she should return to the Pentagon. Wonder Woman tells him that she's been treated like a child all her life on Paradise Island, and now that she's no longer there and an adult, she's done with people telling her what to do. Trevor expresses his concerns, when just then they spot the Parademon. Just then a portal opens and lots of them jump up, which leaves Wonder Woman anxious for battle.

Elsewhere the Parademons are appearing in portals all over the world, kidnapping people while the general populus blame the super heroes for this. The scientists at STAR Labs are also worried, but Dr. Stone won't leave his son behind. He said he already saw Victor's mother die, he won't watch him die too.

Superman, Batman, The Flash and Green Lantern are fighting off an army of Parademons. Flash tells the others that this is happening worldwide and they're getting blamed for it. Batman tells Lantern to focus so his constructs don't break so easily. Lantern tells him to worry about himself since he doesn't have any powers. Flash is surprised to hear this and thought Batman was a vampire or something. Batman says there are too many for them to just barrel through, Flash says he should tell that to Superman. Superman takes out several demons by swinging a gas truck around.

This pic was taken seconds before... well.... keep on reading....

Meanwhile, Dr. Stone and his assistant takes what's left of Victor to 'the Red Room' and set him down. Elsewhere the fighting continues as the heroes start to wonder where the demons are taking all the people they're capturing. Just then Wonder Woman shows up to kick some ass (I guess they were close to Washington DC?). Superman is impressed and remarks that she's strong. She says she knows.

lust at first sight?

At the Red Room, Morrow says Victor's vitals are still there but the energy that hit him is eating him from the inside out. Dr. Stone says the room is full of advanced technology they've gathered from around the world, they will save his son somehow. Morrow warns Victor's body might reject the Promethium Skin Graft, but Stone says he already injected him with nanites that should keep that from happening. They activate the nanites and Victor screams.

The Parademons start circling the water and Flash wonders what they're doing. As this happens, Victor sees visions of Darkseid, getting ready for his invasion. A big bolt of energy bursts out of the water, and it also seems to affect Victor. A structure then comes out of the ocean and the heroes wonder what it is. Just then a dead parademon drops down, being impaled by a trident. Aquaman shows up saying he was hoping they'd tell him what was going on since the parademons are in the water too. He asks who's in charge, and he already votes for himself.

My Opinions:
Trying my best to ignore the movie and draw any comparisons here.. this issue was great. The main draw is that it brought Wonder Woman into the story in all her butt-kickin glory. I still wonder why originally they were gonna give her pants but then gave her back her bikini-bottom tights in the last second... but her classic look works. I don't see all that many drastic changes in her costume, just drawn better by modern artists. I did like the scene with her and the ice cream. It brings out a bit of innocence in her that reminds us that even if she's swinging her sword around looking for battle... she still has a warm heart.

I also like the little girl's innocent view that goes beyond adults over-thinking things. While everyone else is worried about Diana's sword, dress code, and even the fact that believes in Zeus.... the girl just sees her as what she really is. A superhero.

I do admit the other heroes take a bit of a backseat, but we already saw most of their characterization in the last two issues. I did like Flash thinking Batman was 'a vampire or something'. Now we're gonna be introduced to The New 52 Aquaman, and we'll soon see what he brings to the table. Again for those that have seen the movie, you already know Shazam took Aquaman's place... so from here on out everything he does is gonna be very different than what happened in the movie.

 I'll try to get back to this story sooner than later. I figure a good way to end this review is to show my review on the movie. Of course this will have spoilers if you haven't seen it yet, or if you haven't read the rest of this storyline yet.

Extra Edit: Oh come on!!! No sooner than when I was through taking pics and put the comic away.... but a page comes off. What the flying @#$%!!! It just came off! Nothing wrong with the staples or anything, it just wore itself off as I had read this one a zillion times... even thought is probably the second or maybe third time I ever touched since I read it waaaay back then when I first bought it. Grrr... Maybe I'll re-buy it off Amazon or something... but it won't be the same book I bought back then at Velvet Underground when the New 52 was still new and exciting. Oh damn it!!!

what is this.... I don't even..... HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?????