Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman

A few weeks ago my SO stopped by the comic book store for our latest comic book haul. For other comic newbies like myself out there, there is a cool thing where you can subscribe to certain comics and the store will set aside your issues in a pile which you can pick up anytime you want. I was surprised to see an issue of DC’s “Wonder Woman Sensation Comics” mixed in with the latest issues of Wonder Woman New 52. I’m pretty new to the comic book fanclub (check out my Intro to Wonder Woman post) so I was a bit perplexed as to what this new title was. When I asked my SO he just shrugged his shoulders and said he grabbed it for me because he saw Wonder Woman on the cover.

So what ARE Sensation Comics? The name of the new series is a throwback to a 1942-1952 run of “Sensation Comics” predominantly starring Wonder Woman.  I did a little research and found a great article on the series from ComicBookResource.com. The most interesting thing I learned is that:

“Sensation Comics” will tell stories outside of mainline New 52 continuity.

This means other artists and writers can experiment with Wonder Woman’s story and appearance, as well as give the character more depth. This is also a good opportunity for DC to see if certain stories strike a chord with readers. I’m really intrigued at the idea of seeing a fresh version of Wonder Woman periodically.

Right off the bat I got a thrill of excitement when I saw that Gail Simone wrote the first story. I started following her on Twitter after her name kept popping up over and over again when I was trying to learn more about the current state of the comic book industry. She is a pretty awesome woman and I have gained a lot of insight from her Tweets as well as from stories about her. Have you ever stumbled across the Women in Refrigerators website? She started that! I had no idea until now.

The title of Simone’s story is “GOTHAMAZON”, which I adore, and as you can tell from the cover art for this issue, the story line puts Wonder Woman in the middle of Batman’s Gotham to handle an escalating mess of villain hi jinx. It’s a fun story, and I enjoyed the witty wordplay of some of Gotham’s most wicked baddies. Even more enjoyable is the way Wonder Woman aligns herself with some new comrades to fight the scourge. One thing that caught my attention is that Wonder Woman, Cat Woman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn are not wearing high heeled shoes or boots. They all wear much more appropriate flat bottomed boots with thick soles, or go barefoot in the case of Poison Ivy.

This story also introduced me to a new (not brand new, just new to me) character named Barbara Gordon. I was vaguely familiar with Batgirl before, but I would not have known this was the same person unless I looked it up first.

The second story is entitled “Defender of Truth” and I LOVED the artwork done by Cat Staggs. The colors and detail were grounded more in reality. Amanda Deibert, the writer, did an excellent job showing both Wonder Woman’s strength, but also her compassion  If I had to choose which one I liked more, I’d have to say it was the second story for all the fuzzy feelings at the end.

If you haven’t read Wonder Woman New 52 and want another way to enter comics, this is a good issue that doesn’t require you having to catch up on several years worth of story arcs. In fact, it was actually really great timing that I read this issue last week, because I also watched “Batman: Assault on Arkham” and had all the Batman villains fresh in my mind. I enjoyed the stories with my casual knowledge of Batman lore and did not find myself scratching my head at any part not understanding what was going on. Overall, I think Sensation Comics has gained a permanent spot on my night stand.

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