Most comic stores aren't able to give comics full-face racking. In
stores with waterfall racks, for example, only the top third of the
cover is visible, so this book is unrecognizable. (If I had to guess
what this was, based on only the top third, it'd be Planetary.)

If interested customers can't read the title, they aren't likely to buy
the comic. A vertical strip, if used, should be on the left, for stores
that rack issues overlapping. Not to mention that the price is very hard
to find, which takes time at checkout and annoys whoever's running the
register.

Shame, cause it's a lovely image, even if it doesn't have much to do
with the main story.

What happened to the nuanced, multi-leveled storytelling that Greg Rucka
started off his run with? Most of Wonder Woman #212 is a big fight
scene, as Diana fights the JLA to prove that her blindness shouldn't
disqualify her from the team. That's an iffy proposition to begin with,
as one of the characters later points out -- there's always a way to
write a character as winning, and there's always a way to defeat them,
even if it's silly (such as lighting a match in front of the Martian
Manhunter).

James Raiz's art is over-rendered by inker Ray Snyder, with some of the
lines much too chunky. As a side note, it's strange to me that teams
have training rooms that are filled with computers and metal technology
lining the walls. Wouldn't it make more sense to have a gymnasium-like
room for sparring?

For every plot point I appreciate (Circe suing for custody of her
daughter, being raised as an Amazon; seeing the warriors deal with
children is a good contrast that humanizes them and establishes the
differences in their society), there's another one that I deplore due to
its familiarity (Zeus' actions leading to Diana battling a mystical
beast at the behest of the gods). The blindness making no practical
difference to Diana tips the book over to the negative side for me --
why do something so obvious if you're not going to follow it up in a
significant way?

Plastic Man #14 wants to be a cartoon, but it's not a very good one.
Plas tries to catch a mouse, so Kyle Baker drags out a bunch of musty
gags -- running full-tilt into a wall, getting snapped in a mousetrap,
dressing up like a girl rodent, falling off a tall object, and so on. I
felt like I'd seen all this before in Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry
cartoons. (Only since it's modern-day, the gags go further to
incorporate poop and pregnancy. This isn't an improvement.)

The backgrounds are mostly photocopied (although these days, it's
probably digital), and the drawings are sketchy. I just don't get why
people are enthused about this book -- it isn't a very good use of the
character, and the art is flat and jumpy in pacing. It seems to be
pitched as a kids' book these days, but I wouldn't give it to one, since
I don't believe in talking down to the little darlings.

Birds of Prey #78 has a distinctive look with the guest art team of Tom
Derenick and Bob Petrecca. The figures, in particular, are sharp and
attractive, and the storytelling's subtle. One plot point I thought had
been overlooked, until I looked back a page and saw that the needed
panels were identical in staging.

Another surprise is well-paced, with a figure disappearing for a couple
of pages, until the shock is revealed at the top of a left-hand page,
incorporating the page turn to build suspense. The women are beautiful
and powerful without being posed as sex objects, a pleasant change for
this title.

The action's vibrant, as it needs to be. I really felt the fight, with
the figures reacting like real bodies. I'm afraid many readers will miss
out on noticing the skill involved, since some don't pay enough
attention to read the art as anything more than story pictures. It took
me a second read-through to pick up on the details.

Gail Simone reveals the background of the vigilante Harvest, but only
after Canary and Huntress are beaten by her. There's an ethical debate,
once they figure out Harvest's background, which provides some
philosophical food for thought. Overall, it's a right nice package. With
the recently-announced demise of Bloodhound, this is DC's best superhero
book.