Feb 3, 2014
Simon visits his grave and thinks about how the Avengers are just too good to him. Am I the only one laughing by now, considering what Bendis turned him into a few years later?
Avengers Two: Wonder Man & The Beast #2 (2000)
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Simon visits his grave and thinks about how the Avengers are just too good to him. Am I the only one laughing by now, considering what Bendis turned him into a few years later?
Avengers Two: Wonder Man & The Beast #2 (2000)
The lucky girls in the back staring at his butt.
Wonder Man Annual (1992)
Wonder Man #13 (1992)
Wonder Man #12 (1992)
Wonder Man #9 (1992)
Wonder Man #7 (1992)
My verdict on Wonder Man Vol.1
I really enjoyed it, much more than I ever thought I would. This is not an actual review, just some notes.
The good things:
it's so funny.
the jokes about Hollywood, full of barely concealed negative view of the industry.
the social criticism, especially against violence in super hero comics, which is particularly interesting when you consider Wondy is a pacifist now.
it doesn't entirely ignore Simon is part of the West Coast Avengers as the story is rolling, and they are constantly special guests
the art is really good where Simon and the original characters are concerned.
super heroing + what these guys do in their spare time is what all solo series should be about, and this one manages a nice equilibrium.
Simon's existential and career crisis are always a treat.
Mephisto!
Beast!!!
The bad things:
both the villains and the supporting original cast suck. They are all so annoying; his friends and neighbors only work in few specific situations (I'll admit Spider grew on me, but he was the only one), and while it's obvious the author, the editors or whoever wanted us to root for Simon x Alex to happen, she's so bland, so completely uninteresting and devoid of any personality, that you can't help but want to punch him for choosing that woman over Wanda Maximoff. What sane person would ever do that? Good thing that he died in Force Works before he could ever marry her!
all the criticism sometimes comes a bit preachy, but that might have been because I binge-read it. One issue per month probably diminished that problem back in the day.
the West Coast Avengers are there almost as wallpaper, making no real difference to the story, except, perhaps, for Wanda.
speaking of witch (sorry, I couldn't resist it), she's not that well-written in this series, and none of the artists managed an adequate take on her. So you have Simon acting like a jerk, frequently hurting her and their teammates, and her response is basically just rollin her eyes and talking to him with the patience she would have with a toddler. Which would be funny, if not so OOC; Wanda has some of Magneto's temper, you know, she wouldn't react that meekly to the things he does.
as much as I love Simon's existential crisis, it just gets repetitive after a while, to the point where you're internally screaming: "okay, Simon is depressed, we get it, but can you move on with the story or at least add some new elements to his characterization?". If I wanted emo Simon only, I'd just read about The Vision.
But even with all these problems I still think it's one of the best solo titles I've ever read, and super recommend it to everyone. It's impossible not to fall in love with Wondy after reading it. (the first ten issues or so, at least, not so much after he becomes Dark Simon, but let's pretend that never happened)