Semi-reviews for Wonder Woman and to a lesser extent Superman

I read a few trades my sister had when I visited her recently.

Old SPOILERS AHEAD

I 'll start off with Superman since I didn't get through the whole trade. I didn't really care for what I read. Grant Morrison can be good but I didn't like this early version of the man of steel. I know it's based on the original material it just didn't read like Superman to me. I liked everything else like Lex Luthor and John Steel. But Clark didn't feel right and that made me lose interest.

My feelings on the new Wonder Woman are more complex. I always wanted to read more about the character but never knew where to start. I love greek lore, the stories of gods and goddesses. The updates to those figures are more modern and I think that works really well. Each one stands out by themselves and I doubt anyone would mistake one for another. Although I didn't like the fate of Hades wife, Persephone, a figure in some of my favorite greek mythology tales. Overall the family is a mess and their fighting actually rings true since they all acknowledge it.

I'm not to fond of the portrayal of the Amazons. Diana is more of an outsider in this version rather than showing her having any sisterly attachment to her people. Which makes it seem very unlikely that Donna exists in this world. Besides her mother all the other well known Amazons are absent from this. As a child they made fun of her instead of honoring a gift from the gods and their own princess? Yes, it's a ruse to protect Diana but it strikes me as odd that they wouldn't show her as much respect as they previously did. This explanation is especially strange since it's revealed that they raid ships to sleep with men and then kill them off. The Queen never joined these raids? If she did and carried a baby previously the other Amazons along with the gods would know the story was bull. Why didn't Diana know that her people did these raids? Are other Amazons around her age ignorant of it too? If they are then how do they think they were created since they believe Diana was different with the clay origin? If they did know then how could they keep it from Diana when they apparently teased her so much?

There's some good character work with Diana and her frustrations. Geoff Johns always seems to struggle with her because he seems to think she's too perfect or violent. That's not the case here, Diana is smart, loving and often conflicted. She makes a couple of mistakes but she always fights for what she believes in. I can understand why the Amazons are shelved to make way for her new family conflicts but I'd like to see more of that side of the family. Maybe because I'm hoping some of the other characters so ingrained into her mythos that a sort of Wonder Woman newbie like me knows will show up. Regardless it's a good read that shows her growing bond to her "aunt" Zola and slowly warming up to the idea of having a larger family. Well at least a few members of said family. As for the message it sends, well it's a little mixed. On one hand you have the Amazons killing men after they father their children, keeping the females and selling the males off. Then you have Diana and Zola, two strong women that are the standands for strength in this title. Diana that loves everyone and freely accepts her amazon "brothers" and Zola that refuses to say she's sorry for enjoying her time with men.

I read the first two trades and I can see the appeal. At present I don't know where I'd rank this title. There's problems but it has nothing to do with the lead. Not my favorite of the new 52 but certainly no where near the worst. I enjoyed it but I think I'd need to read more to have the characters fleshed out more.