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Their mutual attraction is ‘forbidden’. What, are the Superhero Romance Police gonna bust ‘em up? Bizarre love quadrangle complications with Lois Lane and Steve? Who the hell knows?
The idea of pairing Superman and Wonder Woman feels like a somewhat natural one on a basic level: He’s the world’s greatest superhero, she’s the world’s greatest super heroine, so why shouldn’t they be a couple? But, for the most part, it’s an idea that was left untouched for the first few decades of each character’s history, “imaginary stories” aside (The two actually married in a dream sequence that appeared in 1983′s Wonder Woman #300).
Plus, these were comics and characters aimed squarely at a kid demographic, what kid wants to read about romantic mushy stuff? But the issue World’s Finest excuse that the two shouldn’t be together ‘just because’ started to fall by the wayside in more recent years, as audiences became less willing to put up with the status quo and creators more happy to push and pull at accepted ideas in the name of a good story – or, at least, a shocking hook to make you pay attention and pick up the book.
A year after DC demonstrated a willingness – one could even say a desire - to shake up expectations of its most familiar characters with the whole New 52 relaunch, playing matchmaker with these two characters without an immediate reversal or get-out clause is definitely a good way to remind people that this is a DC Universe where anything can happen – even if it’s not something that everyone wants to see.
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http://www.newsarama.com/comics/superman-wonder-woman-romance-through-the-years.html
DC Comics, which is a part of Warner Brothers Entertainment, made huge waves last year, with their announcement that they were “rebooting” the entire DC universe, and there was a lot of trepidation as to whether it was going to be successful, but the men that run the show like Jim Lee, Dan DiDio, and Geoff Johns were adamant and positive about the reboot, allowing continuities to streamline, and let titles stand out on their own. This was a huge deal in the comic universe, and a potentially great opportunity for people who either lost their way in the universe, or newbies who were interested in getting on the bus.
The reboot was more successful than DC’s creative imagined, with some of the new #1 titles getting 2,3,4,and 5 reprints. It was a huge success, and the formula that they used in the 1980′s with “Crisis On Infinite Earths” worked again.
Another reboot has come across to DC. Their website, DC Comics has been completely re-done, and their logo has been streamlined to something drastically different. Long gone is the star circle “bullet” that we remember, and now, we see this:
DC is making some giant leaps, and big changes. Stay tuned for more.
Joe Simon was born Hymie Simon on October 11th, 1913 in New York, and became the co-creator of Captain America, along with another golden age icon, Jack Kirby. His career in art started when he was the art director for his high school newspaper, progressing afterwards to be an editorial cartoonist all over the state of New York, finally landing in New York City in the later part of the 1930’s.
His first comic industry creation was the superhero called “The Fiery Mask” that was published by Marvel Comics’ predecessor, Timely Comics. Soon after, Simon and Kirby crossed paths, and first collaborated together on “Blue Bolt” #2. Following that, in 1941, they created the iconic Marvel character, Captain America, Featuring their character’s heroic debut in “Captain America Comics” #1, where the cover depicted Captain America hitting Adolf Hitler in the face with quite a swing on Cap’s part.
Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s works were recognized, and known for being dynamic and ingenious, which helped the industry begin to take advantage of comic books and their larger pages, forsaking the small newspaper comics, with numerous different strips jammed onto each page. However, they had to put their careers on the back burner for the service to their country during World War II.
Returning from the war working on titles in the late 40’s/early 50’s, they struggled to become publishers themselves, but never succeeded, being kept down by those that already had the money an means to print and publish. Tired of not getting what was felt to be their due, Joe Simon went after Marvel Comics in court to get his rights for the character he helped create, Captain America. The case was settled out of court in 1969, but Simon went after his character again in 1999, but eventually losing the battle as a result of the 1969 deal.
Simon stayed with his craft for many years, in positions such as editor in chief for his father in law’s comics company, to working for DC Comics.
The story of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby fighting for the rights to the character they created almost parallels that of Jerry Siegel, and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman. Artist/writer/creator owned property was unheard of back then, and had no precedent to favor them, so a lot of the golden agers got a raw deal. However, the fights that Joe Simon and these men started paved the way for the comic industry to make sweeping changes in how things are done, with things like creator-owned property, and making money on public appearances, and signings. Joe Simon toured conventions with his son in the early 90’s with books that he wrote about his life in comics, and was seen as recent as comic cons in 2006, taking pictures with fans, and people dressed up as Captain America. Joe Simon lived to almost 100 years old, and in that time, he may not have won rights to the character he helped create, but he got to see the results of the groundwork him and his peers laid.
It’s a red, and blue, and black, and yellow, and green letter day for DC Comics, with the announcement from Diamond Comic Distributors that the “New 52” has sold the F out. There are some that have sold above, and beyond, to the excessive, and unexpected, and some that are getting there. This was a historic re-launch for the company, parented by Warner Bros., and for all intensive purposes, it can be considered beyond simply successful. Let’s look at the numbers that we know so far:
Justice League #1, by Jim Lee and Geoff Johns, has by far blown anything out on the market so far this year, with an unbelievable 200,000 plus copies sold. A 4th print has already been filled for Justice #1. There haven’t been sales like this since for DC since Death of Superman.
And Justice League isn’t the only series that blew expectations out of the water; also, Action Comics #1, and Batgirl #1 are already on their 3rd prints, while a few more join Justice #1 in the 200,000 plus copies sold class, not surprising some:
Batman #1, and Action Comics #1 have hit 200,000 copies sold in the U.S., and there’s no sign yet of slowing down, as subscriptions for further issues into the series are still high. That’s not all, there’s more news. The following issues that are part of the “New 52” launch have hit the 100,000 copies sold, according to Diamond:
- Aquaman #1 by Geoff Johns, and Ivan Reis
- Action Comics #1 by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales
- Batgirl #1 by Gail Simone and Ardian Siaf
- Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo
- Batman and Robin #1 by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason
- Batman: The Dark Knight by Paul Jenkins and David Finch
- Detective Comics #1 by Tony Daniel
- The Flash #1 by Francis Manapul
- Green Lantern #1 by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke
- Justice League #1 by Jim Lee and Geoff Johns
- Superman #1 by George Perez and Jesus Merino
This had been huge for DC. The creators themselves didn’t even expect this kind of reaction, so now the next step is to see if they can keep an audience that large engrossed, and entertained with their endeavor.
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