Just read Mark Waid

Well, thank goodness for Mark Waid or I don't think I would have had anything enjoyable to read this month. 

I did pick up the Shazam/Wonder Woman crossover, featuring Mary Marvel, as she is now (again), called (cleverly enough, I suppose).  But it disappointed in three major ways and that's a lot for one small story.

Its depiction of Hera as a shrill harpy was over the top. I mean... even for Hera.  There might have been some irony to be wrung out of Hera, a long put-upon woman under the thumb of a tyrannical, philandering husband, rebelling against, killing and supplanting him, only to become even worse.  

This could work very well in a Wonder Woman comic: "See what you have become, sister!"   But, no; it was mostly a slugfest. Exactly how the Gods should not be used.  Which was the second disappointment. I like that the Greek gods are part of DCU's mythos and DC is often good about treating them as Something Apart. But when they don't --when they treat being a god as just some other flavor of superDUPER-supervillain-- well, that just misses the point of having gods in the mix at all, doesn't it?

Yes, it does miss the point.
So, leave "The New Gods" alone, kids. Kirby had at least SOME idea how to handle them and you do not.

And, third, of course, was the nearly inevitable re-apotheosis of Wonder Woman. Re-apotheosis: that's a word that should NEVER have to be written.  But at this point, Wonder Woman might as well be classified as a were-god: every 30 months or so, when the publishing moon is full, she becomes a goddess (again).  

I'm tired of explaining how stupid this is. It shouldn't even NEED to be explained (unless, you know, you're a Marvel reader and that sort of thing makes sense to you).  Just stop it, DC.  

Fortunately, I read the most recent issue of World's Finest, because, by Jasper, I wouldn't miss Simon Stagg's funeral for the world!  And... and...

"characterized by even his few mourners as 'opportunistic' and 'abrasive' "

and it read LIKE A COMIC BOOK.

Things HAPPENED. They happened fast, but clearly and things I didn't need to see happened off-panel and things I DID need to see happened in-panel.  Friends like Batman and Superman (or mere colleagues like Metamorpho) had differences but worked through them quickly and the fact that they would remain friends was never called into question for cheap drama.  Heroes were falsely accused but no one tried to trick us the readers into thinking they were guilty; the mystery was in how they were framed, and why, and by whom.  The mystery was solved with effort, but within an issue and with contributions from all involved.  The solution was logical but surprising and pulled in characters who broadened the scope and seriousness of the plot; it didn't foreclose the action but escalated it and ended on a cliffhanger that left me waiting for the next issue. It was a COMIC BOOK, like, well, like the Legion reboot that Mark Waid wrote almost 25 years ago in 1999, which I still remember as the most engaging on-going series I've ever read. 

Thanks for making it look easy, Mark. I hope some other writers read your books, too.