Tim Hanley's Blog, page 31

A Celebration Of Noel Neill, The First Live Action Lois Lane, To Be Held Nov. 5 In Metropolis, Ill.

The superhero world lost an icon when Noel Neill passed away in July. She was the first live action Lois Lane, portraying the character alongside Kirk Alyn’s Man of Steel in the big screen Superman serial in 1948 and reprising the role in Atom Man vs. Superman two years later. Superman moved to television in the 1950s with George Reeves in the lead role, and Neill returned to play Lois Lane when Phyllis Coates left after the first season, staying with the show for the remainder of its run. For a generation of fans who grew up watching the Adventures of Superman TV show in its first run and then in syndication, Noel Neill WAS Lois Lane.

Neill led a long and fascinating life, and on November 5, 2016, many of her friends and admirers are gathering at the First United Methodist Church in Metropolis, Illinois, to remember and celebrate her life. It’s a fitting locale; Metropolis is the home of the annual Superman Celebration, and there’s a Lois Lane statue modeled after her likeness in the town. The three hour event will feature rare footage of Neill, along with presentations from several speakers, including:

Dr. Pam Munter, author of Almost Famous and When Teens Were Keen
Jim Nolt, editor of The Adventures Continue
Jim Bowers, editor of CapedWonder.com
Steve Younis, editor of supermanhomepage.com
Larry Blankley
John Field
Lisa Gower & Karla Ogle of the Metropolis Chamber of Commerce
Terry Ryan
Stephanie Perrin
Angie Sivori
Larry Thomas Ward, author of Truth, Justice, & The American Way: The Life & Times of Noel Neill and Beyond Lois Lane

There will also by music from The Melungeons.

The event is open to the public and everyone is welcome to attend, so if you’re in the area you should definitely mark it on your calendar. Noel Neill was both a wonderful Lois Lane and a fantastic ambassador for the character for decades, and hearing about her life from those who knew her well should make for a fascinating afternoon. Such events always have a note of sadness, of course, but I’m sure it will also be infused with the joy that characterized Noel Neill throughout her 95 years.

The poster above appears in the October 2016 edition of Classics Images magazine.

Cover Reveal For My New Book: The Many Lives of Catwoman, Coming In Summer 2017!

There was a big reveal on the Chicago Review Press Instagram account yesterday: The cover of my new book! I’ve now written a trilogy! And the third book is The Many Lives of Catwoman: The Felonious History of a Feline Fatale, due out in Summer 2017.

The book was an absolute blast to write. Catwoman is a fantastic and fascinating character with so many distinct incarnations over the past 75 years, and digging into all of the comics, shows, and movies was so much fun. Apart from the Halle Berry movie, I suppose. That sucked pretty bad, but so much so that it eventually became kind of hilarious, and I ended up writing an entire chapter on what went wrong with the movie and how it influenced the superhero film boom of the past decade. Plus I got to watch the good stuff too, like the old Batman show and Batman Returns, both of which are amazing in completely different ways.

And the comics! I had a rough idea of Catwoman’s comic book history before I started the book, but her journey over the decades was even more intriguing than I’d imagined. From her transition from small time cat burglar to supervillain to reformed citizen in the Golden Age to her disappearance in the Silver Age to her often dark and twisted romantic stories in the Bronze Age, the old comics were spectacularly interesting. And her more modern incarnations were just as compelling, from unpacking the sexualization and objectification of “Year One” and the 1990s series to exploring her renaissance in the 2000s. Catwoman’s always had something fascinating going on in her adventures; there was little in the way of flat, boring stories.

Ultimately, the book is an examination of the superhero genre from the perspective of a female villain, and the ups and downs of empowerment and exploitation that come with being a part of this world over the past 75 years. After doing two books on outright heroines, it was  fun to dig into the morally ambiguous world of Catwoman and see how the trends of the genre impacted her depictions in new and different ways.

The book’s not out for a while yet; it’s scheduled for July 2017 right now, so we’re ten months out. It’s not even available for pre-order yet, though you can be sure I’ll let you know when it is. But it’s written and it’s happening and it’s got a cover and I couldn’t be happier about it all. I’m really excited for you all to get to check it out, and I hope you’re looking forward to some Catwoman-centric fun as we ramp up to the book’s release starting early in the new year!

Jenny Frison’s Variant Cover for Wonder Woman #7 Is GORGEOUS

The new Wonder Woman series has had variant covers for every issue since it launched in June, but I haven’t said much about them for a while now on account of I don’t particularly care for the artist. He’s technically proficient, but he likes to  cater to the types of folks who think “social justice warrior” is an insult and I don’t have any time for that. But his last cover is on Wonder Woman #6, and after that he’s being replaced by Jenny Frison. Comic Vine posted her first variant cover yesterday, which will appear on Wonder Woman #7, and just look at it, gang. It’s SO GOOD.

Frison’s been doing great work across the comic book industry for years now, and she’s just getting better and better with time. This is some of the best work I’ve seen from her, and that’s really saying something because she’s done lots of amazing pieces before. It’s a beautiful, powerful pose that captures the spirit of Wonder Woman well, and her linework is clean and precise as always. Plus the colouring and texture is spectacular, and adds so much depth to the image. It’s just lovely all around.

This variant cover should be available in most comic book shops when Wonder Woman #7 comes out on September 28. This is also my birthday, and it’s very kind of DC to give me such a nice present! They’re so thoughtful.

You Can Buy A Page From The Comic In Which Lois Lane Fell In Love With Comet The Super-Horse!

I don’t mean to tell you what to do with your money, gang, but here are some very important facts concerning an excellent investment opportunity:

1) In Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #92, Lois fell in love with Comet the Super-Horse.

2) You can buy a page from that comic book RIGHT NOW at Heritage Auctions.

Lois falling in love with a horse needs some explanation; in particular, it should be pointed out that Lois was a horse at the time as well. Or rather, they were both human, then both horses, and their love grew over the course of their encounters in both forms.

The full story is this: It turns out that Comet the Super-Horse, the caped flying horse who was a pal of Supergirl throughout the Silver Age, was also a human named Bill Biron. Now, back in the days of ancient Greece, Biron was a centaur who fell in love with the sorceress Circe and won her affection by saving her from the evil Maldor, a rival wizard.  Circe gave him a potion to turn him into a man, but she accidentally gave him the wrong potion and turned him into a full horse. She then gave him another potion that gave him the powers of the Olympian gods and immortality. Centuries later, he met Supergirl and became Comet the Super-Horse

You with me so far? Now, for some reason, whenever a comet passes by Earth, Comet the Super-Horse, a.k.a. Biron the former centaur, turns into a powerless human man. And when he does, he performs as the magician Bill Biron to make a few bucks. While he was in this form, he met Lois Lane and, much like with Circe, he won her affection by saving her from an assassination plot. He told her that he was really Comet, but she fell for him anyway and they ended up kissing. As Lois explained, “This is wild! Maybe he’s superhorse, but this handsome, human identity of his really turns me on.”

Lois falling in love with random dudes was pretty common in the Silver Age. She wanted Superman above all else, but he was never into settling down. So when handsome guys came along, Lois was often ready to ditch Superman to marry them. This got her into a lot of tricky situations. She almost married a weird looking alien in one issue, and nearly ended up wed to Satan himself in another. So as far as her romances went, a guy who’s also a horse wasn’t too bad.

Trouble did follow, though, as it always did with these romances. The evil wizard Maldor was still after Biron/Comet, and he ended up turning Lois into a horse! Luckily, the comet flew off into space around the same time and Comet returned to his horse form. The duo evaded horse hunters, then frolicked  together through snow and waterfalls in a romantic horse date.

In the mean time, Circe reached out to Superman through the “stream of time” to tell him that Lois was a horse, and that he could turn her back into a human by exposing her to the radiance of a rainbow. He did so, but part of the spell meant that she forgot her time as a horse, and remembered Biron only as a fun one-night date; she assumed he’d turned back into Comet the Super-horse and just moved on.

Obviously, this is a fantastic issue of Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane. And now, you can own a piece of this story! Heritage Auctions has a listing for a page from the issue, pencilled by the legendary Curt Swan with inks by Mike Esposito:

The page is from the horse hunters sequence, when Lois and Comet fight to escape them. Lois is on the page, but in horse form. And right now, it’s only $12! The price will go up as the auction goes on, and by the time it closes in five days it should be a lot higher, but you never know how these things will go. So get on it, fellow Lois Lane fans! Think of what a conversation piece this page will be when it’s framed and hung prominently in your home. You’d be a fool not to look into it. I’m certainly going to watch the auction through to the end.

 

Wonder Woman #5 Review: The Slow Burn Continues, The “Lies” Remain Far Off

Wonder Woman has been a creative stand out in DC’s “Rebirth” initiative and is selling extremely well, at levels the book hasn’t hit in decades. Over the course of the “Rebirth” special and the initial four issues, the series has largely lived up to the hype of writer Greg Rucka’s return, but Wonder Woman #5 is the first issue that’s fallen a bit flat. It’s not bad by any means, just a little dull and lifeless, especially compared to the spectacularness of Wonder Woman #4 two weeks ago. Rucka’s writing feels languid, Liam Sharp’s art looks scratchy, and the overall story is moving toward “The Lies” the title has promised at a snail’s pace. We’ll dig into it all, but first:

SPOILER ALERT!!

All of the happenings in this issue are about to revealed!

Look away if you haven’t read it yet!

So this issue was disappointing, and continues the trend of “The Lies” being several orders of magnitude less enjoyable than “Year One.” The first issue of “The Lies” was fine if a bit slow, but it had to set the board. The second issue of “The Lies” was also slow, but had a moving conversation between Wonder Woman and the Cheetah that was nicely done. This third issue of “The Lies” continues to be slow, with very little in the mix to counter the dullness of the pacing. In fact, the writing and art both feel like a step down from the previous two issues.

Let’s start with a quick rundown of the issue: Not much happened. Steve and his fellow soldiers are still captured, the villain Cadulo goes on about his evil god Urzkartaga, and Wonder Woman and the Cheetah show up to save them. The only real twist is that Etta Candy goes to visit Sasha Bordeaux, an enjoyable guest star, and it turns out that Bordeaux might be working for some sort of fiendish operation. I didn’t recognize the symbol on the bizarre object that showed up; it looks like Hydra, but that’s the wrong universe completely. And Sasha mentioned a doctor, so maybe it’s Dr. Psycho? He’s the most obvious doctor with a Wonder Woman connection. Anyway, that was about it for twists and turns. The rest felt like a lot of treading water.

And not in a fun way. We got a villain monologue, which can sometimes be a good time, but Cadulo is a boring foe. There’s no nuance to him at all; he’s a megalomaniac under the thrall of an evil god. There are no layers to him, just one-dimensional villainy. And the lack of nuance continued with Steve, who served as the enlightened white knight to Cadulo’s misogynistic bad guy. I’m all for Steve standing up to sexist rhetoric, but dialogue like, “You’ve got some toxic ideas of masculinity, dude,” is a little too on the nose for me. It’s pretty clear that Cadulo represents toxic masculinity without Steve having to spell it out for us.

There were a couple of fun bits in the issue. In particular, I liked the flashback to Diana leaving Paradise Island, a scene we just saw two weeks ago in “Year One.” One of the cool things about the alternating storyline format is that there can be references and call backs across the years that unite the disparate storylines. And we did get a hint of information about the titular “Lies” when Wonder Woman talked about her false memories and we saw scenes from past incarnations of the character, like the gorillas from Gail Simone’s run and an Ares that had a George Perez vibe. We’re getting to the lies, just very very very slowly.

But the bulk of the issue felt uninspired, on the art side as well. Liam Sharp’s first two issues were strong, but this one felt scratchy and sloppy, as if he were rushing through the pages. Which may well have been the case; the alternating storylines give each artist a full month to do an issue, but even that’s quite a grind. It’s hard to keep up high quality work at such a pace, and that may explain the messiness of this issue. For whatever reason, Sharp’s usual detail is replaced with thicker, slapdash lines that don’t look great. And his choices are odd as well; on one page, he draws Wonder Woman’s hair in detail, as if he’s aiming to render every strand, and on the very next page her hair is drawn as more of a solid mass with few strands at all. It’s a bizarre juxtaposition and it feels like two totally different artists drew the pages. Plus, neither image of Wonder Woman is particularly good, and she’s the star of the dang book. You’ve got to make Wonder Woman look nice, at the very least.

The colouring is muted as well and adds to the flatness of the book. Laura Martin’s colours complimented the first too issues of “The Lies,” highlighting Sharp’s detailed line work without overshadowing the intricate art. But with sloppier art this time around, the colours fail to lift the panels like they’d need to in order to compensate for the drop in quality. To be fair to Martin, she doesn’t have a lot to work with, but the colouring on several of the pages feels overly monochromatic and dull, and merges with the messier art to create a rather muddied look overall.

Again, this isn’t a bad issue. Just a step down from the first two parts of “The Lies,” which were only in the good range for me. It’s not terrible so much as forgettable, an uneventful outing in a story that will hopefully pick up soon and turn interesting. We’re only halfway through the arc, but it’s hard to see its purpose right now in the greater context of “The Lies.” Wonder Woman’s trying to get home and discover what’s wrong with Paradise Island, so here we are stuck in a slow-moving outing in the middle of an African jungle? It would be fine if it was a more exciting and compelling story, but it hasn’t been thus far. Especially compared to “Year One,” which has hit it out of the park with its first two issues. It’d be nice to get out of this jungle at some point in the next installment, or at the very least to learn that this lengthy jungle adventure is key to a larger plot. Because so far, it’s been a bit underwhelming. The first two installments had other redeeming qualities, but this issue was just kind of lifeless.

Wonder Woman’s November 2016 Covers and Solicits

It looks like November is going to be a quieter month for Wonder Woman. The past few rounds of solicits have featured a variety of new collections of old Wonder Woman material, but either DC is taking a break this time or they’re waiting to see how those books do before continuing with more stuff. Either way, it’s just some floppy issues this November (apart from a trade paperback collection of Superman/Wonder Woman, but I’m doing my best to forget that that book ever existed).

So let’s see what Wonder Woman is up to in November 2016, starting with Wonder Woman #10 and #11:

WONDER WOMAN #10

Written by GREG RUCKA

Art and cover by NICOLA SCOTT

Variant cover by JENNY FRISON

“YEAR ONE” part five! The world is finally introduced to the Wonder Woman, and adversaries—both ancient and new—take note. This story was previously scheduled to appear in issue #8.

On sale NOVEMBER 9 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

WONDER WOMAN #11

Written by GREG RUCKA

Art and cover by LIAM SHARP

Variant cover by JENNY FRISON

“THE LIES” part six! In the conclusion to this epic tale, the lie is revealed as Wonder Woman returns to Themyscira in the company of Steve Trevor to find that nothing has changed—and everything is wrong.

On sale NOVEMBER 23 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

Nicola Scott gets the cover this month and it’s a gorgeous one as always. She really is doing phenomenal work with “Year One;” Scott’s always been a great artist, but this run is the best I’ve ever seen of her.

The solicit shows that Wonder Woman #10 contains the story originally solicited in Wonder Woman #8, so I went to DC’s page to see what’s up and #8 is now a “Year One Interlude” focusing on a younger Barbara Ann Minerva. Greg Rucka is still writing it, but the art will be done by Bilquis Evely. It seems that Scott might have gotten a bit behind and needed a fill in issue, which isn’t surprising. Her work is very detailed, and in past monthly books she’s usually been 3 on, 1 off. I like that they’re just doing a new one off story instead of getting a different artist to draw “Year One,” and Bilquis Evely is great and should be a lot of fun.

As for “The Lies,” the slow build thus far seems to because we don’t actually find out what the lies are until November? That is some decompressed storytelling. Maybe it should be called “The Lies, Eventually.” I mean, the Cheetah and Steve stuff is fine and all, but not what I thought I was getting. Hopefully we’ll get more hints at what the lies are in the coming months at least.

Wonder Woman’s also appearing in Trinity #3:

TRINITY #3

Written by FRANCIS MANAPUL

Art and cover by CLAY MANN

Variant cover by STEVE EPTING

“BETTER TOGETHER” part three! The deadly White Mercy has Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman in its terrifying grasp! But who would dare to orchestrate this attack—and why? All will be revealed as the three most powerful heroes in the DC Universe fight for their very souls!

On sale NOVEMBER 16 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

Francis Manapul is taking the month off on art, but Clay Mann looks to be a solid replacement. That’s a fantastic cover, and the best I’ve seen Mann’s art ever look. I’m really excited for this book to start in September. It looks like it’s going to be gorgeous, and the story sounds like a fun team up.

Finally, Wonder Woman is appearing in the new Super Powers #1:

SUPER POWERS #1

Written by ART BALTAZAR and FRANCO

Art and cover by ART BALTAZAR

Variant cover by FRANCO

Aw yeah, the World’s Greatest Heroes are back in a new, all-ages miniseries—except for Batman! Superman helps out by cleaning up in Gotham City, where he discovers a clue that sends Wonder Woman into space to find the Caped Crusader. Her journey brings her a step closer to Batman, but can she uncover the truth behind his disappearance? From the award-winning creative team that brought you TINY TITANS and SUPERMAN FAMILY ADVENTURES!

On sale NOVEMBER 23 • 32 pg, FC, 1 of 6, $2.99 US • RATED E

AW YEAH, Art Baltazar and Franco! Their team ups are always delightful. Plus I love that their books are great for young readers but also entertaining if you’re an adult. This mini-series should be a lot of fun, and it’s collected edition will be a great intro to the DC universe for kids, I’m sure. It’ll be under a lot of Christmas trees in 2017.

Look for all of these fun new comics this November!

Wonder Woman #5 Preview: Off To Rescue Steve. Again.

Wonder Woman saving Steve Trevor is a plotline as old as Wonder Woman herself. It’s how her first ever issue started after all, with Steve crashing his plane on Paradise Island and Diana rushing over to rescue him. Now, nearly 75 years later, Steve’s in trouble again. And he’s not worried in the slightest, because he knows that Wonder Woman will be along sooner or later to set him free. Revelist has the preview of this week’s Wonder Woman #5 by Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp, so let’s take a look:

First off, is that Sasha Bordeaux? Well played, Greg Rucka. I love a writer who doesn’t forget his favourite characters and works them into other projects where applicable. It’s a good time; it serves as a fun easter egg for long time readers and a nice introduction to an enjoyable character for new fans.

As for the peek at the story, it’s got some fun banter and such, but for a storyline called “The Lies” it seems like we’ve been waiting a long time to actually dig into the lies. While we’ve had some fun with the Cheetah and we’ve got Steve who needs rescuing, this arc is allegedly about Wonder Woman’s dual life memories and finding out which are true and which are false. That’s what I’m most interested in, and in two and a third issues so far we’ve not dug into it too much. But we’ve got two thirds of this issue to come, so perhaps things will pick up on that end when we get the rest of the book on Wednesday. I certainly hope so because while “The Lies” hasn’t been bad, “Year One” has been AMAZING and the even numbered issues are blowing the odd numbered issues out of the water thus far.

Wonder Woman #5 is available in comic shops and online this Wednesday. Be sure to pick it up!

The Already Great Supergirl TV Show Just Got More Wonderful With Lynda Carter

As if Supergirl wasn’t already fantastic enough. We’ve got a hilarious Cat Grant. The dang Martian Manhunter. Melissa Benoist just IS Supergirl. And this upcoming season on The CW sounds amazing: Miss Martian and Mon-El are going to show up, there’s going to be a huge crossover with Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow, and in a separate team-up Supergirl is pairing with The Flash for a musical episode crossover. Oh, also Superman is going to be on the show and he looks rad. It’s an embarrassment of riches, really. It’s just too much delightfulness.

And yet, it gets even better. A few months back, when Supergirl was still on CBS, it was announced that Lynda Carter, i.e. Wonder Woman herself, would be guest starring in the show’s next season as the president of the United States. Then Supergirl‘s renewal got iffy and it ended up moving to The CW and we didn’t hear much about this obviously brilliant casting choice. But, thank Hera, it’s still on! Melissa Benoist posted the above image on her Instagram account and it’s just the best.

We don’t yet know when Lynda Carter will show up. Just guessing from the production photos, it seems like the first couple of episodes will be the Superman stuff since we got those shots a few weeks back, and with this photo now that would put her at maybe three or four episodes in? It depends how they’re shooting, too; with everything moved to Vancouver now, they might be filming scenes with notable guest stars for a bunch of episodes all at once. She may show up even sooner. And hopefully often. What with all of the alien craziness going on as of late, the president way want to involve herself in things a bit more, and perhaps develop a closer relationship with the Maiden of Might.

Supergirl returns on The CW on October 10, and I can’t wait. The first season was a blast. Nothing makes me happier than smiling superheroes having awesome adventures. Oh dang, you guys, Lynda Carter sings too! Could she part of the musical episode as well? A Supergirl, Flash, and President Wonder Woman trio doing a number or two together would be the most enjoyable thing. Get on it, Greg Berlanti!

Women in Comics Statistics: DC and Marvel, June 2016 in Review, Plus Ethnicity Numbers

My latest “Gendercrunching” column is up at Bleeding Cool, and it’s got DC and Marvel’s June 2016 gender numbers plus our annual tabulation of ethnicity stats for both publishers and Image.

In terms of the overall percentage of female creators, DC ticked up slightly to hit 17.5%, their highest total over the past year, while Marvel dropped down to 15.6% women, a middling number for them as of late and well below their recent record highs.

There were some interesting numbers in the ethnicity count as well. At DC, their percentage of people of colour dipped down to 22.5%, at Marvel it rose to 29.9%, the highest number since we started tracking ethnicity a few years back, and at Image things stayed about the same at an unimpressive 16.5%. Basically, white men are still making a lot of comics, though some publishers have done more to improve representation in their hiring than others.

Click on over to the “Gendercrunching” article to check out the full stats breakdown for June 2016!

Open Letter From WB “Insider” Calls Wonder Woman Movie “A Mess”, Patty Jenkins Disagrees

In a fun bit of internet drama late last week, Pajiba posted an open letter from a pseudonymed, irate Warner Bros. employee addressed to the company’s CEO, Kevin Tsujihara. The letter took Tsujihara to task for a variety of box office bombs and underperforming franchises, failures for which lower level employees have borne the brunt via layoffs. There’s been some debate about the legitimacy of the letter writer and many have called it a fake written by a fan; the letter has tidbits of insider knowledge, though perhaps not enough to prove her credibility wholly. Regardless of its authenticity, the letter is an amusing scorcher, and is particularly interesting for what it has to say about Warner Bros.’s upcoming Wonder Woman film in the wake of Suicide Squad‘s critical drubbing:

What are you even doing? I wish to God you were forced to live out of a car until you made a #1 movie of the year. Maybe Wonder Woman wouldn’t be such a mess. Don’t try to hide behind the great trailer. People inside are already confirming it’s another mess. It is almost impressive how you keep rewarding the same producers and executives for making the same mistakes, over and over.

We don’t get many specifics, but the implication seems to be that Wonder Woman is in a troubling state in the same way that Suicide Squad was, i.e. a film developed in a similarly dark vein as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice scrambling to change its tone after critics eviscerated Batman v Superman and the film failed to deliver the studio’s box office expectations (it made a lot of money, sure, but all sources suggest that Warner Bros. expected it to be a billion dollar movie, which it wasn’t). Suicide Squad had massive reshoots trying to strike a lighter tone, and the resulting film is a bizarre jumble that’s just plummeted at the box office in its second week. This open letter suggests that Wonder Woman might be experiencing similar troubles.

Whether or not this is true, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins took to Twitter to defend the film and call into question the report. Combined into a paragraph with her original spelling and grammar, Jenkins wrote:

Woah, just saw this press about WW having problems. Are they serious? This is some made up bs right here. Made up! Produce a source, anyone. You can’t because it’s entirely false. Don’t believe the hype people. Someone’s trying to spread some serious misinfo. Isn’t until you are intimately involved in these things that you realize how totally false these rumors can. Let me reassure you zero about the movie we are making has been called a mess by anyone in the know. Fact. Real lasso of truth, time, will reveal that letter to be false soon enough. But lame something so transparent in its agenda gets traction.

It’s an unequivocal defense of the movie, which is to be expected from its director, really. Though we’ve seen other directors at Warner Bros. talk about how well their film is going and how everyone is on board only to end up with cinematic messes; see: Man of Steel, Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad. Still, Wonder Woman is ten months away and I doubt there’s even much of a rough cut yet, much less anything near a finished picture. Unless it’s been terrible from the start, it’s unlikely there’s much for folks at Warner Bros. to praise or criticize yet. Plus Geoff Johns co-wrote the film, and he’s the poster boy for DC’s new, more fun direction. Wonder Woman may turn out to be the first film in this new tone, rather than the last of the original dark tone.

As always with rumoury movie news, time will tell. The trailer for Wonder Woman was fantastic, Gal Gadot is a great Wonder Woman, and the rest of the cast seems strong. I’m not worried about it yet, apart from my general worry about any superhero film that involves Zack Snyder in any capacity. The open letter will either be a prescient warning if the movie is bad or something we all forget about if it’s good. I remain cautiously optimistic it will be good. Maybe I’m fooling myself after Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Suicide Squad, but I’m hoping for the best.