Batman #40 Preview.

[T. Arashikage]

LINK

That cliffhanger? Surprise, it's spoilers:

another Action Comics #761.

end of spoilers

[Caivu]

Whoa, it's been a while since a Batman preview's been this early.

[Miles To Go]

Selina is piiiiiissssssssssed

[Sacred Knight]

"Wait, whaa--? Steve Trevor exists in this continuity and is Diana's love interest?? WHOOPS!" :hastily adds in a reference:

[juan678]

[juan678]

[Phoenyxx1481]

I wonder if the Gentleman got deceived into being the protector of his realm as he did to Bruce and Diana. Maybe he never got the chance to say good-bye to his wife.

[Chubistian]

Haha, that was amazing. I guess people who were preocuppied about this can rest now. Personally, I doubted they would kiss, it's comprehensible in their situation, ten years, only having one another and their only ocuppation being the constant fighting. Still, the issue would have ended with the actual kiss if that was the direction King was aiming at. He's crearly looking to stretch the whole marriage thing as far as he can, despite if they actually get married or not. Looking forward to this issue!

PS: Joelle Jones' Wonder Woman is glorious

[okiedokiewo]

The art is gorgeous, I'll give it that.

[JasonTodd428]

That art is amazing and I pretty much figured nothing was going to happen between Bruce and Diana here even with that cliffhanger. It played out pretty much as I thought it would even down to both of them talking about their loves and Diana saying she would clock Bruce if he so much as thought about betraying Selina. Nothing to see here folks.

[Sacred Knight]

If King ever wants to use Diana again (and hopefully then it would be out of a desire to actually use her, as opposed to a sex object), he's gotta work on her voice. She sounds far, far, far too foreign for someone who's been in Man's World/America for well over ten years, and in specific be colleagues with these superheroes for as long. It only makes sense that her way of speaking would be far less formal and wooden than it is here. I get wanting to make her sound like she's from a foreign land because she is, but laid on as thick as it is here only works when she's relatively new.

But yeah, the art is great.

[MosSuperman]

That art is amazing and I pretty much figured nothing was going to happen between Bruce and Diana here even with that cliffhanger. It played out pretty much as I thought it would even down to both of them talking about their loves and Diana saying she would clock Bruce if he so much as thought about betraying Selina. Nothing to see here folks.

I think the majority knew that would be the case, it's how he decided to use Diana that's the problem. This preview doesn't change that.

[Sacred Knight]

Yup. In that sense there was indeed something to see here because it still remains a totally tone deaf use of a character whose popularity in the past year just skyrocketed to levels not seen in 40 years. That its not as bad as it could've been, doesn't take away from the stupidity of going there in the first place for the purposes of a fake-out and driving forward the journey for two other characters not even related to her mythos. It still was a terrible idea, hopefully learned from.

[SiegePerilous02]

Yeah, this isn't great. At least it's seemingly over and done with in the first few pages. This will probably be the low point of an otherwise very interesting run. Oh well, I'll probably just skip over it in re-reads.

Hopefully King takes the constructive criticisms he's received to heart and puts in a better effort next time. I'd still be willing to see him tackle Wonder Woman as a solo act. I also hope the crap he's gonna take on social media doesn't get much worse than it was already.

[K. Jones]

I do like that Diana proves to be a solid and good friend here. I mean the cliffhanger tease was soap opera B.S. at its finest/worst, but the title of the issue is "Super-FRIENDS". Sometimes one of your best friends is also a gorgeous woman. When you're Batman, the optimal man, your best friend is the most gorgeous woman on Earth. You have tons in common. There's even a history of sexual tension or a hint of romantic potential. Or maybe even you once slipped into dalliance in the past, though she might not have been the right person for you at the time or ever, but you were friends, so, yeah a big deal, but not as huge a deal as it could be, right? Like ... friendship survives, not a lot of drama, not a lot of the catastrophic way break-ups between pure romantic lovers who weren't already just platonic before end. It just ends, and there's always maybe the 'potential' for a rekindling, but it's never like ... FIREWORKS.

Batman and Catwoman are FIREWORKS.
Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor are FIREWORKS.
Superman and Lois Lane are FIREWORKS.

We all know what Talia al Ghul was. Brilliant, super hot, but the relationship in his past that he should have known better. The one that was guaranteed to fail. The one where all his friends were like "dude WHAT are you thinking?" The you can't help yourself even though you know you should not be in that relationship one. The one your parents would've hated, the one you kind of hate yourself for being so into.

Anyway yeah, so, Super-FRIEND. Tempting Super-Friend, but Super-JUST-FRIENDS. Thank god, moving on.

I care so much less about the cliffhanger teasing.

I care so much more about WONDER WOMAN hanging out with CATWOMAN.