What fascinates me about this development is not DC's need to sell Superman's stories by blitzing people with his romantic intrigues (notice this is about bagging and sleeping with the ultimate catch, Wondie; it's barely about her feelings -- certainly the issue in question barely develops either of their feelings, beyond "You're pretty and here."). What this story's about is about the weird cultural mish-mash going on with Justice League, where being super means you have greater responsibility, but it also means you're super-lonely (and not in the down to earth, "I have to abandon friends and loved ones to battle baddies" Spiderman sense). These guys are now re-imagined as being lonely because "no one else understands" what it's like to be super-powered. I can't think of a more narcissistic, and American, twist on these characters.
Superman and Wonder Woman were two defining symbols of American gusto pre- and post-World War II, and they still stand for us today, if only in the Wonder Woman purses or Superman ballcaps we carry around. But in the New 52, these guys have been essentially separated from their human identities, even as they start what's meant to be an emotionally grounded relationship with one another. These gods are not relatable, they are not understandable (though Supes did earn an easy sympathy play earlier in this Justice League storyline; he was shown not getting picked for a team in gym class as a kid, which of course must have resonated with the less athletic readers picking up the book, but what does that flashback even mean? He's still got super-strength; who cares if other kids don't pick him? This provides a false dilemma meant to demonstrate his alien-ness, but it takes a classic example of adolescent alienation and applies it to someone without addressing his actual otherness). Superman's an alien. Wonder Woman's the child of a god. And rather than explore their power, or how their power limits them and distances them from others, DC just threw them together and called the whole loneliness problem a draw. That makes their relationship a salve to readers struggling with a terrible economy and murky U.S. foreign policy questions during a tough campaign season. Rather than an exploration of our contemporary world, as seen through the eyes of two people trying to relate to each other and the little guy. DC's sidestepping things, stating America's godliness without examining it, sweeping troubles under the carpet for romanticism. The current run on Justice League actually parallels the recent Republican National Convention to me in myriad ways; the heroes constantly feel the need to defend their power, there's a lot of infighting between team members, and the importance of their choices is downplayed in favor of more maverick responses and pat emotional responses to larger problems (one of those responses is to make out with Wonder Woman).
Now despite my sarcastic response here, don't get me wrong. Escapism is fine. And necessary to us as a society. I just wish DC realized what their top two symbols getting together symbolizes to me -- an American imagination giving up on examination and progress in favor of going over old storylines and responses to conflict, instead of charting new territory, or using godliness as a critique or a charge to be better. All this aside, don't think I won't keep reading. I'll keep an eye on these sweeties snuggling up because I think they could someday find more to say together (possibly under a writer who's not intent on easy parallels and easy answers). I only presume I'll keep reading while furrowing my brow at where their love might be heading, i.e., no place.