10 Comic Book Weapons That Broke All The Rules

1. Superman's Spine And Skull - Wonder Woman: Dead Earth

Wonder Woman Dead Earth
DC Comics / Daniel Warren Johnson

DC's Black Label imprint has proven to be one of the publisher's best initiatives over the last few years.

Some seriously great stories have been made that otherwise wouldn't have been in the traditional DC set up - case in point Wonder Woman: Dead Earth, a terrific post-apocalyptic offering from Daniel Warren Johnson that sees Diana wake up in a future where the Earth has been ravaged by nuclear conflict.

At times dispiriting but also simultaneously hopeful, Johnson's comic cuts to the core of what makes Wonder Woman such a compelling hero and does so in a way that hasn't ever been seen before. She's a character caught between two worlds, and she's willing to fight for both of them, but now she's also having to provide hope where there isn't any.

I won't spoil Dead Earth more than is absolutely necessary, but one thing prospective readers should know is that at one point Wonder Woman wields the spine and skull of Superman in battle against the mutated Haedra enemies who threaten her and a surviving enclave of humans. She threads the Lasso of Truth through her old friend's bones, and it makes for some of the most spectacular imagery ever featured in a DC book.

Absolutely do not miss out on this comic. It's wonderful.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.