[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Tom King
Art: Daniel Sampere and Belen Ortega
Colors: Tomeu Morey and Alejandro Sanchez
Letters: Clayton Cowles

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

Wonder Woman faces off against her rogues gallery as recruited by Sarge Steel and Trinity can’t sleep in another adventure in babysitting with the Super Sons.

Positives

The best thing about Wonder Woman #6 and this series is the art by Daniel Sampere.  That’s about all that’s good about this issue.  I mean, there are a lot of aspects that Sampere excels at, but it’s important to know that his art is not only THE best thing, but perhaps the ONLY thing as well.

Negatives

It’s hard to know where to begin….  Six issues in and almost nothing has happened in this series.  To say that the pace has been glacial is an understatement.  We should’ve been at this point in issue #4.  King has spent so much time on set up and developing The Sovereign that this has become one of the most tedious and boring series I’ve ever read.  Like Brian Michael Bendis’s run on Superman King has a faulty premise and his execution of that faulty premise is not only going nowhere fast, but the approach is slowing the already slow plot down.

Even if you believe the idea that Amazon’s make up a large enough demographic to be a threat in America, and somehow the people of the United States would turn against Wonder Woman because of the actions of a single rogue Amazon and the hatred and bigotry in America stems from the machinations of a shadow monarchy, it doesn’t make up for the fact that the narration of this tale by The Sovereign drags the decent ideas down.  Wonder Woman #6 is a perfect example of this.  As a big action issue with Diana battling all the rogues that were recruited last issue, the narration takes all the excitement, tension and fun out of it.  It’s a story that should rely on Sampere’s story telling and art.  However, King is too in love with the sound of The Sovereign’s voice and he HAS to talk over the entire conflict.  It’s not even exciting narration!  The Sovereign is reflecting on his mistakes as he narrates to Lizzie in a future time, and it’s a very dry and from his perspective disappointing sequence of events.  King definitely makes this come through, because it’s wholly uninspiring.

King has the ability to write a gripping and engaging story.  Human Target for all its faults in characterization of the Justice League International characters is a tight, intriguing noir-style mystery.  For that it’s quite good, but the personalities are so far afield, the JLI characters are like actors cast in a movie playing roles and they clearly aren’t themselves.  In Wonder Woman, the characters are off, but the story doesn’t even hold the reader’s attention.

Negatives Cont’d

This run, the story and even the execution by King has made me think of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”  In that story, an emperor is told by some con men that these “new clothes” will make him look great.  Of course, there are no clothes and the emperor goes before his people completely naked.  For whatever reason, many people want to believe Tom King is writing a great comic here.  King believes it and he’s telling us how great Wonder Woman is as he brainwashes the reader with The Sovereign’s narration.  Unfortunately, there’s nothing beyond the beauty of Sampere’s art.  Every aspect of the execution is slow and downright boring, and most of the set up just doesn’t work in the context of Amazons in the DC Universe.  Readers want to believe the analogy is deep and meaningful, but it just doesn’t line up.  It’s a poor analogy.  

If readers aren’t actually familiar with Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor and the Wonder Girls then I can understand why those readers might be drawn to this sort of thing.  It all sounds very dramatic, but there’s no real drama in last issue’s showdowns between Diana and the Wonder Girls.  That whole bit made no sense.  It’s not just Diana’s problem, ALL Amazons have been targeted, it’s natural for the Wonder Girls to be involved.  Additionally, not everything on Themiscyra is decided by rite of combat.  That whole bit demonstrates how little King understands Diana’s relationships with the people she’s closest to.  This goes hand in hand with her awkward dialogue with Steve Trevor at the beginning of Wonder Woman #6.  King writes Diana like she’s new to Man’s World and English.  Let’s just forget that Amazons know a multitude of languages, but she’s been around for a while…she shouldn’t have stilted dialogue.  Plus, recapitulating her “No thank you,” response in this issue doesn’t work as King thinks it does.  It’s another example of style over substance, as if saying “no” is somehow emblematic of Diana’s persona.

The adventures in babysitting with the Super Sons backup in Wonder Woman #6 is no different than the other chapters.  Jon and Damian don’t seem to have matured and there’s no endearing quality to Lizzie because we know how she turns out from her first appearance in Wonder Woman #800.  As we learn why Lizzie is a brat, it doesn’t do much for creating anticipation for her appearances as an adult.  King killed any hope for Trinity to be likable in her first appearance and he’s not changing anything with these stories.

Verdict

The appeal of this series is to readers who are easily impressed by superficial ideas and manufactured drama and for those who aren’t really familiar with Wonder Woman and her supporting cast and world, readers who are just familiar with the idea of Wonder Woman.  I guess that describes King as well, since that’s what he’s given us.  For those fans of Wonder Woman who know what a Wonder Woman story is supposed to be like I recommend the previous run by Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad or the post-Crisis George Perez era.

The post Review: Wonder Woman #6 appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review CONTAINS spoilers]

Writer: Tom King
Art: Daniel Sampere and Belen Ortega
Colors: Tomeu Morey and Alejandro Sanchez
Letters: Clayton Cowles

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

Diana confronts Sgt. Steel at his office in Washington, DC and Jon Kent and Damian Wayne babysit a 5 year old Lizzie Prince.

Positives

Daniel Sampere continues to be the best thing about this run of Wonder Woman.  Sampere delivers beautiful pages and it’s a pleasure to look at his work.  Belen Ortega does a good job on the second feature, as well.  The second feature is definitely different tonally and Ortega lands it, actually better than the script.

Negatives (we could be here for a while)

The longer this story arc goes on, the less and less it makes sense.  There are a number of problems that get larger with Wonder Woman #3.  Most significant is the idea that the Sovereign and his ancestors have been behind the American government for 300 years.  It’s a riff on the Illuminati conspiracy theory and as such makes it difficult to imagine as part of the DC Universe.  There’s so many aspects to the DC Universe that have been explored that it doesn’t fit with what already exists in the DC Universe.  More importantly, using the Sovereign’s machinations as a scapegoat on which to place the blame instead of real perpetrators of bigotry, minimizes what King is trying to achieve.  The mindset King is attempting to critique is a real world issue and moving the blame to a villain with a magic lasso takes away the gravitas not only for the real world, but in the fictional world of the DC Universe.  If the Sovereign had just popped up as a villain it would work better, but introducing him with a 300 year legacy makes it more and more difficult to believe this is taking place in the DC Universe that we know.  It would function better as an Elseworlds story, or even as an original story in the vein of science fiction dystopian future independent of the shared DC Universe.  I’m reminded of Ahoy Comics’ Happy Hour from a few years ago. 

Happy Hour presented the reader with a mystery.  What was going on in this society?  How did it get this way?  Who was behind it?  It allowed for effective social commentary like many science fiction stories, too.  King has not so cleverly already revealed the villain and the method by which he has affected the thoughts and beliefs of Americans.  This takes away all the interest in what should be a significant aspect of the story.  Already knowing these answers forces the story in a direction of resolution, and yet King remains focused on the Sovereign’s rhetoric.  At times, it’s difficult to read the Sovereign’s narration because it is all from his point of view and focuses on his philosophy instead of anything that actually moves the story forward. 

In Wonder Woman #3, King attempts to address the immigration of Amazons to America, but it remains under developed as a story point.  To simply say it happened isn’t quite enough for such a significant element of a story that takes place in a DC Universe in which the Amazons are a known quantity.  When did Amazons decide they wanted to leave Themiscyra in such numbers to be statistically significant as an immigrant population in America?  That’s not a throwaway idea.  

Negatives Cont’d

With Wonder Woman #3, it becomes more and more apparent that King is writing Diana as if she is recently new to America.  Her dialogue is a bit stilted, and she doesn’t seem to have the respect of all  the people she encounters.  It’s erratic at best.

Additionally, King continues to focus on Diana as a fighter.  There’s a scene in an elevator that King seems to want to connect readers minds with the elevator scene in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  It’s just one other person in the elevator with Diana, and she feels she needs to kick the gun out of his hand.  More in character for Diana would be a bullets and bracelets moment.  Kicking the gun is an overreaction, especially considering what’s already been shown in her retrieval of Steel’s office number.

King has stated in an interview that he sees Diana core character trait as a rebel.  This seems to inform this story greatly.  I think King has this assessment of Diana flat out wrong.  She’s not a rebel.  She may be headstrong and self-directed, but she doesn’t rebel against her own people.  She’s an AMBASSADOR of her people.  She only appears to be a rebel in America because she is from a different culture.  She’s not an American.  Her main character trait is therefore that of a cultural ambassador.  King understands this on some level because the Sovereign rails against the Amazonian culture in his narration far too much.  King seems to want to make Diana’s world view rebellious when it’s really a story about the clash of cultures and philosophy.  Perhaps, King will clarify this aspect of her characterization as the series goes on.

Negatives Cont’d

The Sovereign reveals to Lizzie in his narration that blood found at the scene of Emilie’s attack showed that the individual was pregnant.  This seems to indicate that Emilie was pregnant at the time she attacked and killed the men in the bar.  As the Sovereign has already made comments in Wonder Woman #3 about Lizzie’s parentage, this seems to suggest a few possibilities:

1.  Emilie is Lizzie’s biological mother
2. Diana was at the bar as well and was pregnant with Lizzie
3. Diana is the real killer (because #2 is also true)

The last one is most likely incorrect, but King has a track record of having heroes  act wildly out of character including becoming the villain as was seen in Strange Adventures and The Human Target.  As this story is clearly in continuity, it’s still probably not what King is suggesting.  What does seem to be most likely is that Emilie is Lizzie’s biological mother.  This suggests something more when one considers that we don’t know who Lizzie’s father and the nature of her assault on the men in the bar.  I had a fear when she was first introduced that she would be the child of a rape.  Without trying to guess if King is going to work in a commentary on abortion, this does perhaps inform how Lizzie’s is being characterized in the interaction with Jon and Damian from Wonder Woman #800.  If this is the story of Lizzie’s conception, once again it feels very out of place for a Wonder Woman story, but of course not much of this tale feels like a Wonder Woman story anyway.  It’s just another example of King needing an original independent character to really tell the story he wants to tell.  Diana still feels tertiary to King’s saga.

Negatives Cont’d

Speaking of Lizzie, we get to see her at the age of 5 as Jon and Damian are assigned babysitting duties.  This means this story takes place about 6 years in the future.  Tonally, it doesn’t quite land.  It’s not nearly humorous enough to just be a funny interlude and King doesn’t quite get Jon and Damian.  He writes them as if their relationship hasn’t developed beyond their initial adventure together.  Damian should also be a bit older if this takes place when Lizzie is 5.  In fact, they should both be written more maturely than King does here.  Although, he didn’t get them right in Wonder Woman #800 either.

All of this continues to make Lizzie an unappealing character.  If the reader is to infer a rape backstory for Lizzie’s conception then this type of back up tale has a darkness to it.  Jon and Damian may not know all the details, but they are certainly old enough to know and understand how to approach the situation with sensitivity.  Damian’s own conception is tinged with this, as well, unless that has been changed.  For the record, I’m terrified with the prospect that the Sovereign is in fact Lizzie’s biological father and the rapist.  Ugh.  Gross, Tom King.  I can see how a 13 year old would be intrigued and shocked at such content in a comic, but I feel like we should’ve moved beyond the sensationalism and salacious plot elements that plague comics like The Killing Joke.  I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am.  King’s track record speaks for itself.  If not an original character, this would definitely have a more fitting place in a Black Label Elseworlds series instead of the regular Wonder Woman title.

Verdict

Tom King continues to tear down the heroes of the DC Universe one character at a time.  He’s clearly more interested in showing the terrible aspects of human nature and the world instead of the optimism and hope that heroes are designed to elicit.  I don’t think King actually likes heroes or believes in heroes.  Or, at the very least believes that anyone’s heroism can ever be separated from the totality of their nature.  Humans aren’t perfect, but to constantly focus on how human frailty and weakness can be overwhelm the good things about people is not only depressing, but the exact opposite of what super-hero fiction is supposed to be.  Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons showed us with Watchmen that there can be another side.  King isn’t Alan Moore.  Moore was able to depict subtlety, nuance and complexity whereas King is motivated by a desire to use his comics as therapy and he has to lay it all out so that he can get all of the guilt off his chest.  The DC Universe truly does seem to be a dark and terrible place when depicted from the pen of Tom King.

The post Review: Wonder Woman #3 appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writers: Tom King and Josie Campbell
Art: Daniel Sampere and Vasco Giorgiev
Colors: Tomeu Morey and Alex Guimaraes
Letters: Clayton Cowles and Becca Carey

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

Steve Trevor tries to talk Diana into standing down before Sarge Steel launches a U.S. Army attack against her.  Plus, a prologue to Amazons Attack redux.

Positives

Like Wonder Woman #1, Daniel Sampere’s art is gorgeous.  There’s no denying this book looks great.  Sampere’s storytelling is excellent as he mirrors two separate stories in this issue.  From a technical perspective Wonder Woman #2 is well done for the most part.  In the back up story, it’s great to Yara Flor.

Negatives

Wonder Woman #2 doesn’t move the plot forward.  Last issue suffered from a fast forward for the set up of King’s premise, while this issue spends way too much time on Tom King explaining how competent and effective Diana is as a warrior.  While it’s great to see that King sees Diana as a powerful and competent character it leaves the issue unbalanced.  And while the dual narratives between Diana in the present and the past is well executed artistically, the two battles go on far to long for an outcome the reader can see coming from the second page.  The reveal could’ve been presented in a different manner leaving more time for the plot to advance, or even have been utilized for a more effective explanation of how we got to this situation to begin with.  Just when did all those Amazons move to America?  And why did they leave Paradise?  

Overall, the conflict still feels over the top.  There are no believable stakes, because there’s no way that the outcome will contain anything permanent or even sustainable for more than a year.  This makes everything feel very dull and pointless.  

Along these same lines, I have a hard time imagining Steve Trevor actually delivering this speech to Diana.  It’s written almost like they are recent acquaintances instead of longtime friends, allies and lovers.  He would never doubt what Diana could do.  His attitude about it seems off.  It’s hard to tell if he’s under the influence of the Lasso of Lies or if this is how he truly feels.

Negatives Cont’d

It doesn’t make sense that Steve Trevor would be unaffected by the Lasso of Lies considering what the Sovereign is perpetrating.  How would this be possible?  Is Steve immune to the Lasso? Wouldn’t other heroes also be immune, and if so wouldn’t they step up and intervene?  It’s unclear exactly what’s intended.  King could be setting something up, but past experience with King’s work shows that sometimes King just writes characters “off” because it fits his story instead of fitting the character.  This is also seen with how Steve is interacting with Steel.  He comes off like he’s Sarge Steel’s bitch.

The narration indicates that Diana believes love can turn any conflict around, and yet she doesn’t try anything like that with Steel or his forces.  Furthermore, instead of allowing them to attack after telling Steve that the soldiers will get hurt she just waits.  A proactive surgical strike against Steel would’ve made more sense to stop an unnecessary action and saved injury and possibly lives.  Is Wonder Woman killing here?  This is more evidence that King isn’t really interested in the characters, just his story.

Negatives Cont’d

In the back up story that serves as a prologue to the forthcoming Amazons Attack, the Oracle of the Esquecida has a vision of the destruction of all the Amazons and she claims that “all three must be united” which seems to suggest all three tribes must be united- didn’t this happen in last years “Trial of the Amazons?”  It could be something else, but it’s not clear.

Wonder Woman #2 also seems to place an over emphasis on Diana as a warrior.  While Diana is a trained warrior, her mission is not to fight or defend, her mission is to demonstrate a different way of life, a life rooted in a feminine perspective as opposed to the masculine approach that is prevalent in “man’s world.”  The focus on Diana’s warrior aspects pull the character from her core.  

Verdict

Diana seems to take a back seat as it’s all seen through the Sovereign’s point of view.   Any appeal for this series is like a car crash- you want to see the outcome with the hopes that some people will survive.  Nothing really feels new or interesting, and the characters are already twisting into unrecognizable versions.  King hasn’t put in the work to get the reader to this point in the story to make it believable.

The post Review: Wonder Woman #2 appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Tom King
Art: Daniel Sampere
Colors: Tomeu Morey
Letters: Clayton Cowles

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

An Amazon has gone on a killing spree and all Amazons are banished from the United States; where does this leave the most famous Amazon, Wonder Woman?

Positives

If you’ve been seeing the preview art for Wonder Woman #1, you know how beautiful Daniel Sampere’s work on the issue is.  This book looks great whether or not you like Tom King’s story.  Even though this run of Wonder Woman relaunches with a new #1, it’s nice to see DC Comics incorporate the Legacy Numbering on the cover making this also Wonder Woman #801.  It’s important for these high-numbered series to reflect the historical significance of the characters and titles and the legacy numbering does that.

King’s plot for Wonder Woman #1 answers one question from the tease of this run  in Wonder Woman #800.  In Wonder Woman #800, Trinity, Diana’s future daughter, is seen talking to a mysterious older man with royal heritage.  This issue reveals the identity of that person, and he’s a new character at that.  

To Be Decided

At this point, this revelation falls somewhere between positive or negative.  There is a parallel that King is trying to set up and it places this new character- the Sovereign- as a stand in for Donald Trump.  The Lasso of Lies he carries is simply the lies Trump has told and continues to tell.  It’s hard to determine at this point how this element will play out in this run, but it’s quite heavy handed and seems like it’s just King grinding his axe against Trump.

Leaning towards the negative is the fact that so far as we can tell the modus operandi of the Sovereign is identical to one of Wonder Woman’s earliest enemies, the Duke of Deception.  This makes the Sovereign redundant in Diana’s rogues gallery.  Furthermore, the last year of Wonder Woman written by Michael W. Conrad and Becky Cloonan included a heavy dose of misogyny from Dr. Psycho which played out in a brainwashing scheme at the behest of Hera and other gods in the Greek Pantheon which…seems to be what the Sovereign has been doing to America .  Why recycle the plot points from the previous year’s Wonder Woman comics?

Negatives

Tom King’s plot for Wonder Woman #1 is contrived, forced and hurried.  It comes off as if King had this idea to make Wonder Woman an outlaw and the story that gets to that point doesn’t really interest him.  It’s clear that this issue sets up some moral dilemmas, but it doesn’t feel organic.  From the opening incident of the Amazon killing spree the situation escalates to an expulsion of all Amazons from the United States with the direct campaign against Diana led by Sarge Steel.  This brings up one of the odder points of the approach to this issue.  Diana doesn’t feel like the lead character in this issue.  For most of it Sarge Steel feels like the focus and the lead.  Diana feels like a secondary character in her own comic.  The story is being told by the Sovereign to Trinity whom we met for the first time in Wonder Woman #800.  This makes the story the story of the  Sovereign.  It’s a different and could be an interesting approach, but it does make the reader feel distant from Wonder Woman and her role in the story.  It also gives the impression that King is more interested in the Sovereign than Wonder Woman as a character.

We don’t get a believable explanation as to why all the Amazons are being expelled and why Diana’s standing doesn’t bring her more credibility with the U.S. Government.  It also doesn’t make sense that Wonder Woman wouldn’t have been on top of this situation from the outset.  Part of it may be that the story focuses on Sarge Steel from Sovereign’s point of view.  It not only contributes to the marginalization of Diana in her own book, but it takes away her agency as well.  She seems to be a pawn in Sovereign’s plot rather than the lead character.  There’s nothing wrong with Diana feeling like a pawn in the villain’s plot, but to experience it from a distance is awkward and further removes Diana from the centrality of the story.  Does King even want to write Wonder Woman or does he just want to write a Trump analog story?  Maybe this isn’t the best place for that.  King does have a history of putting characterization second, or even third to his plots and story concepts, so this shouldn’t be a surprise.  He may write Diana in character in this storyline, but she may end up being secondary.  I want to read a Wonder Woman story, not a Donald Trump story.  This could end up being a good comic, just not a good Wonder Woman comic.  Strange Adventures was a great comic, but a bad Adam Strange comic.  Human Target was a great comic, but a terrible JLI comic.  If you’re not here for the character, why are you here?

Negatives Cont’d

It’s clear King needs these elements in play for the story he wants to tell to be able to take place, but for it to be compelling the lead up has to be believable.  Readers won’t actually believe Wonder Woman is involved in any wrong doing and it’s not like she will become persona non grata in the United States within the DC Universe.  The story is suddenly tedious as it’s just a waiting game until the resolution.  There can be no real stakes for Wonder Woman based on the extreme nature of the set up.  It’s not hard to imagine that King is using this story as a metaphor for how minorities are treated in the United States, but once again the reaction against the Amazons is so extreme it just isn’t believable.

The story of Trinity’s conception is teased in Wonder Woman #800 as well, indicating that it is somehow connected to the story that begins in Wonder Woman #1.  While there are no answers in this issue, the tone of the issue leaves an uneasy feeling about how Trinity will be conceived.  There’s a lot of unwarranted aggression against the Amazons as a people that falls somewhere between racism and misogyny.  Sarge Steel is at the center of this though there other vignettes of average citizens with similar attitudes.

Verdict

The art is so good, one can easily flip through the pages and just admire them regardless of the story being told.  Unfortunately, the forthcoming story that is suggested by this issue is pretty boring.  Even with the mystery surrounding the identity of Trinity’s father that is wrapped up in all this, Trinity’s first appearance was disappointing enough to bring no added excitement to the beginning of the story in Wonder Woman #1.  To enjoy this issue, you may need to forget this is a Wonder Woman comic and tell yourself it’s a dystopian tale of a world you don’t really know.  If you go in thinking it’s about Wonder Woman, you will most likely be disappointed.  Overall, it’s not a strong start to this run outside of Sampere”s exceptional art.  Lastly, was the killer supposed to look like Cassie Sandsmark?

The post Review: Wonder Woman #1 appeared first on DC Comics News.

Writer and Lead Penciller: Phil Jimenez
Additional Pencillers: Travis Moore, Brandon Badeaux
Inkers: Andy Lanning, Lary Stucker, Marlo Alquiza, Kevin Conrad, Jose Marzan Jr.
Color Artists: Patricia Mulvihill, and Tom McCraw with Heroic Age
Letterer: Comicraft

Reviewed by Steve J. Ray

Published by DC Comics – ISBN Published by DC Comics – ISBN 9781779524379

Available from Penguin Random House

Summary

Last month I had the great fortune and privilege of reviewing the all-new version of Paradise Lost, now the great folks at Penguin Random House have been kind enough to send me the equally amazing follow-up collection, Wonder Woman: Paradise Found (2023 Edition).

Just like its predecessor, this great book collects a seminal arc by Phil Jimenez. It recounts one of the greatest Wonder Woman sagas of all time, as well as being one of the inspirations behind the forthcoming Paradise Lost Warner Bros. TV project.

Here’s the book synopsis from the Penguin Random House Website:

Wonder Woman’s world is falling to pieces. Her home of Paradise Island has faced a devastating civil war, and her mother, Queen Hippolyta, has abolished the monarchy, ending Diana’s status as a princess.

 

Acclaimed writer/artist Phil Jimenez (Wonder Woman: Historia) is joined by inker Andy Lanning and cover artist Adam Hughes for one of the most difficult chapters of Diana’s life. This story reveals that a dear friend of Diana’s has been transformed into a deadly enemy, we see an intergalactic war and the return of an arch-nemesis that may spell doom for all the superheroes of the world.

 

With battle after battle facing Wonder Woman, is there any hope that Diana can once again find paradise?

 

Collects Wonder Woman #171-177, as well as selected pages from Wonder Woman: Secret Files #3.

Also featured are all the Adam Hughes covers and character bios for Diana, Hippolyta, and the Amazons, plus a recap of the events of Wonder Woman: Paradise Lost.

Positives

First and foremost, this is a book written and penciled by Phil Jimenez. This is an extreme positive, in and of itself. The rest is pure gravy. We also have guest pencils by Brandon Badeaux and a very young Travis Moore. Now, anyone who knows me at all knows how much I love Travis’ work. To my mind, he’s one the best artists working in comics today. Seeing his early work here was wonderful. Even though he was clearly new to the game at this point, you could already see the makings of a great artist in these early pages.

This is a comic to really sink your teeth into. Most of today’s comics hardly give you anything to read, while this book’s fairly word heavy, by comparison. To me, this is a plus as I feel like I’m getting more entertainment for my money. Don’t worry, though. This isn’t 90s/90s Claremont X-Men, but there’s still more text here than you may be used to.

Comics fans know that every now and then, a big cosmic event comes and takes over the stories going on in your favorite books. Sometimes this can be a nightmare, as whatever ongoing plot threads and character arcs going on are sometimes cast aside, or even completely ignored for the event’s sake.

The end of 2002 and the beginning of 2003 saw DC publishing the alien invasion epic, “Our Worlds At War, and, of course, as one of the publisher’s flagship characters, Wonder Woman had to be involved. Phil Jimenez, rather than ignore the amazing work leading into the book and that would follow after the crossover, deftly weaved his narrative and that of the saga together, almost seamlessly. You will not need to track down the many OWaW collections to understand or love this book. I fact, if I hadn’t mentioned it you may never even have noticed.

What this means is that within this epic graphic novel, we get gods, aliens, war, terror, death, tragedy, and more action than a summer of blockbusters. This book clearly inspired the now legendary Snyder cut of Justice League, but there’s so much Amazon Lore, DC characterization, history, and world-building going on too that all fans, old or new, will pick up a book that will thrill and entertain them from cover to cover.

Think about it! A new Cheetah, the second Silver Swan (what a shock that was!), Imperiex, Darkseid, Circe, The Joker, and Lex Luthor feature as the villains of the piece. Then we get stellar appearances from Superman, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, Cassie (Wonder Girl) Sandsmark, Tempest, Jade, Donna Troy, Artemis, The Titans… and the list goes on.

Negatives

Are you kidding me? Reading this book was a complete blast. Yes, I was viewing it through nostalgia-tinted sunglasses, but I’ve re-read newer stories that have aged far worse than these ones. This is vintage comic book entertainment and the most fun you can legally have for 20 bucks.

Verdict

Historically, this saga clearly shows when Phil Jimenez stepped out of George Pérez’s shadow and proved that he was now a creative talent as rounded and as brilliant as his mentor could have hoped he would ever become. That’s about the highest praise I can give.

The only thing that could be better than buying yourself a copy of this gorgeous new edition of Wonder Woman: Paradise Found would be to get it at the same time as you pick up Paradise Lost. This is vintage, high-octane comics entertainment; but with heart, soul, character, tragedy, and true depth. We see Superman cry, get a tribute to the fallen from 9/11, and a true reminder of just how powerful comics can be.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment. Review Copy Courtesy of Penguin Random House.

The post Book Review: Wonder Woman: Paradise Found (2023 Edition) appeared first on DC Comics News.

“Afterworlds”

Cloonan and Conrad came out of the gate with a 10-part epic story, “Afterworlds.”  While it does pick up with Diana in the afterlife where she left by Scott Snyder at the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal, it wasn’t the afterlife as seen in Greek Mythology.  Instead, Diana was in Valhalla, where warriors in Norse Mythology are taken by the Valkyries after dying on the field of battle.  Diana would make a friend and lover (YIKES!) of Sigfried, Teutonic hero of The Ring of the Niebelung in Valhalla as a little voice in her head urged her to make her way back home.  Diana’s trek through the “afterlives” of different cultures finally saw the Amazing Amazon return to Earth.  

While this first story arc succeeded in returning Diana to her life on Earth, along the way Cloonan and Conrad added some new characters to Diana’s supporting cast, chiefly Sigfried and they also allowed “Afterworlds” to touch on the major core aspects of Diana’s character- connection to Greek Myth/Legend, fierce warrior, loyal, caring friend and advocate for peace.  Some aspects of Diana can seem like a contradiction, but that’s one of the reasons she’s so interesting.  As Diana fights along side Sigfried in the endless glory of battle in Valhalla, the reader is reminded of the martial aspect of Diana’s character.  Known chiefly for her magic lasso, Diana is also pretty good with a sword and shield.  

Diana’s trip through the afterlives leads her to Olympus and the confrontation with Janus as Cloonan and Conrad remind the reader that Diana always has one foot in the world of Greek Mythology.  This in turn leads Diana to a trip through the multiverse as Diana and Sigfried stick together through thick and thin.  This jaunt through worlds of the DC Universe demonstrate the integrity of Diana to the shared continuity as one of the three pillars of the Trinity along side Superman and Batman.

Finally, the new characters that Diana meets along the way reveal her caring and loyal nature as well as how she engenders the same in others.  Be it Sigfried or Ratatosk, the squirrel from Yggdrasil, the world tree. these new friends become as close to Diana due to the quality of her character.  Her caring, love and compassion shine through all her interactions with friend and foe

Back In Man’s World

When Diana returns to Earth she wastes no time in trying reconnecting with her friends, Etta Candy, Steve Trevor and the members of the Justice League as well as Cassie Sandsmark and Donna Troy.  Once again, Diana’s loyalty and caring nature are highlighted as she sees her friends and colleagues.  It’s a reminder that it’s OK for comics to be happy, and it’s OK to feel happy.  This positivity echoes Diana’s outlook on life.  At this point, Cloonan and Conrad turn to a different aspect of Wonder Woman’s 80 year history.  In a genius move, the writing duo begins exploring many of the original themes present in the original Golden Age Wonder Woman stories by Diana’s creator, William Mouton Marston.

While in Asgard, Diana had an encounter with Dr. Psycho, and upon her return she learns that Psycho is peddling a “macho man” campaign.  Throughout the storyline he manifests his powers exactly as he did in his first appearance way back in Wonder Woman #5 (1943).  Additionally, he utilizes the International Milk Company a company that can trace its first and only (?) appearance to Sensation Comics #7 (1942).  Dr. Psycho is playing the long game as its slowly revealed he has some shadowy backers who seem to be behind the whole thing.

Marson’s Themes

Cloonan and Conrad use Psycho’s campaign against women as a way of addressing a theme from Marston’s Wonder Woman’s stories.  Marston created the character to to be an heroic feminine alternative for girls in the early comic book industry dominated by male heroes.  However, upon inspection of those early issues of Wonder Woman and Sensation Comics, it becomes apparent that Marston isn’t just putting a female character in a male hero’s story, but rather suggesting a completely different approach to viewing the world.  This isn’t new, Marson’s agenda is well documented.  Marston suggests that love, understanding and compassion are more powerful and more effective than aggression, violence and corporal punishment, approaches typically associated with a masculine bent.  Cloonan and Conrad use this theme throughout the run, not only as evidenced by Diana’s personal relationships with friends, but her real belief that she can rehabilitate Dr. Barbara Minerva, the Cheetah.  It’s something that goes back to the Golden Age as Diana and her Amazon sisters believe that the original Cheetah (Priscilla Rich) and Paula Von Gunther can be rehabilitated through Amazonian methods based on love, compassion and understanding.

The deeper and subtler themes are paired with some more overt references to the past.  Cloonan and Conrad reintroduce Etta Candy’s classmates from Holliday College, the Holliday Girls for a modern audience.  As in the Golden Age, the Holliday Girls take no prisoners and are always capable and up to whatever task they take on.  We also get to see Barbara Minerva show up in the Golden Age Cheetah costume of Priscilla Rich.  Even one of Diana’s earliest foes, the Duke of Deception was brought back in a storyline.

The most interesting reference to Wonder Woman’s past occurs when Sigfried joins Diana on Earth and Steve Trevor takes the legendary warrior on as a roommate.  While Steve and Sigfried never do more than become great friends, they are written with a certain sensitivity.  At this point, Diana is essentially stuck with two suitors, Sigfried and Steve.  The two men maintain a friendship knowing that they both love Diana, but they never let it get in their way.  And, Diana, never treats one more intimately than the other.  Cloonan and Conrad have developed the mirror image of Marston, his wife and his live in lover.  Marston, despite being a professed feminist had no problem having a wife and mistress in an open relationship.  Diana, Steve and Sigfried never engage in any sort of romantic encounters all together, or separately, but it’s clear that Cloonan and Conrad are paying homage to Marston and his unique view of the committed relationship.

Wonder Woman Interrupted

During their tenure on Wonder Woman, Cloonan and Conrad were required to navigate two events that impacted the stories they were in the middle of telling.  It’s important to note that even though they gave their all and backed both events with enthusiasm, these events clearly interrupted what they were doing on Wonder Woman.   However, they never gave any indication how they felt about!  “Trial of the Amazons” split up the first part of the Dr. Psycho storyline.  The death of Hippolyta in that story seemed odd as Diana had just gone through the whole “ascension” bit herself recently.  More importantly, it distracted from the main Wonder Woman title.  It didn’t flow easily back and forth and the event truly felt forced.

The more recent Lazarus Planet event didn’t just distract, it seemed to truncate what would’ve been a much longer and incredibly interesting third act to a story arc.  Wonder Woman #795 ends on a surprising cliffhanger/ turn of events in which the population of Washington, D.C. has been affected by Eros into loving Diana…TOO much.  The pace of the arc certainly feels like this will be explored over a few issues, perhaps even right up to a resolution in issue #800.  However, it’s wrapped up really quickly in issue #796 with that issue heading right into Lazarus Planet.  As the next two issue serviced the Lazarus Planet event, it doesn’t take a lot to figure out that Cloonan and Conrad were being team players despite their final story arc being truncated.

Dawn of DC?

Wonder Woman #800 the last issue to feature Cloonan and Conrad as the writers with DC Comics having decided to go in a different direction for the  Dawn of DC.  Tom King’s first story also appears in issue #800 with his first full issue in a relaunch in September with a new #1 (Legacy #801).  The Dawn of DC banner is supposed to indicate a sort of “back to basics” for characters with good jumping on points.  Having already seen the solicit for new Wonder Woman #1, it doesn’t sound much like  “back to basics” for Diana.  If anything, it sounds like a rehash of themes in “Amazons Attack” from 2007.  One can’t criticize king for nostalgia for a favorite era, but that wasn’t an even that went over that well at the time, and it certainly is about as far away from a “back to basics” approach that one could imagine.  Diana as Public Enemy #1 is more along the lines of King’s tendency to deconstruct the characters he writes (there are a few exceptions)  rather than lean into what makes them tick.  Ironically, the entirety of Cloonan and Conrad’s run WAS a “back to basics.”  After restoring her to the world of the living from the afterlives, the writing duo brought back themes rooted in the essence of the character as well as restoring classic elements to the series. 

The same can be said for Jeremy Adams on The Flash.  Adams spent his entire run undoing the damage to Wally West perpetrated on the character in Heroes in Crisis (by Tom King!) and returning the character to the status quo for which fans had been clamoring.  This is evidence that DC Editorial doesn’t really know what it’s doing, it struggles to tell what’s good and what fans want.  King’s Wonder Woman may sell, but it’s won’t be because it’s a good interpretation of the character (it may or may not be) but, rather because King is a polarizing and controversial writer.  More people will pay to watch a traffic accident than an act of kindness.

“Whatever Happened to the Warrior of Truth?”

Wonder Woman #799 and #800 conclude Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad’s run on Wonder Woman.  cleverly they channel a classic Superman tale as they adapt the format of “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”  (Neil Gaiman did the same thing for Batman with “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?”).  This final tale by the duo revisits the character not so much as events in a life or a history, but rather an exploration of the themes that make Wonder Woman who she is.  It’s fitting that their run ends with the themes that have made it so good.  Perhaps, the cleverest bit is at the end of Wonder Woman #800 is when Conrad and Cloonan appear to have stealth restored Diana’s original clay figure origin.  It’s subtle, but Hippolyta gives Diana what amounts to a “pep” talk and the language references the original clay figure origin.  It’s smart.  It works on two levels, reminding the reader that love and compassion are at the core of the character.  Whatever comes next for Wonder Woman, this run will stand as a unique, interesting and intelligent run by creators who truly understand the character.

The post Cloonan and Conrad- A WONDERFUL Run appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writers: Becky Cloonan & Michael W. Conrad and Tom King
Art: Joelle Jones, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, Nick Robles, Todd Nauck, Skylar Patridge, Cully Hamner, Jen Bartel and Daniel Sampere
Colors: Jordie Bellaire, Tamra Bonvillain, Jen Bartel and Tomeu Morey
Letters: Pat Brosseau and Clayton Cowles

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

Wonder Woman #800 wraps up “Whatever Happened to the Warrior of Truth?” that concludes the Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad run on the character while also introducing the new team of Tom King and Daniel Sampere in a story called “Trinity” that introduces readers to Wonder Woman’s daughter.

Positives

Wonder Woman #800 opens with Diana in the jungles of Brazil with Yara Flor, and the art is simply incredible.  Joelle Jones who did the heavy lifting on Yara Flor in her solo series makes you lament the short life that series had.  The art is simply BREATHTAKING.  Daniel Sampere also does a nice job on “Trinity,” but Jones is the standout artist of this issue.  The design on Trinity aka Lizzie Marston Prince is good.  She has enough references that she feels like a legacy character.  Plus, her name is a tribute to William Moulton Marston’s (Wonder Woman’s creator) wife, Elizabeth. 

As Diana continues what she began in Wonder Woman #799, she traverses the hopes and dreams of her super-powered allies, Yara, Donna Troy, Cassie and of course, Bruce and Clark.  Again, we get personal insight into how these characters view Diana and vice versa.  Not surprisingly, they each have a slightly unique angle, but they all skew positive which makes sense.  Combined, it’s a fitting tribute to Wonder Woman in the vein of “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” as mentioned in the review for #799.  

Positives Cont’d

As Diana visits her friends, there are some interesting passages that stand out.  What is said between Donna and Diana almost sounds like an apology for Donna getting left by the wayside as her place in the Wonder Woman mythos has been supplanted twice.  Donna has never been able to get her due on her own like Dick Grayson, despite being just as deserving of it.  It’s a nice acknowledgement of what’s happened to her character over the since Crisis on Infinite Earths made her more and more difficult to explain.

Additionally, when Diana meets her mother on her journey, her mother speaks to her in a way that references her original origin as a clay figure molded by Hippolyta’s hands into which the gods breathed life.  We know Diana is still currently the daughter of Zeus, but it’s a nice touch by Cloonan and Conrad to reference this traditional origin.  Somehow, Hippolyta’s speech also works as a backhanded critique of the daughter of Zeus origin.  Hippolyta’s words of encouragement outline how the original origin makes Diana a more unique and special character.  This is a very clever bit of writing because it works as straightforward encouragement of Diana by Hippolyta, but it is also clearly an argument for restoring the clay figure origin.

Negatives

While some of the art sequences in “What Ever Happened to the Warrior of Truth?” appear to be a bit rushed, the bulk of the negatives for Wonder Woman #800 come from “Trinity.”  Tom King is a polarizing writer, at times even being divisive to a single reader in a single issue.  Often, he can execute a script with technical excellence, but fail to capture the spirit of a character.  Despite this he can sometimes capture Beauty as seen in Superman: Up In the Sky and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.  With “Trinity,” King leaves this reader with an overwhelming sense of dread.  Not excitement, not engagement, simply dread.

The idea of Wonder Woman having a daughter to pal around with Damian Wayne and Jon Kent sounds like a good idea on paper.  The trio doesn’t even look bad together.  However, you can only make a first impression once, and Lizzie doesn’t come off well, here.  There’s nothing wrong with a confident, strong and independent female character…look at Power Girl.  Unfortunately, there’s nothing charming or endearing about Lizzie.  She seems to be a classic “Mary Sue.”  But, it goes even further, she tells Jon and Damian how great she is spending the first half of the story belittling the erstwhile Super Sons.  King knows what he’s doing, he even has Damian make a comment under his breath that reveals what Damian thinks of Lizzie.

Negatives Cont’d

While it’s always great to have the Super Sons together, and I do want to see the babysitting story that’s teased, King writes these adult versions of Jon and Damian as if they were still 10 and 13 respectively.  Their banter shows no signs of maturity and they are far too deferential to Lizzie as they appear to be drinking her Kool Aid.  King manages to cobble together bits and pieces of a mystery, but with the little we get it feels like waiting for a car wreck.  Will readers not be able to turn away when Wonder Woman #1 (Legacy #801) hits the stands in September?

It’s hard to put my finger on it exactly, but when reading “Trinity,” I was reminded of what happened 200 issues ago in Wonder Woman #600.  DC attempted to do an in continuity reboot of the character with the “Odyssey” storyline complete with new costume.  With Lizzie, it looks like DC will finally get long pants on Wonder Woman.  “Odyssey” retooled everything we knew about the Amazons and Diana.  While King’s upcoming run doesn’t appear to be of that order, it feels jarring already.  It has a very different spirit than what I associate with Wonder Woman.  I suppose the good news is that the “Odyssey” iteration didn’t last very long as it was replaced by another reboot, The New 52 just fifteen months later.

Verdict

Wonder Woman #800 is a story of well…two stories.  “Whatever Happened to the Warrior of Truth?” Part Two is a loving look at Diana and her relationships with her super-powered friends.  It will make you smile and remind you why Wonder Woman is important and special.  As it wraps up and Hippolyta gives Diana her “pep” talk, the language brings the reader full circle with the character as we are meant to see Diana as that figure of clay brought to life by Hippolyta’s love and the will of the gods, reaffirming the themes of love and compassion.  Instead of whetting the appetite, “Trinity” leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.  I don’t really want to know what happened to get these characters to this point, especially when it would be more entertaining for Damian to shiv her when Jon’s not looking.

The post Review: Wonder Woman #800 appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writers: Michael W. Conrad and Becky Cloonan
Art: Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, Meghan Hetrick, Juan Ferreyra , Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson and Paulina Ganucheau
Colors: Tamra Bonvillain, Terry Dodson and Juan Ferreyra
Letters: Pat Brosseau

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

In the tradition of “What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” and “What Ever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” Wonder Woman’s friends and allies share what Diana means to them in chapter one of “What Ever Happened to the Warrior of Truth?”

Positives

This issue is a lot of fun.  We not only get to see what Diana means to Etta, Steve, Sigfried and the Amazons, but there’s some creativity in the presentation as we get to see it in a different lens.  It’s not a simple history, but the story revisits Golden Age looks for Etta Candy and the Cheetah as well as a scene with Steve and Diana in a World War II setting.  The device that allows this to play out is clever and the whole idea continues to play on the themes that Cloonan and Conrad have been working with on the entirety of their run.  It’s an extra bonus for readers that know their comic book history.

There’s a team of artists on this book that bring different looks to different parts of the story.  These looks allow each artist to give their own stamp on their part, but also add something unique about their section.  Etta Candy and the Holliday Girls are dressed just like the original Golden Age versions and they have picnic with  Wonder Woman in a costume that is clearly one of her Golden Age designs.  This sequence also puts Barbara Minerva in Priscilla Rich, the Golden Age Cheetah’s costume.  Additionally, Paulina Ganuacheau, who’s been a big part of this run with her art in the second feature, “The Adventures of Young Diana” is included as she illustrates the sequence on Themiscyra.

The end is a bit of a surprise…and it’s an effective cliffhanger for the finale in Wonder Woman #800.  It’s a nice homage to “What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” which ends it’s first half on a similar thematic note.

Negatives

I think it’s fair to say that the elephant in the room is the creative team change coming after issue #800 with the new #1 issue (Legacy #801).  Will what comes next be as drastic a change as the one that “What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” preceded?  The subsequent post-Crisis Superman was very well received and many of the changes wrought by John Byrne and crew have become critical to the modern understanding of Superman.  One will remember that George Perez worked a similar revision of Diana at the same time.

Verdict

Wonder Woman #799 allows the reader to reflect on not only what Diana means to her friends and allies, but also what Wonder Woman means to the reader.  It’s a lovely touch that works so well because Cloonan and Conrad understand the core themes that are part of the character, those that have been there since the beginning and those that have been added on and BECOME a part of the character over the years.  However, the use of Golden Age motifs allows for a particular kind of nostalgia and as the reader hits the final page revealing the title, it all makes sense as chapter one really does echo the tone and theme of Alan Moore’s classic, “What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”

The post Review: Wonder Woman #799 appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writers: Michael W. Conrad & Becky Cloonan and Jordie Bellaire
Art: Amancay Nahuelpan and Paulina Ganucheau
Colors: Jordie Bellaire and Kendall Goode
Letters: Pat Brosseau and Becca Carey

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

Diana and company make a final stand, even if divided, against Eros and Hyperion.  Plus, Diana learns an important lesson from Persephone in The Adventures of Young Diana.

Positives

Much like last issue, Wonder Woman #796 leads with the action!  Diana and Yara face off against Eros while Sigfried and Steve continue their assault on Hyperion.  Meanwhile, Etta and Barbara Minerva do their best to protect the citizens.  These different sequences work really well because the pacing is just right, cutting back and forth at just the right moments to heighten the tension.   This is a major conflict in the streets of Washington, D.C., so it’s nice to see the action balanced effectively with the character moments.

Eros is a total ass, and it’s great to see Yara get the chance to deal with that.  It’s a complex situation because we know that Eros manipulated Yara with an arrow back in Wonder Girl #3.  However, it is suggested that at some point Yara could’ve loved him, yet she was starting to fall for Jaoa when Eros got her with his arrow.  What happened to Jaoa???  That storyline got shortchanged because of the way things went with the Wonder Girl series so it could synch up with “Trial of the Amazons,” at least that’s how it felt.  Still, I highly recommend that series and it gives some context for what’s going on in this comic.

Positives Cont’d

The rest of the Wonder Team get some time to shine as well.  Steve’s concern for Sigfried is truly heartfelt.  And, it’s something quite interesting in that while it’s clear that they aren’t interested in each other as a couple, they have a bond that is clearly a strong friendship that borders on family.  It’s not played as a tacky “bromance,” however there’s no doubt these aren’t just to dudes who like to hang.  That connection may at first seem to be their mutual attraction/ history with Diana, but it feels like there’s something deeper that’s developed.   Barbara Minerva has a softer moment as well, and it shows that there’s still a chance for her to turn it around to the side of the angels.  Again, this harkens back to early Wonder Woman stories in which redemption was part of Diana’s mission, especially for women.

In “Adventures of Young Diana,” our title character learns an important lesson- not everyone can be saved.  Sometimes there are circumstances that are insurmountable.  It’s a great thing to show, not just for Diana, but for the reader in the real world as well.  Diana also learns that these people shouldn’t be forgotten and that it’s important that we show them that we care about them.  Let’s give it up to Paulina Ganucheau who’s evocative depiction of Persephone and Diana sells these moments.  Her art style, though very different from what we expect in modern, Western super-hero comics, is every bit as effective.  Her storytelling is perfect as she depicts Diana’s emotional state as the young Amazon learns of Persephone’s fate in the Underworld as the bride of Hades.

Negatives

As mentioned above, it seemed like Wonder Girl’s series got truncated and reworked in order for it to synch up with the “Trial of the Amazons” event from this past fall.  There’s an element of Wonder Woman #796 that feels like it needed more space to breathe, and it easily could’ve taken up another issue or two, or even four or five.  I suspect it has something to do with the final surprise ending.  While the surprise ending shows potential, it’s obviously tied to the Lazarus Planet event.  I’d much rather see how Diana deals with a population loving her too much.  That’s how this issue opens, and it could be a very interesting and provocative storyline. 

While it’s not something that can be laid at the feet of this creative team, it would be nice if DC got over the events that interrupt other good storylines.  DC thinks it sells comics, but in actuality it takes readers away.  I’ve no doubt that Wonder Girl would still be going if the event hadn’t dictated the pace of that series.  It was well received by critics and fans alike.  Not knowing anything about the behind the scenes, I can only guess that the scheduling with the event was too much for writer/artist Joelle Jones.  There was so much left on the table with that series.  That’s how I feel about this bit in Wonder Woman #796.  It was the cliffhanger ending from last issue and it ends too quickly here.

Verdict

Wonder Woman #796 demonstrates why this has been a consistently great series over the past two years.   While it can deliver on the action, there’s always something bigger at play with the characters and emotional beats.  Bellaire and Ganucheau do this in the second feature, and it’s a hallmark of the main storyline.  This more thoughtful approach is nuanced and nostalgic.

The post Review: Wonder Woman #796 appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writers: Michael W. Conrad & Becky Cloonan and Jordie Bellaire
Art: Amancay Nahuelpan and Paulina Ganucheau
Colors: Tamra Bonvillain and Kendall Goode
Letters: Pat Brosseau and Becca Carey

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

In Wonder Woman #795, Diana and Yara Flor take on Eros, while Steve and Sigfried have to face a surprising new player in Chapter Two of “Before the Storm.”  And, Hera continues to raise the stakes!

Positives

I rarely start with “action” as a positive unless it’s the only remarkable thing about an issue.  However, in Wonder Woman #795, the action really does stand significantly alongside the more subtle aspects and always important character moments.  Diana and Yara go face to face with Eros and with some teamwork, knock him down a few notches.  He’s appearing as a giant statue of marble? that the duo physically bring down.  It’s a fun sequence with nice visualas from Amancay Nahuelpan.  By the end, Yara delivers the coup de grace forcing Eros to physically appear.  Additionally, Eros’s dialogue during the fight reveals the more personal aspects of the situation for him.  It’s interesting because he seems earnest, despite his terrible behavior in the past which can be seen in Wonder Girl.  It reveals more about him, adding depth without making him empathetic or possibly redeemable.  And, that’s ok.  It does make for engaging storytelling!

Positives Cont’d

The action continues as Steve Trevor and Sigfried put together a quick plan to address a newly arrived combatant, Hera’s next move as it were.  Steve and Sigfried show their mettle and heroism as they face what Barbara Minerva believes to be certain death.  Her acknowledgement of what’s transpiring is slightly humorous, stating she won’t have time to avenge their deaths because she’s too worried about her own revenge.  Again, a subtle moment that is telling not only of her own agenda, but more importantly that she is feeling a part of this “team.”  I feel the full-on redemption coming, bring it now!

Throughout Wonder Woman #795, as Eros and Hera reveal the reasons behind their assault on the world, it becomes clear that Conrad and Cloonan are, in a subtle way, referencing our own world and the use of fear as a motivator for loyalty.  One can see this from any perspective, there’s no specific political position.  It’s always something special when writers are able to make a story work on another level that is relevant with our own world.  In this case it’s done so well that it is unobtrusive and plays like a “truth,”  fear is no way to rule/ lead.  And, the real world relevance is something a reader could miss if it’s not already on one’s radar.

Negatives 

I don’t find any negatives with this issue.

Verdict

Wonder Woman #795 is even better than last issue and this story arc is not only moving forward in an interesting and exciting manner, but the creators are working at a very high level to deliver balanced action and  character and something extra, too.   The surprise appearances in both the main story and the back up, Adventures of Young Diana, work well.   This issue should provide something for everyone!

The post Review: Wonder Woman #795 appeared first on DC Comics News.