Wonder Woman #39 – Review

By: Gail Simone (writer), Aaron Lopresti (art), Matt Ryan (inks), Brad Anderson (colorist)

The Story: Warkiller Finale: Queen Alkyone has fragmented the Amazons and isolated the true queen, her consort, and Diana. Now she has summoned a monster from beneath Paradise Island itself to kill Diana and Ares’ finale plot is hatching.

What’s Good: The Warkiller arc built up to this issue. Now, in a carefully controlled way, Simone brought together all the pieces into one big climax. This issue does what must be done in any good Act III – it answers all the questions and releases the reader’s emotions. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but Simone had me on some tense highs and some feelings of immense satisfaction as the conclusion unfolded. I cheered not only for Diana’s heroism and her Superman-level power (used to kick ass), but for the insight and wisdom Simone seems to give her in every issue. I elated with the quick reversals. One moment Diana and Achilles were in the zone, the next Alkyone and the dragon had them on the ropes. And back again. Like the best action movies, Simone also kept me guessing even on stuff I could see in front of me. The cavalry becomes the enemy. A monster becomes a magical ally. An ally becomes your killer. Simone tricked me (in the way the best writers misdirect) again and again and I loved it. Finally, you also get a lot of fun divine moments, like Athena and Zeus talking like the weathered ancients they are, or when Ares makes his move, or when Zeus switches on a very powerful piece of magic. And I loved it when Achilles told Alkyone never stab someone whose heart comes from a god. Good advice! Alkyone should write that down.

Wonder Woman #37 – Review

by Gail Simone (writer), Bernard Chang (artist), Sean Ryan (associate editor), Elizabeth Gehrlein (editor)

The Story: Warkiller, Part 2: Diana’s early morning privacy is disturbed by Ares (whom we last saw with Diana’s axe in his head), who has come to promise her that even though he is dead, he isn’t done with her. He’s going to strike at her through her people, the Amazons. After he leaves, Diana does some heavy thinking, about the visit, and about who and what she has become and how her enemies have used her loved ones to strike at her. She chooses to head home, but every part of the greeting she gets is entirely unexpected.

What’s Good: Simone continues to hit the right notes with Diana, her strengths and her vulnerabilities. Simone makes her a kick-ass character with a lot of dimensions to her. She’s not just muscle. She’s got brains and heart too, which is what makes her different (and superior) to every other heroine in comics. (In my opinion, the only one who comes close to Diana in this respect is Claremont’s Ororo.) It also means that Diana’s solutions to problems end up being different than the ones of other heroes. Simone’s deft development of multi-dimensional characters does not end at Diana. I saw something new in Ares in this issue. Layering his resolve and his violence is a pain and regret that wasn’t there before. It is a measure of Simone’s skill that this does not diminish him, but makes him more intriguing. He’s no Magneto yet, but Simone has taken the first steps in that direction. Same goes for Alkyone and Achilles. I loved seeing the Amazon foreplay going on between them. Don’t worry. It’s nothing over the top, but the flavor is definitely more Klingon than romantic comedy.

What’s Not So Good: I know Bernard Chang’s been doing a bit of Wonder Woman art here and there, but his cartoony style feels like a step down from Lopresti, who really made Simone’s vision come alive for me. I checked out the DC website and Lopresti is listed as the artist for issue 38, so all I’ll say is that I hope he had a good vacation. I don’t think Chang is a poor artist. I just don’t think the style is right for Wonder Woman.

Conclusion: The mismatched artist really put this book off its game, despite a really great story by Simone. Still, this is the second part of a 4-issue arc, so you might not want to miss it.

Grade: C

-DS Arsenault

Wonder Woman #36 – Review

By Gail Simone (writer), Aaron Lopresti (penciller), Matt Ryan (inker)

The Story: After Diana’s relationship with Tom drove itself off a cliff at the end of the last issue, we start this one with Wonder Woman reacting to that, by hitting the supervillainess Giganta. Simone and Lopresti show us flashbacks of the Diana/Tom relationship meltdown while another shaky relationship (between Achilles and Alkyone) starts up with a marriage of state. After that, Wonder Woman is summoned by an oath to face Achilles and his army. The fight is pretty huge (Achilles and Diana are well-matched), and Diana’s solution is not only honorably Amazonian, but thematically charged. And of course, it makes everything worse.

What’s Good: This entire issue is about setting up webs of romantic tension. Tom dumping Diana last issue at a particularly tender moment sets up a classic “Girl Loses Boy” scenario and all Simone has to do to keep us coming back is to keep Tom in the book and have them both be unhappy about it. Brilliant. At the same time, now that Diana is a free agent so to speak, the reader is invited to speculate that maybe Achilles could be a good match (despite his boorish behavior in the Iliad). Simone can maintain that tension by having Achilles be an honorable, recurring villain. Simone has also set up another romantic tension between Alkyone, Mistress of the Armory and Captain of the Guard of Themyscira, and Achilles, the new King. They perform a marriage of state, but she tells him flat out that he’d better not be thinking of consummating anything with her, or else– which is the inciting incident of about half the romance novels out there. And, if anything sparks between Achilles and Diana, then Simone has a lovers’ triangle conflict. I love watching Simone lay the foundations for months and months of conflict and dramatic suspense. Finally, if you’ve been following my Wonder Woman reviews, you already know what a fan I am of the Lopresti and Ryan art team. I won’t belabor the point anymore.

What’s Not So Good: The dramatic convenience of Giganta walking around at dawn in her supervillain costume to meet someone on a date stretches suspension of disbelief. Also, with Diana and Giganta suddenly calling a truce to commiserate about men was also a bit rough on my read. Luckily, there was a ton of good stuff to compensate for these minor flaws in the plot.

Conclusion: Simone, Lopresti and Ryan are delivering a really great series. If you haven’t been following Diana up to now, get the trades and start following the series monthly with this issue, the first part in a 4-book arc called Warkiller.

Grade: B+

-DS Arsenault