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