In my years of reading Wonder Woman comics, I’ve noticed their stories generally go one of two ways. They will either turn to more emotional character-building stories or have the mighty Amazon on a quest reminiscent of Ancient Greek myths. The last arc tried its hardest to be the former but failed. Wonder Woman found herself face-to-face with the Silver Swan, a person who Diana used to visit before the Swan’s transformation. The aftermath had Swan back in a coma, Wonder Woman’s brother, Jason, vanishing and Darkseid plotting in the background. What will come next in the world of Wonder Woman?
**SOME SPOILERS BELOW**
Story:
We don’t open to the Amazon warrior, as one would expect in a Wonder Woman comic. Instead, we see the aftermath of the two-page interjection of the last issue. Darkseid is disciplining his Furies for being defeated by Steve Trevor and his men, noting this is a setback. Darkseid’s plan involves him activating a portal that would allow him to travel to the Amazon’s dimension, giving him the chance to enslave them. Meanwhile, Steve and Wonder Woman have a moment of respite and discuss what they’ve been up to in the past few issues.
This is definitely one of those issues that is used as a stepping-on point for the next story arc. The problem is that comics such as this one must have a good hook––Something to make the readers feel entertained as they read stories that they’ve read before. The closest thing to a hook are the battles that were shown which were kept only to a page at most per battle. There is even a pattern for the flow of this story that shows a lack of actual progression to the main plot. Talk about past, flashback to Wonder Woman punching a villain, back to present to talk about the past.
It makes the entire story feel like a chore for reading it. I will say that the ending has left me intrigued for the next issue, but it isn’t enough to save this one.
Art:
There is good in this issue and it comes in the form of the art team. Stephen Segovia is the artist in charge of pencils this issue and everything looks great. From character design to the setting, everything has great detail. The familiar colors of Romulo Fajardo Jr. help the illustrations pop off the page and make the world feel alive. The best piece that the pair work to create would be the reveal on the final page. I won’t spoil what it is, but it makes me wish the next issue has more of it. The art team went all out to make this issue look good and they succeeded 10 times over.
Conclusion:
Despite the art being top notch, it isn’t enough to redeem this issue. The story is essentially a recap with fight scenes we’d rather see in the foreground forced in as flashbacks. Next issue promises to truly start the next arc, so you might want to save your money for that one.
