Wonder Woman #60
Christina Hamlet
Recap
It's round two of Wonder Woman vs. Ares with some commentary on the nature of war thrown in. Both Diana and Ares do some soul-searching, though only one of them seems to find much of anything. Ares bounces like a billiard ball over the moral spectrum landing in what would be a weird and puzzling place, if he weren't a god.
As it is, he handles things in the time-honored godlike way and makes an even bigger mess of an already messy war. So it's up to Diana to make sense of things, but is she up to the task and is she even in the right of it? These are questions she's not used to asking or answering. We also catch up with Steve Trevor briefly and finally meet the leader of his mythological captors. I have to say I wasn't expecting that -- but I will say (minor spoilers) I'm really, really glad it wasn't Grail.
Review
This book seems still to be suffering from inconsistent pacing and this issue is again full of zigs and zags that seem abrupt in some places and dragging in others. But the story itself is interesting and there have been more than a few surprises. Wilson isn’t really disguising this arc’s secondary (occasionally primary) purpose as an avenue for social commentary.
But the message of love over senseless war is part of Wonder Woman, so the message fits in well with the theme and melds better with the story than other efforts I’ve seen. I’m still enjoying the art, the raw and occasionally sketchy feel works well with the writing. The real standout for me was the use of color in this issue. The colorist of a series can often be overlooked but Fajardo has been one of the consistent joys of this book, and always does an excellent job of enhancing scenes with just the right palette for each page.
Final Thoughts
Ares has yet to settle down to a point for this arc, but the bouncing around at least keeps Diana (and readers) on her toes. This creative team is keeping momentum better than some of the past efforts, here's hoping the book keeps its footing this time.
Wonder Woman #60: Whose War Is This, Anyway?
- Writing - 9/109/10
- Storyline - 7/107/10
- Art - 8/108/10
- Color - 10/1010/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10
