Wonder Woman 68
Christina Hamlet
Recap
The Giants War conclusion — Maggie has found a sword in the middle of a lake in Colorado. Giganta and Wonder Woman are chasing after what turn out not to be titans after all.
The Olympian ex-pats identify Maggie’s sword as Themysciran but don’t know what to do with it (except obviously take it with them and show it to Wonder Woman) or what it’s doing here. Meanwhile as Giganta pushes Wonder Woman about issues of morality and power, which seems to hit all the right buttons.
As she tosses a few introspective grenades Diana’s way, she creates a few cracks in the fragile partnership. Diana does get to cut loose in a few places much to Giganta’s satisfaction and Diana’s chagrin. All of the players converge and some of the mystery is at last resolved, and yes, you guessed it, the sword has something to do with it. Wonder Woman recognizes the sword but not why it is there, ending her adventures with Giganta and beginning her new quests. So with a parting shot the giant villain makes her exit and the heroes fly off in search of answers to new questions.
Review
This arc wraps up a nice good cop/bad cop team tale. There are a couple of things that I was less enamored with, so I’m going to get those out of the way. First, yet another “darker” character challenges Diana regarding her moral position. I don’t necessarily mind challenges, but it seems to be the same challenge every time. The other is Aphrodite dropping in and out with no perceived purpose except commentary. But I also thought the same thing about Maggie and the ex-pats and they are integrating themselves into the story well now, so I think this is perhaps just a style of storytelling. I have enough confidence in Wilson’s writing to trust that everything will come together in the end.
In general this issue and this arc serves as an entertaining story that expands the mystery of what happened on Themyscira with a couple of major developments whose ultimate impact is yet to be seen. One of the more noticeable developments is Diana’s growing frustration with the situation — dealing with Giganta, not knowing the fate of her people, random appearances of gods and mythical creatures, and far more questions than answers. Right now she doesn’t have a clear enemy which doesn’t sit well with her, leading her to lash out more and more. Where this will lead in the end looks to be one of Wilson’s continuing themes and part of Diana’s deeper development. This I think is where Willson will make her mark on Diana, and I’m very interested to see where she goes with it.
The art is pretty much consistent with the rest of the arc, a more minimalist sort of cartoony style that flows where it needs to and takes it time where it’s warranted. This issue actually has two different art teams that switch halfway through, but the transition between the two is seamless enough that I had to thumb back through to figure out where exactly it switched.
Final Thoughts
This issue wraps up a good short arc and continues a deeper long game with the mystery of Themyscira’s fate. This is the best this book has felt in a while— there is solid art, a long-term direction and real storytelling going on. Basically it’s everything a comic book should be.
Wonder Woman 68: Yes, but are You HAPPY about it?
- Writing - 8/108/10
- Storyline - 8/108/10
- Art - 8/108/10
- Color - 8/108/10
- Cover Art - 8/108/10