Wonder Woman #751: A Day in the Life

Wonder Woman #751 is a nice little getting-to-know you issue, courtesy regular writer Steve Orlando and guest artist Jan Duursema. After last issue’s all-out, jam-packed anniversary issue, it’s nice to take a breath and assess not only who Diana is, but also get to know the new dynamic of her world now that she’s not only relocated to Boston, but also chosen to stake out her own path away from Hera. The end result is an issue that reinforces the character’s core while embarking on a new era in her storied history.

Setting up Wonder Woman’s neighbor as a cop who held her at gunpoint and under arrest to cliffhang last issue’s main story might be a tad on the cheap melodramatic side (why would it be necessary to attempt an arrest? Diana’s a known hero, why not just talk to her?), but the move ultimately sets up a great sequence that hammers home Wonder Woman’s uniqueness among the tights and flights set. It would, after all, be intimidating and frankly a little nerve-wracking to have such a large-looming hero move to town, especially with all of the danger and destruction that could potentially entail. Orlando was smart to move the action to real-world Boston rather than any number of DC’s fictitious cities, as this amplifies the sense of danger by removing the otherness factor that living in, say, Metropolis would imply.

And so Diana gets down to the business of being Wonder Woman: helping her friend Etta Candy load supplies for her new non-profit; stopping looters without endangering the populace; facing down demigoddesses. The so-called Dark Fates are a fairly routine bunch, but their presence signals big things and new foes in Diana’s future. In the end, Nora is predictably placated, and Wonder Woman begins her earnest, if slightly uneasy, alliance with the city of Boston. Jan Duursema’s art is smooth and clean, not overpowering but rather a good fit for Wonder Woman and her world. There are a number of larger, half-splash panels that capably show off Diana’s feats while still conveying the sense that she’s highly attuned to her environment and the safety of those around her. It’s a good fit for a down-to-earth story such as this one, that emphasizes the lead character’s humanity over her bonking bad guys on the head.