Wonder Woman #763: Getting The Pieces Set Just Right

The end of a debut story arc usually sets the tone for the rest of the run, and Wonder Woman #763 is no different. By introducing new characters, new complications, and moving the pieces around just so, Mariko Tamaki sets up what promises to be an imaginative and interesting story.

The issue wisely doesn’t go for a big banger of an climax, which would ruin the slow burn storytelling Tamaki and her team have established so far. Instead, this introductory arc culminates in a tense standoff between Wonder Woman and the new villain Liar Liar, revealed to be Max Lord’s daughter. The stakes of the fight, and Wonder Woman’s inability to resolve it through her usual means, give the narrative the chance to use the other toys in their chest.

The standoff between Lord, WW, and Liar Liar takes up most of the issue, and digs into the effects living with a traumatic legacy can do to a person. For Diana, it means breaking away from it and fighting your hardest to find your truth, and trying to become something greater than yourself. For Emma Lord, it meant lashing out violently at everyone around her, wrapping herself up in lies that allow her to justify her actions. Tamaki draws a very neat but very effective contrast between Diana and Emma this way, showing them to be different outcomes of the same root trauma. Emma’s character was born of anger and resentment, while Diana’s was created from duty and hope. It’s not exactly subtle, but sometimes underlining the point does more for the story.

This is not a plot heavy issue, but what’s here is dense and worth rereading, particularly for the art from Carlo Barberi, Matt Santorelli, and colorist Alejandro Sanchez. Barberi has a clean, action-focused style that suits the book well, as the low density of straight lines in his and inker Santorelli’s work always makes thing feel like they are constantly in motion. Sanchez’ colors are vivid and bright, full of pinks and blues and oranges across every page.

By the end, a new status quo is set, the ongoing plot points are hinted at, and a thrilling set of questions are planted in readers’ heads. As a cap to the beginning of Tamaki’s work on Wonder Woman, it looks as though the book has landed in several sets of capable hands in her and her team.